I have never used the $19 chinese stepper driver so I can't actually vouch for it. That being said, if it were my machine and my money, I would try the cheap driver first. If this were a CNC application I would use a gecko driver, but I think for this application chinese would be fine. As for the power supply, others have recommended against a switching power supply like the one you chose. I've never had issues with switching P/S but others have, so if you're going to buy something, might as well be a linear supply like this.

Shall I buy that one or is there a higher powered one I should get, doesn't really matter which motors I'm using,or plc/arduino, or drivers,this power supply needs to be good and capable, definitely linear though. 6 motors, 5 limit switches etc 6 drives.

 

No servo drives are different for servo's than steppers, you can get drives for DC or BLDC that have either step/dir or ±10vdc analogue command, many BLDC drives are also capable of driving DC brushed motors.
Max.

Which motors would you say perform best if I want high torque low rpm.
Sorry bout the delays in response , I've been trying to wake up at 4 am to chat with you guys, then I'm in work mode all day.

 

Shall I buy that one or is there a higher powered one I should get, doesn't really matter which motors I'm using,or plc/arduino, or drivers,this power supply needs to be good and capable, definitely linear though. 6 motors, 5 limit switches etc 6 drives.

depends how much current you need from it. If you're just going to be running one motor at a time, then you can probably get away with something smaller than that. Add up the amps of how many motors you want running at once, and find something that's at least that big.

 

Which motors would you say perform best if I want high torque low rpm.
Sorry bout the delays in response , I've been trying to wake up at 4 am to chat with you guys, then I'm in work mode all day.

AC servos. but those are stupid expensive.

 

AC servo's and BLDC are constructed just about identically, just the commutation is different, they both have 3 phase winding's , BLDC have 3 commutation sensors for the drive and only power two winding's at a time.
The more motor poles the lower the rpm for a given pulse frequency. Typical are 4 to 8 pole.
I have often picked up some really high end BLDC off ebay. DC are becoming rarer in the servo grade due to the BLDC popularity.
If needing large motors, there are fairly decent DC brushed out there, ex treadmill and KB DC controllers.
Max.

 

Pipes are manufactured using both methods of slip rollers and/or roll formers( rollformer is what my bizuness is). As my product is a 50mm long pipe 76 dia roll forming is not an option.

Roll forming would work if you do it right. If I was designing this it would be to roll form a long tube constantly then the last step would be to cut it to length. By that I mean as it comes out of the roll bench it would go into a mandrel with a slitting roll then the tube would advance and push that first length off of the mandrel into a bin. An advantage of this is many different lengths could be made by just timing the amount of tube coming out of the roll bench.

When you say "rain spout" are you meaning what we in the US call down spouts? We haven't used round tubes for those since some time in the 1960's. They are rectangular now, mostly to get away from what you called "industrial age" problems of making them. It's easier to bend a square corner than to roll a tube to a consistent size.

 

Roll forming would work if you do it right. If I was designing this it would be to roll form a long tube constantly then the last step would be to cut it to length. By that I mean as it comes out of the roll bench it would go into a mandrel with a slitting roll then the tube would advance and push that first length off of the mandrel into a bin. An advantage of this is many different lengths could be made by just timing the amount of tube coming out of the roll bench.

When you say "rain spout" are you meaning what we in the US call down spouts? We haven't used round tubes for those since some time in the 1960's. They are rectangular now, mostly to get away from what you called "industrial age" problems of making them. It's easier to bend a square corner than to roll a tube to a consistent size.

View attachment 127017

We've been roll forming round for about 10 yrs now. Round causes venturi and is more efficient. Takes more water for the same cross section. Round 60mm 80mm 100mm.machines Is what we use. Rectangle with all those swages, no way man. I refuse to use rectangle even in pvc.
I don't need different lengths. And I don't need the expense of a roll former. Like I said, my method works. I need help with automation.

 

depends how much current you need from it. If you're just going to be running one motor at a time, then you can probably get away with something smaller than that. Add up the amps of how many motors you want running at once, and find something that's at least that big.

Perfect, I'd only be running two motors at once so I'll add the two with the most amps, add 10% and grab one of those power supplies. For a start I may be just running one motor at a time. Soo, question is, can I go too big and complicate things?

