Hello,
I have a question about stepper motors and drivers.
I will likely have to be setting up steppers at work to control a high speed packaging machine (small nutraceutical stick cartoning machine - inserts sticks into pack and then folds)to control the guide rails in the feed conveyor where the whole process happens. The stepper motor will adjust either in or out (cw/ccw) to control a mechanical linkage to control different width setpoints of the guide rail for the different carton sizes (to prevent jamming and let the boxes travel through at a fixed width). (I plan on leaving 1 guide rail fixed in place, and the other adjustable with the stepper motor and mechanical linkage.)
The idea is to have this programmable from a small HMI without a PLC and have ASCII commands go to the the stepper driver that an operator or myself can program for width setpoints that work best for the specific carton size to induct into the machine, instead of having an operator have to fiddle with mechanical changes and trial and error every time a changeover occurs.
My question is.....
Of the ones who have a lot of experience with stepper motor controls, what are the most popular stepper motors and drivers that you would recommend as far as software capabilities and networking capabilities, while also considering price? I have searched online for quite a few different manufacturers, and the ones that I like most (and have some experience with at past jobs) are the vexta/oriental motor co drivers and motors. Mainly the CRK series since the software is free, looks pretty user friendly, and the drivers have networking capabilities up to 16 axes of motion.
I would also prefer something that is easily compatible and integrated with CNC motion control systems like Mach3 for experiments that I would like to setup in the future.
Any help or info would be appreciated greatly.