Hello Peter, hello from France. I'm an electrical technician, I have no trouble keeping up with you. Which gives me time to appreciate your pedagogical humor. I would have liked to have you as an English teacher as well. Thank you Peter for giving us the codes to choose each link in the chain. I'm interested in CNCs, so I greatly appreciate your videos. I plan to make one in the near future with UCCNC. Take care of you. Have a nice day!!
Thanks Philippe, I failed English at school, Bigley! 😁 Shakespeare has a lot to answer for. Hope Is all good with you over there. All the best. Cheers Peter
I have been a ham radio operator since the early 1980's. Impedance is a big deal in radio wave transmission. The description of impedance given here is the best I have ever heard. Thanks, Peter.
Yes, it was so much easier understand as we have all moved our hand back and forth in the water at various "frequencies" or was that oscillating?! Cheers, David.
Thanks Dave. I'm hoping it will encourage builders to look at what they buy to drive their machines and save them endless hours spent on Facebook asking the why am I loosing steps question. Cheers Peter
Peter, Thank you so very much for sharing this information. The spreadsheet is absolutely awesome and helped to confirm that the recommendation I received from my friend the electrical engineer was correct! Thank you so much for making and sharing these videos, they are very, very helpful! Cheers!
This video catapulted me into understanding how to best decide on what Steppers would be best suited on my new GarageWorX CNC. Then there was this awesome chat I had with a very gracious Kiwi that helped me seal the deal too! Peter Passuello, you are by far a blessing to the CNC community and I am grateful for you awesome efforts to educate us FNG's (Freakin' New Guys) and remain as patient as you are! Keep up the great and dynamic work sir!
Thank you for this, Peter. I'm not electrically-minded at all, but you explained this subject in such a way that I think I understand it a lot better. I think that I could use this video and your spreadsheet to match up driver, motors, and power supply now - and this was the big stumbling block I had before I built my first CNC with the drive box kit. Thanks again - and no, there was no comatose state on this end.
Thanks for the valuable lesson. My motors have an inductance of 0.88mH and 2A which according to your calculator advises the PS of ~ 30v. Between a 24v / 36v power supply (6v difference), I got the 24v power supply due to the price / benefit.
That's one great video Peter, there is just so much to CNC then just loading gocde, it's really good how you share all different aspects of CNC, thanks for the great work.
Thanks Jat. As you say it isn't just pushing a button and out pops the finished project. There are so many different parts to this hobby that need to mastered when building your machine. The machine is a hobby in itself. Cheers Peter
This video should be shown to all novices into CNC as its foundation knowledge here will save so much grief its incredible, very well explained and as you say the early days dictate whether you stay or go :-) thanks a lot.
Thanks Bernie. It is such a complex hobby and builders have to master each part of it before they can begin to machine anything. Add to that the costs involved it is little wonder they try and save a few dollars along the way. Unfortunately the final result can put people off which is a real shame. I've been through all of this myself while learning about this hobby but if you don't give up and take the time to learn then you will succeed. Cheers Peter
A coworker told me about your youtube after I bought a CNC kit. Gotta say I sub'd for 7/10's the accent and 3/10's the info. However that 3/10's info is substantial! Love your channel! Keep up the good work!
Very well put together Peter, just amazes me how lucky I was with my with my stepper/driver/PSU selection when I built mine. 1000+ hours never missed a step (touch wood)
Thanks, great video! It's 2021 by now and even reputable companies like Ooznest only use 24V power supplies. Why? I would think the extra cost for a higher voltage power supply is not so much - considering the whole set for the machine.
Great stuff Peter, I starved my poor G540 for ages until I realised that it needed more voltage. Once I connected a 48V power supply it became a fast and capable machine. Really enjoy your videos, I wish you would turn your very analytical mind to rotary milling because a lot of people would benefit from that I am sure. Cheers Phill
I learn something new every video Peter, thank you! Although when you're new to CNC there is so much to learn and thats the fun. Seems that my motors which are rated at 3.5 amps and 6.4 mH of inductance = 80.9 volts is not a good match for the Gecko G540 I was thinking of getting.
