I have 3 Nema23 steppers that I bought off of ebay to use for my OX build. These steppers are beasts, they are about 115mm long, about twice the ones they use in the OX video. My question is this, one side of the stepper, the side with the mounting holes is a 1/2" spindle, and the back side of this dual shaft stepper is 1/4". Can I remove the metals covers from both ends, remove the spindle and put it back in place except have the 1/4" spindle size facing the mounting brackets. I've was physically able to do, and put it back together easy enough. I even used Mark's trick of twisting the wires from the same wrap together to lock up the machine. When all the wires are free I can spin it, and when I match up the winding wires it locks up. Anyone know if that means it will work or perhaps kill the motor sooner? I scoured the internet and wasn't really able to find any information about this. Thanks for any information you can provide to me.
Well I can safely say, with my limited stepper motor knowledge that you can flip the dual shaft and the motor still works. Took one of my Nema23s and tested it this morning and it works just fine. Step 1 - Remove the four screws holding the motor's end caps in place. Step 2 - Remove the front plate (the plate with the mounting holes) Step 3 - Remove the back plate (may need to pop it loose with a flat head screwdriver). Step 4 - Remove the center of the motor. (Word of caution, the circle with the teeth are powerful magnets). Step 5 - Reinsert the whole assemble except I put the 1/2" size toward the back of the motor and the 1/4" toward the front of the motor. Step 6 - Put the front and rear plates back in place, insert the screws and tighten them down . I now have a Nema23 dual shaft stepper motor with the 1/4" size shaft on the back end and the 1/4" shaft on the front end so I can mount it to my OX gantry arms. Not sure if this is common knowledge, but I wasn't able to find anything on the net about it, so hope it helps.
