For anyone who is concerned with the loss of torque by disassembling their motors, don't be. This does NOT apply to the hybrid stepper motors that we use in our 3D printers. Here's a video that debunks this myth: th-cam.com/video/A4WZm45XJ84/w-d-xo.html
@m3chanist I took all 5 motors of my cnc steppers apart and removed the shafts and soldered better wire in. (4/18awg shielded. could have gone with smaller gauge wire but that's all I could get shielded at the time) what wire i did have was too short and a cable management nightmare because they were unbonded wires. There is no reason taking them apart would magically remove torque like fairies escaping a prison. if you got everything lined up right so it doesn't bind it will work the exact same. I had an issue with binding in a few so I had to take one of them apart up to 4 times to get things aligned right. they worked exactly as I bought them when finally reassembled. The drivers aren't even set at full current for them. 3 out of 4A for 2, 2A steppers. I didn't see any torque fairies escape, nor did I damage any windings.
Then you don't know anything about the precision alignment of magnetic domains. Unless you can extract the rotor while maintaining perfect alignment, ideally with a shielding shim slid between the rotor and stator at the same time, as a professional service jig does, you are going to lose torque. The fact that you can't just "see" it and have no way to measure that accurately doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Maybe you won't get electrocuted if you stick your tongue in a wall socket, you can't "see" the electricity right? Read Anthony Hammonds comment below.
@@m3chanist It's a self-aligning construction - to an extent - as long as the bearings are more or less made to the precise size, the spacers maintain alignment, regardless of how the shaft sits. Apropos bearings, they simply warp in use, so... there goes any assembly precision. The domains maintain as much alignment relative to each other as there was to begin with because they're all in one solid piece that you're not taking apart. The whole construction is engineered for fast and sloppy assembly which is no doubt the case if we're speaking of these $5 motors you get with the printers. Just give it a try, you can probably push the shaft in and out a tiny bit, and that's also the extent of assembly variation. You could connect one of these motors in virgin state to a potentiometer or rotary encoder and microstep it, you'll see that it's pretty uneven, and to the extent that it's usable, it's because multiple domains and coils are engaged at the same time, the alignment is actually pretty bad, it won't get any worse. You could look at what uStepper guys are doing.
Torque is not the problem. I just changed the shaft in a motor and spent the last hour trying to get the alignment right. I failed and gave up. I can't believe that he managed to get the glued-on modification in this video working because the tolerances are so tight.
I was following your instructions but I took my stepper motor apart and now I can't glue it back together because I can't print the stir stick, because my stepper motor is tore apart...
Why did you follow instructions before knowing what they did? Also, this isn't an upgrade, this is a mod to use an old stepper in a brand new printer. If your printer is already working, doing this will literally just make the leadscrew either too long or too short...?
My magnets came apart, and I had to do this twice. Make sure the N and S magnets are out of phase when you goue them back together. Also, I really had a tough time getting the glue to break and I scratched up the magnets a bit. It's performing fine, and since it was basically scrap, I'm happy I did it. Thanks for the tut.
Hey man, I love your channel. You show people how they can achieve so many DIY projects with just ordinary knowledge. You make the impossible look simple. You turn the 'black box' designs of items into a see-through part. I hope you will always keep on producing such interesting videos.
I just took my stepper motor apart about 4 times trying to fix it. I traced the problem to it's connector - it was wired wrong. Now it is working great. I am just proving the point that taking the stepper motor apart doesn't affect it's performance. The rumor about demagnetizing it is a bunch of BS. And thanks to Tech2C for great videos and designs. Keep them coming PLEASE!
I just checked my spare Nema 17 motor (brand new) and it spins freely. I think you should hook your motors up and see how they work. If you put them back together correctly they should work fine.
You may wish to understand how stepper motor works, and lots of superstitions will disappear. If it now works like a brushed motor, you might have destroyed some magnetic poles. For example, did you scratch the wires with hard (e.g. metal) tools? Did you looped the wires differently? Did any wire got broken, such as through bad soldering?
Thank you Tech2C for this video. I have been able to swap the lead screws in a couple of ANYCUBIC/Aliexpress integrated lead screw stepper motors. I used hot water to soften the adhesive and held the magnets in the wood-lined jaws of a vice rather than in multigrip/water pump pliers but otherwise the method was the same.
Thanks Tech2C! I have exactly the problem you had - ebay seller put two nema 17 with lead screws in a plastic bag with no padding whatsoever! God they must get some boomerangs. Some sellers put a bit of plastic pipe over the lead screws this is the smart way of doing things. I am going to build your Hypercube soon - you get really nice petg prints on yours! Love your channel mate! :)
he does..lol but a few notches down to earth.... dont get me wrong, I really like dave but his ego sometime wont fit in the same room as himself and the past couple of years he has gotten a hell of a swagger..I know he is super smart(way more than me) But this guy is relatable
Rather than using channel locks and vise grips and potentially messing something up, try submerging the end of the shaft with the rotor into a jar of acetone for a couple hours. It will most likely allow you to easily unscrew the rotor with little effort.
How's this mod holding up? I've found that those those super fast cure 2 part epoxies tend to be very brittle. The faster the curing, the more brittle it is. Curious if the heat and vibration has caused any issues for yah.
doing this with smooth rod could create a very interesting quadrap/ultimaker style mechanic driven directly by the motors, no belts connecting the motors and the turning rods. might just try it for my next build
Hopefully, reversing the order of the two plastic washers won't have adversely affected the operation of the motors... There now appears to be a gap between the lower ball bearing and the bearing seat - so once a load is put on the screw, you may find the motor doesn't rotate correctly. (edit: just checked and there was a gap to start with - so maybe it won't be a problem).
Good spotting. I recorded this video over 24 hours and forgot which plastic washer was the top/bottom. I'll crack it back open and swap them around. Cheers!
Fantastic tutorial, thank you so much. I've been eagerly waiting for this, ever since you mentioned it on a previous video. I didn't realise how simple it would be.
thanks buddy this is a great demonstration of how it all works in there. its easy to get threaded rods and stuff and motors but the motors with the threaded rods all cost more and all this sorta stuff and i just wanna be able to change em out. thanks dude i appreciate it
Loosing Torque by screwing with your stepper motor......I've been reading the comments and realizing now I've heard it all... Here's my experience.... I have disassembled modified and reassembled MANY steppers as I used to salvage them from printers, drives, copy machines.... The answer is, some did some didn't. I can't tell you which were more of a problem and which weren't but I have torn apart and successfully rebuilt- bipolar AND unipolar drives. Whatever I did to mess up some and not others is a mystery. I didn't start having problems until someone told me it was possible to screw them up and I started being careful. I would have sworn when he dropped it on the table to knock out the threaded rod it was done for, and again when he used them as refrigerator magnets.... I don't mess with them anymore. I have ruined maybe 1 out of 4 or 5??? Now I either take them as I get them out of other things or I buy them the way I need them. I've never found a way to "recover" one, but I have kept all the reassembled drives put together and in a good sized box in the hope I could fix them some day. I have swapped bearings in a couple of very expensive drives and when doing so didn't remove the magnets from the housings. I also have found banging on them seems to ruin most of them. I press out shafts and bearings. I did mess up one drive that I bought new and had a timing pulley already on it I had to remove. I was careful but firm when I drove it off by holding the pulley and hitting the spindle with a dead blow hammer and punch. It turned so smooth after that you couldn't feel the steps at all....