 

AC servo's and BLDC are constructed just about identically, just the commutation is different, they both have 3 phase winding's , BLDC have 3 commutation sensors for the drive and only power two winding's at a time.
The more motor poles the lower the rpm for a given pulse frequency. Typical are 4 to 8 pole.
I have often picked up some really high end BLDC off ebay. DC are becoming rarer in the servo grade due to the BLDC popularity.
If needing large motors, there are fairly decent DC brushed out there, ex treadmill and KB DC controllers.
Max.

So I just need one powerful motor and the rest needed are quite a lot less.
My question is, can I run 1 BLDC and 5 steppers off the same arduino or plc, and power source. Keeping in mind I've decided to use limit switches to start with.

 

By powerful motor, what size do you anticipate, have you considered the T.M. motor and mains powered KB drive ?
Max.

 

By powerful motor, what size do you anticipate, have you considered the T.M. motor and mains powered KB drive ?
Max.

I'm sort of thinking I want 40nm .has to be accurate though. Sorry.I don't know what kb drive is. Treadmills here 500$second hand minimum.

 

http://www.kbelectronics.com/
They often come up on ebay.
Be aware that BLDC are prone to cogging at low rpm without PID control.
Max.

 

http://www.kbelectronics.com/
They often come up on ebay.
Be aware that BLDC are prone to cogging at low rpm without PID control.
Max.

Can I run these BLDC motors off the same power supply and control as the steppers?

 

Providing the capacity of the supply is sufficient, but as prior warned, the SMPS is not the ideal, If this was for commercial use, or a customer, I would never think of using anything but linear P.S. in this application.
Max.

 

Providing the capacity of the supply is sufficient, but as prior warned, the SMPS is not the ideal, If this was for commercial use, or a customer, I would never think of using anything but linear P.S. in this application.
Max.

Like the one strantor linked me to in his last post? That is linear. That will work for both BLDC and steppers?

 

Like the one strantor linked me to in his last post? That is linear. That will work for both BLDC and steppers?

KB drive is going to take AC directly. Does not need to be (cannot be) powered from the DC power supply.
I think there is some confusion here....
KB drive is for brushed DC motors, like the ones inside treadmills.
KB drive cannot power a brushless DC motor (BLDC) because BLDC is actually an "AC" motor (misnomer of a name).
Most BLDC have their drive circuitry integral with the motor. There are many BLDC used in hobby RC world, check hobbyking.com.

 

Like the one strantor linked me to in his last post? That is linear. That will work for both BLDC and steppers?

That is linear with regulation, I don't normally go to a regulated supply but it should work OK.
I usually build my own from Toroidal transformers such as that, and add a Bridge and capacitor, the nice thing about toroidal transformers, they can be 'adjusted' up or down in voltage by adding/deducting a winding or two.
Max.

 

KB drive is going to take AC directly. Does not need to be (cannot be) powered from the DC power supply.
I think there is some confusion here....
KB drive is for brushed DC motors, like the ones inside treadmills.
KB drive cannot power a brushless DC motor (BLDC) because BLDC is actually an "AC" motor (misnomer of a name).
Most BLDC have their drive circuitry integral with the motor. There are many BLDC used in hobby RC world, check hobbyking.com.

BLDC and AC are different although identical in construction, the way they are powered and commutated is quite different, BLDC has only two of the three winding's powered at any one time, its a DC motor turned inside out, hence BLDC. an AC motor has all three winding's powered by a 3ph power source.
I have used BLDC for some decades and used the A-M-C drives for them, these drive also will power DC brushed if needed, as will most BLDC drives.
I had developed my own CNC controller using them with a PC based Motion card.
I referenced the DC T.M. motor with the KB drive
Max.

 

My head hurts! What would help is if you two guys could come to an agreement on a shopping list for me. I'd go buy the equipment . Then I can pick your brains to get it all working.
It's 6 motors total.
The most powerful is the main rolling motor. I can use limit switches if I have to. You both know the nm. I'd like 40. That's for the main motor. I'd like 40 rpm at that torque. Four other motors would only need to be 5nm max as the are linear lead screws for feeding into rollers and pushing off rollers sideways when product is finished.
The final motor is somewhere in between.
At the moment I just want the highly adjustable powerfully motor. But need the system feeding it to be expandable.
Cheers
Mark

 

My head hurts! What would help is if you two guys could come to an agreement on a shopping list for me.

LOL sorry man. ask 10 people how to do 1 thing and get 10 answers. I know how you feel. I'll solve this by bowing out for now. I have a lot going on in life right now anyway. Don't worry, you're in competent hands with @MaxHeadRoom .

Max, you have the ball.