Messages

1021

General Mach Discussion / Re: Servo Drive Review. First 4 drives Gecko, Viper, Rutex, Leadshine

« on: August 12, 2009, 07:11:21 PM »

Good link, thanks!

A couple things about the Rutex I don't like are having to run thru a full time 1 ohm resistor which carves 20V off my top end, and the fact that there is no protection from BEFM.

Both Rutex and Viper have the reputation of burning out from BEFM. The more expensive Granite drive does have a protective resistor feature. Rutex warns against setting the drive's amp limit to its full spec.  I have it set to its full rating anyway, but I'm not particularly confident in it not only because of the warnings, but because I have read so many stories about burnt out drives. I have not tested the 4th axis at full speed with a heavy chuck and workpiece yet because I am worried that with a serious 'flywheel' being decelerated from 3,000+ motor RPM, I may get smoke. Larken obviously expects this to happen since they have the Viper's power components socketed for 'easy replacement' and they advertise their drives as 'repairable'.

Mo' better, methinks, to not have them burn up in the first place, which brings me back to the Dugong model from CNCdrives.

I have been talking to CNCdrives quite a bit and found out that the Dugong model does replace the old Mammut model. It has a ton of nice features, including automatic tuning, but what I am really interested in is the automatic brake resistor feature (above a set limit, it bleeds off excess voltage to the resistor ). That would protect the drive and the motor against getting burnt up. The Dugong looks looks like it may be the ideal drive for the 4th axis, so I went ahead and bought one along with the Whale3. With the Dugong watching over itself and the motor, I should be able to 'put the boots to it' and get back to breaking stuff  

The CNCdrives ship to me in the next couple days . . from Hungary . . so no telling how long till they get here.

1022

General Mach Discussion / Re: Really need help

« on: August 12, 2009, 06:39:25 PM »

What voltage are you running for the steppers?

1023

General Mach Discussion / Re: Servo Drive Review. First 4 drives Gecko, Viper, Rutex, Leadshine

« on: August 09, 2009, 11:42:13 AM »

I'm satisfied with the Rutex 2010 from a performance standpoint for my 4th axis project, but I am still in the hunt for an inexpensive servo drive that meets all of my wish list items to use on the X,Y,Z axis. I'm using my little X2 as a test bed to find the servos and drives I want to use on my upcoming X3 project.

So I have added a CNCdrives model called Whale3 to the lineup and ordered the drive. I've started adding some info on the drive to the review.

FYI, Gecko on Friday announced the new 320X. They provided me some early specs which were not very impressive, but the final released version is much better. Most of the problem areas have been fixed, but unfortunately, the drive will still bounce between encoder counts while not moving. Gecko refers to this as 'singing'. I have a different word for it. The encoder section of the manual is still incomplete.

CNC drives also has a brand new 160V 35A drive coming out called 'Dugong'.  No word yet on whether this will replace their current 180v 'Mammut' model  (where do they get these names?  )

1024

General Mach Discussion / Re: new mach 3.042.029 punched me in the nose

« on: August 09, 2009, 11:21:02 AM »

Amazingly, .029 is now the lockdown version.    What are they thinking?

1025

General Mach Discussion / Re: Chopped Micro Stepping Controller

« on: August 06, 2009, 06:24:09 AM »

A comment on sound:

With the additional mass of the 4th axis to move around, my 'X" axis started loosing steps occasionally, so I am planning to replace it with a servo motor. Until I decide which motor I want as a permanent replacement, I replaced the 425 oz-in NEMA23 (parallel wired) with a 640 oz-in NEMA34 (series wired) stepper that I had left over from my 4th axis project. Gecko 203V drive @ 72V.
 
http://www.kelinginc.net/SMotorstock.html

While I have not done any performance testing or run any parts yet, I can tell you that the difference in sound is extreme.

