Question Anyone know of a hand wheel to fit the free shaft of the D420 stepper motors

Hi Stepcrafters, CNC newbie here still putting the D420 together so any help much appreciated.


Having trouble manually operating the D420 lead screws for adjusting settings.

Anyone know of a hand wheel that I could fit on the free shaft of the stepper motors to make turning the lead screws by hand easier.

Or, could I fit the free shaft of the stepper motor into the chuck of a cordless drill and (slowly) turn the motor/shaft that way.
Would this cause any problems with the stepper motor, would it generate a back emf that could damage the motor (I would make sure the motor cables were disconnected and individually insulated before doing this).


Thanks in anticipation - Martin.

Hi,
If you have access to a 3d printer you could print some cranks/knobs out.
www.thingiverse.com/search?q=extruder+knob&dwh=125d8109bde9a31

Thanks Cpt Wingnut for the response, unfortunately I don't have access to a 3d printer, but do appreciate your help.

If you’re in the UK I can send you some if you like?

Cpt Wingnut
Thanks, I am in the UK and that is a very generous offer, but I have managed to set up the D420 now and it all seems to be working smoothly so no need for the hand wheels now.
In the end I used a cordless drill to slowly drive the stepper motors (with the wires isolated) and this worked fine.
I did think a hand wheel could be useful ongoing to manually set up the Z axis depth, rather than jogging via the laptop keyboard, but have subsequently found that there is some resistance in the stepper motors when power is applied to them even when idle, so manually operating them with a hand wheel in this state is probably not a good idea.

Thanks once again - the learning curve continues.