Topics

1

SmoothStepper USB / Is this potentially an ESS Smoothstepper problem?

« on: February 23, 2023, 09:06:44 PM »

I was on the forum a couple years back when I bought a WorkBee kit.  I scrapped their electronics and got a ESS Smoothstepper with Gecko drives, and used Mach4 Hobby.  And it worked just fine. 

I had to step away for a little while and am now back.  In 2021 I bought a kit to upgrade the mechanical aspects of the WorkBee to the QueenBee pro.  The linear rails with bearings seem much more rigid and smooth. As usual, I make things with VCarve Pro and produce a gcode for my machine.  I have not updated my Mach4, nor my computer in anyway, since I know it worked perfectly before.  I keep the WiFi shut off.

Anyway, I had to carve a large "M" and have noticed this same defect every time on the same place, and it also happens with any letter I make that has straight sides, like a "W" too.  I've enclosed a picture.

Is my Smoothstepper acting up or do you all think it is a mechanical failure?  The mistakes are ALWAYS in the same places.

2

Building or Buying a Wood routing table.. Beginnners guide.. / Proper Grease for CNC rails

« on: February 09, 2023, 10:01:23 AM »

This forum was of great help to me a couple years ago when I built my WorkBee CNC.

I have upgraded my CNC to having HGH15 square Linear Guide Rails.

The instructions say to grease them, but I don't know what type of grease to use.

Also, the grease zerk is very small, and it doesn't have the usual round end to latch onto but is a a six-sided shaft that rounds a bit on the end.  What type of grease connector latches onto that thing? 

3

Mach4 General Discussion / Running VCarvePro .txt files

« on: December 09, 2020, 04:10:23 PM »

I had Mach3 and went to Mach4. 

VCarvePro doesn't turn one's designs into a standard Gcode file.  It turns them into .txt files for Mach.  In Mach3 I copied and pasted into MDI and I could get it to run.

I'm attempting my first carving in Mach4 and it also didn't accept the VCarve file when trying to load Gcode.  It mentioned something about some macro failing.

So I tried the copy and paste method of the .txt file into MDI.  Nothing happens when I click the cycle start button.  I waited quite a while.

With help from this board I was able to home all three axes, and then I moved my spindle to an appropriate place to start the carving and zeroed out all the axes and they were green.  The slave axis of A is greyed out but is the last axis shown, and it stays red.  Does that matter?

I went to Machine Diagnostics and there was nothing lit up accept the 4 green lights for the four motors. 

Any suggestions for this old newbie?

4

Mach4 General Discussion / X and Y axis homing in the wrong direction

« on: December 09, 2020, 12:06:27 PM »

My X axis switch is on the far left as facing the machine, and my Y axis switch is at the front.  So I want them to home in the negative direction for the axis. 

The Z axis switch is the opposite.  I have it set so it stops the spindle from going too high, thus the positive direction. 

The Z axis homes properly for what I want, but the X and Y go the opposite direction that I want them too, that is, also in the positive like the Z axis.

How do I make my X and Y home in the negative direction, that is, to the left?

5

Mach4 General Discussion / Please help me tune my motors

« on: December 08, 2020, 03:35:46 PM »

I have Nema 23 motors that are driven by a G540. 

The setting for the first one I figured by experimenting and getting the machine to move precisely 40" when it said it moved 40". 

But what is the best procedure for the rest?  How do I know what maximum velocity or acceleration should be?

Counts
Per Unit: 6350

Velocity
Units/Minute: 200

Acceleration
Units/Sec ²: 60.33

6

Mach4 General Discussion / Installing ESS with G540 on Mach 4.

« on: November 29, 2020, 04:54:55 PM »

Greetings everyone.  I am stuck and need help.

I have a WorkBee CNC.  It came with Novusun controllers, and based on the advice on this board I swapped it out for Warp 9 ESS control system with a G540 to drive the motors.

I am operating the spindle manually for now and will worry about that later.  The ESS is installed in Mach 4 and it does see it.  The ESS and the G540 are connected with the 25 pin ribbon cable I ordered with it.  I have the G540 installed with the light green and power goes to all the motors holding them in place.  I also used the G540 to connect to the limit switches and E-stop.  The E-stop does work and turns the G540 light red, but it's not seen by Mach 4.  The limit switches are not seen by Mach 4 either.

I have read all 41 pages of the ESS manual and the G540 manual.  My problem is assigning ports/pins, therefore I am stuck.  I can see the pin number assignments in the G540 manual, but don't know how to assign them in Mach 4. 

I would greatly appreciate any help.  This has been a long process with me assembling this CNC back in May. 

7

General Mach Discussion / My energized motors sound like a copper pipe in the wall running water

« on: September 13, 2020, 05:16:38 PM »

I changed out my contol system from a Novsunun with T6600 stepper drivers to a ESS Smootherstepper and a G540 to run the stepper motors.

When I turn on the power I hear the steppers energizing but they do sound like a copper pipe that is in the wall with water running through it.

Is this normal?  Should I have concerns?   Now, the motors are not turning, they just have power to them. 

8

General Mach Discussion / ".txt" files and switching from Mach 3 to Mach 4

« on: September 02, 2020, 06:42:14 PM »

I use V-Carve Pro and it has the option to create "Mach 2/3 .txt" files for G-code.  But it doesn't have the option for Mach 4 .txt files.

My question is this: If I switch to Mach 4 should those "Mach 2/3.txt" generated G-codes still run on my machine that now has Mach 4 operating it instead of Mach 3?

9

General Mach Discussion / My Mach 3 is set to native units of MM, but when I tram the DRO gives it in inch

« on: August 29, 2020, 01:25:34 PM »

It needs to be known I have switched back and forth and have finally settled on MM to be the native unit, and have adjusted all my limits, etc., to reflect that.

I have rebooted, even turned my computer off, but I can't get the DRO to read out in MMs. 

When I load "G0 X1" it actually physically moves 1 mm, yet the readout is still in inches. Same with all axes.

10

General Mach Discussion / How can I turn a home switch also into a limit switch?

« on: August 29, 2020, 12:11:49 PM »

I'm missing something when attempting this in Mach 3.

I have all the switches so they home into the front of the machine, to the left, with the spindle going up. I hit "ref all home" and they all hit their switches and then back off a tiny bit.

I have a kamikaze Z axis, and when running a g-code will often start out plunging up, or if it doesn't do that it plunges down several inches a minute or so into a carve.  I would like so when it goes up and hits the switch it stops instead of trying to crush the switch.

How do I do this?