Have to take a look at the insides of a couple of steppers now. As my i3 uses 5x.50 threaded rod for it's z axis, I'm wondering if I can pull the 5mm smooth drive shaft out of one, and epoxy in a 5mm threaded rod in it's place. And yes, that's going to require validating that the 5mm threaded rod I consider check out as true first, and not be damaged in the process, but I was thinking of that as a given. Also going to have to come up with knurled grips of some sort to allow me to fine tune each axis independently. Perhaps a g2 drive pulley....
@Tech2C be honest with me... did this motor even run (let alone turn) after doing this? Steppers are built with such an incredible high tolerance. I attempted this with a NEMA 17 motor that I wanted a length of the screw sticking out of the top of the motor (for a knob). Using the same spec screw, I made the longer shaft & reassembled it. The shaft would not even turn in spite of going together very nicely with just the right amount of press-fit (or so it would seem). The original screw had a few radial serrations where it pressed into the stator. Apparently the lack of them in the replacement screw was enough to cause an issue. Once reassembled with the original screw, it did run after much messing around with it, but it just wasn't the same. Turning it by hand you could feel where it would 'catch' occasionally. This of course translated into lost steps when running. It also had much lower holding torque. So, in spite of a screw swap seeming to be a fairly straightforward modification, it just doesn't work unless you happen to be extremely lucky, or extremely skilled in stepper motor disassembly.
You can replace the screw with a larger diameter one, if you make sure the end of it, will fit through the motor hole. (but it will be harder to mount, if you need to glue it). You can do this, in a lathe, if required. It would also be nicer to break the glue bond chemically, instead of brute forcing it.
Is the flange on the back end of the motor adjustable for preloading the bearings? It looks like an adjustable part, the part with the two opposed small holes. Looks like you could use a spanner type wrench to adjust.
Hello, an question, What , Wich is the name of the white Plastic (meaby not an Slot Cell Insert), of the Stepper Motor? Min 0:06 , because i need to google it and find it, material? Is it a plastic inyection? Thanks
Do you know if any places sell just the rotor magnet so I can convert some motors I currently have? I only have one set of motors like this but I need more than that and I would rather not buy a whole motor if I dont have to.
Just did this on my old z motor but didn't use cardboard to protect the magnetic rotor. I will on the new one when I have to switch out the lead screw for a longer one. Good tip!
Hi. question. i know this is an old video... im working on building a printer, and i have motors id like to use for the z axis, but they are not the type that have the leadscrews integrated in the rotor, like these in the video... ive looked for replacement rotors that have an 8mm hole, to no avail.. am i able to drive out the 5mm shaft, and use lathe to open up the center hole, to 8mm? will this affect the torque of the motor, or mess with the magnetics? is this possible, to create integrated leadscrew rotors for these motors, by modifying the existing rotors?
Good tutorial! Thanks. My motor was sticking in one spot. I was able to open it up and clean out some accumulated dust and debris using this. It seems to be spinning smoothly now.
Actually two screwdrivers will do a great help in bearings removal. Just like a wing corkscrew) Force from one side makes an axial bias and produce a lot of friction.
Hi, nice video, do you think we can take a normal motor with standard axe and integrate a lead screw? to better and easier to buy a native motor with already integrate lead screw? thanks you
Good point. I'm using this motor on the Z axis which doesn't get hot. The epoxy I'm using was under $5 from the hardware store, but maybe a higher temp epoxy should be used (if it exists?)
A good grade epoxy like this will handle over 260C. household grades will handle 140C. Cheap crap is usually good to about 50C. www.jbweld.com/products/j-b-weld-twin-tube
Can I modify my 5mm shaft stepper motors by drilling it on a lathe to acommodate the 8mm shaft ? Same goes for the upper and lower bearings which would need to be machined to easily slot in 608zz bearings.
I'm planning to mount a motor in the middle of a smooth rod, to reduce a set of pulleys, so I would get a direct drive. I'm thinking of filing the rod to get better adhesion. Would regular two-part epoxy be good enough or should I use JB Weld?
My stepper motor lead screws are attached with a coupling , the shafts in all my stepper motor's are about 160 mm with a flat spot that the coupling attaches to then the lead screw just attaches to the coupling with a grub screw .... the coupling is meant to break in the event of a jam and with absorb a minor out of alignment .
i replaced the shaft in my nema14 guys and now they make horrible noises and vibrate differently when its at a certain angle. i wish i ran these things first before i changed the shaft. i think i may have damaged the teeth. it might have been when i had em in the vice and whacked on the rod to remove it.
Possibly a dumb question here, but in order to do this kind of a conversion, you have to have a lead screw stepper in the first place so the inner diameter is 8mm, this conversion is not possible with a 5mm shaft stepper correct?
I just did this to use longer lead screws for my hypercube and now the torque is now super low . It won't raise or lower the bed under load. Any recommendations? They each rotate freely unpowered.
I wouldn´t be concerned with loosing torque just from taking it apart and back again but if you do this be careful with the bearings and don´t pry them off with a screwdriver, there are tools that remove them without damaging them. Also get the washers right, they arent the same. I would also make sure you put the magnet on the same way as it was from the beginning ie. north and south.
Thank you very much ! The shaft on my motor was unglued for a unknown reason... I was wondering why my z-axis was always out of sync, then I realized that I can manually rotate the shaft of the motor (without feeling magnets), when the motor is supposed to be blocked.
Where do I get such a seppermotor, because your link for it is dead , because this opens a huge variety of possibilities🤔. There are printer constructions out there where they use two Nemas and e long shaft to move a gate with this you could place just a strong one in the center of the long shaft simplifying the construction a lot. 😏
I used your instructions, not the magnets are 2 parts glued together but mine came lose, now I have 2 halves :-( how is the alignments? just next to each other ?
Since this video yes I have. Boil a kettle and pour the boiling water into a jug. Wait a few minutes for the temp to drop to about 80c. Then plonk in the leadscrew+rotor magnet combo into the water. After a few minutes the rotor magnet comes away much easier. Just be careful with too much heat as it could demagnetise the rotor.
The seats for the bearings and shaft diameter are all the wrong size to just do it like this. If you were to grind down the lead screw section as long as the motor to the the 5mm size of the original shaft, you can do it, but i wouldn't know much about that - i suppose if you have a lathe... Or if you use a 5mm diameter lead screw, which seems like a spectacularly bad idea.
Next time, heat the shaft with heat gun on both sides beginning with short side and apply gentle rotating pressure. Use leather between component and channel locks and vice jaws. That way, you're not harming either component. The melting temperature of the glue is well bellow the temperatures needed to harm the magnet.
