Hi, I am very new to this and I am looking at building a Nema 34 powered arduino controlled belt driven linear actuator. It needs a decent amount of thrust through a 12inch/300mm stroke and id like it to run at approx 24+inch/600mm per second.
These are the items I am looking at buying.
Motor Nema 34 - https://www.skysmotor.co.uk/goods-2969-JMC-NEMA-34-Closed-Loop-Integrated-Stepper-Motor-IHSS86-60-45-18-Deg-45Nm-6A-60V-2-Phase.html
I will have this vertically mounted to a 4080 C-beam with physical limit switches at the max and min stroke length.
I would like to control the
stroke length through max and minimum settings so it can start at say 200mm and go to 300mm and reciprocate this movement but make the start and end points adjustable
acceleration control on the fly
speed
pauses at beginning and end of the stroke
stop and go
Reciprocation
possible pre programmed movements
limit switches at the MAX stroke and MIN stroke
I would like to use a Uno R4 to control the motor etc and have a wired (2m) separate controller with a nano 33 ioT connected to encoder breakout and a 20x4 LCD all.
The controller will be I2C
The connection from the controller to the uno will be 8bit serial over USB if possible.
Would this be all do-able? and would the parts etc be compatible?
Hi Tom! Thanks for the quick reply, im unsure on power supply yet but i was looking at one to suit the values of the motor.
Looking at using accelstepper library for the uno, not sure about the nano 33 controler. Im new to electronics and ardunino but ive got mad ADHD so hyper focus isnt an issue .
The nano will be in the standalone controller, it will have inputs from 2 encoder breakout boards with 4 encoders each on. And it will be controlling a 20x4 lcd screen. All of this will be done over I2c.
The controller will be linked to the uno via 8bit serial over usb if possible.
The uno is used as i believe it has a faster communication signal with the motor, therefore i can get the speeds and changes i want.
Anyway, give a lot of attention to your wiring. Interferences are PITA to resolve later. Also be aware that I2C is designed for very short distance communication. Not for wiring running across the workshop.
So the controller will be mounted in a box with the LCD in the middle and the encoders above and below. The distance for the I2c will be 10mm maximum. The controller is only to input variable signals into the uno Accelstepper code to vary the parameters of the actuator.
eg, turn encoder 1, sends I2c signal to nano 33, this then sends to the uno via serial connection and changes the value in the runspeed() code.
The LCD is for a visual display of how much speed, for instance a bar ranging from 0% - 100%
The controller is basically a input device for the UNO. it will be controlled by a 2m cable over serial connection to the uno.
According to the product description, it has built-in acceleration profile
The motor operates smoothly with minimal vibration, even at low speeds, and features built-in acceleration and deceleration control for improved starting and stopping performance.
So unless you can find a way to change the internal acceleration, I don't see how you can achieve acceleration control "on the fly" (whatever that means).
Full travel in 0.5 seconds is on the fast side. Without knowing the mass of the object moving, it is impossible to say whether the motor has sufficient torque. With numbers we can calculate solutions, without numbers it is just guesswork.
