Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: Hillbilly9749 on January 17, 2009, 11:53:00 AM
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I reported on here last week that I was having problems with my new machine which I tracked down as being associated with the control box. I duly informed the supplier and he sent me a new one. I fitted this and everything has been fine and the machine ran without any problems for two days during which it produced around 600 fishing float bodies of various shapes and sizes. However when I tried to use it today it started to play up again and quickly deteriorated to roughly the same state as last time it went down. I now have only one smooth axis a noisy Y (losing steps) and the Z even tries to run backwards sometimes but even when going the correct way it is prone to just stop and lose loads of steps and makes a horrible noise. Is it common to have these sort of problems or am I just unlucky as it would seem that the control box has failed again. >:D
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Its certainly not normal but then again your drives/control box are not the normal that people here are using, I think I have only seen this setup mentioned once before on the forum.
Hood
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Hi Hood, it has me baffled because it ran faultlessly for two days and unless the supplier has a faulty batch of controllers I don't know what the problem could be. All the steppers are working ok provided they are connected to the X axis but none of them work properly if connected to the seemingly faulty Y and Z drives. I cannot see it being a Mach3 or computer fault because the new controller ran perfectly at first. What sort of drives would you reccomend as this problem is costing me lots of time and production.
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I am thinking it is the marchant dice controller you have but may be remembering incorrectly?
For steppers I would say Geckos are the best, others may have their favourites but they are mine. I have also used the chinese drives and they are not too bad but just dont rate them as highly as the Geckos and their price is similar, or was, maybe the $ £ exchange rate has altered that now.
Hood
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Yes it is the Marchant Dice drive Hood. Just had another look and noticed that if I touch the Z axis connection cable when connected to the Z drive the stepper makes a noise. Touching or moving the other two drive cables has no effect. ???
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Suppose the only thing to do is get in touch with them again and see what they say or might be the time to cut your losses and move on. Thats what I did 4 or so years ago, bought drives from USA Ebay that gave me nothing but problems, I got a lot of help from John Prentice and in the end managed to get things working but John gave me a loan of a G201 and the difference was night and day. My mill could only get 400mm/min on the eBay drives, on the Gecko it could do 4000mm/min, I ordered some the same day and just resigned myself to the fact that I had wasted a lot of money.
Your situation might be different though as at least you live in the same country and might get some joy from Marchant Dice, hope so.
Hood
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I've been down the same road with bad drives. As Hood stated, the difference between bad drives and Gecko's (or any other quality drive) is night and day. I think that my entire machine cost me double what it should have, from bad purchases.
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Hi, Sounds like your Z axis has loose connection or cable shield not connected.
Gecko's are the best IMHO. I've a Denford Orac lathe with stepper motors that I use every day for the past 3 years that I've owned it. The guy who built it didn't know about shielding as all the wires are bundled together in cable runs and the machine has never lost steps (not that I can measure). The drives have never let me down.
I have recently built a mill with Gecko servo drives and for the short time I have used it , it has performed with excellence.
The only gripe I have with the servo drives is that the test point connection for tuning the drives properly with an oscilloscope is still inside the case and to remove the front cover for access you have to remove the drive as the screws are at the back.
The reason I decided to build the mill with Gecko's is not only their drives excellent performance but the company's willingness to help out with almost any problem you could possibly throw at them. You can even have a chat with Mariss Freimanis on CNCzone.com who frequents the site on a daily basis.
Even waiting for the drives to arrive from "across the pond" and the extra cost of import duty outweighs any box of tricks supplied by a company that hasn't designed or actually manufactured the product.
At this point usual disclaimer applies. Marchantdice is probably a very good supplier of cnc equipment. I have bought bearings from them on their website (even though they are about 10 miles from me) I never got any response to an acknowledgement that I had purchased anything and had to email Kevin Marchant twice to get a confirmation that my order had been placed. The bearings arrived so no complaints.
Best email or phone Kevin for that customer service you deserve.
John
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Thanks everyone. I shall be having some strong words with them on monday as this just cannot go on. The first controller was never right from day one and I could not go above 850mm/min. However the second one was happy up tp 3,000mm/mim so I backed it off to 2,500 on my Z (longest travel) and 1,800 on the others and would have been happy to run at that speed.
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Hi John,
When I reported the first failure to Kevin he put a replacement in the post the same day which I received next day. I am more than happy with the rest of the stuff I purchased (£1,700 worth) but the drives just don't seem up to the job. The stepper cables just plug into the back of the controller and I am worried that a third controll box may meet with the same fate. All three drives are on one PCB and everything connects up fine.
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There's the rub, If at any time one of the drives fail, having everything on one board means a wait for repair or a new board. Having separate drives means if one fails I can replace with a spare in about 10 minutes. (Having the foresite to purchase a spare just in case) with Gecko's I'll probably never need it.
I wish you good luck.
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Same comments as the others - BUT if you are in UK have a look at the drives on Arc Euro Trade.
With the plumeting pound, Geckos are now expensive, and at the recent Midlands engineering exhibition there was opinion that the Arc drives are as good as Gheckos, but also have better inbuilt safety protection.
I have two Gheckos and a 2.5amp one for the Z drive. I am giong to replace the Z and will probably try the Arc Euro Trade.
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Thanks jimpinder I will have a look. I am going to have words on a "fit for purpose" basis with the supplier this morning and see if he has an alternative to offer as a replacement. I can see me having lots of trouble with the "standard" drive that came with the machine and feel he should replace it with something that is up to the job. The first drive was faulty from day one and the second only actually ran for around nine hours over three days before giving up.
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The drives that Arc Euro sell are the ones I referred to earlier, they do seem to work well as I have them on the coil winder but they are just not quite as good as the Geckos in my opinion, not far behind though. They are however about 4 times the size of the geckos, a lot of that is heatsink.
Hood
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Have had major problem with Marchant Dice as have many others it seems. Not yet seen anyone with a good word for these guys.
Mode of operation appears to be:-
1. Very co-operative up until they have your money.
2. Zero communication thereafter.
3. They may or may not supply but if they do, only when they get around to it (or you advise you will be taking steps to get your funds returned in which case they ship late but still don't advise you so you go and get something else and end up with a problem as they shipped the goods and still expect to get paid even though they are so late you don't have any use for their stuff anymore!
4. Quality unacceptable.
End of rant from a frustrated and p***ed of purchaser!
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Hi tech.tron. I waited over a month for my machine even though the money was taken from my account the day I ordered it. I have just fixed the problem myself by opening up the control box and noticing that both the terminal blocks that carry the Z axis wires had not been fitted correctly and clipped in place. As soon as I fitted them right the machine worked just fine again. I have to admit that the machine they supplied seems excellent except for this fault. The control boxes are not assembled by them so I guess it was just one of those things.