Printer data gathering, please help

Hello,

I am curious about how much torque the motors of a 3d printer actually need. I would like to get data from different printers and motors. I do not own a printer nor do I have a mastery of electrical engineering.

I want to measure current, voltage, resistance of a motor over time. Maybe while printing so standard shape like an 1x1x1"octopus.

My hunch is that most printers have overpowered motors. If I can show this, future designers can use less powerful motors to save costs and improve performance in cases where the motor powerful motor is being moved by another motor (extruder).

What do I need to measure?
How can this be easily measured by anyone with an arduino and 3d printer?
Would you like to volunteer by measuring your printer?

Thank you all.

"An efficient motor, defined as the smallest motor sufficient to meet the demands of the application, will run hot."
Maybe look into pre-existing research before starting your whole journey. Save time and effort for things already known. Steppers have been around longer than 3D printing, they're a known and "scienced" resource. Demigods of knowledge like A2 already have a deeper understanding of motor selection than I can dream of having, or more closely, could care of having. I can tell you straight up motors are overpowered almost all the time. But this all depends on many factors. Define overpowered; you could run the printer faster and therefor make more efficient use of the motor. At that, is any motor overpowered? You need to define a whole lot more about what a properly powered machine would consist of. That's a whole project by itself, and with so many variations, uses, and users [check signature] you'll probably never come up with a reasonable/single answer. Wrenches have plenty more metal than its typical use, but there are so many uses and degrees of use that they are kept that way. A properly powered motor will wear faster than an overpowered one, replacing motors would increase cost, in the case of enough wear to have to. Etc etc. Just throwing it out there that this search for knowledge may be much larger than you may think.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/2014 12:01PM by MrDoctorDIV.

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Realizer- One who realizes dreams by making them a reality either by possibility or by completion. Also creating or renewing hopes of dreams.
"keep in mind, even the best printer can not print with the best filament if the user is the problem." -Ohmarinus

oops link not working, try this one:

Stepper wiring [www.reprap.org]
Use a LED to identify wire pairs, (3 links): [www.youtube.com] [www.youtube.com] And [forums.reprap.org]
Tips for beginners: Stepper Motors, bipolar series gets up to speed faster than parallel [www.youtube.com]
Determining what wires to pair up on a stepper motor. Match coils for 8 wire stepper. [reprap.org]

Calibration of stepper motors [www.youtube.com]
How to measure Stepper Motor Voltage [forums.reprap.org]
Tuning and Speeds – Adjusting the Machine's Axes for Maximum Speed, (Kit Supplier) [solsylva.com]
Stepper motor makes strange noises [hydraraptor.blogspot.de]
Adjusting motor current [reprap.org]

Common Questions and Answers About Step Motors [web.archive.org]
Characteristics of a stepper motor/driver [www.euclidres.com]
Engineering Reference Guide (Stepper Motors, etc.) [web.archive.org]
Control of Stepping Motors A Tutorial. THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA Department of Computer Science [homepage.cs.uiowa.edu]

Size the step motor with a 100% torque safety factor [www.automationdirect.com]
Motors that run near their rated torque will not last as long as those that do not. Motors should be chosen so that they will run at 40-60% of their torque rating. [web.archive.org]
High torque stepper motors need to run at higher voltages in order for the motor to reach its full potential. Increasing the voltage supplied to a motor increases the rate at which current rises in the windings of the motor. [web.archive.org]
Selecting a Stepping Motor [web.archive.org]
Stepper motor and driver selection [web.archive.org]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/2014 11:31AM by A2.

In designing things I always exceed ratings by a large margin. If I need a 1 watt resistor I use a 2 watt at least. The NEMA17 motors on my machine are warm to the touch after an hour of printing which is ok. To downsize them would be false economy in my opinion. Properly lubricated motors that run cold are almost immortal.

Thanks to all! Especially A2

I agree the motors will burn out faster but does the printer really need to last longer than a couple years?

Quote
caracus
Thanks to all! Especially A2

I agree the motors will burn out faster but does the printer really need to last longer than a couple years?

Jeez, I hope so.

My printer's almost 2 years old now, and I've been beating it to death lately with 10+ hour prints...