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Messages - mturneruk

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1
SmoothStepper USB / SmoothStepper or something else ?
« on: April 27, 2014, 05:08:23 AM »
Hi Guys...

I have recently built an OpenBuilds OX CNC Mill.
I have now had two loads of MACH3 electronics which have not worked, after much frustration and at least 100 hours messing about.

Now have shielded cables all round...
Have homing switches and limit switches on X & Y.

The first lot was a parallel port all in one box 4 drivers HYCNC (Parallel Port does not work on win7 64bit).
The second lot was an HYCNC 125 4L and 4 TB6600 Drivers which i could not get to run without skipping steps continuously.

Are there any issues on the USB smoothstepper for running on Win7 64 Bit? What about the grounding issue - Is that still a problem ?
What drivers should i use with this to ensure that it just works?

I really just to ensure that i don't get a 3rd lot of electronics that don't work, as its hurting my wallet and my sanity!
Do not fancy the ESS if i can help it, as it needs a separate power supply and i suspect another network card in my machine.

Any help much appreciated.
Best Regards
Martin

2
General Mach Discussion / Re: Machine wont zero after Homing
« on: April 25, 2014, 04:39:33 PM »
OK - So I now have screened cables all-round and I am still get skips, blips and judders at random points when jogging.
Sometimes it doesen't do it immediately, but then soon starts. Sometimes its really bad. I can't find a pattern...

When i am running a program, it seems fine.
I have ordered a 36V power supply, so hopefully that will hope with the program stopping 1/2 way through

4
General Mach Discussion / Re: Machine wont zero after Homing
« on: April 24, 2014, 04:18:21 PM »
Ok - If all else fails RTFM!

Your both absolutely right. The formula you gave is on the manual. (1 piece of paper.)
I have now accurately set the Ampage fairly accurately to 3Amps on all pots. (Which seems to equal 1.36 V) across the two terminals.

e.g. (1.36 * 0.333) / 0.151 = 2.999A

As I think i mentioned my programs have been crashing 1/2 way through. I initially thought this was interference, but tonight i have successfully run
programs in mid air with the cutter running, and then cutting mdf on a very slow feedrate.

I suspect the crashes occur when the motors are under more load. E.g. When the feedrate or cut depth is higher.
I did have a feedrate of 1500, and now i have dropped it to 1000.

Looking at the manual, the drivers say they have TSD (Thermal shutdown), Over Current Detection (ISD) and built in Under Voltage Detection (UVLO).
I suspect that one of these is kicking in at higher feed rates. I expect Over Current Detection - the boards are not getting hot.

Do you think a higher voltage power supply would solve this ?
What would you recommend in terms of volts required - Just reread your post.

Where the hell am i going to get a 36V 12A power supply from?

Thanks for your very useful help...

Martin

5
General Mach Discussion / Re: Machine wont zero after Homing
« on: April 23, 2014, 10:36:06 AM »
Thanks Stirling.

Power supply is 24V / 20A.
Gantry is waiting A Axis driver. Only have 3 at the moment. 4th in transit.
Will Check the voltage using the forumla you supplied and see if its somewhere near. Where do i put my meter to measure the Vref ?

Thanks for your help
Martin

6
General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 Lock ups...
« on: April 23, 2014, 12:28:32 AM »
Thanks...

I have shielded cable ordered. Gonna redo all the wiring.
Will ensure that i have point to point power supply wiring.

Best Regards
Martin

7
General Mach Discussion / Mach 3 Lock ups...
« on: April 22, 2014, 03:31:26 PM »
Hi Guys...

I have a problem where Mach 3 seems to lock up during a run.
I am trying to cut 100m high letters out of a 6mm sheet of MDF.

The G-code looks fine, and it's not like it's crashing in the same place every time.

What's really weird is that when the cutter is not running and i run it in Mid air, i cannot get Mach3 to crash.
However as soon as its running it seems to lock up at random points during the run.

I have a couple of unshielded limit switch cables in the x axis of my machine and was wondering if it was possible that the cutter was causing interference with the switches -  so i have disconnected them and its still doing it.
(I am waiting on shielded cable to come through).

It's not like the emergency stop is being triggered. Once Mach3 locks up, it's impossible to move the cutting head at all, even after a reset - and you have to shut Mach3 Down and restart.

Photos of my machine on this page:: http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,26997.10.html

Any ideas ?

Cheers
Martin

8
General Mach Discussion / Re: Machine wont zero after Homing
« on: April 21, 2014, 04:40:38 PM »
Hey Piccyman....

So my Watchdog checkbox is off already...
Do you mean set the Amps to match the ampage of the motors on the driver board - Mine are about right I think.
My Motors say 3Amps per phase.. I assume that means 3A on the pots on the boards.

So ran some code tonight to cut out letters of kids names as a test.

Machine running much more smoothly tonight when running Gcode, (but seemed only to skip when jogging.)
However the machine kept stopping half way through the code, as it was in the middle of cutting out a letter. It did it 3 times.

I have just run the same code at least 3 times without the cutter running and it did not stop once. That surely must be down to the router causing interference of some kind.
So i have just ordered shielded cable. I have heard it and been told it, so I thought i would get it and do it, then that is ruled out.

I think i have also decided to forget the Machine co-ordinates being zero. I can't see that it matters to much as i think you said.
I will use the switches on the X & Y as limit switches rather than homing switches, and forget homing. I will just set work zero at the corner of my job.

Hopefully that will get around the A Axis problem of homing not working when you have a slaved axis.

My Z axis shortening seems to of made the machine more solid anyway.

Cheers
Martin


9
General Mach Discussion / Re: Machine wont zero after Homing
« on: April 20, 2014, 05:09:17 PM »
Also check the pitch and quantity of teeth  on your pulleys, it would seem that the steps / mm are very critical, i changed mine by -.5 and -.6mm

Where, how did you change that ?
In mach 3 or got different belts pulleys etc

10
General Mach Discussion / Re: Machine wont zero after Homing
« on: April 20, 2014, 05:07:08 PM »
yeah - still get the blipping with the belt off. Tried that...

However I have just ran a 1500 line gcode (In mid air) over 7min 30secs and it did return fairly accurately to zero afterwards.
Maybe i should ignore the blips.
I am wondering if I had my multipass depth to high. I was trying to cut 6mm mdf in passes of 1.5mm with a 1/8 cutter.

Maybe i was asking to much and it just coulden't cope with it. Somewhere in the program the cutter definitely moved from where it was supposed to be.
I have since cut down my Z axis length and made the gantry more rigid by adjusting the wheels...
Will run some more tests this week.

PS. What do you use yours for?

Cheers
Martin

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