I am cutting a relief and my steppers are extremely HOT!

[dray]

I am making a 2 hour cut and my y stepper motors are extremely hot. I didnt use a thermometer but I would guess 275 deg. I used a damp sponge on them to cool them and steam is rising fast.

Whats going on?

Is this another ramp speed problem?

I asked on the boards over and over and talked to tech su[pport about ramp speeds for prs alpha and they were really vague.

[dray]

is this normal?

[tuck]

Not normal in my book. Be careful.

[paco]

On some of my 3D work, I cannot hold my hand on the motors... I heard it is normal.

[Brady Watson]

Danny,
CHILL!
It is normal for the PRS motors to be hot when rastering back & forth for hours at a time. They are designed to run at that temp & stepper motors according to the experts, can run hot enough to fry an egg & be perfectly within their operating temp. You might have to refrain from wearing any more belly shirts in the shop, but other than that...it's all good


-B

[dray]

COOL!!

Cuz my wife keeps telling me the same thing....
NO MORE BELLY SHIRTS AT THE SHOP...




7303
But I dont think its for the same reason

[Brady Watson]

LOL!

How much you think you have invested in that? Probably more than the bot!

[dray]

Oh yeah...

Thats 250 lbs of solid muscle right there!!!

=P

[john_r]

You Crack me up Danny...I'm working on one right now. Lucky for me my soon to be Wife (May 5th, 2007) Thinks it's sexy.

[tuck]

Well I gotta say that I've never known my stepper motors to get anything past luke warm, but I've never given them a belly rub when they're working hard, either.

Speaking of bellies, I've grown a nice one myself. I didn't have one before I bought my Bot. Go figure!

[gpari]

While running a 1.5 hour job the other day, mostly Y-axis moves, the y-motor hit 210 degrees (measured with a IR thermometer). That is the hottest I've seen. I would have guessed way more by just feeling it, it was stinkin' HOT.

I found this on the Vexta website:

Pay attention to heat dissipation from motor and driver. In particular, remember that the motor will produce a considerable amount of heat under certain conditions. Be sure to keep the temperature of the motor case under 100 C (212 F). Under 75 C (167 F) is required to comply with UL or CSA standards.

Thinking that I might add some heat sinks and some fans to the motors...

Gabe
www.socalteardrops.com (http://www.socalteardrops.com)

[gabriel_mckeagney]

I ran my PRT for 8-10 hours the other day and did notice the motors to be hot. I was doing some 3d relief carving. I did not have a problem though.

Gabriel

[applik]

Almost all of our 3D files run a minimum of 6 hours. I can put my hand on the motors and they are warm but not HOT. We do have a fan aimed at the control box under the table though. So far, so good. Bluebonnet is carving a big bear scene as I write. I ran a time test in SB and it said 9 hours. The design we did yesterday was a little over nine hours too and still the motors felt fine (I could keep my hand on them with no problem). Maybe the speeds make a difference? Most of these carvings are .75 deep so we keep the machine around 5 ips with SBs other recommended 3D settings. Maybe it's cause our machine is only 48 long? Maybe Bluebonnet just keekps a cool head while she's carving. ;)
S

[zeykr]

Shari, I'd love to see pictures of some of the work you are doing. Sounds very interesting. My email is in my profile.

[Brady Watson]

Just for clarity, the PRS Alpha motors tend to run hot when cutting 3D files. This is not the case with an older PRT Alpha. Nothing to be alarmed about...different motor with gearing spinning much faster than a 1:1 Alpha.

-B

[gabepari]

I'm running a PRT Alpha, but I've fitted it with 3:1 belt drive boxes. Probably why mine is hotter than other PRTs. I'm not too concerned about the heat, as long as it doesn't go above 212 F as warned by Vexta.

Gabe