Hello , I needed to know if you as manufacturers of electric stepper motors, what materials in your sheets do you use? are: Do you laminate silicon steel sheets? (Yes: 5Fe)? other sheet metal materials? silicon sheet steel? SID-ELE1? And I don't know what thickness maybe? Thank you so much
I wonder if you could attach a nut to the rotor instead of the rod, for the motor to be part or the carriage being the one sliding up and down over a rod fixed to the frame. I think this may reduce the need to hace couplers to deal with the bend the rod may have when spinning: if the rod is fixed, then the only lateral movement to decouple wold be the one from the motor itself, but since the rod is fixed this shouldn't result on a wobble at the peace of one time per whole spin, but it would happen smoothly along the entire rod height. A spinning rod bent in the middle would transmit a wobble even to its base affecting the print quality from the very bottom up, while the same rod, when fixed, shouldn't affect the print quality but perhaps up to the height in which the bend becomes noticeable, and then the strain over a coupler for the motor would be negligible since the period of wobbling would be just one per a displacement over the entire rod. Does this makes sense?
lots of comments about using heat to take the rotor off the shaft. too much heat will damage the magnets, stick with hot water. also if you do not use a high temperature epoxy then this will fail when if ever your stepper gets really hot. The ball screw I used when trying this was 0.001 in. smaller that the shaft the stepper came with. additionally the shaft had crimp marks on it possibly to make the bearings and rotor snug and centered. I was not able to recreate this crimping perfectly. my rotor rubbed on the stator because it was not centered perfectly. I put it on my lathe with a high speed grinder and straightened the rotor enough for it to work. However I have to think this will not function 100%
I've got my parts for the frame coming in the mail, going with black extrusion and painting the brackets blue. Cant wait. But Banggood takes over a month to ship to the US, so..
Stick with a standard nematode 17 and coupler. That way you can change lead screws easier and if you want to go longer it’s also a good idea to increase the diameter. No need for a new stepper motor
Smooth rod coming out of the motor to drive an axis using 3 808 bearings at 23.5 deg angle in a aluminum frame. This concept is used in larger scale cnc machines, wherein large long lead screw setup's would be impractical.
+Dan Fouke Which large scale CNC machine are you referring to? Can you specify the manufacturer? I can't imagine any CNC machine costing several hundreds of thousands of dollars would rely on nothing but friction to maintain it's accuracy. That just doesn't make sense to me.
+Dan Fouke I know what its called but you're not answering my question. Which "large scale CNC machine" (your words) were you referring to in your original post.
+Dan Fouke I can read fine Dan. How about you stop being so cryptic and give me a link I can look at. I googled "Henry heavy lathe" and nothing came up. Is Henry the brand of the lathe?...cause it's not showing up in a search. I'm really curious about this lathe with thread less ball screws you're talking about. Don't leave me hangin Dan.
Hi, I suggest heating the magnet and lead screw to about 200*C to break down the glue bond. this works great for both epoxy and super glue. I do not feel that at this temperature the magnetism of the magnet would alter
Heat could be a problem for a magnet as the magnetic domains may disorient. This depends on the metal, which I've seen first hand neodynium magnets lose their magnetism inside RC Car motors when overheated to 180c+. I'm not sure what material these magnets are in the steppers but 200c sounds quite high. I guess these steppers are cheap enough to experiment with.
Long lead screws are a problem with high speeds. Bent or not. a long lead screw starts to wobble. The solution is to turn the nut with the stepper motor instead of using it to turn the screw.
Very interesting and straightforward video. I don't wish to be alarmist, but I have always been told not to disassemble a stepper motor, as the rotor will partially de-magnetize and the motor will not produce the rated torque ever again. I do not know this to be fact, so I will just throw that out as a caveat. This has the potential to fall into "wives tale" territory, so maybe someone with actual knowledge on the subject can weigh in. Perhaps some rough testing of torque between modified and non-modified motors might be useful. I have tested torque using an inch-pound torque wrench on a suitable nut (actually two nuts jammed together) with the motors energized to measure roughly the stall torque. This would be an easy test to compare two motors to see if any substantial deterioration occurs because of disassembly, and could put the issue to rest. But please do not consider this a criticism- I found the video very instructive and applicable to my current situation.
These stepper motors are just brushless motors. I don't understand how disassembling them can "demagnetize". A magnet will demagnetize with heat. Either way the modified motor I'm using for my Z axis is working superbly. Cheers :)
Try to google it, devers6 is unfortunately right. It is something about the rotor gets magnetized after installation and you short it when you dis-/assemble it. I did it my self on one of my extruder motors and whey also work fine, so i dont really know how bad the de-magnetizing is.
Jesper Juul Thank you for the reminder - sometimes I forget Google is there. Here is the result that meant the most to me, from legendary Marriss Freimanis of Geckodrive fame: This topic came up in another group. The stator acts as a magnetic "keeper" for the rotor. Nothing like running an experiment to know if something is true or not. I had a motor I didn't care for (MO62-FD04), so I ran dyno tests on it that showed 112 in-oz low-speed torque. I removed the rotor for 5 seconds, then replaced it and re-ran the dyno test. The low-speed torque now was 70 in-oz, or only 62% of what it was before disassemby. You may not notice the loss in torque but it is real and it is there. Mariss Now, here are the "grains of salt" I take away from this discussion: 1) These motors are low-end Cheap Chinese clones, not high-performance optimized systems. I suspect any deterioration would be minimal. 2) The application is 3D printing, which is much less torque-dependent than CNC. The market has been characterized by a race to the bottom in both mechanics and electronics, so I doubt there would be a noticeable drop off in performance. 3) I think the advantages to be gained by replacing lead screws with different threadforms, pitches, lengths, and materials far outweigh whatever electronic performance reduction might occur. So I fully intend to try out these techniques if the need arises; just doing so with my eyes wide open.
devers6 Wouldn't the possible speed of the motor also be reduced. Since there would be less torque that could be converted to speed. I could see the speed reduction being noticeable in 3d printing.
Thank you for the clear instruction. It is good to learn new things. However,, I use Flashforge Creator, and I've been having problem with bent lead screw too. I tried to replace the lead screw, but it's impossible. I chipped both the lead screw and the magnet pretty bad, and they are still not separated. I just have to get the new motor. This could have saved me like $90. Just didn't work for me. So, I gotta say, "Do it at your own risk. if you own flashforge, don't."
Wonderfull, i love the style of this Video, had some good loughs. So if i want to build my HC with 200mm Z Hight, i ll need the 400mm Leadscrew? So i will need 400mm Extrusions for the Z Axis, 390mm Smooth rods, and a 400mm Lead screw? Btw wouldnt the build still profit of a dual Z Motor setup?
I have heard and read that the motor gets degraded/loses torque if you take a stepper motor apart like this. Have you noticed anything like this with these mods?
I don't remember the specifics but it had something to do with the magnets in the rotor, how the field changed if you took them out of the housing. I don't see a reason for it to lose torque but since I've seen/heard several people claim it, I thought this was a golden opportunity to see if there was any difference.
