I'm planning to build a 7 x 9 feet (2 x 2.5m) drawing machine based on ACRO. I need it to be FAST (2-3 feet / second). It will mostly perform linear moves from one end to the other of the machine and must run unattended for days. I am planning to use BlackBox as it has worked well for me in the past, but I have a few doubts: - Does it work with closed loop steppers? (I don't want lost steps to accumulate during days) - Can it perform at that speed? - Has anybody worked with closed loop steppers that can work well at that speed? Acro uses nema 17, but I could modify it to use nema 23 Also: The longest wires to the motors will be 16 feet (5m). Can that be an issue? Thanks!
no, the BB has built in drivers, you will need to use a bare Arduino Uno or other controller that supports external drivers. yes, dependant on the mechanics. GRBL (on Uno) has a step rate limit off 33khz. you can use this GRBL settings calculator to check step rates for your proposed mechanics. You may need to use a bigger pulley on the belt and/or lower microsteps to achieve what you want. The GRBL-Hal variant supports faster processors with higher step rates, as does the GRBL-esp32 variant. Have not done it myself but Clearpath units can certainly do what you need. Yes it can but with Clearpaths you supply power and signals to each motor. for long power wires they need to be thicker, for long signal wires they need to be shielded and suppressed and maybe converted to a different voltage or converted to differential pairs. Cable capacitance will be important, and may limit your step rates.
