New to this forum and need help thanks

G,day all
I am retired and have formed an interest in 3d printing.
I have investigated commercial hobby printers and have decided to build my own.
I am a toolmaker so the mechanics and engineering want be a problem.
The Electronics I don't understand at all

The design I have come up with requires
X axis 1 ball screw and nema17 motor
Y axis 2 ball screws and nema17 motors
Z axis 3 ball screws and nema17 motors

I have tried hard to figure out what electronics I need but I have found it impossible to compile a complete list that I am confident with.

another question I have is how do I drive 2 an 3 motors on the same axis.

I really need help from those of you that understand these things.

Many thanks in advance
Prdbrissy

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/2013 05:16AM by Prdbrissy.

Are you sure you need 3 Z motors? The bed should be fairly lightweight. Prusa Mendels use two Z motors driven in parallel (RAMPS - a popular electronic platform, has two headers for Z motors). Sells Mendel uses one Z motor to drive two leadscrews, coupled with a belt.

I am assuming you don't need the power of three motors to lift your bed so you might consider linking your screws with belts, or just using two ball screws.

I also assume it is a gantry layout so to prevent racking you are using two Y axis ball screws. Again, the weight of your assembly should be low and you should consider coupling these two screws. You are unlikely to get racking and with proper alignment could once again use just one ball screw.

If you want any kind of bearable speed I'd also suggest you gear your motors to your screws, otherwise it's going to be painstakingly slow.

To answer your question, any electronics platform can drive the motors in parallel, just hook up the motor connections to the same header (using something like a terminal block).

Ok, there are a number of electronic solutions out there. I use the following...

HARDWARE

1 x Arduino Mega 2560 control board

1 x RAMPS driver board (4 motor driver chips needed)

2 x thermistors + 1 x heater resistor.

1 x XT pc power supply

1 x heated print bed

3 x endstop switches

cooling fans for extruder and electronics

great thanks for the help .......