Hi All; I am completely new at this. I have need to drive and control a stepper motor attached to a single axis (may 2-axis in the future) acme screw driven linear actuator. I would like to control the NEMA 24 stepper motor and have little idea on where to begin. I have access to LabView and I am open to using other control software platform. I have seen step by step instructions and parts list to build a linear actuator on this site, but have not seen any mention of the electronics to go with it. Please let me know if I am missing something, alternatively, if you could refer me to a step by step guide on parts to get and how to put it together I will greatly appreciate it. Thanks so much in advance.
For a linear actuator, you don't need much more than a stepper driver. You can find good individual drivers just about anywhere these days, like Pololu electronics for less than $10. Outside that, you'll need to send two signals, direction and step pulse, to the stepper driver. For that, you can use anything, since it's a simple system. Depending on your comfort level with programming, you can use LabView, the Arduino IDE's stepper toolkit, or even a motion controller firmware like Grbl to just move one axis. Just know that you'll need to account for accelerations if you program it yourself. Otherwise the steppers won't move smoothly and may lose steps.
Hi , sorry to hijack thread- but as a new user i dont think i can post a new thread...... but I have a question about electronics. I have electronics for 3 stepper motors - would like 4th motor for 3d print extruder, not sure if board/ power supply i have can do it, will post photos...cheers Ben (Background - a few years ago i bought a home build cnc machine. I have been planning to build a shed to put it in as i found it a bit loud. I cut a few things with it, recently i have been thinking that a 3d printer might be worth a look at - i would like to make architectural models. My cnc machine has 3 x nema 24, slides are opposing 20mm aluminium angle with bearings, drive is threaded rod, perhaps proper lead screws, im now thinking i should just get bits and convert CNC to 3d printer)
p.s. i suppose i need power for-heatbed, print extruder, would like 2nd motor for y axis in the future, and also electronics for other things like lcd, some limit switches, (not good when machine tries to break itself), - so im guessing i need all new electronics ? cheers
Yes. You'll need all that stuff, including a new motion controller that will do 3d printing. But, you should be able to re-use most of what you have, if you build everything yourself. If you end up buying a kit (RAMPS), you may find that it's not that much more to do so and a lot less work.
thanks Sonny, I might make a thread of my own for the project. glad to have found this community , cheers
