Where to buy Stepper Motors?

[matthiash 0]

Hello,

I have my Ultimaker Original for nearly 2 weeks and I really enjoy using the printer.

Im kind of printing 24/7 at the moment.

I would like to have 2 or 3 more Ultimaker Original, to have printers in different locations. Having a printer on the desks very much speeds up design processes.

I wanna build the printers kind of from scratch sourcing the parts from Ultimaker, different online shop, Ebay and Alibaba.

Except the Nema 17 stepper motors I have nearly every part, I m not sure which steppers I should by with 0.9° or 1,8°. Which online shop is selling the steppers for a good price. However up to now I couldn't find steppers with the D Shape shaft like the stepper for the feeder.

I would very much appreciate get some hints where to look for the steppers, preferably already with the right cable to connect the printer to the electronics.

Cheers,

Matthias

 

[Daid 306]

The ones in the UM-Original are 1.8deg per step. And quite strong, there is quite a difference in NEMA17 steppers, so make sure you get strong ones.

 

[duesentrieb 0]

Hello Matthias,

I can understand your fascination for the Ultimaker. It´s a great machine. Have mine for a month now and totally love it.

Getting good stepper motors isn´t a problem. Got the ones for my 3DR from Reprap World. I got these: http://reprapworld.com/?products_details&products_id=94&cPath=1614

Haven´t tested them yet, but they have 1.8° and are strong. I don´t know the exact specs of the original UM motors. Didn´t google the type yet. But I think they are custom made. Finding some with the D shape shaft will be hard and additionally with the right connectors... Two sources, I think Ultimaker, and the manufacturer. The manufacturer won´t sell to you, but maybe Ultimaker will... But buying some with a round shaft and attaching a pulley to it ain´t a problem. Same for the connectors. That´s simple. But I don´t know anything about your building skills.

If I would build an Ultimaker from scratch, I would change a lot of things. Right now I am improving mine to get the most out of it. Heatbed, heat chamber, lights, 3point leveling, z adjustment etc. I would improve the first one and build others based on this experience. Love 3D printers too. Start to collect them. But I want to have different types and concepts.

Cheers,

Philip

 

[matthiash 0]

Hi Philip,

Do you know if the steppers with 0.9° are more precise? Could be an option to get a higher level of precision or

Cheers

 

[msurunner 2]

Fundamentally speaking, yes, .9* steppers are more precise by a factor of two. Now, are you going to realize the added precision in actually prints? Most likely not a whole lot, especially if you want to print with speed. Microstepping 1.8* steppers still provides a very precise movement that is actually more likely limited by belts/belt tension than the stepping.

 

[duesentrieb 0]

The resolution of 0.9° steppers is higher, yes. But I agree with MSURunner, that the precision of 1.8° steppers is sufficient. Of course you can do the math... The mechanics have a much higher influence on the precision of the printer, I think. Have you read that post about pulleys? http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/1611-fixing-pulley-innacuracy/

Backlash of the belt is also a factor. Means when you change the direction the pulley changes immedeately, but between the pulley and the tooth of the belt is a very small gap, so the pulley rotates, but the belt does not move immedeately. When the tooth touches the flange, it moves. Backlash free belts have a different tooth profile. The teeth have a round shape. Not sure how big this influence is.

By the way pulleys, normally they come with a very small hole, or even without hole. So you have to make the hole bigger and add the thread for the fixing screw. Of course, you can drill this hole with a normal drill, but most likely it won´t be exactly in the center. So your printer won´t be precise. Doing this on the lathe would be the right way. Although there are tricks.

If foehsturm produces another lot, you can get some very precise ones with the right hole from him. I will get some, I think.

 

[msurunner 2]

Perhaps the biggest question is what is leading you towards attempting to produce your UM versus some of the various other designs out there? Are you a fan of the highly touted precision or the highly touted speed? To increase one kinda decreases the other unless you want to spend more... If you are looking to build as precise of a machine as possible, then yes, go ahead and buy the .9* step motors, alter the firmware (x/y steps/mm and lower the max acceleration and jerk settings) and print slowly enough to realize some benefit (FWIW, I think it's going to be minimal). If you want to be able to produce fairly high precision parts and at a higher speed than most printers, use the 1.8* steppers and just make sure your belts are tight.

 

[matthiash 0]

I bought one Ultimaker Original Ultimakers and now I building 3 more on my own. I am using the printer for product development and design stuff and it helps to develop significantly faster. Since two weeks we are using the printer extensively and need more capacity. If you ask me every engineer or designer should have his own 3d printer on his desk. It s relatively small investment which speeds everything up.

I am building ultimakers because I already know quite a lot about it, it is reliable and the quality is good. It s pragmatic solution for getting 3d prints.

@MSURunner

I looking for this combination of speed and precision thank you for your input.

Nevertheless I still don t know where to buy stepper motors for the 3 ultimakers I m currently building, I would like to have steppers with 1.8°. 9 steppers with a round shaft and 3 steppers with a D-Shaped Shaft for the extruder. Up to now it was particularly difficult to find the stepper with the D-Shaped Shaft. Where do you guys buy steppers?

Cheers,

Matthias

 

[hp-65 4]

 

 

Up to now it was particularly difficult to find the stepper with the D-Shaped Shaft.

 

A big disc-sander will shape the "D" shaft in a few seconds (motor needs to be powered).

With discs > ~20cm, the arc will be negligible.

 

Where do you guys buy steppers?