Another situation that could have an effect would be if someone attempted to use heat to break down the epoxy or adhesive. That might alter the strength of the magnets. It wouldn't surprise me if many people using just force to break the adhesive did end up cracking the rotor in some way or another altering its magnetic pattern, but I'm getting the impression that the original post was about simply pulling the rotor from the motor, and that seems to me to be less likely. Another situation might be if the stepper was using some sort of a cluster of magnets in it's shell to provide directional effects to give a stronger field for stepping, something like that _might_ as a result be concerned with the orientation of the rotor as it's removed compared to how it's inserted, so someone deciding to change what side the drive shaft came out of by flipping it around _might_ see some degradation that way, but in any case I'd be far more concerned with the possibility of cracking or causing shock damage to the rotor than simply pulling it out and putting it back in.
Firstly, how does your stepper motor know that you have taken it apart? The only thing that can be demagnetised is the magnet with fingers. Nope, not if you take it apart and put it back in a room you can work (unless you were an alien who live beyond the magnet's Curie temperature). Another thing is the copper wires - be careful don't scratch them with metal tools, they are coated. There is *no* circuit in stepper motors. Secondly, even if that were the case (it isn't), stepper motor should be doing their job as well as they possibly can if your extruder can reach any precise position. Why do you want to waste more torque than needed?
What I read on a motor-manufacturers site was that if the motor isn't assembled with the rotor exactly concentric between the stator pole pieces, that's the cause of lack of torque. They use a special jig in the factory allegedly. When I do it, I'm just happy to get it so it isn't scraping.
Dear Tech2C, just for the sake of using correct terms: the 2K epoxy resin is not "drying". It is "set". You know, glues with a volatile solvent, they are drying: the solvent evaporates, and what remains is the gluing agent between the two parts to be glued. Epoxy resins are so-called thermosetting polymers, hence they will set or cure, not dry. Keep up posting!
Use Heat to make the glue tacky before removing shaft (warning excessive head will lower the strength of your magnet, so don't go insane heating it up) I'm sure someone will have already said this, but just hope to make the comment more visible.
I did just this a few weeks ago with another step motor. I boiled some water, poured it into a tempered glass jug, waited a few minutes for temps to reduce a bit, then plonked in the rotor. After a few minutes submerged the rotor came away from the threaded rod by hand. Too simple!
Ehhh.... "Soak in acetone for 12 hours before trying to twist your rotor magnet off the rod" is missing from this video. Damaging that rotor magnet in any way is going to be at least as bad as having a bent rod. Acetone can weaken epoxy, if only very slightly, which can save yourself some headache. It might be worth while to experiment with some different solvents, but I do see that might only have limited results.
Solvents are great, but don't count on most machines just being glued together. Heat is the ultimate cheap and versatile tool. I've repaired my own car's manual transmission and those bearings and gears were not glued, they were interference fit. Mechanics use pullers, presses and propane out of necessity and they're safer than brute force. Fittings expand slightly with heat and become easier to install and remove. It also softens most epoxies. Getting parts too hot can demagnetize them (curie point), mess up the temper of steel (>300F) or melt plastic (this varies), but freezing one piece while heating another is a way to get around that. Just avoid heating or cooling areas of one part too unevenly or it can shatter or warp. It's not that heating things is ever a bad idea, it's just that the easiest approach to doing something really difficult can still be a pain. It's also harder if the wrong heat source is used. A propane torch is a fast heater (bordering on overkill), but an electric heat gun is usually better and less likely to do damage. The moderate way of cooling something is air or water, and more extreme cooling involves refrigeration or canned air (which may be flammable).
@@edism Yeah, Neodymium magnets can't handle much heat before demagnetizing. But, a lot of other kinds can handle more. It really shouldn't take high temps, though. Some metals expand a lot when moderately heated.
I found I couldn't get enough grip without damaging the teeth, so I sat the cog thing on top of a vice with the diddle thing pointing down & hit it with a hammer. Bang! Came out. The motor I have has internal teeth that resist turning
For anyone who is concerned with the loss of torque by disassembling their motors, don't be. This does NOT apply to the hybrid stepper motors that we use in our 3D printers.
Here's a video that debunks this myth: th-cam.com/video/A4WZm45XJ84/w-d-xo.html
debunks my arse. Do you even understand what you just watched?
@m3chanist
I took all 5 motors of my cnc steppers apart and removed the shafts and soldered better wire in. (4/18awg shielded. could have gone with smaller gauge wire but that's all I could get shielded at the time) what wire i did have was too short and a cable management nightmare because they were unbonded wires.
There is no reason taking them apart would magically remove torque like fairies escaping a prison. if you got everything lined up right so it doesn't bind it will work the exact same.
I had an issue with binding in a few so I had to take one of them apart up to 4 times to get things aligned right. they worked exactly as I bought them when finally reassembled.
The drivers aren't even set at full current for them. 3 out of 4A for 2, 2A steppers.
I didn't see any torque fairies escape, nor did I damage any windings.
Then you don't know anything about the precision alignment of magnetic domains. Unless you can extract the rotor while maintaining perfect alignment, ideally with a shielding shim slid between the rotor and stator at the same time, as a professional service jig does, you are going to lose torque. The fact that you can't just "see" it and have no way to measure that accurately doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Maybe you won't get electrocuted if you stick your tongue in a wall socket, you can't "see" the electricity right? Read Anthony Hammonds comment below.
@@m3chanist It's a self-aligning construction - to an extent - as long as the bearings are more or less made to the precise size, the spacers maintain alignment, regardless of how the shaft sits. Apropos bearings, they simply warp in use, so... there goes any assembly precision. The domains maintain as much alignment relative to each other as there was to begin with because they're all in one solid piece that you're not taking apart. The whole construction is engineered for fast and sloppy assembly which is no doubt the case if we're speaking of these $5 motors you get with the printers. Just give it a try, you can probably push the shaft in and out a tiny bit, and that's also the extent of assembly variation.
You could connect one of these motors in virgin state to a potentiometer or rotary encoder and microstep it, you'll see that it's pretty uneven, and to the extent that it's usable, it's because multiple domains and coils are engaged at the same time, the alignment is actually pretty bad, it won't get any worse. You could look at what uStepper guys are doing.
Torque is not the problem. I just changed the shaft in a motor and spent the last hour trying to get the alignment right. I failed and gave up. I can't believe that he managed to get the glued-on modification in this video working because the tolerances are so tight.
I was following your instructions but I took my stepper motor apart and now I can't glue it back together because I can't print the stir stick, because my stepper motor is tore apart...
Gear Down For What? Use your tongue.
iWinRar Use your tongue to eat a popsicle, from which you can obtain a stick. :D
Why did you follow instructions before knowing what they did? Also, this isn't an upgrade, this is a mod to use an old stepper in a brand new printer. If your printer is already working, doing this will literally just make the leadscrew either too long or too short...?
Someone obviously didn't get the joke.
You got off lucky m8, followed instructions now my dick stuck in the z axis carriage
My magnets came apart, and I had to do this twice. Make sure the N and S magnets are out of phase when you goue them back together. Also, I really had a tough time getting the glue to break and I scratched up the magnets a bit. It's performing fine, and since it was basically scrap, I'm happy I did it. Thanks for the tut.
