Stepper Motor Size

[hutchcj]

I noticed the hole pattern on the motor mounts is the same as a NEMA23. So I was wondering what the torque requirements are for the motors you are using?

On your post "7/22/09 Gantry" You mentioned that you could probably downsize the motor. Do you hink you could get away with NEMA17 size motors? The ones I have are around 0.3Nm of torque.

[bdring]

I really don't know. The motors I had were for CNC machining, so I selected the bigger size. On the laser setup, those motors easily ran any speed I gave them without stalling or skipping steps. Ideally the gantry weight should be as low as possible to reduce speed and stresses. The X motor is on the gantry, so if it is over sized, it just adds weight.

With all this said, I probably won't change right now. If I did, I would only change the gantry motor. If I redesigned to drive the gantry from both ends, I might use two smaller motors.

You probably only need the speed for engraving. I always run my scan direction in the X, so you might not need any real power or speed in the Y either.

[hutchcj]

Thanks for that. I'll give it a go with the motors I have. I'll do a couple of test thoughout the build process and let everyone know how it goes. I should be able to test it out on the bench once the gantries are built.