The NEMA23 was a screamer and the NEMA34 is almost as quiet as a servo. So my little Fankenmill currently has a NEMA34 on the 'X" and the NEMA23 on the 'Y'. With a program running, all you hear is the little 23 motor screaming away.

1026

General Mach Discussion / Re: Has anyone used Granite devices VSD-E sevro drives?

« on: August 06, 2009, 04:58:52 AM »

Hood:  I agree with you, but the reality is that I just have limited time (and patience) and I really can't get involved with another forum. You know how it is, once you start posting, you get caught up in threads and then you get e-mail notices of activity,  . . next thing you know more hours are burned. So for a lurker, there are good reads over there about the Granite and others, most seem to be using the drives with much larger and higher end stuff than would be typical for Mach users. I have no way of testing with anything but Mach and one small and one large (relatively speaking) DC brush servo.

vmax; Exactly, The VSD-E is sort of on the border between 'commercial' and 'DIY'. My thinking is that the products you mentioned would all be reasonably represented by the servo drive's step/dir performance in Mach using a typical inexpensive DC brush motor. This would address the 'DIY' side, which is also the limit of what I can test anyway.

The general lack of response from the Mach forum on this drive, together with it's cost, complexity, capabilities  and position as an 'entry level commercial' drive,  have me thinking that it may not be worth while to review it for use with MACH since there are products at half the price that are suitable for what a typical Mach user (if there is such a thing) would be interested in. Perhaps drives in this category are better reviewed by people with big machines using commercial controllers and high voltage DCBL or AC servos, which is really what the VSD-E is aimed at. The 'unstallable' stepper is an interesting creature, but It seems counterproductive to spend big on a VSD-E for the purpose of using a cheap stepper motor as an AC servo. It is an interesting topic, that for sure.

1027

General Mach Discussion / Re: Servo Drive Review. First 4 drives Gecko, Viper, Rutex, Leadshine

« on: August 05, 2009, 09:24:28 AM »

Thanks for the write up.  I have used Geckos past with smaller servos motors and just purchased a Viper 200 to test on some larger 100V DC Servos.  

I'll post my testing on the Viper 200 when I can.

The choices that I am aware of in that price range are:
Viper 200         170V   20A   $240 +$25 ship
Granite VSD-E  160v    14A   $280 + ??  (ships from Finland or New Zealand)
Rutex 2020       200v    20A   $230 + $12 ship
CNCdrives        180v    40A   $170 + $22 (ships from Hungary)
It would be great to have reviews available for these products.

1028

General Mach Discussion / Re: Has anyone used Granite devices VSD-E sevro drives?

« on: August 05, 2009, 09:06:12 AM »

Frankly, I find the Yahoo groups to be so awkward and slow as to be unusable. I've posted to the Rutex area and had it take a week for the post to actually show up. I have no plans to use the Yahoo groups other than to read what is already there.

I'm collecting info from a number of sources. From this posting, I'm just looking for Mach3 specific comments if anyone is using the drives.

If there are no responses in a specific venue, that is also meaningful.

1029

General Mach Discussion / Re: 25 Pin Parallel Signal Tester with LED's for each pin WANTED

« on: August 05, 2009, 07:56:55 AM »

I have 2 parallel ports. How do you read both? I guess 1 at a time?

Note that I said ONE OF my BOBs. I also have one of Peter Homann's new BOBs, but it does not have LEDs . . . . consequently it is very small . . . so advantages are traded.  For two ports, you need two BOBs.

One exception I am aware of is a product called 'smooth stepper'. There is a section on this forum dedicated to the product. I don't know much about it, but apparently (among other advantages) it replaces two parallel ports with a USB connection.






 

1030

General Mach Discussion / Re: new mach 3.042.029 punched me in the nose

« on: August 04, 2009, 02:00:51 PM »

I keep promising myself that I'll stick with 026 until the totally new MACH4 comes out.

 . . .  but . . . new versions of software  . . . . like putting chocolate in front of a woman . . . . only a matter of time till the willpower fades . . .