Excuse me ,r u a university student? oh , Trick or treat, haha!

YOU FAIL! haha

what ever.

I Don't think it was around while I was doing this project. I will look at it when its available.

That would probably be more efficient... but the stepper is a bit sensitive to any bumps in the voltage and all though not as elegant or as efficient , the output is smoother using the above. I did try a switching regulator and when I put a scope on the pulse train going to the stepper it was not quite what I was after.

The motor resolution is 0.0178 mm per pulse, and I think there are about 48 coils in the motor which is used in a half step mode. I should say the motor resolution is much better than the mechanical resolution of my milling machine which lets me down.

Yip... I must have tried about 20-30 software packages and found that most of them are to involved to do anything quickly, also I had no control over things such as speed ramping and optomising the cutting time, I kind of wanted something that I could manualy draw in the cutting path and then just have it do it in 3-D

it is a cool instructable and i don't mean to be negative but schematic is not complete and it has few things that need to be corrected. for example shown diodes in bridge rectifier are way to small for the job and AC is not connected properly to bridge.

Pointing out errors is a constructive comment, thanks. You are correct the schematic shown was actually from a microcap simulation program to check that it was going to work(I could not put in diodes required in the program but the program does not blow up). The actual bridge rectifer used was one of the box type that can handle 50 amps.And yes one side of the AC should not be connected to ground it should be connected to the other side of the bridge,not sure how that happend I must have tidied up the schematic and changed it.

Not so creative, just didn't have the money to spend but had the time and inclination. Hope it helps someone.

ur on crack lol. jk bro.. i tried it and didn't see nothin

you're right... good call

Hi, Yes it is a bit of work but very satisfying once it works. And if you enjoy making engines etc, it makes the task fun instead of mundane.

I've made something similar, instead I used some 4-axis divider and I used 4 PicStep drivers. Etching the boards were terriable. transfering the toner, soacking it, hours hunched over the sink removing little bits of paper between fine traces with a tooth pick. Hunched over the sink more, swishing the etchant. Hunched over, drilling hundereds of holes. sitting, soldering hundereds of joints. soldering 160 leads for data and power cables, it was terrible. Hopefully when I'm done with my 36 volt, 8 amps power supply I can finally test all of my stuff!

I used to do process control so I think the PICAXE chips are "better than sliced bread" and very easy to program and use. I did the same thing with the printing then photo-copying to get toner on photo paper and then wash off the paper(took ages). But if you check out jaycar they have a system which uses the toner which is a lot less hassle. My system evolved over time so it was not that big a drama to make. At 8 amps sounds like you might be able to drive FLATTOPS bicycle

it stands for "computer numerical control", it just means a computer-controlled milling machine or other shop tool.

oh thanks. this looks really cool, but wouldn't serve someone like me any use.

It might not. But learning how to program one using Logo or other controller language could come in handy sometime. I once took a part time job and ended up writing scripts for a machining laser that cut out pieces for microwave filters and amplifiers. Anytime you can get a chance to learn something cool you ought to take it. Ya never know. Besides, you could build it and sell it to some woodworker to run his router.

too complicated for a kid like me.