Hey man, I love your channel. You show people how they can achieve so many DIY projects with just ordinary knowledge. You make the impossible look simple. You turn the 'black box' designs of items into a see-through part. I hope you will always keep on producing such interesting videos.
I just took my stepper motor apart about 4 times trying to fix it. I traced the problem to it's connector - it was wired wrong. Now it is working great.
I am just proving the point that taking the stepper motor apart doesn't affect it's performance. The rumor about demagnetizing it is a bunch of BS.
And thanks to Tech2C for great videos and designs. Keep them coming PLEASE!
I just checked my spare Nema 17 motor (brand new) and it spins freely. I think you should hook your motors up and see how they work. If you put them back together correctly they should work fine.
You may wish to understand how stepper motor works, and lots of superstitions will disappear. If it now works like a brushed motor, you might have destroyed some magnetic poles. For example, did you scratch the wires with hard (e.g. metal) tools? Did you looped the wires differently? Did any wire got broken, such as through bad soldering?
Thank you Tech2C for this video. I have been able to swap the lead screws in a couple of ANYCUBIC/Aliexpress integrated lead screw stepper motors. I used hot water to soften the adhesive and held the magnets in the wood-lined jaws of a vice rather than in multigrip/water pump pliers but otherwise the method was the same.
Thanks Tech2C! I have exactly the problem you had - ebay seller put two nema 17 with lead screws in a plastic bag with no padding whatsoever! God they must get some boomerangs.
Some sellers put a bit of plastic pipe over the lead screws this is the smart way of doing things.
I am going to build your Hypercube soon - you get really nice petg prints on yours!
Love your channel mate! :)
You sound very similar to Dave from EEVblog
Laser Lens He also sounds like Shirl from Shyhooks. RIP
Yeh
he does..lol but a few notches down to earth.... dont get me wrong, I really like dave but his ego sometime wont fit in the same room as himself and the past couple of years he has gotten a hell of a swagger..I know he is super smart(way more than me) But this guy is relatable
Rather than using channel locks and vise grips and potentially messing something up, try submerging the end of the shaft with the rotor into a jar of acetone for a couple hours.
It will most likely allow you to easily unscrew the rotor with little effort.
I am now just thinking would there be a benefit to having a second motor on the same lead, like adding torque to the top and bottom of the Z axis?
Could be
maybe more accurracy in that axis
maybe more accurracy in that axis
How's this mod holding up? I've found that those those super fast cure 2 part epoxies tend to be very brittle. The faster the curing, the more brittle it is. Curious if the heat and vibration has caused any issues for yah.
doing this with smooth rod could create a very interesting quadrap/ultimaker style mechanic driven directly by the motors, no belts connecting the motors and the turning rods. might just try it for my next build
Hopefully, reversing the order of the two plastic washers won't have adversely affected the operation of the motors... There now appears to be a gap between the lower ball bearing and the bearing seat - so once a load is put on the screw, you may find the motor doesn't rotate correctly. (edit: just checked and there was a gap to start with - so maybe it won't be a problem).
Good spotting. I recorded this video over 24 hours and forgot which plastic washer was the top/bottom. I'll crack it back open and swap them around. Cheers!
Fantastic tutorial, thank you so much.
I've been eagerly waiting for this, ever since you mentioned it on a previous video.
I didn't realise how simple it would be.
Cheers Spike. Easy and useful.
Very, very useful indeed.
thanks buddy this is a great demonstration of how it all works in there. its easy to get threaded rods and stuff and motors but the motors with the threaded rods all cost more and all this sorta stuff and i just wanna be able to change em out. thanks dude i appreciate it
Loosing Torque by screwing with your stepper motor......I've been reading the comments and realizing now I've heard it all...
Here's my experience....
I have disassembled modified and reassembled MANY steppers as I used to salvage them from printers, drives, copy machines....
The answer is, some did some didn't.
I can't tell you which were more of a problem and which weren't but I have torn apart and successfully rebuilt- bipolar AND unipolar drives. Whatever I did to mess up some and not others is a mystery.
I didn't start having problems until someone told me it was possible to screw them up and I started being careful.
I would have sworn when he dropped it on the table to knock out the threaded rod it was done for, and again when he used them as refrigerator magnets....
I don't mess with them anymore.
I have ruined maybe 1 out of 4 or 5???
Now I either take them as I get them out of other things or I buy them the way I need them.
I've never found a way to "recover" one, but I have kept all the reassembled drives put together and in a good sized box in the hope I could fix them some day.
I have swapped bearings in a couple of very expensive drives and when doing so didn't remove the magnets from the housings.
I also have found banging on them seems to ruin most of them.
I press out shafts and bearings.
I did mess up one drive that I bought new and had a timing pulley already on it I had to remove.
I was careful but firm when I drove it off by holding the pulley and hitting the spindle with a dead blow hammer and punch.
It turned so smooth after that you couldn't feel the steps at all....
Have to take a look at the insides of a couple of steppers now. As my i3 uses 5x.50 threaded rod for it's z axis, I'm wondering if I can pull the 5mm smooth drive shaft out of one, and epoxy in a 5mm threaded rod in it's place. And yes, that's going to require validating that the 5mm threaded rod I consider check out as true first, and not be damaged in the process, but I was thinking of that as a given. Also going to have to come up with knurled grips of some sort to allow me to fine tune each axis independently. Perhaps a g2 drive pulley....
@Tech2C be honest with me... did this motor even run (let alone turn) after doing this? Steppers are built with such an incredible high tolerance. I attempted this with a NEMA 17 motor that I wanted a length of the screw sticking out of the top of the motor (for a knob). Using the same spec screw, I made the longer shaft & reassembled it. The shaft would not even turn in spite of going together very nicely with just the right amount of press-fit (or so it would seem). The original screw had a few radial serrations where it pressed into the stator. Apparently the lack of them in the replacement screw was enough to cause an issue. Once reassembled with the original screw, it did run after much messing around with it, but it just wasn't the same. Turning it by hand you could feel where it would 'catch' occasionally. This of course translated into lost steps when running. It also had much lower holding torque. So, in spite of a screw swap seeming to be a fairly straightforward modification, it just doesn't work unless you happen to be extremely lucky, or extremely skilled in stepper motor disassembly.
You can replace the screw with a larger diameter one, if you make sure the end of it, will fit through the motor hole. (but it will be harder to mount, if you need to glue it).
You can do this, in a lathe, if required.
It would also be nicer to break the glue bond chemically, instead of brute forcing it.
Is the flange on the back end of the motor adjustable for preloading the bearings? It looks like an adjustable part, the part with the two opposed small holes. Looks like you could use a spanner type wrench to adjust.
Hello, an question, What , Wich is the name of the white Plastic (meaby not an Slot Cell Insert), of the Stepper Motor? Min 0:06 , because i need to google it and find it, material? Is it a plastic inyection? Thanks
Do you know if any places sell just the rotor magnet so I can convert some motors I currently have? I only have one set of motors like this but I need more than that and I would rather not buy a whole motor if I dont have to.
