need some help

[elcar903]

Hi am new to the forum,
I have a Shopbot buddy and I was wondering if this Indexer could be made to work with it and if so what do I need to do so.

here is the Indexer I want to put on it.
cnc router 4axis, rotary axis

thanks

[Brady Watson]

Yes. You need a compatible stepper driver and cable.

A BT Standard is easier to hook up than a BT Alpha.

-B

[elcar903]

can anyone recommend a motor driver?

[elcar903]

Would this Driver G202 Stepper Drive work with this motor cnc router 4axis on a ShopBot buddy?

[Brady Watson]

What is the vexta motor number (any axis) on your machine? Is it a standard or Alpha? Does it have Geckos in the control box or Oriental drivers? (RBK or Alpha)

-B

[elcar903]

its a Standard as far as I know,
Here is a picture of it:
Shobbot Picture

here is a picture of one of the drive motors:
Motor Picture

this is a picture of the control box that came with it:
Control Box Picture

here is the versions of software that I have for it:

Shobot control software Ver. 3.5.9
PartWorks Ver. 1.102
PartWorks 3D Ver. 1.002

[Brady Watson]

OK - Easy peasy. Buy another Gecko G203V and put it in the empty slot, which will be the 4th channel. Then in SB3, run the VD command to enable all 5 axes. You'll have to figure out your unit value for the B axis, which will be how many pulses the motor needs to get to move 1 degree.

-B

[elcar903]

so I just need to get the G203V -Standard and not the G202, and the drive motor I listed above to get a working indexer.

Thank You very much for the help I'll post some pictures and maybe some videos of it when I get it up and running.

[Brady Watson]

Yes - If your control box has the red Geckos (G203v) then that is what you need. If you have G202s, then you need to run them because the common is different between the G202 & G203. Whatever you already have - match it & you'll be fine.

If you are running the VEXTA motor you showed a pic of, then it is plug & play. If you intend to use the stepper on the rotary axis you showed from Ebay, then you need to change the current set resistor to get max torque - otherwise, you'll be limited to 2 amps by means of the resistors that are soldered to the board for the SB motors.

-B

[elcar903]

on programming the SB to engrave with the indexer on a round cylinder, can I just draw the text in 2D on Vcarve and when I output to the SB I choose the post-processor for Shopbot(Indexer)(inch)(.sbp) would that work are do I need another software to cut with the Indexer??