POWER SUPPLY AND WIRING NEMA MOTORS | BUILD A DIY CNC ROUTER EPISODE 3

[@FredAmnit]

Excellent walk-through! Looking forward to Episode 4!

[@Simplifycnc]

Thanks. I already started working on it. I plan to finish it up ASAP. I expect it will be out by this coming weekend or sooner. Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@andrerodon3921]

Thanks again for this series - I'm really enjoying it! You're doing a great job.

[@Simplifycnc]

Thanks.

[@robert_g_fbg]

The best electrical safety tip was told to me by a (then) old TV repairman. Keep one hand behind your back when working with live circuits. This way, you avoid current through the heart, if you happen to touch a live point. Be mindful of placement of your other hand. Don’t lean on grounded metal for example.

[@Simplifycnc]

OUTSTANDING ADVICE. I'VE HEARD THE SAME THING.

[@fatalisticend]

The tip for identifying the pair by pinching the wires together would have saved me so many headaches in the past :D excellent tip. Same with the switch on the drivers that drove me insane when I was working out the electrical for my newer router that was arduino driven. I lost several days trying to figure that one out :D

[@Simplifycnc]

I appreciate so much your comment which validated what I shared. Only those of us that have struggled through those things understand how much knowing little tips like that in advance would have been worth. Hopefully your comment will get a few more people to really hear the importance of paying attentions to those seemingly unglamorous tips I have shared that are sprinkled throughout the DIY CNC router series. They really are of far more value than the ivory tower slick and glossy pretend builds that all too often show up on KZbin.

[@Anderle52134]

Thank you very much for this. Greatly appreciate you taking the time to explain step by step thoroughly. Colors here are different (as is the voltage) for the power cords. Double check things is good advice from you; as is "the power supply can still be faulty".

[@Simplifycnc]

Thanks, I really appreciate it. It's really easy for me to get stuck in viewing the world from my locality (the United States) and wrongly assume that it must be the same everywhere else. About 40% of my viewers are from countries outside the U.S. If you don't mind sharing, what country of the world are you from and what voltage does your country tend to use?

[@Anderle52134]

@@Simplifycnc I am from Germany. Got 220 volt, 50 hertz. Our power grid is very stable, unlike those where I lived in the US. Ditched my UPS about a year after bringing it with me (20 years ago), because there were literally no brown-outs here. However, just got a new UPS in preparation of the imbecile energy politics that endanger our very dependable high quality electrical grid. Not against green energy at all. But the implementation requires a decent framework set by the government. That is lacking big time imo. Thinking of UPS. May get a second one for the CNC once that is running. Maybe a photovoltaic system with power storage to be independently operated from the public grid. A small one will suffice and would set me back about 2.5k €. It would be a mobile system. Would take, at current power pricing, at least six years to amortize. Depends on the sun shine and the future pricing (guaranteed to go up). Oops! Writing this was very helpful as it reminded me to note and report the various utility meters. Our power company got taken over. They say that nothing will change for us because of that. Guess what? They lied! Pricing will go up to match the new company's. Then there will be a further increase in the CO2 -tax. They don't call it that, but that's what it is. Oh, the power grid tax is going up too. Value-Added-Tax (a misnomer as there is no added value) of 19% (!) gets levied on top after all the various taxes (or whatever they call them). Germany has the second highest energy costs in the EU after Belgium. Well, I better stop or this will turn into a book. lol Haha, sure got an ear full as answer to a simple question. I doubt I'll have many questions for you regarding the CNC. As things go, you will answer them all in your future videos. I'll be patient :) And in the mean time acquire more stuff for the project. Just ordered grease nipples, grease gun, and grease for the linear rails and the ballscrews.

[@Simplifycnc]

@@Anderle52134I I visited Germany about 25 years ago and had a really great experience. I particularly liked the German chocolate. I think one day I too am going to try to setup some solar panels and battery system. Politicians everywhere are the same --- tax, tax, tax (and somehow, someway the corporations that are supposedly nonprofit just manage to make huge political contributions to whoever is/will be in power) and everyone else pays the bill (that somehow always goes up despite promises). Thankfully, we don't have a value added tax (at least officially here).

[@Anderle52134]

​@@SimplifycncYou should try Belgian chocolate as well as their fries. Think that German beer is good - go several steps up in goodness and drink Belgian beer. I drink alcohol (beer) only a couple times a year - then it has to be an Abbey-brewed beer, either from the Abbey just a stone-throw away from me across the Dutch border or from an Abbey in Belgium (a short ride on the bike). Expensive but extremely tasty. BTW, I try to eat chocolate every day. The type most people don't like as it is over 90% cacao. It has a bitter taste. But just like beer it grows on you and is (in contrast to alcohol) very healthy (unless overdoing it). The $-killer in a photovoltaic system is the storage. I am looking into diy, likely to be 1/2 the cost. Need to acquire more knowledge on that topic. Needs to be a sound and SAFE implementation. I appreciate that in the US it is called what it is: Sales Tax. That is honest. "Value Added" is marketing speak. I don't mind paying tax as long as it is reasonable and transparent. And when they add a tax for something specific (of which there are more and more) I expect that they are then used exclusively for that purpose - which they are not! Unfortunately politicians are the same everywhere. If they are not in the beginning of their career, they turn that way in due time. Known a few of them personally. One of them was a bishop in my church as well as mayor in my town (US South Western region). Called him out on his corruptness moves in a public meeting. He had previously attempted to lure me into his scheme (which cost the town members a large sum). So I had a bit of insight. He lost reelection, as did the entire city council who were obviously involved. I HATE corruption and dishonesty. Especially in people that should have the common good foremost in their mind.

[@themeandrousengineer]

This was really helpful. A lot of people on KZbin just gloss over the wiring for driver, power supply, and servos. I'm also looking forward to you talking about the wiring for the Arduino part. Most are using a CNC shield, but I know you can wire it up with the Arduino directly especially with the Nema 23's. These external drivers are the way I want to go as well.

[@Anderle52134]

I like his approach to start the series with what most only cover in the footnotes. Very unique in my experience.

[@Simplifycnc]

Thanks, I really appreciate the comment. Your right, most KZbin videos skip this and its exactly the thing that those who are building their first CNC most need. Yes, the external drivers are the way to go! As a side note, the next video was just uploaded on finishing up wiring the arduino and it even tests running the stepper with software. Hope you check it out and enjoy.

[@Simplifycnc]

I appreciate that comment so much. It takes a ton of work to go into specifics (especially to get decent video footage). Specifics on how to really do things is what I always wanted in a tutorial video, not vague generalities so that's what I try to do (even though it makes the videos longer which in the short term at least greatly reduces viewers/subscribers). Eventually I hope others will notice the quality difference too.

[@themeandrousengineer]

@@Simplifycnc Believe me, I know. I've been trying to post maker videos to my channel for over 2 years. It's not for the faint of heart. You can work on these videos to give actual quality to people and then the views trickle in. I've seen things like this grow slowly over time so I think the right people eventually find it.

[@matthewd3970]

Where did you get your shielded cable from?

[@Simplifycnc]

I got it from Amazon but I suspect you could buy something similar from a music store that has 4 shielded wires for considerably less money. Maybe someone who reads this knows of a lower cost alternative and will post. That being said the shield cable off of Amazon works well. Here is what I bought - 18/4 AWG Shielded CNC Wire (50FT) - Flexible Stranded Shielded 18-Gauge 4-Conductor Cable for Stepper Motors, CNC Machines, NEMA Motors. I think it cost around 40 dollars. If you are building a smaller CNC there may be a way to buy a smaller quantity. You might want to look at getting some aviator connectors as well off of amazon as it makes the connections much more durable (if you are willing to solder a few wires).