Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / TB6560 single axis hookup

« on: July 01, 2013, 11:42:14 AM »

I have a TB6560 single axis board http://www.sainsmart.com/new-cnc-router-single-axis-3a-tb6560-stepper-motor-drivers-board-for-axiscontrol.html  "documentation" here>> http://www.sainsmart.com/zen/documents/20-019-200/Tb6560%20stepping%20motor%20driver%20...pdf with the inputs marked as "EN+ EN- CW+ CW- CLK+ CLK-"

I actually got this board to run with an Arduino to test some steppers, but it looks like I should be able to get it to run in MACH.  So, sorry for questions about baby steps, but...

The documentation says  "6 input terminals can be connected as common anode or cathode". 

So I tie the CLK- and CW- and EN- to ground, right?

And if I want to call this "X" axis, I'd hook CLK+ to step pin 2, and CW+ to dir pin 3, and EN+ to pin 14 and green check those pins in ports and pins... per http://pminmo.com/mach3-setup

thanks,
C

2

General Mach Discussion / MACH3 move error

« on: December 01, 2012, 07:41:30 PM »

We have a Grizzly mini mill with 276 ozin steppers, Gecko 540 (24v) supply, and MACH3. We are making egg shaped circles and want them to be round. 

We have calibrated the axis's and they are both right on (and very similar steps per inch numbers of 15984.********* and 16000.*********x.  And we have redone the backlash, (home made plastic nuts on ACME threads) X was 0.001 and Y was 0.009. And we have restarted MACH several times to and confirmed that the settings have changed.

HOWEVER, when we go to MDI in MACH and tell the X axis to move 0.5", it actually moves 0.455" - and is pretty repeatable (+/- a thou or sometimes 2).

Interestingly (and frustratingly) when we do an 8 hole bolt pattern, and measure the major and minor axis's and subtract the smaller from the larger, we get a difference of 0.046"... note that 0.5-0.455 = 0.046.  We must have some setting messed up, but just can't find it.

Any help would be great!
Thanks,
Chuck

3

General Mach Discussion / Mach3 and Centroid CNC4E

« on: January 25, 2012, 12:29:00 PM »

I've become sort of competent in turning a drawing thru CAM to GCode and
actually cut the part using MACH3 on our CNC'd Grizzly G8689.

I now want to tackle the Bridgeport unit I bought about a year ago. It was
originally a 1974 series II CNC that has been retrofit with a Centroid CNC4
(CNC4E-B24-MD3-80V serial no 1296 circa 1991). I got out the book(s) for
CNC4 and Cencomm and well, this is going to be a real learning experience.
It looks like I can either enter Gcode directly or via Cencomm (for files
under 24K). My question is, is it feasible/practical to use MACH3 as a
front end for this CNC4 or am I stuck unless I do what I would guess to be a
pretty expensive upgrade?? It appears that the controller is 80286 vintage
- at least there is some documentation for such a MB in the paperwork I
received with the mill. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

Chuck Merja