I want to add a manual jog wheel for the Z axis of my Shapeoko which is equipped with an HDZ. The number of times I have had to raise / lower Z with the machine powered off is not zero and every time it is annoying to do so. In order to add a job wheel I need to swap the stepper motor for a Dual Shaft version. I am thinking of getting this guy:
and was curious what others think of the idea? It is a bit beefier than the stock stepper from what I can tell.
That one is a 8 wire stepper. I don’t think it will work. You can get double shaft 4 wire steppers.
You can connect 8- and 6-wire steppers as if they’re 4-wire steppers: https://knowledge.ni.com/KnowledgeArticleDetails?id=kA00Z000000PAkPSAW. The extra wires give you the option of doing freaky stuff with the coils but you don’t have to.
My main worry would be that it could be inconvenient to reach the top of the Z-axis by hand, depending on enclosures and such.
Also FWIW, you can buy steppers (more) directly from the source and save a few bucks, though shipping will be slower.
But I wonder, if you need to move it, why not just turn the machine on and move it electronically?
Honestly it is a first world problem of my own creation. Most of the time I have run into this is when modding the machine or doing maintenance. As such it requires turning on / potentially the control board as well as the PC controlling it. All to move Z down a centimeter.
My solution to that problem would probably be to hook up a separate Z-only control board with its own power supply and stepper driver but at that point I think just putting a handwheel on a second shaft is a better idea…
This topic was automatically closed after 30 days. New replies are no longer allowed.