I purchased the LSR-K40ROT-BL rotary attachment when I purchased my k40. I’m just now getting around to set it up. At the time I thought you unplug the Y axis and plug in the rotary.
Now I discover the rotary documents say The K40 stock main-board will not be able to drive this rotary and I need an external motor driver.
My current board is the M2NANO
So I’M assuming the stepper on the rotary is much larger (needs more power) than the stepper on the k40 Y axis, and will burn the M2NANO
There is no documentation on the motors in the k40 nor on the rotary.
If anyone can confirm this before I lay out more cash for an upgraded board, I would really be thankful.
BTW the rotary attachment is a beautiful piece of engineering, very well machined and built. Although I have yet to use it.
I do not have a rotary on my K40 but its deep on an upgrade list.
Don’t know if the below is helpful or not …
Looking at LO recommendation and knowing the power capacity of the K40 I doubt you can drive the LSR-K40ROT-BL rotary directly from a stock K40 controller due to both the driver capacity and the power supply capacity. Below is some reasoning.
When I added my lift table I had to add a stepper driver and used the 24V power from an add-on supply (I do not have a stock controller).
It was noted in the LO customer comments that after installation and focussing there was not enough room in the cabinet to engrave something larger than 2". One customer cut out the bottom of the cabinet.
The question becomes if you get a stepper driver how is it connected to the stock controller. LO is no help there and neither am I because this is one of the reasons I do not run a stock controller
In this video the rotary (Nema 17 motor) is connected directly to the y axis of the stock controller.
This motor used in this design is: STEPPERONLINE 17HS13-0404S1 Stepper Motor for 3D Printer DIY CNC Robot, -10-50 Degree C, 0.4 Amp
This may work because the motor used requires less drive. It also may be a marginal configuration and “your experience may vary”.
The light object motor in the LSR-K40ROT-BL is a 42HS03, 1.8A
The standard K40 Y motor is: Don's Laser Things: K40-S Motors
Its current spec is 1amp which by the way somewhat correlates with the capacity of the 24VDC supply.
I would try and message LO and see if they will give you instructions on how to hook a driver to the nano.
Appendix: phase stepping motor driver supplying
At present, the Department could provide the drive to M415DRV( maximum peak current of up
to 1.60A, it is recommended that no more than 1.50A), as shown in the following figure. On the drive for
more technical information, please refer to theM415DRV stepper motor driver instruction manual, we’ve
only been here our test performance.
Conclusion: direct connection to the LO rotary is marginal at best and may damage the M2 stepper driver. Light object stepper current: 1.8A M2Nano drive: 1.6A [1.5A reccomended]
The attached document also has information on the stepper driver signals and may be useful in designing the connection to an external stepper driver from the nano. m2nano board manual.pdf (395.8 KB)
