I want to extend the life and improve the quality out put of the LowRider. Does it make the LR run longer and smoother if the NEMA 17 stepper motors are upgraded to the 23’s? I’ll be doing a lot of 3D relief on long thick pieces, which is time consuming and intricate. Just wondering if its worth the trouble and money. Is there any changes that I would have to make with the 23’s thanks
17’s can rip the machine apart. 23’s won’t really add anything but trouble. They’re bigger, so won’t fit in the current mounts for one.
Probably isn’t necessary, but you could use some thermal epoxy to glue heatsinks to the back of the steppers if you’re worried about them getting hot over a long period of time.
I’ve run my MPCNC for over an hour on one cut and didn’t have overheating problems.
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The build requires NEMA 17’s 76 oz/in. I think you are in error… thanks for the reply.
Thanks for that thought! Never consideted that. I’m going to be 3D relief carving 8’ bed posts for a canopy bed. These motors could be moving around while the spindle is carving for many hours. That concerns me. I plan to create my work in smaller, more manageable parts but the huge queen-sized head board will be a different issue. Think Gothic ornamentation like a bed in a King’s Chamber. Very ornamental. Dragons, a Coat of Arms and the like. Over the top explains it better. I just don’t want to kill my machine. I have so much planning… then there is the armoires and end tables, dresser chest of drawers. Yup, a lot of hours of carving. But the set will be cool and worth about $20,000 alone. Thanks for the idea of the heatsink and thermal glue. Def. Will do that, maybe a cooling water system for the spindle too.
I’ve pulled my machine apart with the stock steppers, so has Ryan. I ran my mpcnc when it was 5 foot square for about 20 hours straight, no issues with heat. It drilled tens of thousand holes, so a crapton of up and down motion on the z. Was running the dewalt 660 at the time. The only issue with heat for that run I had was for my dust collector. The chip bucket got warm enough to collapse under the vacuum.
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I certainly feel better hearing that. My worries are unnecessary given your reply. I can’t wait to get my LR built and working. Thanks for the follow up.
Mike
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Actually the motors won’t heat too much while moving. They do heat way more when they are stationary, holding their position. So if you say you are doing complicated 3D carvings, then basically every motor will turn almost all the time, including Z axis, so they should remain reasonably cool.
If you want to extend the motors life a bit, it never hurts to put a few heatsinks though.
I have three 3D printers and 2 CNC machines, plus a robot arm, so that’s about 25 steppers motors in total and I’ve still never seen one failing yet, even at very high temperatures, so don’t worry too much about that. I’d care more about the motor drivers if I were you, I’ve burned dozens of those (99% were my mistake though).
Yea, a fan blowing across your motor drivers is a really good idea.