Brilliantl video Peter, one of your best. Makes so much sense. I bought my kit from eBay several years ago not really knowing what I was doing. I built my own 24v PSU from two old PC power supplies wired in series Not recommened as it needs to isolated. I had a very small budget then. It's not the fastest machine but so far it's been very reliable on my Hot Wire CNC and my Openbuilds router. I just swap it over and using some modular wiring and run a different profile in Mach3 or LinuxCNC. I'm off to check mine now, to see if I can improve it. Thanks
In you example of the motors. One had high amps required /low voltage . The other was the opposite . If you could run both of those just fine with your driver , is one better over the other ? What advantages /disadvantages would one have over the other ?
GREAT video!!!!! I learned more in your 25 minute video then I have in a month reading different things. The way you broke it down so I could understand. Only 1 issue, when I download your spreadsheet it will not open says file is corrupt.
Hey Peter, maybe my problems inspired this video and my search for a new system? One of the power supplies was the problem so, I'm back up and running!!! Appreciated the help. You provide very good information for those of us rookies in the hobby. Thanks! - Mick
Peter I have been having a bad time with dropped steps. I am only running 24v thru the stepper drivers, which is max for the drivers. I need to upgrade the power supply and drivers the motors are NEMA 23 3.8 mH 4.2 A 420 in/oz. I am running regulated 24 v switching PS 15A. I was considering a toroidal transformer type unregulated PS, but looking at the spec sheet I saw that the voltage drops considerably under load. I am in a quandary about what to get. Got alot of money in this thing and want it to be accurate and reliable! I have talked to you on the Masso forum, I have a V3.
Hi Mike. You would need to contact me through the contact form on my website. I would need to see the specs of the PSU you are looking at. Cheers Peter
@@cncnutz I went with a www.automationtechnologiesinc.com/products-page/torroidal-power-supplies/unregulated-1300w-65vdc20a and the stepperonline DM860T drivers probably massive over kill but it runs really quiet now and has not been dropping steps.
Thanks, this has to be one of the more important videos I have watched and yet it seems many people are missing the boat as the video does not have many views. I was unsure how to match these components before and figured I would just buy a kit to make sure things were matched. Now looking at many kits I see that they are not well matched either.
Your onto it Garry. Many ebay kits are thrown together with what sounds like good motors and drives but in reality they are not. They run horrible so people then buy bigger motors because bigger is better and obviously the smaller motors were under powered. The new kit isn't any better and may even be worse. Sellers copy other sellers and provide bigger motors than their competitor so that they can get sale. I'm not saying the sellers are evil and I would be surprised if they even understand. It's us who should know better and be able to buy the kit or parts that give the best performance. I really recommend reading the documents on the Gecko website. They are a great source of knowledge. The lionks are on the page below. Cheers Peter www.cncnutz.com/2018/03/lets-talk-about-stepper-motors-episode.html
@@cncnutz Thanks again Peter for this video. I now feel that I can choose a kit or individual components that will work well together and perform at an acceptable level. I will also have a look at the link you provided.
Suddenly it went very quiet... Then I realised I was in a comatose state. 🤯 Heh, heh... Thanks for the information Peter, very handy to know and the spreadsheet is very useful.
Excellent video, BUT where the hell were you when I was building my machine a couple of years ago? I, naturally, tried to do everything as cheaply as possible and ended up buying everything 2 or 3 times. I tried to run first, 100, then 200 and finally, 400 oz/in steppers with 1.5 amp drivers and a 24v PS. Didn't work as well as I expected, given that you hadn't provided me with the necessary knowledge. All in all, I am quite disappointed in your performance in the past. Now that you have rectified your past failings, I will be placing a sizable order for appropriately matched components. The machine has been sitting in the corner of my workshop for about a year. It was so flaky that I got tired of ruining expensive wood. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your insight into the mysterious world of stepper motors. One question: What is a reasonable gauge of wire to use with these stepper motors? Thanks yet again, John
While you were struggling I was twiddling my neatly waxed moustache and laughing in a suitablely evil manner. I am of course now a reformed character and thoroughly repentant. 😀 With the right driver and PSU you could be up and running in no time. Cheers Peter
Nice explanation, Peter. Helped to keep my own experience and knowledge fresh. Did you consider that some PSU's of 48V can have a plus of 10% which brings it above the Gecko 540's permitted voltage? This was a consideration for me to use a 36V PSU and tune it up to about 41V to stay within the limits. At the time I wasn't sure if this 10% allowance would harm the Gecko and choose to stay on the safe side. My system runs perfect and is strong enough to do what I want it to do, so no problem. But a little bit extra power will never hurt. What's your opinion about that?
