C-Beam Machine XLarge Mechanical Bundle Planning to purchase this today with High Torque Nema 23 motors, but I am very confused about the electronics part of the equation. Lots of discussions here I don't understand. Is there all in one solution I can simply plug in the motors to and connect to computer over USB ? I will be using a Dewalt router or similar so I only need the board to take gcode and control the motors. Additional question: This build doesn't come with any limit switches, nor any other bundles by open builds, it is not mentioned anywhere in recommended or required section and videos don't mention it. Why is that? Does this build not need a limit switch or am I missing something? Thank you in advance
Hi, I'm new to DIY cnc myself. Definitely not the best one to answer but I was thinking - asking the same things just a few weeks ago. There are what they call soft limits in the program you use to control the machine. They will let you know if what your trying to do out of limits. Their only as good as the settings - programer so things can go wrong. I'm going to use switches because being new I expect to goof up. There are kits out there that are "turnkey". The electronics and software option seem endless. You could just follow the suggestions of someone or follow one off the setups you can find here, youtube, etc..... you don't need to decide now. Order the kit if that's what you want. Between waiting for delivery and construction you'll have a chance to learn and figure out something that you like - want to try.
Hi, Here's a bit of interesting information from a @ stargrezer post. The conversation was about the x gantry twisting, Getting out of step - alignment when using two motors on the y. If you put a limit switch on both sides and set motors to limit independently the gantry will realign itself when you home - 0 it.
limit switches aren't a mandatory thing. They can do a couple of things. They help with homing your machine ie. x0,y0 they also can stop your machine from going past it's end stops, your machine is 100cm wide and you goof up and send a move 200cm long. The machine will just be happy to try to go that far. There are soft limits that can stop that, kind of.... in practice what really happens is the machine goes to it's end then the stepper misses steps till the command has stopped. Noisy as heck but no real damage. could even home that way if you wanted. I have been doing computer controlled machines for a long time and I can tell you once you get it they are more of a pain than the benefits you get from them. Noise bounce malfunction are a few problems. Bob
