Whats needed to run nema 23's?

my controller is a replicape with the tmc2100 drivers. i heard nemas are a little beefier motors and i was considering building a 3dprinter/cnc router so to make it a bit more useful for the cnc part i thought id future proof and go nema 23's.

However my electronics understanding isn't the best, so i was hoping someone could help explain how i can tell if my board will run them, or blow up, ect.

so far ive determined using a 24v power supply with help with the bigger motors, why i don't understand other than a bigger number must mean better. lol

anyways volts, amps, watts. i seen a youtube video that says the tmc2100's run at 2.5a i think but when i look at the data sheet it says 1.7a with 2.5 PEAK which i understand means its not meant to run 2.5 all the time.

then most of the nema 23's i see run at like 3a's but there are some much lower


then another thing with the replicape its a bit limited in motor connections, so for one of the axis with 2 motors i might need to connection 2 motors to one connection.....is that safe and possible



i did a little work with a computer fan once and a dc adaptor, and if memory serves me right amps are the scary one, but thats about the extent of my knowledge and im not sure if its the power amps or the thing u are powering needs to be higher otherwise the other blows. With the replicape i 'think' you can control the amps it puts out, or it does it automatically? im not 100% sure.

ive also read with these stepper motors u ahve to hit a certain amount of volts or amps to get it to start turning.



yah im dumb, someone help

Most of the brand-name motor manufacturers have a lot of tutorials on their web sites. Check Oriental Motor's (they make Vexta brand motors) site for starters. There are several others- Kollmorgen, etc.- google can help. Geckodrive.com has a lot of info on motor driver technology.

The drivers on 3D printer controller boards can handle no more than about 2A, and the little modules are good to maybe 1.5A before they overheat. If you're going to run at 3A per motor, you'll need some external drivers. I use 2x 2M542 DSP drivers to move NEMA-23 motors in my 3D printer. These are about $35 each from the usual eastern sources. IRIC they'll handle up to 4A at 50V and can provide microstepping ratios up to 51200 steps/rev to help reduce vibration and noise. You'll want to use 24V or more - it isn't unusual to operate steppers at 10X their rated voltage. Most of the high torque motors will be rated under 4V. The external drivers use step/direction/enable/gnd or Vcc from the controller. Operating the motors at high voltages helps maintain torque as the rotation speed rises. I use unregulated 32V supplies. NEMA-23 motors will typically vibrate more than NEMA-17 motors, so be ready for some noise, especially if running the motors slowly, such as Z axis in a 3D printer. My printer is noisy enough that I moved it from home to the makerspace because my wife was less than thrilled with the noise it makes.

I run the Z axis, I run a NEMA-23 motor at 2A using the driver on the Smoothieboard controller, so it can be done.

Click the link in my sig, below to see details of my printer's design.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2016 10:06PM by the_digital_dentist.

---

Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]