Messages

51

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Spindle setup

« on: March 19, 2016, 01:44:55 PM »

Ok, i have a new problem. I got the Pokeys Motion controller and Pokeys motherboard from Arturo, Now when i set it up i can't jog any axis or start the spindle without getting error message "Mach4 motion steps overflow (-*********x) - check motor speed." Can anyone who has mach4 tell me what this means?

52

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Spindle setup

« on: March 17, 2016, 11:06:46 AM »

Ok, I did some testing of the linearity for the PWM between the ESS and C32 BOB. I'm not sure what this means. So i was hoping that Bob or Steve would help me decipher it. To me it looks linear but not even, there is a rise to the line.

53

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Spindle setup

« on: March 16, 2016, 06:41:54 PM »

Steve I spoke to you the other day, about another issue I'm having with my machine, regarding outter profile being to large by .005". If I can get these two issues fixed with my machine, it will be quite usable. At this point it is partially crippled. I can get the job done but I have to jump through a lot of hoops to get it accomplished. I'm starting to think the bulk of my problems are a result of the Ethernet smoothstepper. I have built other machines with cnc4pc breakout  boards and did not have these issues. I appreciate you not taking advantage of me when I called about your 424 board. After talking with Arturo I am replacing the ess, with a pokeys motion controller, which he tells me is a better fit with mach4.

54

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Spindle setup

« on: March 16, 2016, 04:12:49 PM »

Thanks for the replies. I have tried changing the frequency in machine.ini, using numerous values and nothing seemed to change the voltage readings on the 0-10v analog. if I commanded m3 s3600, which is what I have set as max spindle speed, I get 10.01v. If I command m3 s1800 my voltage reading is 5.1v, and if I command m3 s900 my voltage reading is 2.93v. Obviously I have a problem with linearity but am having a B#@%$ of a time tracking down the problem, as I am not that well versed in the electrical engineering process of machine building. I am good with the Mechanical and am trying to learn more about the electrical side of things, but am just not there yet. Would anyone point me in the right direction on where to start to get this thing resolved? I am currently using a C32 BOB with ESS, but I just purchased a Pokeys57E and Pokeys motherboard from Arturo, as he tells me that the ESS is not up to snuff with Mach 4 yet and that Pokeys has a good motion controller that is working well with Mach4.

55

Mach4 General Discussion / Mach4 Spindle setup

« on: March 16, 2016, 10:29:48 AM »

Good morning, I have a question for the Mach 4 gurus on this site, as i'm trying to wrap my head around this and not getting anywhere fast, LOL. How does the system use the max spindle and Max motor speed. Does it use it to as a gear ratio then male the adjustment to the vfd 0-10v signal? Also is the Feedback ratio only used for closed loop functionality? I'm going to layout a scenario and could someone please tell me if i am on to something or hanging out in the breeze somewhere?

Example Scenario: If i set min spindle speed to 0, and Max spindle speed to 5000, and the Max Motor Speed to 3600. will mach figure out how much voltage (between 0-10V) to send the vfd using some formula and the 5000 and 3600 values from the Max Spindle and Max Motor Speed, if i command an m3 s2500, or m3 s950


MinRPM The minimum RPM the spindle in the selected range
MaxRPM The maximum RPM the spindle in the selected range

Feedback Ratio
By default the Feedback ratio is 1, a value of one is used in an application
where the feed back device is mounted on the spindle. If the feedback device is
mounted on the motor or some other part of th gear train the feedback ratio
can be used to get the correct speed.

Max Motor RPM
The maximum RPM of the spindle motor. The reason for the maximum RPM is to allow for proper
scalling of the motors RPM on all ranges. The motor RPM is used by motion devices, plugins, VFD's, Lua
etc for planning the proper motor RPM to get the requested spindle RPM.

56

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 spindle setup

« on: March 13, 2016, 10:42:16 AM »

If it is not a mach4 problem then why when I change the pulley settings, does it affect the actual rpm?

57

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 spindle setup

« on: March 12, 2016, 09:12:01 PM »

All I want is for the machine's rpm to match commanded and actual. I.e. When I command m3 s1800 and measure the actual rpm using a tachometer it matches pretty close, not off by a few hundred rpm.

58

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 spindle setup

« on: March 10, 2016, 06:52:26 PM »

Ok so, I got the spindle running under Mach control. I had to reverse the setting 1_14 is pwm, and 1_16 is spindle fwd. the problem I'm having now is the same problem I was having with mach3. When I set the spindle up so when I command m3 s950 I get 952rpm, and the 0-10v reads 2.3v, and the hz on front panel of vfd reads 15.4. Sounds ok so far. Now comes the messed up part. When I command any other speed like m3 s1800 the rpm reads 1530rpm and with each consecutive change of commanded speed. The spindle rpm doesn't match what is being commanded by a significant amount.

59

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 spindle setup

« on: March 09, 2016, 08:23:17 AM »

Thank you. Is there another way for me to get vfd and motor working under mach4 besides pwm? If so how do I accomplish that?

60

Mach4 General Discussion / Mach4 spindle setup

« on: March 08, 2016, 09:29:13 PM »

Does anyone have any info on setting up a spindle in mach4? I have a vfd and motor working in mach3 using pwm but can't seem to figure out how to setup the spindle in mach4. I have a cnc4pc c32 Bob with ess, my motor and vfd are from charter oak automation. Vfd is danfoss, motor is Chinese 3HP 3600rpm.

Rod