Messages

21

General Mach Discussion / Re: burned out stepper motor? Symptoms.

« on: April 24, 2011, 03:05:23 PM »

why wouldn't that work reliably Ray?  The signal (from a C23 board) is split and both motor drivers (gecko 203v's) receive that signal.  Or were you thinking I was using one motor driver for two motors?

22

General Mach Discussion / Re: burned out stepper motor? Symptoms.

« on: April 24, 2011, 12:27:49 AM »

The controller is the same for both X axis stepper motors, so if it works on one, it should work on both.  I'll check the wiring.  I hope it isn't mechanical.  That's the part that scares me, and the mill is big and heavy.

23

General Mach Discussion / burned out stepper motor? Symptoms.

« on: April 24, 2011, 12:13:20 AM »

Hello, I have a stepper motor that seems to not run occasionally.  Other times it works fine. Of course this motor is on a twin X axis, meaning that the x-axis has two stepper motors each with the same signal.  When one fails, this moves only 1/2 of the machine, which is very very bad!  Basically worst possible one to go out.

Is this a normal symptom that you guys have seen?  I'm wondering if I need to order a new motor, or I need to investigate something else.  When they go out, do they act flakey and then finally give up the ghost, or do they just go out immediately!

This is a NEMA 34, 1290 oz motor.  It's moving a gantry that weighs probably 250 lbs.

Barry

24

SmoothStepper USB / Re: SmoothStepper now not responding correctly

« on: April 23, 2011, 09:34:54 PM »

I found the issue.  One cable was causing a lot of noise in the control box.  Taking out that cable removes the noise, and hence fixes the issue.  I haven't yet figured out what's wrong with the cable though.  The soldering looks fine at both ends.  Still though, the smooth stepper is working fine.

Barry

25

SmoothStepper USB / Re: New setup with SS and G540, total noob,lots of questions

« on: April 20, 2011, 12:29:15 AM »

For motion, it's should be fairly simple.  You'll need to know the pitch of your ballscrews, but from there, just follow the formula in the manual for mach 3.  I remember when I first did this, and yes, I was lost too.  As soon as I followed along with what was in the manual, it worked perfectly.

Also, mach has great video tutorials on motor tuning.  I believe thats where you are right now.

For the estop, sound like you haven't set the input signal for the estop inside mach.

26

SmoothStepper USB / SmoothStepper now not responding correctly

« on: April 19, 2011, 01:10:03 PM »

My smoothstepper decided last night that it didn't want to respond correctly and now the computer doesn't recognize it.  Half the time, it will still appear in the device manager as a smoothstepper.  The other half it will be an unknown device.  When it does appear as a smooth stepper, Mach3 will return that no smoothstepper is seen and to check the cables etc.  Any ideas on how to solve this?  Or is it just broken?

The lights are still turning on.  Visually it looks good.  It's passing along power/signals to the C23 board too.  If I run it powered from the USB, it comes up in the device manager more often.  If it's powered via 5 volt supply it almost never comes up in the device manager anymore.

This is the first rev of the board, or maybe 1.1, it's before the desolder of the ground that I see on the boards here.  Would desoldering that help?  Or other ideas?

Barry

27

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / New Control Box for Milla

« on: February 16, 2011, 01:06:57 AM »

Ever since I first built Milla, I knew I'd have to redo my control box.  I took a week off of work and redid it.  This included any fabrication, cutting, planning, sourcing parts and wire, etc.  Anyway, here's a picture of the new box.  For this one, crossovers are kept to a minimum, and even then, they are straight across, or an inch or two away in depth.  All communication wiring is horizontal, and shielded.  All power runs vertical.  All ports are on aluminum plate, which is bolted to the steel control box.  The stepper motors are all mounted on 1/8" channel aluminum that is cut a bit for airflow.  They are also mounted with heatsink paste.  Every part has their proper standoffs, and pieces screwed on properly.  Before I hung things from the side, since my case was too small for everything.  Oh, all parts are mounted onto a giant aluminum plate inside the box too.  I could unbolt that and take the whole kit and kaboodle out at once if I wanted.  I also wired in a cooling fan and a few indicator lights.  All in all, I anticipate this working really well.

Now, I need to make a new wiring diagram that follows this layout.  Another day for that though.  It's time for milling fun.

Barry

28

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: My New Control Station

« on: January 30, 2011, 09:42:15 AM »

I used terminal blocks on mine.  They are really easy to set up.  I just finished redoing my control box and will post Picts too.

Barry.

29

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Our 2440 x 1220mm CnC Router Builds

« on: January 22, 2011, 01:02:46 AM »

Very nice build.  I love the over-engineered bits.  I tried to do that with my build, but you guys raised the bar in that dept.  Can you show a pict of your control box?

Barry

30

General Mach Discussion / Re: rewiring to minimize EMF and heat

« on: October 05, 2010, 11:27:48 PM »

thanks, that has given me lots of ideas.  I found the crosstalk that was causing the EMI too, and it goes directly which what you are saying.  So for planning the new control box, I will isolate the low, mid, and high voltage wires to their own areas.  I'll also shield them as well.  The control box itself I bought to replace this is also shielded too, so anything in the room won't interfere too.  I'm not taking chances this time.  I plan on making interconnects for everything outside the box too, so I won't have wires just going through a hole, or several holes, including the open side as my current scheme is.

Thanks for your help.

Barry