Tuesday, 14 APR 2006

     WOW, where do you start a project like this? I mean, do you start with the machine, finding a computer, finding software to run it on? What about motors? What about electronics to run those motors? What about power supplies to power the circuits and motors? What do you use to cut with? How big of a machine do you make? What is a CAD program? What in the world is G-code and how is it written.

     You can tell that if you are not carefull, the questions that pop into your head about a project like this can quickly over run the gray matter and make you think, maybe I should just give up on this stuff. There is just too much to wade through. But for you fishermen and fisherwomen out there who like to detangle line and wade through a pile of fish hooks, then this project is for you. OK, maybe that was not a great analogy, but hey, I think I am up for a challange. I suppose I will know sooner or later what it all means. Follow along and see what you make of the mess.... :-)

     Below are a list of Items that I felt necessary to delve into, in order to better understand what I was trying to achieve. I will add items here as I research them or rather as I feel like I understand enough to pass that information along.

STEPPER MOTORS - Stepper motors come in a lot of sizes and a lot of flavors. Read these pages to get a better understanding of what a stepper motor is, how they work and links to resources to learn a lot more about them than I could ever hope to explain.

STEPPER MOTOR CONTROL CIRCUITS - Now that I have a general understanding of what a stepper motor is and the types, what about the drive or controlling electronics to make them run. This section discusses some methods to drive stepper motors. Some efficient, and some ... well ... not so efficient.