From time to time NEMA17 stepper motors from Howard Ind. are sold very cheap at places like ebay or pollin.de for as low as 1 or 2€.
A few months ago I got a bunch of Howard 1-19-4200 motors at pollin.de and wondered if they can be used for building a Prusa.
The short answer is:
- For the Z-axis: yes, they are perfectly suitable.
- for X and Y it depends on your setup, but in any case you will be limited to slower movements. Better accept to spend money on bigger motors.
- for the extruder: no, hopeless.
The motors are unipolar motors, but with some not-so-diffcult internal modifications they can be changed to bipolar.
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I compiled a report on the needed modifications here: [makr3d.de]
I hope this proves to be useful for somebody here,
Michael
A few months ago I got a bunch of Howard 1-19-4200 motors at pollin.de and wondered if they can be used for building a Prusa.
The short answer is:
- For the Z-axis: yes, they are perfectly suitable.
- for X and Y it depends on your setup, but in any case you will be limited to slower movements. Better accept to spend money on bigger motors.
- for the extruder: no, hopeless.
The motors are unipolar motors, but with some not-so-diffcult internal modifications they can be changed to bipolar.
I compiled a report on the needed modifications here: [makr3d.de]
I hope this proves to be useful for somebody here,
Michael