Stepper motor controller on ebay... Good for indexer??

[Doozer]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/SainSmart-1...292478897792?&


Hello Gents.
I was on Ebay and I saw this digital stepper controller.
I have always seen those steppers fitted to rotary tables for indexing use
instead of having to mess with index plates. Digital indexing would be totally
great for making gear teeth. I am good with electricity and just OK with
electronics. Question... Would one of these controllers do the indexing thing
as I described? Is the price too good to be true? It seems to come from China
and some review comments say about poor Chinglish instructions. Have any of
you guys messed with one of these controllers? I know this is not Digital
Machinist, so forgive me for posting here. I just never read over there.
So anybody give me some info? Thanks.

---Doozer

[RichR]

It seems to come from China and some review comments say about poor Chinglish instructions.

You could check out the manual and judge for yourself:
www.variometrum.com/PDF/ST_PMC1_ENG.pdf

[JRouche]

Is it servo or stepper? I thought they were diff animals. JR

"SainSmart 1 Axis CNC Servo Stepper Motor Motion Programmable Controller"

[MaxHeadRoom]

You do realize that you will also need a Stepper controller for the motor, as this is just outputs step/direction signals.
Apologies if already aware.
Max.

[Doozer]

Ah, Ok, New to me. Like a Geko drive? I am out of the loop on current what is good.

-D

[Doozer]

Thanks for the manual.
Looks hard to program.
VFDs suddenly look easy.
Hmmmm.

-D

[elf]

$50 will get you an Arduino, a stepper driver, a NEMA 23 stepper, and a 24v power supply. You could use the code from the indexer project or write your own. Any issues found would be answered on the forum pretty quickly.

[RB211]

I was thinking of doing the same with the rotary table I just ordered


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[MaxHeadRoom]

Ah, Ok, New to me. Like a Geko drive? I am out of the loop on current what is good.

-D

I only use servo's but Gecko have a good reputation and N.A. made and supported.
Max.

[mattthemuppet]

$50 will get you an Arduino, a stepper driver, a NEMA 23 stepper, and a 24v power supply. You could use the code from the indexer project or write your own. Any issues found would be answered on the forum pretty quickly.

hijacking Doozer's thread, but would that be enough to not just index but also drive the rotary table during a cut. For instance to cut arcs or profiles (a 4th axis essentially)? Or is it just for positioning between cuts? Just something I keep kicking around as a thought exercise/ future project for when I finish the 100 or so ahead of it

[MaxHeadRoom]

Is it servo or stepper? I thought they were diff animals. JR

The output is step/dir as is done in simple controllers such as Mach etc, the stepper drive is open loop, if servo is used, it is closed loop through a drive that takes an encoder and performs the feedback loop.
Max.

[lakeside53]

@Matt : That's much trickier... depends and your choice of drive steppers and gearing. If your cutting forces overwhelm the stepper/gearing you lose steps. If you are cutting acrylic, easy, 1/2 inch steel plate much a harder. Some of it will depend on the quality of your table. Some nice high end tables are very smooth and easy; not so with cheap junk.

You can get some idea by "feeling" the forces required by turning the RT handle by hand.

[elf]

Arcs can easily be cut with the same code doing the indexing. You just have to move the cutter into the workpiece before hitting the index button.
Profiles would need coordinated moves with the mill table, so this would be better suited to Linuxcnc, Mach3, or other gcode interpreter. Grbl is another possibility.

[mattthemuppet]

thanks for the replies, I'll file them away in the noggin for future retrieval

Honestly, most of the time I'm a thought machinist!

[wierdscience]

Clearpath servo to Arduino

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZLwDnGSaeI