On 06/13/2010 10:14 PM, Buerste wrote:
I have a simple application for a stepper as a wire feeder(of course). I
have a 34 frame stepper with a 12:1 gear box and a Axidyne (tolomatic) 80v
5A microstepper drive. All I need it to do is run the motor 5 revolutions
(5/12ths rev on the gear box) whenever a limit switch is hit. That will be
about 100 times per minute.

What do I do that's reliable and cheap?

This may be a good question to ask over on sci.engr.control. That group
is dying, but there are still lots of lurkers with experience in
industrial control. I'd bet that you'd find at least two if not more
folks who know the answer right off the bat.

It seems like one of those PLC's that you've been asking about --
particularly with the (fairly) high-level language support that Lloyd
was talking about -- would do this in a snap. Get the switch pulse,
emit the right number of pulses to the stepper at the right timing, repeat.

(Not, mind you, that I've ever worked with PLCs -- I've got extensive
control experience, but it always started with a blank piece of paper
and ended up with custom software on custom hardware. It comes from
working on small, high-performance equipment that always needed
semicircular boards doing impressive jobs in minimal space).

--
Tim Wescott
Control system and signal processing consulting
www.wescottdesign.com