Is it possible to 'hot' swap stepper motors?
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I'm in the early stages of designing a tool changing platform, and am curious if it is appropriate to hot swap extruder stepper motors for the modular hot ends. In order to simplify the wiring harness, and reduce the cost of electronics, I am hoping to use a pogo pin connection between the tool heads, and the tool holder. I would ideally include channels for the heater core, thermistor, cooling fans, and direct drive extruder motor. The first 3 seem fairly easy to manage from gcode macros, and I'm not aware of any electrical reason that hot swapping those could be a problem. The motor on the other hand has me a bit concerned.
Based on the documentation here: https://duet3d.dozuki.com/Wiki/How_to_destroy_your_Duet_2 it seems like I should be able to avoid problems as long as the motor is powered down during the swap, but I just wanted to confirm that before I go too far down this design path. (I guess this technically wouldn't be hot swapping, but I'd still like to be able to switch out tool heads (with motors) as frequently as once per layer.)
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Yes this has been discussed a couple times recently and it is possible if you make sure the motors are de-energized before disconnection.
https://forum.duet3d.com/topic/21327/hot-swapping-extruder-motor-nema-17-1-6a
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@phaedrux Thank you! (that did not come up when I did a search before posting)