Machsupport Forum

Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: locoboilerguy on December 29, 2006, 07:54:01 PM

Title: motor setup
Post by: locoboilerguy on December 29, 2006, 07:54:01 PM

I am setting up a replacement controller for a stepper motor system.  No matter what I do I cannot get the motors to run smooth either in jog or running a program.  I have tried about every setting on the motor tuning possible.  I upped the amperage on the conroller boards and it worked great for about 3 minutes.  Now its back to jerky.  What might I be missing in Mach 3's settings? 

Thanks, John

Title: Re: motor setup
Post by: Chaoticone on December 29, 2006, 07:58:43 PM

Post your xml. Is it jerky in manual jog? Running code?


Brett

Title: Re: motor setup
Post by: locoboilerguy on December 29, 2006, 08:01:24 PM

I am still trying to set up the motors and they are jerky in manual jog.  I tried a canned program and it did the same thing. I have noticed quite a frequency spike with the computer.

Thanks, John

Title: Re: motor setup
Post by: Chaoticone on December 29, 2006, 08:04:24 PM

Give us as much detail about your set up as possible and post your xml.


Brett

Title: Re: motor setup
Post by: Brian Barker on December 29, 2006, 11:18:50 PM

you need to run the driver test and see if you see a graph that looks like a nice flat line... (To run the driver test you must have mach3 closed)

Title: Re: motor setup
Post by: locoboilerguy on December 29, 2006, 11:24:03 PM

I did that and it has a lot of spikes in it.   I have since tried it on a laptop with a PCMCIA parallel port with the same settings and cannot get the machine to function with that computer. Still working on that.  Unfortunately it has a very good signal compared to the PC.  The PC is spiking to 22,000 down to 4500 or so.    The laptop is fairly steady at about 24500. 

Thanks, John

Title: Re: motor setup
Post by: chad on December 30, 2006, 03:31:46 AM

Laptops with a PCMCIA parallel port do not work. You chances are about as good as my lotto ticket letting me retire. SO don't spend too much time on it.

;)
Chad

Title: Re: motor setup
Post by: Brian Barker on December 30, 2006, 08:34:15 AM

What mode are you running in? 25KHz?

The desktop computer would give you less trouble :(

Title: Re: motor setup
Post by: ger21 on December 30, 2006, 08:51:01 AM

Quote from: chad on December 30, 2006, 03:31:46 AM

Laptops with a PCMCIA parallel port do not work. You chances are about as good as my lotto ticket letting me retire. SO don't spend too much time on it.

;)
Chad

Chad, I've seen posts on CNC Zone from people using them. Apparently some do work, but not all.

Title: Re: motor setup
Post by: locoboilerguy on December 30, 2006, 10:33:57 AM

I was reading the speeds off the diagnostic screen. Will to low of a amp setting cause the motors to be erratic?.  As I said when I changed the resistors to go from three amps to approx. four they worked fine for about five  minutes.  I can up the amperage more without hurting anything so think I will try that this morning and go back to the PC if I can find the right resistors.  Radio Shack is very limited in choices.  There is the chance of some massive electrical noise causing this grief I would imagine.  What I am doing here is replacing a old Centroid controller with another controller which supports third axis interpolation.  Its still open loop and the A-B phase stepper motors. 

Thanks, John