Drive 4 x LDO-42STH60 nema 17 with 2DM542 Microstep Stepper Motor Driver

I got 4 motors nema 17 LDO-42STH60-2004AC and I like to know if there any chance to drive it with a single 2DM542 Microstep Stepper Motor Driver
I plan to put a motor in any corner of surface to lift it.
motors are 2 ohm on my multi meter
I don't find on internet if is ok to put motors serial or paralel connection or is something more mast can do to make-it working
thank you

You can drive n motors in parallel with a single driver if the driver is capable to deliver enough current. To reduce the desynchronization probability you should configure a low microstepping, 1/4 1/2, imho.

Some time ago I was planing to use 3 steppers for the same purpose, that seems logical to me, but now I think a setup with 3 pulleys connected with a belt is much more reliable.

Good luck

I couldn't find any info about the 42STH60-2004 stepper, but I guess it has 2A max. phase current. The driver is good for 4.2A. You can run these steppers in parallel, but they wouldn't get enough current to deliver their full torque. You can wire two motors parallel and make two sets of it, wiring them serial.
Running them at 48V would still make them fast enough, even if you wire them all in serial.

I found the specification of the LDO series of stepper motors at [ldomotors.com]. The 42STH60-2004 isn't listed, but it's almost certainly the same as the LDO-42STH60-1206 in that chart but wound for 2.0A/phase and with 4 leads instead of 6.

If you want to use them with a single 2DM542 driver then I suggest you wire your 4 motors in two series-connected pairs, and connect those series-connected pairs in parallel. 24V power should be enough unless you are aiming for very high speeds.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

You're better off using 1 stepper motor and a belt & pulley system to drive the rest of the lead screws. If well assembled, they will never get out of sync. (which is a major pain to deal with).

You also might want to consider using less. 4 lead screws is kinda unnecessary & can lead to more problems. You're better off with 2 on opposite ends of the bed. And even better than that is to just use one lead screw and a properly designed cantilevered bed. There is a reason you don't tend to see multiple leadscrews on large precision equipment. Its very easy to over constrain with multiple screws and have the system fight itself/ lock up.

@warbunniex do you have a proposal how to construct a one lead screw bed? My fear is that the bed will tilt to one side if it is not fixed in at least two places.

I thought about fixing the screw and shaft centrally under the bed, but then you need a lot of space under the bed and must stabilize the shaft carefully.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/05/2018 01:21PM by JoergS5.

Quote
JoergS5
@warbunniex do you have a proposal how to construct a one lead screw bed? My fear is that the bed will tilt to one side if it is not fixed in at least two places.

I thought about fixing the screw and shaft centrally under the bed, but then you need a lot of space under the bed and must stabilize the shaft carefully.

The leadscrew is for lifting only! If possible it shouldn't constrain the bed in any other direction than Z. Let the linear guides do the rest.

I search a solution where you can hide the mechanics for the z-axis totally invisible under the bed. But I have no solution yet. One reason is, I want to have access from all sides to the bed. Another reason is, I want to build the printer as modular as possible to be able to replace the parts for comparing different technology.

If a construction needs double space under the bed, this would be no problem, as you can hide it inside the electronics section, if you place electronics under the printer mechanics.

I thought of a lifting platform, but the mechanism needed is nonlinear and probably not stable enough in the xy directions.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/2018 08:07AM by JoergS5.