Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: ste68blue on March 11, 2009, 10:04:42 AM
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Hi all, appologies if this is in the wrong forum...
i have connected all my motors and power etc to the controller board, loaded MACH3 sotware, went to run the motors and i appear to be having problems.
If i tell x axis and y axis to move they are fine, however if i tell z axis to move the motor does nothing but x motor and y motor both vibrate. i have soldered all of the ends of the wiring, to give a good connection, ensured all connections are tight and secure, uninstalled software and reinstalled it but it makes no difference...
ANY TIPS
Anything would be appreciated as it is now delaying the project
cheers
stephen
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Sounds like you have it wired wrong. What board have you got things connected to? A pic might help if you can manage that.
Hood
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Hi, Stephen
Re-check your Port's & pin's, Motor Output, Pin settings.
Chip
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Hi Stephen,
It sounds obvious but recheck that you have the Z Axis stepper coils connected correctly.
Tweakie.
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Hi all, firstly thank you for your responses.
I am going to take some snaps of the board today, not sure how to attach them onto this post yet, i'll have a look in a sec.
I have checked all connections and all seem fine, i have tried changing the motors over on the different axis's and the motors work fine, just not on the z axis
cheers
stephen
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hi again pics attached, hope that helps and someone can shed some light on my problem
ahhhh, help...how do i attach pics??
cheers
stephen
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Stephen,
Click the REPLY button, then Additional Options. Browse to and attach your files.
RC
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right....cheers for that, try this..
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Check the parallel cable is a straight through cable and not a cross over type. If thats correct then please attach your xml for the profile you use and I will have a look and see if there is a problem with it. You will need to copy it from the Mach3 folder to for instance your desktop and then rename it before the forum will accept it, suggest you call it ste68blue.xml
Hood
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Hi, thanks for that..
The cable came with the board, how do i check whether it is a straight through or not?
I will copy the xml file tomorrow and post it on the forum as you suggested
I appreciate any help you can give me
cheers
stephen
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If you have a multimeter put it on the buzzer setting if it has one, if not put it on a low Ohm range and just probe pin to pin from either end of the cable to see that each one goes straight through 1 to 1, 2 to 2, 3 to 3 etc etc.
Hood
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right yeah sorry...blonde moment
cheers
stephen
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Hi, my xml file attached
much appreciated
cheers
stephen
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Have you tried slowing the Vel and Accel way down to see if you can at least get it moving. Think to be honest it is a faulty drive board you have but everything is woth a try. I have looked at the xml and dont see anything majorly wrong so far.
Hood
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Hi, cheers for the reply
Yes i have tried slowing and speeding up the motors.....makes no difference.
Is there anything i can check on the board?
stephen
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dont think so, apart from trying swapping the motors around which will only tell you if the motor is the problem. With these all in one boards there is no possibility of swapping drives around to see if the problem follows :(
Hood
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Hi Stephen,
Unfortunately it may be the driver board as Hood has said (I hope it is not).
As it is only one axis at fault try testing the components associated with the failed axis - the 2 (large) current limiting resistors with a multimeter to make sure they are not open circuit, also check the 4 protection diodes to make sure they are not short circuit (low ohms in one direction and high ohms in the other - with motor disconnected of course). It would be a bit of tricky soldering but it is not out of the question to replace the TA8435 chip (cut off all the pins and remove them carefully from board one at a time then fit replacement to heatsink then solder pins). There is not really anything else on this board to go wrong.
Tweakie.
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cheers for that....im not sure i have the technical expertise to do that....
stephen
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If all else fails then you have nothing to loose by trying something radical. Thats my motto.
I am sure that if needs must that you could find all the necessary skills. Think positive.
Tweakie.
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Thanks for that tweekie, may be i can....
I have emailed the supplier and they have said they will send a replacement at no cost, so hopefully that will be okay.
One more question i have is if i wanted to run two motors from one axis, how do i do that, is it just a case of wiring two motors to the same axis? or is there a better way?
cheers
stephen
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Brilliant news about getting a replacement controller.
I doubt that this controller can handle the current necessary to satisfactorily run two motors wired in parallel. But it all depends on the torque required to drive the axis, maybe 1.25 Amps per motor will provide enough torque, maybe not. You would have to try it and see I suppose.
Tweakie.
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but is that how it is done though? just simply wire the two motors into the same axis?
cheers
stephen
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Stephen, usually you would have 2 drives, 2 motors and slave the two together.
Brett
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okay cheers, for all the help.
i will update on our progress and post some pics
thanks again
stephen
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Hi, just a quick update...got replacement board and it is doing exactly the same as the original one...
when i send a command to z axis the other two motors vibrate but z does nothing....
anyway put tester on motor output wires and got the following readings, hopefully it will help one of you guys to tell me whats wrong and how to fix it...
on the working motors i get:
red-yell = 3v
red-green = 3v
red-blue = 4v
on the z axis that wont work i get:
red-yell = 0v
red-green = 5v
red-blue = 4v
Any help is much appreciated
cheers
stephen