Servo motors are DC motors with an encoder feedback loop. The computer reads the position of the motor and controls the power applied to the motor.
Servo's are faster moving point to point and are better at accelerating heavy machinery. They have more power at high speed than a stepper motor and can spin much faster, usually 3000-6000 rpm. A stepper motor has lots of low speed power, but shouldn't be run faster than 800 rpm since torque falls off fast.
A Servo system knows where the machine is while cutting and knows is the motor is under heavy load or an axis has jammed and will stop the machine. A stepper system doesn't have feedback and doesn't know if it has jammed or lost position. In this way a servo is more reliable.
Stepper motors are just as accurate as Servo and are simpler and maintance free in harsh dusty applications. The Servo motor's encoder is succeptable to dirt and vibration causing problems.
Larken has manufactured stepper motor systems for 18 years, and servo systems now for 2 years. The stepper systems are reliable and more affordable than a servo system, but the servo can cut faster and has higher job throughput.
What design
software do I need?
It
depends on what you want to make or cut. If you are doing simple woodworking
or 2d shape cutting you can use cad program like AutoCad, turbocad etc.
For more complex woodworking you may require MasterCam, SignLab or
Enroute to create your tool paths.
If
you are doing 3d models and surfaces for medium quality, Rhino 3d http://www.rhino3d.com
or other 3d cad programs are great for the design but you will need a toolpath
generator like our Surfer-3d, Deskproto.
For high
quality mold work, you can design with Rhino, Pro-Engineer , CadKey etc,
but you will need a highend Cam program like Mastercam, surfcam etc to
produce the toolpaths for high accuracy and smoothness.
For signmaking
or engraving as well as woodworking we recommend Signlab or Profilelab
from Cadlink http://www.cadlink.com
This is an all in one design and tool path program that is reasonably priced.
Call for special pricing. Other specialized programs such as ArtCam
are good for complex 3d sign carving although signs carved in this manner
take much longer to cut than a 2 1/2 d carved sign.
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