Clearpath SDs

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hobgobbln
Posts: 266
Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2010 7:31 pm
Location: Palmer, Ma

Clearpath SDs

Post by hobgobbln »

Anyone familiar with the Clearpath SD servos? There was quite the buzz about them a few years ago but I don’t find much info on them these days. Not sure if they’re junk or if something better came along.

Years ago I converted a small Grizzly lathe to CNC to keep up with some parts I was making at the time. The setup I used with NEMA steppers worked fine for the most part but would loose steps every 20-30 parts. I fired the lathe up for the first time in a few years a couple weeks ago and they’ve gotten worse. I was thinking of swapping the steppers out for the Clearpaths to help with the drift, but don’t see much talk about them any more. Figured I’d ask before I drop a couple hundred bucks.

Griz
rrnut-2
Posts: 691
Joined: Mon Jul 18, 2011 7:40 pm
Location: Bennington, NH

Re: Clearpath SDs

Post by rrnut-2 »

I have looked at them in depth. What I didn't like about them was that there was not enough I/O for the CNC project that I had. They were very willing to help with the engineering for the project, so I will say that for them. In the end I went with the DMM Servos (Dynamic Motor Motion) and those work fine for less money than some of the other brands of servos. It's all a matter of what you are willing to pay.

Jim B
hobgobbln
Posts: 266
Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2010 7:31 pm
Location: Palmer, Ma

Re: Clearpath SDs

Post by hobgobbln »

rrnut-2 wrote: Sun Apr 09, 2023 5:02 pm It's all a matter of what you are willing to pay.
Truthfully, very little haha.
The main reason I was looking into the SDs was simplicity. From what I can find it looked like I bolt it in, tune it and go. No need to completely change my setup over from the Gecko and Mach3 config. I'll look deeper into the DMM and see what's involved.

Griz
rrnut-2
Posts: 691
Joined: Mon Jul 18, 2011 7:40 pm
Location: Bennington, NH

Re: Clearpath SDs

Post by rrnut-2 »

Well, you won't need the Gecko's, but as a side note, they will work directly with the Centroid Acorn boards. The Clearpath steppers will take the step and direction commands as well as the enable command. About the only thing that they give back is a fault signal and there is one programmable output. They may have updated this since the last time that I looked at them. But yes, quick and simple.

Jim Bronson
hobgobbln
Posts: 266
Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2010 7:31 pm
Location: Palmer, Ma

Re: Clearpath SDs

Post by hobgobbln »

Thanks for the help

Griz
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