Stepper motors from printers are A) not powerful enough (except to move a laser) to do anything useful and 2) always use some idiotic mounting system that does not play well with anything except molded plastic bosses and stamped sheet metal and Ω) almost globally use oddball windings that aren't compatible with any stepper driver that will play nicely with common ardu-based 3DP/CNC controllers.
"Build it rigid, flat and square, THEN add motors & electronics".
Just consider that $250-350 as your tuition; cost of entry. It really is the cheapest way to get into "learning mode" quickly, rather than spending days and weeks in "pulling your hair out" mode. The thing with all of this is that it's all "hobbyist" and "experimental" gear; it's not like a Craftsman table saw that comes with instructions and even a "User Guide" so you have some idea where to start. Most everything requires trawling the web and usergroups to get knowledge, then build your own instruction set that works for YOU.
Please... learn from my mistakes. You will save yourself oodles... just oodles... of wasted time, money and aggravation.
mnem
And if you know all this, just consider my post as a PSA for the next guy who doesn't.
I wasn't thinking last night for some reason about what I saw when going to the freezer in the garage afterwards... all the free treadmills I picked up and tore down for material to use to make the larger 4'x4' CNC system. Yeah... I figured... why not use treadmill motors, metal and components since each usually has 2 motors, one for the treadmill and one for the incline. They come with controllers also. The motors and controllers work great for mini-lathe upgrades too.
Here's the inspirational video that started me down that path of gym equipment re-purposing for humanity:
Ummm.... because you need stepper motors. The only thing you can use the treadmill motor for is the router spindle, which you'll spend more making a collet adapter than a whole bolt-on spindle assembly will cost. Unless you already own a machine shop with mill and lathe, which why the eff are we even talking about this?
And looking at that guy's whole series.... there's literally MONTHS of building there; I say this as someone with considerable experience doing welding for a living, and building stuff JUST LIKE THAT table he made as solenoid-operated fabrication jigs.
Furthermore, yeah he says he spent $300 building that... I suspect he's not counting a lot of stuff. I see easily $150 ($60 claimed is total BS unless he bought it all salvage) in just raw steel, because you don't get to count only what you use, you count ALL the steel you buy for the project.
Then of course add the thousands of dollars of shop he's using to make that $300 CNC table... and you're not looking so cheap at all.
So yeah... start with a kit. Save yourself LOTS of misery. Once you actually know some of what you're doing, THAT is the time to go balls & braces making other stuff work.
"Build it rigid, flat and square, THEN add motors & electronics".
mnem
And if you know all this, just consider my post as a PSA for the next guy who doesn't.
Reminds me since I've worked on Coordinate Measuring Systems implementations, validation, method development, etc... I had a vision also of if I find a granite slab/table that I could also make this into a Laser, Touch/Feather Probe and most likely Vision coordinate measuring system too. Damn... I was slippin into darkness. Nuts is I just saw a system that can make an awesome bed for the lathe/mill upgrade and the other parts will work as the larger at least 4'x4' CNC system with granite table. I'll try to get pictures next time I'm there.
Yeah, for 95% of CNC fab work, that kind of precision just is not necessary. Accurate to hundredths of an inch is plenty; level to within a few mm will get you close enough to be inside the leveling adjustment of any modern system.
8020 build system is effing MAGICAL. I made assembly jigs and conveyors and even jig KITS to be shipped across the country to sites where literally maintenance workers would be assembling it. The best part is that due to its nature, as long as you cut it with the prescribed cutting equipment (the $249 chopsaws from Lowes don't even come close to accurate enough) and jigs, the parts literally square and center themselves up as you draw the bolts down.
mnem
*couch-tuber time widda family:
Mortal Engines*