Just did this on my old z motor but didn't use cardboard to protect the magnetic rotor. I will on the new one when I have to switch out the lead screw for a longer one. Good tip!
Is the bearing inside a 698zz bearing?
Hi. question. i know this is an old video... im working on building a printer, and i have motors id like to use for the z axis, but they are not the type that have the leadscrews integrated in the rotor, like these in the video... ive looked for replacement rotors that have an 8mm hole, to no avail.. am i able to drive out the 5mm shaft, and use lathe to open up the center hole, to 8mm? will this affect the torque of the motor, or mess with the magnetics? is this possible, to create integrated leadscrew rotors for these motors, by modifying the existing rotors?
Does the rotor magnet have to go back in the same way you took it out.
Good tutorial! Thanks. My motor was sticking in one spot. I was able to open it up and clean out some accumulated dust and debris using this. It seems to be spinning smoothly now.
Actually two screwdrivers will do a great help in bearings removal. Just like a wing corkscrew) Force from one side makes an axial bias and produce a lot of friction.
Hi, nice video, do you think we can take a normal motor with standard axe and integrate a lead screw? to better and easier to buy a native motor with already integrate lead screw? thanks you
Have you found that the epoxy softens as the motor heats up?
Good point. I'm using this motor on the Z axis which doesn't get hot. The epoxy I'm using was under $5 from the hardware store, but maybe a higher temp epoxy should be used (if it exists?)
A good grade epoxy like this will handle over 260C. household grades will handle 140C. Cheap crap is usually good to about 50C.
www.jbweld.com/products/j-b-weld-twin-tube
Can I modify my 5mm shaft stepper motors by drilling it on a lathe to acommodate the 8mm shaft ? Same goes for the upper and lower bearings which would need to be machined to easily slot in 608zz bearings.
if you have a lathe, why not just turn down the end of the screw?
nice video! did you happen to get any insights into the machineability of the rotor? ie, could it be machined? bored out? Drilled out?
I'm planning to mount a motor in the middle of a smooth rod, to reduce a set of pulleys, so I would get a direct drive. I'm thinking of filing the rod to get better adhesion. Would regular two-part epoxy be good enough or should I use JB Weld?
After seeing this I have ordered some SFU1204 ball screws with custom machining to fit my steppers. Wish me luck :)
Oh yeah, a ball screw would be the ultimate! Good luck!
My stepper motor lead screws are attached with a coupling , the shafts in all my stepper motor's are about 160 mm with a flat spot that the coupling attaches to then the lead screw just attaches to the coupling with a grub screw .... the coupling is meant to break in the event of a jam and with absorb a minor out of alignment .
i replaced the shaft in my nema14 guys and now they make horrible noises and vibrate differently when its at a certain angle. i wish i ran these things first before i changed the shaft. i think i may have damaged the teeth. it might have been when i had em in the vice and whacked on the rod to remove it.
Have you printed a threadless leadscrew nut for your smooth rod stepper yet?
Possibly a dumb question here, but in order to do this kind of a conversion, you have to have a lead screw stepper in the first place so the inner diameter is 8mm, this conversion is not possible with a 5mm shaft stepper correct?
Yeah that's right, you can only replace the shaft with another of the same diameter.
I just did this to use longer lead screws for my hypercube and now the torque is now super low . It won't raise or lower the bed under load. Any recommendations? They each rotate freely unpowered.
You may have inadvertently flipped the rotor *or* you may have put the thing back in off-center.
What size bearings are found for that, I'm presuming 8mm Acme lead screw?
I wouldn´t be concerned with loosing torque just from taking it apart and back again but if you do this be careful with the bearings and don´t pry them off with a screwdriver, there are tools that remove them without damaging them. Also get the washers right, they arent the same. I would also make sure you put the magnet on the same way as it was from the beginning ie. north and south.
Thank you very much ! The shaft on my motor was unglued for a unknown reason... I was wondering why my z-axis was always out of sync, then I realized that I can manually rotate the shaft of the motor (without feeling magnets), when the motor is supposed to be blocked.
Best to align the magnet on the threaded rod before the glue sets or your rod at the opposite end will wobble
Where do I get such a seppermotor, because your link for it is dead , because this opens a huge variety of possibilities🤔. There are printer constructions out there where they use two Nemas and e long shaft to move a gate with this you could place just a strong one in the center of the long shaft simplifying the construction a lot. 😏
I used your instructions, not the magnets are 2 parts glued together but mine came lose, now I have 2 halves :-(
how is the alignments? just next to each other ?
Would like to add. Clean rod & inside magnet with acetone before reglueing. And a question: Does it matter what side of the magnet goes on first?
Yes, that very much matters. It all needs to go back in the way it came out.
my stator just separated into a bunch of pieces, i don't get why
Instead of mutigrips, I would recommend a strap wrench. Perhaps apply a little heat to the glue joint. Cheers.
I think you swapped positions of the washers and one is thicker than the other.
Did you slow down the printer to make that stick?, I thought you print faster than that.
The printer can print way faster, but the PETG filament can't keep up.
Have you tried heat to weaken the epoxy first?
Since this video yes I have. Boil a kettle and pour the boiling water into a jug. Wait a few minutes for the temp to drop to about 80c. Then plonk in the leadscrew+rotor magnet combo into the water. After a few minutes the rotor magnet comes away much easier. Just be careful with too much heat as it could demagnetise the rotor.
Would it be possible to convert a stepper without leadscrew to one with?
The seats for the bearings and shaft diameter are all the wrong size to just do it like this. If you were to grind down the lead screw section as long as the motor to the the 5mm size of the original shaft, you can do it, but i wouldn't know much about that - i suppose if you have a lathe...
Or if you use a 5mm diameter lead screw, which seems like a spectacularly bad idea.
Next time, heat the shaft with heat gun on both sides beginning with short side and apply gentle rotating pressure. Use leather between component and channel locks and vice jaws. That way, you're not harming either component. The melting temperature of the glue is well bellow the temperatures needed to harm the magnet.
Hello , I needed to know if you as manufacturers of electric stepper motors, what materials in your sheets do you use? are:
Do you laminate silicon steel sheets? (Yes: 5Fe)?
other sheet metal materials?
silicon sheet steel?
SID-ELE1?
And I don't know what thickness maybe?
Thank you so much
Can i change the shaft from 5mm to 8mm?
Hi! would have loved to see it working in the end. Did it still work?
I wonder if you could attach a nut to the rotor instead of the rod, for the motor to be part or the carriage being the one sliding up and down over a rod fixed to the frame. I think this may reduce the need to hace couplers to deal with the bend the rod may have when spinning: if the rod is fixed, then the only lateral movement to decouple wold be the one from the motor itself, but since the rod is fixed this shouldn't result on a wobble at the peace of one time per whole spin, but it would happen smoothly along the entire rod height. A spinning rod bent in the middle would transmit a wobble even to its base affecting the print quality from the very bottom up, while the same rod, when fixed, shouldn't affect the print quality but perhaps up to the height in which the bend becomes noticeable, and then the strain over a coupler for the motor would be negligible since the period of wobbling would be just one per a displacement over the entire rod.
