Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / stepper or drive problem

« on: June 27, 2010, 08:45:56 AM »

I had an incident yesterday where my X axis stepper lost it's "grip" so to speak. That is it lost its orientation by a number of steps and it wasn't "locked" when not in motion. The ball rod could be turned somewhat easily when the motor should have been holding it in place. I have Superior Elect. SLO-SYN stepper motors with Superior MD808 drives. This happened after the  CNC had been running for a while and my Z had dropped down a couple of thousands. I had to stop the program and re-wind the code to start over, when doing this I noticed the X had also lost...or gained a few hundredths. I have occasionally had this problem with my Z dropping a couple of thousands during a large file which puts a line across my work piece. I have also had the same problem with my X on rare occasion and only on large files. Could this be the drives or steppers? Could heat be a factor? I have been meaning to build a temp controlled, positive pressure box to house my computer, power supply and drives but still have them sitting on top of my CNC in the heat...and dust of my shop. Any advice or opinions would be appreciated. Anyone also know of a good source for these drives and steppers? I can't afford down time and would like to keep some on hand as spares. Thanks.

--Rick

2

LazyCam (Beta) / Lazy Cam manual or tutorials

« on: May 05, 2009, 05:21:03 PM »

I am completely new to cnc but almost reached a milestone today designing a part in cad, opening it in my demo version of lazycam, generating code and almost...cutting the part. The code wants to cut the whole part in one pass even though I have the cuts per pass depth set and what I believe to be the part depth set. Just guessing but it only shows one layer...should it be one layer per pass?
Just playing now but from what I'm seeing...Lazy cam is for me. I have a limited budget and a lot in common with the name since I do not want to go back to school to learn a cam program. The problem is...Is there any more tutorials other than the two video tutorials in the support section? I would happily purchase a license if I know I can learn the program but will definitely need more help than the two video tutorials. I'm already teaching myself auto-cad and making progress. I don't want to overload my already overloaded brain but want to get up and making stuff asap.

--Rick

3

General Mach Discussion / AV vane operated position sensors

« on: April 18, 2009, 11:39:37 AM »

I have 1AV3A vane operated micro switches in my machine as limit switches. These switches were not wired when I bought the machine. I am accustomed to simple open/closed contact limit switches and am lost with these. Anyone familiar with these switches and have any idea how to wire them into my C10 parallel port interface card? I'm assuming a 5v supply to the switches is needed which can be obtained off the interface card easily but the diagram of the switch says 6 to 24v. I have attached PDF's of both components. The PDF for the switch is a brief description of the switch and contains no wiring diagram. Also, how do I set up mach to interpret the signal being it is not a normal open/closed contact?  Thanks!
--Rick

4

General Mach Discussion / need help w/ initial set up of superior electric drives w/ mach3

« on: April 16, 2009, 10:23:10 AM »

I'm having difficulty setting up mach for the first time. I've never seen my motors run and can't get them to jog. My driver test comes out "system excellent". I've done everything in the videos for setting "ports & pins", motor outputs, and motor tuning. My guess is it needs an odd configuration in mach. Power supply is good. The motors have good holding torque but will not jog. I am entirely new to cnc & mach although I have had my machine a couple of years and have been watching the mach videos since. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.
Rick

5

General Mach Discussion / Need help - slo-syn drives & steppers

« on: April 15, 2009, 03:10:13 PM »

I bought a system a while back and was told and assumed that it had been working. The wiring was sloppy so I cleaned it up a bit but now I'm second guessing the correctness of the wiring. I am using slo-syn MD808 drives (3) x, y, & z - M091-FD09 steppers (3). It has a power supply putting out 62 vdc. First off, are these compatible units? I'm starting to wonder if it was all thrown together. The machine itself is very well built but the computer, which I replaced, the power supply, and drives were very sloppy as if it were all thrown together and the previous owner could not get it running. I've installed Mach3 and set up but can't get nothing to jog. The motors will heat up after a few minutes and seem like they are locked up. They spin very freely when not connected to a power source. Please help as I have no idea of what I am doing. I can't seem to find a wiring diagram on the motors and I hate to assume that they came wired correctly. Thanks!