HELP with dual steppers for Glass Lathe

Using Arduino Motors, Mechanics, Power and CNC
1

Thanks for looking,
New to the site and in need of some help.

I’m making a Glass Lathe for my son, and need advice on how to design the stepper motor controls.

Control needed to run two NEMA23 steppers, with 5to1 reduction.

I have several requirements.

  1. Ramp up and ramp down speed timer. Currently using a voltage adjust knob and if you change it to fast the stepper cant keep up and starts to grind in the reduction gears.

  2. Be able to run both steppers at the same exact speed, ramp up, ramp down, the whole time while spinning.

  3. Be able to slow down one side (stepper), so that you can twist the glass between the two.
    Say if both steppers running at 200 RPM, and I want one to slow down 195 RPM, so it can twist 5 times in one minute.

Equipment I have:

2 NEMA 23 with 5to1 reduction
2 DM556T stepper controllers
1 PWM/DC Speed controller
1 DC Power supply

Thanks Randy

2

I think you need the GRBL program on your Arduino, perhaps coupled with the PC program called Universal Gcode Sender.

Between them they should meet all the needs of controlling a lathe.

...R

3

Thanks , so what Arduino product do you recommend? Randy

4

Interesting stuff - never come across a glass lathe before. It looks like there will be a stepper for the headstock and another for the tail. What is the speed controller for?

5

ranman:
Thanks , so what Arduino product do you recommend? Randy

The GRBL program runs on an Uno. It is actually intended to work with a CNC shield but the stepper drivers that fit on the shield would not be suitable for your motors. You should have no difficulty connecting your stepper drivers directly to the Uno without the shield The GRBL website will have details about the pins that you should connect the drivers to.

...R

6

What top RPM do you want (before the reduction gearing)?

7

Zero to approximately 250 RPM.

I also have a reduction in speed with the chain drive ,

Thanks Randy

8

Here is my work in progress

9

ranman:
Here is my work in progress

An unproductive day perhaps?!

BTW I was wondering if steppers are a good idea, given the vibration involved. You can get
servomotors designed for CNC machines that have the same interface as a stepper driver,
but which use encoder and servo feedback to give smoother and faster motion, and less power
use.