 

http://de.nanotec.com

 

[chopmeister 0]

The absolute best way of making a D-shaped spline at home is with an oscillating multi-tool. Like http://www.boschmultix.com/mx25e.html.

You clamp the motor shaft in a bench vise, in such a way that the shaft is parallel with the clamps but a part of it protrudes upwards. With a digital caliper measure how much it protrudes at the start and end, and adjust until it is parallel.

Then you take your multi tool, put the cutting bit parallel to the clamps, and start cutting slowly from the end of the shaft.

You get a perfectly flat and very accurate D shape this way.

And I would recommend buying one of these tools to everybody. They are an awesome thing to have at home or in the workshop.

 

[johan 0]

Allmost every web store selling parts for Repraps, are selling steppers with the D-shaped shaft....

[jumpmobile 0]

Sometimes this german shop has some cheap steppers:

www.pollin.de

I intend to buy this :

http://www.pollin.de/shop/dt/NTQ1OTg2OTk-/Motoren/Schrittmotoren/Schrittmotor_PSM57BYGHM201_0_9_.html%C2%A0%20)%20one%20for%20my%20extruder%20since%20it%20has%20more%20power,%20but%20it%20has%20not%20the%20typical%20NEMA%2017%20flanges.%20If%20you%20use%20this%20you%20propably%20need%20to%20adjust%20your%20design%20to%20it.

one for my extruder since it has more power, but it has not the typical NEMA 17 flanges. If you use this you propably need to adjust your design to it.

 

[johan 0]

@jumpmobile: that stepper looks like a Nema 23.....

If you live in Germany, try germanreprap.com

[jumpmobile 0]

Jep . these are quite strong:

Nema 17 with 52 Ncm.

costs 20€.

 

[matthiash 0]

Could find the stepper with the D Shaped shaft yet. Don t really wanna do it on my own. Any ideas?

 

[johan 0]

Ultimachine.com

[jhertzberg 19]

I got one with a D-shaped shaft and 55N.cm holding torque from Lulzbot:

https://www.lulzbot.com/?q=products/nema-17-stepper-motors

It's a little longer that the Ultimaker motor. You will have to solder on your own connector. I got mine here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-JST-JST-XH-3S-Balance-Wire-Extension-Adapter-30CM-12-long-/350678187003?ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:US:3160

 

[frank133 0]

you try this website I found. they have a pretty decent amount of stepper motors.

http://www.motionmarketplace.com/marketing/stepper-motors/

edit by gr5: I decided to allow this post but what a crappy website! I don't recommend clicking on it - it won't show me anything without installing some software which I never heard of before (VIO).

 

[rigelsix 0]

I'm in the US and bought motors from ProtoParadigm and they work very well on my Ultimaker.

They are decently strong and have a D-shaped shaft.

http://www.protoparadigm.com/products/accessories/nema-17-stepper-motor-flatted-shaft-1/

 

[hreedijk 4]

"Except the Nema 17 stepper motors I have nearly every part"

If I may ask, where did you get the PCB?

 

[jhinkle 1]

Be careful what you buy when it comes to steppers.

There are a lot of "cheap" motors positioned for the 3D printer market.

I am building my own printer and wanted motors -- I'm using my own control system.

I purchased these from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Signstek-Printer-4800g-cm-Resistance-Electric/dp/B00H98FKVK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403048294&sr=8-1&keywords=Signstek+3D+Reprap+Printer+CNC+Nema17+48mm

I returned them and wrote a 1 start review review.

I suggest staying away from motors built by WANTAI motors in China.

Hi torque motors are built with tight tolerances. Any slop will cause the rotor to bind to the stator. The motor will turn but the motor will turn jerky and will run much hotter than it should.

You should be able to take your motor and turn it by hand with little resistance. If it turns freely and then seems to lock or get very difficult to turn -- the magnetic attraction has dynamically increased -- in operation, this will cause excessive current to turn the rotor hence resulting in a hot running motor.

After a lot of looking, I purchased these on ebay -- I paid @20 each. They are 1.8 motors with rated phase current of 2.0amps and torque of 76.33 oz-in.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261209398157?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_sacat%3D0%26_from%3DR40%26_nkw%3D261209398157%26_rdc%3D1

LIN Engineering motors are made in the US and are expensive when you purchase the latest models.

Older models sell on ebay at reduced prices.

I purchased 8 of these and all were acceptable -- no tendency to bind.

I hope that helps.

 

[hreedijk 4]

Hello JHinkle,

Thank you very much for your reply.

The stepper motor I wanted to purchase are from Wentai, I'll take your advise and take a look at the E-bay shop you advise.

Also another question, I see a lot of Ultimaker PCB boards on E-bay, complete with stepper drivers and Arduino Mega 2560 boards.

Where did you buy yours and how does that PCB is working for you?

 

[jhinkle 1]

Don't look at what I'm doing for electronics.

I'm a retired embedded hardware/software guy who does not like Arduino.

I'm designing a arm based controller with my own stepper controller which provides 255 sub-steps..

I would stay with what is currently in the UM1 or UM2.

That way you have a lot of support from this forum.

The UM1 uses the Marlin board -- don't know what's in the UM2 --- someone else can share that.

 

[hreedijk 4]

Ok, thank you...

 

[derek-bosch 1]

anyone know the part # for the Ultimaker Original (UMO) Feeder Stepper Motor?  Mine seems to be going bad

Edited August 6, 2016 by Guest