Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: trying to improve motor speed

« on: December 21, 2011, 05:20:27 PM »

I think I'll just bow out this time.  Most people know more about cnc machines than me so I fiqure it would be a losing cause.  By the way, the top picture looks like the motors I have.
John

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: trying to improve motor speed

« on: December 19, 2011, 03:27:35 PM »

OK Finally able to get back to you guys.  After reading what you guys felt, it's probably best to just go ahead and build the new one like I had planned.  However I do have to disagree about the siftware not affecting the output speeds.  I still have the electronics set up and I went back and tried both siftwares again.  The Mach3 was decidedly faster than the Kcam with identical settings.  You also have to realize that these motors are just turning and not driving anything, so there is no friction to drag the speed down.  Oh yeah, I forgot to say in my breakdown of the machine that it does have linear bearings, not just bushings.  So onward and upward to bigger and better machines.  Thanks for the input from everyone and I'm sure I'll have more questions in the future.

By the way Stirling, you lost the bet.  They're not little round things, they are Nema 23 construction. 

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: trying to improve motor speed

« on: December 17, 2011, 09:18:29 AM »

OK. Let's see if i can get you all of the info you need.  Motors, brand unknown, only has a CS on them.  Voltage rating is 5.3v @ 1 amp.  The drivers and I'm assuming breakout board are all built together and are manufactured by Hughes Automation, model AIO-500, stepper motor controller.  The manual says that it is designed for unipolar motors and is designed to be used with a power supply rated between 8 and 18 volts.  I origionally used a 12v computer power supply but was able to find a 15v so that was the reason I stepped it up.  The board has its own 5v regulated supply built into it.  Everything is controlled thru this one board.  It was a part of a package deal that I had purchased that had the motors and board all together.  Have learned , after the fact, that a combonation board of this type is not a good idea and that you're better off with individual components.  The motors supply movement to the components by way of 1/4-20 rods.  The unit is a fixed gantry with a 16.5x16.5 bed.  The board only allows for either full steps or half steps and I have it set up for half steps.  I have added the Kcam Maxstepper to the unit, which helps give it a smoother input but to the board but did little or nothing for speed.  I realize that this will never be a set the world on fire, whiz bang unit but I feel that the software is the biggest part of what is holding this unit back and I'm just trying to confirm it before I tear everything down and build another.  Unfortunately I have a tendency to build something, get it working and then move on to a new challenge.  Hope this will help to get me going in the right direction.  Thanks  John

4

General Mach Discussion / trying to improve motor speed

« on: December 16, 2011, 06:18:55 PM »

Greetings from the swamps of south Georgia.  My name is John, aka the sheepdog, and I've been trying to run my homemade CNC machine with Mach3 but to no avail.  It is a small 15x15 unit with unipolar motors and is controlled by a Hughes Automation AIO-500 motor controller, originally running at 12 v but now has been upped to 15v.  The original manual that came with the board gave all of the hookups for Kcam which ran ok but seemed awfully slow, 8ipm.  I've purchased new motors, (bipolar) drivers and breakout board in hopes of improving performance.  When I put together the new motors, etc. I tried them on both Kcam and Mach3.  They both ran with no problems and Mach3 was the best.  Now I want to try Mach3 on the existing unit before taking it down to see if the problem is the software or do I need the bigger motors, etc. From all I've seen on the forum Mach3 will run unipolar motors but I can't figure out how to set the pins properly.  I'm thinking the 5v supply is not getting to the motors because it is built into the board and does not have a way to pick it up separately but that's just a guess.  I'm doing this as a hobby so I really do not know what I'm doing. Have tried e-mailing the Hughes Corp. but never got an answer.  I'm open for suggestions and hopefully we'll get this thing checked out.  Thanks in advance  John