If it works that is the real test at the end of the day. I think most switch mode power supplies have an adjustment on them to allow you to set the correct voltage. According to Gecko G540 has over voltage and current protection built in so it should be ok. That said if what you have works why change it. Cheers Peter
So peter. I have my drivers and motors sized correctly however I am only putting a little over half the drivers capable amps to the motors. Is that stupid? Will it cause more heat or anything to bump it up to full power. Right now the machine seems happy so I don’t know what I will accomplish to increase the power to the motors
More current means more power and also more heat. If you machine is reliable and running as you want then I would leave it as it is. So long as you and the machines are happy then I don't see a problem. What is stupid is reducing the current to keep the motors cool and not having enough power to run the machine properly. That is clearly not the case with your setup. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Cheers Peter
Thanks Wayne I think a motion controller is good even better than a parallel port because it takes load of the pc but I don't like the USB ones. The ethernet controllers are the better option in my opinion. Ethernet has better noise immunity. Cheers Peter
Hello Peter, greetings from North Otago! This video came in handy being as I'm just thinking about purchasing motors. I accessed your spread sheet but it won't let me input any data - am I missing something here?
Hi Alan Greetings from the West Coast. Did you download the spreadsheet and open it in excell or did you open the spreadsheet directly in Dropbox because that won't work. You need to download the file. Cheers Peter
I have been following your videos for a long time Peter, I wish I haden´t seen this one though :-) This means my 4 Wantai 57BYGH115-003B will require a 96 volt PSU!!! Why do Wantai sell a kit on Ebay of those motors, containing 2 pcs. 36V PSU? and drivers with a maximum voltage of 50V. It will never work out. I have purchased a new PSU at 48V 16A, now I have to either get new drivers or stepper motors.
Sorry to hear that Jan but before getting replacement parts it may pay to try the combination you have. The new PSU is a good move and will improve the performance. It may be that the combination will work for you even though it is not the optimal setup. It is better than my original setup so it is worth trying. I suspect that the sellers make up the kits the way they do for the same reason we buy them. They are cheap, they don't know any difference and they sell. The reason I am using 270 ozin motors is because I had them and decided to use what I had then upgrade if I needed. It turned out that it works well as it is and you may find the same yourself. The 90 volts is a maximum so the motors will perform well at lower speeds which may be all you need with your setup. Hope it helps Cheers Peter
CNCnutz (Peter Passuello) Hi Peter. Thanks for cheering me up, I hope my current setup will work, I plan to give it a try within a few weeks, currently I'm building the control box. Cheers from the cold north (Denmark)
Hello Peter, hello from France. I'm an electrical technician, I have no trouble keeping up with you. Which gives me time to appreciate your pedagogical humor. I would have liked to have you as an English teacher as well.
Thank you Peter for giving us the codes to choose each link in the chain. I'm interested in CNCs, so I greatly appreciate your videos. I plan to make one in the near future with UCCNC.
Take care of you. Have a nice day!!
Thanks Philippe, I failed English at school, Bigley! 😁 Shakespeare has a lot to answer for. Hope Is all good with you over there. All the best.
Cheers Peter
I have been a ham radio operator since the early 1980's. Impedance is a big deal in radio wave transmission. The description of impedance given here is the best I have ever heard. Thanks, Peter.
Thanks Dave.
Yes, it was so much easier understand as we have all moved our hand back and forth in the water at various "frequencies" or was that oscillating?! Cheers, David.
Thanks, mate. It's one of the best and most useful tutorials that I've read related to stepper motors. Good JOB!!!
Thanks, glad it helps.
That's some great information Peter. This video should help a lot of people. Thanks.
Thanks Dave. I'm hoping it will encourage builders to look at what they buy to drive their machines and save them endless hours spent on Facebook asking the why am I loosing steps question.
Cheers
Peter
Peter, Thank you so very much for sharing this information. The spreadsheet is absolutely awesome and helped to confirm that the recommendation I received from my friend the electrical engineer was correct! Thank you so much for making and sharing these videos, they are very, very helpful! Cheers!
