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TONS of printers = CNC?
Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 10:42 pm
by GypsyTinker
Maybe with some help...
I have printers galore.
Is there a way to make them into a CNC machine using motors and encoders?
Does EMC2, or what ever program I would use to create the commands, have support for encoders, rather than stepper motors?
Re: TONS of printers = CNC?
Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 11:27 pm
by Jelly
EMC2 has support for Servos and encoders. The best thing you can do, is start tearing down all the surplus printers you have, looking for driver IC's and stepper motors. Also, there will be precision ground rods on the carridges, these would work well for light duty cncing. (Plastic/wax/soft wood) The bigger the printer, the better the parts you can scavenge from it. Look for Dot-Matrix printers, as these were large/overbuilt. Chances are there are beefy stepper motors and larger diameter shafts (rails) inside.
Re: TONS of printers = CNC?
Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 1:12 am
by Nudge
Pics we need pics
show us the printers and we can tell you if they are good or bad
Re: TONS of printers = CNC?
Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 1:32 am
by GypsyTinker
I dismantled about 20 of them or so. Kept a lot of goodies, love those steel rods and the rubber things.
Only found unipolar steppers and very few/light duty. Found a couple unipolar chips, but from what I can tell they are a hassle and weak...
Found TONS of motors and encoders!
So EMC2 will know what to do with encoders? that is good news. so it uses that for steps and does fwd/rev on the motors?
I'll take some pics, but it's just heaps of crap