To be able to move the axes I'll also need stepper motors of course.
So these are the weapons of choice.
Since my machine will be quite big and the rails are also not light stuff, I will use NEMA23 motors with a torque of 3.1Nm . Thats very high torque so I suppose I won't get lost steps when I run the axes.
The power comes from a 400Watt 36V 11A PSU unit
Then I control the steppers with a CW5045 stepper controller capable of driving upto 4.5 A and doing microstepping in both imperial and metric scale
1 , 1/2 , 1/4 , 1/8 , 1/16 , 1/32 , 1/64 , 1/128 and 1/256
+
1/5 , 1/10 , 1/25 , 1/50 , 1/125 , 1/250
This would allow for very precise control, but tests still have to make clear what microstep settings are acceptable, since higher microstepping makes steppers smoother, but reduce torque
The stepper motors themselves are NEMA23 3.1Nm steppers with dual 8mm shaft
They will be driven at bipolar parallel connection and draw 4.2 amps
The pulleys will be 20 tooth T5 pulleys (5mm tooth spacing) and the belt is T5 Polyurethane Steel reinforced open loop.
If the pulley is 20 tooth T5, then 1 rotation is 100mm
The motor is 1.8° 200 steps motor, so I should theoretically get following resolutions when microstepping
@ 1 step: 0.5mm / step
@ 1/5 step: 0.1mm / step
@ 1/10 step: 0.05mm / step
@ 1/25 step: 0.02mm / step
@ 1/50 step: 0.01mm / step
@ 1/125 step: 0.004mm / step
@ 1/250 step: 0.002mm / step
I think 1/25 step will be enough since I will mostly design vector cut stuff in coreldraw and PLT is 0.025mm accurate (1/40 mm)
Also, I don't see a point to go higher resolution for engraving since a single dot will be 0.15 tot 0.20mm anyway.