Thanks Nicholas
Glad it helped.
Cheers Peter
This video catapulted me into understanding how to best decide on what Steppers would be best suited on my new GarageWorX CNC. Then there was this awesome chat I had with a very gracious Kiwi that helped me seal the deal too! Peter Passuello, you are by far a blessing to the CNC community and I am grateful for you awesome efforts to educate us FNG's (Freakin' New Guys) and remain as patient as you are! Keep up the great and dynamic work sir!
Thanks Cory.
Thank you for this, Peter. I'm not electrically-minded at all, but you explained this subject in such a way that I think I understand it a lot better. I think that I could use this video and your spreadsheet to match up driver, motors, and power supply now - and this was the big stumbling block I had before I built my first CNC with the drive box kit. Thanks again - and no, there was no comatose state on this end.
Thanks Mark. Glad it helps.
Thank You Peter for making this stuff so much easier for that average electronic hack like myself so much easier to understand!!! Keep em coming!
Thanks Lyle
Thanks for the valuable lesson. My motors have an inductance of 0.88mH and 2A which according to your calculator advises the PS of ~ 30v. Between a 24v / 36v power supply (6v difference), I got the 24v power supply due to the price / benefit.
That's one great video Peter, there is just so much to CNC then just loading gocde, it's really good how you share all different aspects of CNC, thanks for the great work.
Thanks Jat. As you say it isn't just pushing a button and out pops the finished project. There are so many different parts to this hobby that need to mastered when building your machine. The machine is a hobby in itself.
Cheers
Peter
This video should be shown to all novices into CNC as its foundation knowledge here will save so much grief its incredible, very well explained and as you say the early days dictate whether you stay or go :-) thanks a lot.
Thanks Bernie. It is such a complex hobby and builders have to master each part of it before they can begin to machine anything. Add to that the costs involved it is little wonder they try and save a few dollars along the way. Unfortunately the final result can put people off which is a real shame. I've been through all of this myself while learning about this hobby but if you don't give up and take the time to learn then you will succeed.
Cheers
Peter
A coworker told me about your youtube after I bought a CNC kit. Gotta say I sub'd for 7/10's the accent and 3/10's the info. However that 3/10's info is substantial! Love your channel! Keep up the good work!
Thanks Mr BoJangles
It not what you say it's how you say it. 😉
Cheers
Peter
It’s been more than 40 years since I have had to deal with impedance (other than with purchases for the shed) so thanks for the refresher. Cheers
Let's hope it's another 40 before you need to think about it again.😉
Cheers
Peter
Very well put together Peter, just amazes me how lucky I was with my with my stepper/driver/PSU selection when I built mine. 1000+ hours never missed a step (touch wood)
Thanks den. You never regret buying a decent drive system for your machine. I just wish I had done the same when I start out
Cheers
Peter .
Thanks, great video! It's 2021 by now and even reputable companies like Ooznest only use 24V power supplies. Why? I would think the extra cost for a higher voltage power supply is not so much - considering the whole set for the machine.
Great stuff Peter, I starved my poor G540 for ages until I realised that it needed more voltage. Once I connected a 48V power supply it became a fast and capable machine. Really enjoy your videos, I wish you would turn your very analytical mind to rotary milling because a lot of people would benefit from that I am sure.
Cheers
Phill
Thanks for sharing your experience Phill. The G540 is a great drive for the home builder.
Cheers
Peter
Thanks for sharing your experience Phill. The G540 is a great drive for the home builder.
Cheers
Peter
I learn something new every video Peter, thank you! Although when you're new to CNC there is so much to learn and thats the fun. Seems that my motors which are rated at 3.5 amps and 6.4 mH of inductance = 80.9 volts is not a good match for the Gecko G540 I was thinking of getting.
Thanks Peter.... that's how voltage, current and resistance was explained to me in grade 11 by my physics teacher, many...many...many years ago.
Some things never change.