Does this makes sense?
they exist as commercial products, so yeah.
You switch the washers around? Could this effect the motor?
Original 4:00 After 11:28
thank you. did just put a 500mm long steel shaft 5mm thick in one. stuck with red lockite, works great.
lots of comments about using heat to take the rotor off the shaft. too much heat will damage the magnets, stick with hot water. also if you do not use a high temperature epoxy then this will fail when if ever your stepper gets really hot. The ball screw I used when trying this was 0.001 in. smaller that the shaft the stepper came with. additionally the shaft had crimp marks on it possibly to make the bearings and rotor snug and centered. I was not able to recreate this crimping perfectly. my rotor rubbed on the stator because it was not centered perfectly. I put it on my lathe with a high speed grinder and straightened the rotor enough for it to work. However I have to think this will not function 100%
A smoothrod in a stepper motor can be used for a ultimaker style printer, this removes the need of a belts
Bingo! I was thinking of the Ultimaker as well...
Tech2C well i own a ultimaker v1 myself and i know that such a upgrade would increase my accuracy.
how can run this motor without driver. i am use this motor for another project. so how can run only in power supply 12v in
Did int even know you can change those... Always just assumed they were welded in place or something... Good to know...
Is it possible to spin the leadscrew manually when the leadscrew is in the motor ? I mean spin it with your hand. Thank you for your video
Unless you're really weak then yes you can turn it.
I've got my parts for the frame coming in the mail, going with black extrusion and painting the brackets blue. Cant wait. But Banggood takes over a month to ship to the US, so..
It seems like you are having a bit more fun with editing your videos. :P
Haha, yeah I bought a new camera and have been watching too many Casey Neistat videos... :)
Tech2C Ah, well keep improving your videos. :)
Tech2C You are better than Casey, you do not need to imitate his background music style... Anyway, great video, thanks!
kraklakvakve
Thanks for the kind words! Cheers!
In answer your question; call the smooth shaft a drive shaft. Now what could we do with that?
Couldn't you use a solvent for the original epoxy?
Maybe. This method seemed faster. For larger rotors a solvent might be the only choice.
Could you tell what kind of glue they used from the factory?
Always note the thickness of your SPACER WASHERS,they center the rotor to the field windings.
he reversed his on reassembly.
Good eye, yes he did!
Stick with a standard nematode 17 and coupler. That way you can change lead screws easier and if you want to go longer it’s also a good idea to increase the diameter. No need for a new stepper motor
So was the better leadscrew you replaced it with from banggood?
Yes
I've been nervous about ordering long stuff from banggood - I keep thinking it will get bent in the mail
did you test the motor yet?
This was the second motor I modified. The first one is working on my Z axis, which you saw in the Build Log #12 video ;)
Smooth rod coming out of the motor to drive an axis using 3 808 bearings at 23.5 deg angle in a aluminum frame. This concept is used in larger scale cnc machines, wherein large long lead screw setup's would be impractical.
+Dan Fouke Which large scale CNC machine are you referring to? Can you specify the manufacturer?
I can't imagine any CNC machine costing several hundreds of thousands of dollars would rely on nothing but friction to maintain it's accuracy. That just doesn't make sense to me.
It is called a thread less ball screw and my henry heavy lathe has it
+Dan Fouke I know what its called but you're not answering my question. Which "large scale CNC machine" (your words) were you referring to in your original post.
Please learn to read comments like my last one before posting.
+Dan Fouke I can read fine Dan. How about you stop being so cryptic and give me a link I can look at. I googled "Henry heavy lathe" and nothing came up. Is Henry the brand of the lathe?...cause it's not showing up in a search. I'm really curious about this lathe with thread less ball screws you're talking about. Don't leave me hangin Dan.
Hi,
I suggest heating the magnet and lead screw to about 200*C to break down the glue bond. this works great for both epoxy and super glue.
I do not feel that at this temperature the magnetism of the magnet would alter
Heat could be a problem for a magnet as the magnetic domains may disorient. This depends on the metal, which I've seen first hand neodynium magnets lose their magnetism inside RC Car motors when overheated to 180c+. I'm not sure what material these magnets are in the steppers but 200c sounds quite high. I guess these steppers are cheap enough to experiment with.
someone else in the comment section said curie temp is 100 !!
Great instructions! Even better cliffhanger!
Or 3d print an adaptor so the stator can ride on the leadscrew that way the motor body is the z axis and the leadscrew is fixed to the frame.
You have to use a tool so called bearing /pulley remover to maintain your bearing and axle persuasion.
listerine 2010 Took my motor apart, and just marked the teeth facing the sides with the wire. Still have 2.5-2.6 km.cm
Long lead screws are a problem with high speeds. Bent or not. a long lead screw starts to wobble. The solution is to turn the nut with the stepper motor instead of using it to turn the screw.
I'm confused u don't line the lead screw up u just shoved it in and glue it
That is not gonna be straight
@billy vandory Why?
Very interesting and straightforward video. I don't wish to be alarmist, but I have always been told not to disassemble a stepper motor, as the rotor will partially de-magnetize and the motor will not produce the rated torque ever again. I do not know this to be fact, so I will just throw that out as a caveat.
This has the potential to fall into "wives tale" territory, so maybe someone with actual knowledge on the subject can weigh in. Perhaps some rough testing of torque between modified and non-modified motors might be useful. I have tested torque using an inch-pound torque wrench on a suitable nut (actually two nuts jammed together) with the motors energized to measure roughly the stall torque. This would be an easy test to compare two motors to see if any substantial deterioration occurs because of disassembly, and could put the issue to rest.
But please do not consider this a criticism- I found the video very instructive and applicable to my current situation.
These stepper motors are just brushless motors. I don't understand how disassembling them can "demagnetize". A magnet will demagnetize with heat.
Either way the modified motor I'm using for my Z axis is working superbly. Cheers :)
Try to google it, devers6 is unfortunately right. It is something about the rotor gets magnetized after installation and you short it when you dis-/assemble it.
I did it my self on one of my extruder motors and whey also work fine, so i dont really know how bad the de-magnetizing is.
Jesper Juul Thank you for the reminder - sometimes I forget Google is there.
Here is the result that meant the most to me, from legendary Marriss Freimanis of Geckodrive fame:
This topic came up in another group. The stator acts as a magnetic "keeper" for the rotor.
Nothing like running an experiment to know if something is true or not.
I had a motor I didn't care for (MO62-FD04), so I ran dyno tests on it that showed 112 in-oz low-speed torque. I removed the rotor for 5 seconds, then replaced it and re-ran the dyno test.
The low-speed torque now was 70 in-oz, or only 62% of what it was before disassemby.
You may not notice the loss in torque but it is real and it is there.
Mariss
Now, here are the "grains of salt" I take away from this discussion:
1) These motors are low-end Cheap Chinese clones, not high-performance optimized systems. I suspect any deterioration would be minimal.
