Would a K40 benefit from external TB6600 stepper drivers?

Lasers
1

Hello all,
I’m very new on this forum but have found it extremely useful during my upgrade path.

I currently have my k40 completely stepped down and doing a long needed upgrade) tidy up. I have installed a new smoothieboard, lighting, second power supply, new air assist and a few cosmetic things.

I was wondering would the unit benefit from using external TB6600 stepper drivers or would this be just an unnecessary expense and what is on the Smoothieboard is good enough? I was even thinking about the possibility of upgrading the stepper motors but not really sure what would be a good upgrade option. As I have been into 3D printing for many years and moved my way through many different printers, I have assured quite a collection of stepper motors that might actually be usable on the k40 anyway.

I do understand it’s probably all a pointless upgrade and I must have to much time on my hands lol, but any help you could give would be really appreciated.

2

No benefit. Only risk. External stepper drivers just give more paths for electrical noise and problems in a laser cutter.

Don’t change the stepper motors if they are working. The default motors are 400 steps/rev, not the 200 steps/rev more common in 3D printing.

The motors are doing very light duty in the K40 and the smoothieboard is more than capable. In fact, you’ll want to make sure you limit the current appropriately so that you don’t damage the steppers. The Y stepper is a 1A motor, but the X stepper is rated for 0.48A. If you send too much current through a stepper motor, you can destroy the magnets.

Read this thread to the end to learn more about K40 stepper motors:

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Thank you for your help, it was most useful.

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