Brilliantl video Peter, one of your best. Makes so much sense. I bought my kit from eBay several years ago not really knowing what I was doing. I built my own 24v PSU from two old PC power supplies wired in series Not recommened as it needs to isolated. I had a very small budget then. It's not the fastest machine but so far it's been very reliable on my Hot Wire CNC and my Openbuilds router. I just swap it over and using some modular wiring and run a different profile in Mach3 or LinuxCNC. I'm off to check mine now, to see if I can improve it.
Thanks
Thanks Keith
Found the answer to wire gauge question. 20 gauge should work OK for 4 amp/48v and, luckily, that is what I have an abundance of.
Good one John. Was going to have a look when I get home from work but you beat me to it.
Cheers
Peter
In you example of the motors. One had high amps required /low voltage . The other was the opposite . If you could run both of those just fine with your driver , is one better over the other ? What advantages /disadvantages would one have over the other ?
GREAT video!!!!! I learned more in your 25 minute video then I have in a month reading different things. The way you broke it down so I could understand. Only 1 issue, when I download your spreadsheet it will not open says file is corrupt.
Hey Peter, maybe my problems inspired this video and my search for a new system? One of the power supplies was the problem so, I'm back up and running!!! Appreciated the help. You provide very good information for those of us rookies in the hobby. Thanks! - Mick
Thanks for the update Mick. Glad you got it working again.
Cheers
Peter
Peter I have been having a bad time with dropped steps. I am only running 24v thru the stepper drivers, which is max for the drivers. I need to upgrade the power supply and drivers the motors are NEMA 23 3.8 mH 4.2 A 420 in/oz. I am running regulated 24 v switching PS 15A. I was considering a toroidal transformer type unregulated PS, but looking at the spec sheet I saw that the voltage drops considerably under load. I am in a quandary about what to get. Got alot of money in this thing and want it to be accurate and reliable! I have talked to you on the Masso forum, I have a V3.
Hi Mike.
You would need to contact me through the contact form on my website. I would need to see the specs of the PSU you are looking at.
Cheers
Peter
@@cncnutz
I went with a www.automationtechnologiesinc.com/products-page/torroidal-power-supplies/unregulated-1300w-65vdc20a and the stepperonline DM860T drivers probably massive over kill but it runs really quiet now and has not been dropping steps.
Thanks, this has to be one of the more important videos I have watched and yet it seems many people are missing the boat as the video does not have many views. I was unsure how to match these components before and figured I would just buy a kit to make sure things were matched. Now looking at many kits I see that they are not well matched either.
Your onto it Garry.
Many ebay kits are thrown together with what sounds like good motors and drives but in reality they are not. They run horrible so people then buy bigger motors because bigger is better and obviously the smaller motors were under powered. The new kit isn't any better and may even be worse. Sellers copy other sellers and provide bigger motors than their competitor so that they can get sale. I'm not saying the sellers are evil and I would be surprised if they even understand. It's us who should know better and be able to buy the kit or parts that give the best performance.
I really recommend reading the documents on the Gecko website. They are a great source of knowledge. The lionks are on the page below.
Cheers Peter
www.cncnutz.com/2018/03/lets-talk-about-stepper-motors-episode.html
@@cncnutz Thanks again Peter for this video. I now feel that I can choose a kit or individual components that will work well together and perform at an acceptable level. I will also have a look at the link you provided.
Very well done and informative. Thanks for taking the time to make this video and the spreadsheet
Thanks Glen.
Suddenly it went very quiet... Then I realised I was in a comatose state. 🤯 Heh, heh... Thanks for the information Peter, very handy to know and the spreadsheet is very useful.
Thanks Fred.
Excellent video, BUT where the hell were you when I was building my machine a couple of years ago?
I, naturally, tried to do everything as cheaply as possible and ended up buying everything 2 or 3 times.
I tried to run first, 100, then 200 and finally, 400 oz/in steppers with 1.5 amp drivers and a 24v PS. Didn't work as well as I expected, given that you hadn't provided me with the necessary knowledge.
All in all, I am quite disappointed in your performance in the past.
Now that you have rectified your past failings, I will be placing a sizable order for appropriately matched components.
The machine has been sitting in the corner of my workshop for about a year. It was so flaky that I got tired of ruining expensive wood.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your insight into the mysterious world of stepper motors.
One question: What is a reasonable gauge of wire to use with these stepper motors?