2) The application is 3D printing, which is much less torque-dependent than CNC. The market has been characterized by a race to the bottom in both mechanics and electronics, so I doubt there would be a noticeable drop off in performance.
3) I think the advantages to be gained by replacing lead screws with different threadforms, pitches, lengths, and materials far outweigh whatever electronic performance reduction might occur.
So I fully intend to try out these techniques if the need arises; just doing so with my eyes wide open.
I've taken a few of these apart. None have suffered any noticeable negative effects.
devers6 Wouldn't the possible speed of the motor also be reduced. Since there would be less torque that could be converted to speed. I could see the speed reduction being noticeable in 3d printing.
Thank you for the clear instruction. It is good to learn new things.
However,,
I use Flashforge Creator, and I've been having problem with bent lead screw too.
I tried to replace the lead screw, but it's impossible. I chipped both the lead screw and the magnet pretty bad, and they are still not separated. I just have to get the new motor.
This could have saved me like $90. Just didn't work for me.
So, I gotta say, "Do it at your own risk. if you own flashforge, don't."
Wonderfull, i love the style of this Video, had some good loughs. So if i want to build my HC with 200mm Z Hight, i ll need the 400mm Leadscrew? So i will need 400mm Extrusions for the Z Axis, 390mm Smooth rods, and a 400mm Lead screw?
Btw wouldnt the build still profit of a dual Z Motor setup?
You could get away with a 350mm leadscrew. Every other dimension you listed is ok.
soaking the lead screw magnet in boiling water will soften the epoxy.
I have heard and read that the motor gets degraded/loses torque if you take a stepper motor apart like this.
Have you noticed anything like this with these mods?
I don't remember the specifics but it had something to do with the magnets in the rotor, how the field changed if you took them out of the housing.
I don't see a reason for it to lose torque but since I've seen/heard several people claim it, I thought this was a golden opportunity to see if there was any difference.
Another situation that could have an effect would be if someone attempted to use heat to break down the epoxy or adhesive. That might alter the strength of the magnets. It wouldn't surprise me if many people using just force to break the adhesive did end up cracking the rotor in some way or another altering its magnetic pattern, but I'm getting the impression that the original post was about simply pulling the rotor from the motor, and that seems to me to be less likely. Another situation might be if the stepper was using some sort of a cluster of magnets in it's shell to provide directional effects to give a stronger field for stepping, something like that _might_ as a result be concerned with the orientation of the rotor as it's removed compared to how it's inserted, so someone deciding to change what side the drive shaft came out of by flipping it around _might_ see some degradation that way, but in any case I'd be far more concerned with the possibility of cracking or causing shock damage to the rotor than simply pulling it out and putting it back in.
Firstly, how does your stepper motor know that you have taken it apart? The only thing that can be demagnetised is the magnet with fingers. Nope, not if you take it apart and put it back in a room you can work (unless you were an alien who live beyond the magnet's Curie temperature). Another thing is the copper wires - be careful don't scratch them with metal tools, they are coated. There is *no* circuit in stepper motors.
Secondly, even if that were the case (it isn't), stepper motor should be doing their job as well as they possibly can if your extruder can reach any precise position. Why do you want to waste more torque than needed?
What I read on a motor-manufacturers site was that if the motor isn't assembled with the rotor exactly concentric between the stator pole pieces, that's the cause of lack of torque. They use a special jig in the factory allegedly. When I do it, I'm just happy to get it so it isn't scraping.
Mr.Crankyface That's false. Magnets can lose strength, but it's usually time, or heat.
What is the glue name
Actually I was planning standart nema17 5mm shaft replace with t5 leadscrew.
Dear Tech2C,
just for the sake of using correct terms: the 2K epoxy resin is not "drying". It is "set". You know, glues with a volatile solvent, they are drying: the solvent evaporates, and what remains is the gluing agent between the two parts to be glued.
Epoxy resins are so-called thermosetting polymers, hence they will set or cure, not dry.
Keep up posting!
This video made me laugh more than any other you've done! I like it!
You swapped the nylon washers
oh thank god im not the only one who noticed and was bothered enough to comment.
You guys have good memory. The motor doesn't care.
if you just cut the lead screws and leave the part inside the motor as it
you could save a lot of your time. and keep the motor safe of any damage.
Note the part of the video where the old lead screw is bent and the new one is straight.
Use Heat to make the glue tacky before removing shaft (warning excessive head will lower the strength of your magnet, so don't go insane heating it up) I'm sure someone will have already said this, but just hope to make the comment more visible.
I did just this a few weeks ago with another step motor. I boiled some water, poured it into a tempered glass jug, waited a few minutes for temps to reduce a bit, then plonked in the rotor. After a few minutes submerged the rotor came away from the threaded rod by hand. Too simple!
i think the rotor is made of 1 ring magnet and the teeth are laminates made of steel or iron
Can i buy a rotor for nema17 as a replacement anywhere? :'D
Creative video, well done, thanks for sharing it :)
Ehhh....
"Soak in acetone for 12 hours before trying to twist your rotor magnet off the rod" is missing from this video.
Damaging that rotor magnet in any way is going to be at least as bad as having a bent rod. Acetone can weaken epoxy, if only very slightly, which can save yourself some headache. It might be worth while to experiment with some different solvents, but I do see that might only have limited results.
I was thinking that too. Nail polish remover.
Solvents are great, but don't count on most machines just being glued together. Heat is the ultimate cheap and versatile tool.
I've repaired my own car's manual transmission and those bearings and gears were not glued, they were interference fit. Mechanics use pullers, presses and propane out of necessity and they're safer than brute force. Fittings expand slightly with heat and become easier to install and remove. It also softens most epoxies. Getting parts too hot can demagnetize them (curie point), mess up the temper of steel (>300F) or melt plastic (this varies), but freezing one piece while heating another is a way to get around that. Just avoid heating or cooling areas of one part too unevenly or it can shatter or warp. It's not that heating things is ever a bad idea, it's just that the easiest approach to doing something really difficult can still be a pain. It's also harder if the wrong heat source is used. A propane torch is a fast heater (bordering on overkill), but an electric heat gun is usually better and less likely to do damage. The moderate way of cooling something is air or water, and more extreme cooling involves refrigeration or canned air (which may be flammable).
@@chrisbalfour466 You totally don't want to be heating up magnets.
@@edism Yeah, Neodymium magnets can't handle much heat before demagnetizing. But, a lot of other kinds can handle more. It really shouldn't take high temps, though. Some metals expand a lot when moderately heated.
@@chrisbalfour466 ok
I found I couldn't get enough grip without damaging the teeth, so I sat the cog thing on top of a vice with the diddle thing pointing down & hit it with a hammer. Bang! Came out. The motor I have has internal teeth that resist turning
apply a bit heat to the joint usual helps with glue. not sure what heat would do to the magnets though
why did you want your printer smallest? ??
hges not making it smaller. he is matching his lead screw length to his printer needs. Along with replacing a bent one with a straight one. His
You can probably break down the glue with a heat gun and make this process much easier.
You voice is surprisingly similar to Clickspring