Thanks yet again, John
While you were struggling I was twiddling my neatly waxed moustache and laughing in a suitablely evil manner. I am of course now a reformed character and thoroughly repentant. 😀
With the right driver and PSU you could be up and running in no time.
Cheers
Peter
Another highly informative video Peter, much appreciated
Thanks Tommy
It could be nice if someone could come up with linear stepper motors.
Very good video Peter, and thanks for all information, very usefull.
Thanks Jeison
Thanks you Peter, As always great presentation
Thanks Roger.
Thanks for the great video and clearing up a lot of questions I had.
Glad it helps.
Cheers
Peter
Very good video Peter, and thanks for all information.
Thank Geert
Nice explanation, Peter. Helped to keep my own experience and knowledge fresh. Did you consider that some PSU's of 48V can have a plus of 10% which brings it above the Gecko 540's permitted voltage? This was a consideration for me to use a 36V PSU and tune it up to about 41V to stay within the limits. At the time I wasn't sure if this 10% allowance would harm the Gecko and choose to stay on the safe side. My system runs perfect and is strong enough to do what I want it to do, so no problem. But a little bit extra power will never hurt. What's your opinion about that?
If it works that is the real test at the end of the day. I think most switch mode power supplies have an adjustment on them to allow you to set the correct voltage. According to Gecko G540 has over voltage and current protection built in so it should be ok. That said if what you have works why change it.
Cheers
Peter
Yeah, never change a winning team. So......keep those excellent videos coming, Peter. :-)
So peter. I have my drivers and motors sized correctly however I am only putting a little over half the drivers capable amps to the motors. Is that stupid? Will it cause more heat or anything to bump it up to full power. Right now the machine seems happy so I don’t know what I will accomplish to increase the power to the motors
More current means more power and also more heat. If you machine is reliable and running as you want then I would leave it as it is. So long as you and the machines are happy then I don't see a problem.
What is stupid is reducing the current to keep the motors cool and not having enough power to run the machine properly. That is clearly not the case with your setup. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Cheers
Peter
nice. im using 100oz nema 17. works good
Thank You, Peter! This has been very informative. What do you think about using USB drivers instead of printer port drivers?
Thank You Wayne
Thanks Wayne
I think a motion controller is good even better than a parallel port because it takes load of the pc but I don't like the USB ones. The ethernet controllers are the better option in my opinion. Ethernet has better noise immunity.
Cheers
Peter
Thank You, Peter
With the information you have given us. I"m going to check my router and see if it needs improved.
Thank You
Hello Peter, greetings from North Otago! This video came in handy being as I'm just thinking about purchasing motors. I accessed your spread sheet but it won't let me input any data - am I missing something here?
Hi Alan
Greetings from the West Coast.
Did you download the spreadsheet and open it in excell or did you open the spreadsheet directly in Dropbox because that won't work. You need to download the file.
Cheers
Peter
Haha yes, how did I miss that download button! Thanks Peter
I have been following your videos for a long time Peter, I wish I haden´t seen this one though :-) This means my 4 Wantai 57BYGH115-003B will require a 96 volt PSU!!! Why do Wantai sell a kit on Ebay of those motors, containing 2 pcs. 36V PSU? and drivers with a maximum voltage of 50V. It will never work out. I have purchased a new PSU at 48V 16A, now I have to either get new drivers or stepper motors.
Sorry to hear that Jan but before getting replacement parts it may pay to try the combination you have. The new PSU is a good move and will improve the performance. It may be that the combination will work for you even though it is not the optimal setup. It is better than my original setup so it is worth trying. I suspect that the sellers make up the kits the way they do for the same reason we buy them. They are cheap, they don't know any difference and they sell. The reason I am using 270 ozin motors is because I had them and decided to use what I had then upgrade if I needed. It turned out that it works well as it is and you may find the same yourself. The 90 volts is a maximum so the motors will perform well at lower speeds which may be all you need with your setup.
Hope it helps
Cheers
Peter
CNCnutz (Peter Passuello) Hi Peter. Thanks for cheering me up, I hope my current setup will work, I plan to give it a try within a few weeks, currently I'm building the control box. Cheers from the cold north (Denmark)
very good !! thank you so much
Well explained thanks Peter
Thanks Neil
rolf harris meets photonic induction