Messages

31

General Mach Discussion / Steppers are too slow

« on: November 30, 2011, 04:51:07 AM »

Thanks to all for this great site.

I am currently setting up to build a 1200mm X 900mm router table and have been trying to get some sense out of Mach 3 running 4 stepper motors ("a" axis slaved to "y" axis).

The problem I am having is with the stepper motor speed. I am lucky if they are turning at about 50 RPM. The following describes the setup:

• The steppers are 380 oz/in being driven by Wantai DQ542MA drivers.
• The power supply is 24 volts which was supplied with the drivers. I have also tried another power supply with no change.
• Breakout board is powered by independant 5V supply and have tried 2 other combinations of supply including 2 separate 5V supplies with the jumpers removed from the BOB
• Have been into the motor tune settings and tried a number of different configurations and calibration settings
• Tried replacing the parallel cable in case there was a pin out there. No change.
• I have another combination stepper driver/ breakout board with 3- 180oz/in steppers and they seem to run without any problems at a pretty normal speed
• Mach 3 driver test is excellent with a very stable trace line at a freq. of 25003 khz.
• The motors all seem to run smoothly but just too slow. Also it does not make any difference whatsoever where the microstep switches are set. It is like it is running in max microstep all the time.
  
• Is it possibly a faulty breakout board or is there a hidden tick box in mach 3 which I haven't found causing my grief.
  

I find it hard to believe that all 4 drivers are faulty to this extent, but I have pulled what little hair I have out to try and solve this problem.

Any past experiences or knowledge would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Stuart

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32

General Mach Discussion / Re: Screen Resolution

« on: October 19, 2011, 01:09:08 AM »

Hi there Hood,
Thanks for your offer to check the .xml code I am set up with, but upon reboot of the computer the auto size feature now appears to be working fine with a full screen display. Your restart comment appears to have been the answer I was looking for.

Thanks again.

Stuart

33

General Mach Discussion / Re: Screen Resolution

« on: October 17, 2011, 06:58:29 PM »

Thank You Hood,
I am away with work from the machine for about 12 hours, but will forward the .xml file when I get back home. I assume this is found in the C:/Mach 3 folder somewhere..

Stuart

34

General Mach Discussion / Screen Resolution

« on: October 17, 2011, 04:31:31 AM »

Good evening all,
Firstly, I doubt there will be anybody out there at the moment as new to this game as me.

I am in the process of putting together a router table as my first project in CNC. The computer I am using tests fine with the Mach 3 program which came with the Stepper driver board (from China) but still to be registered. I am unable to get the screen size to take up the full screen unless I set the resolution to 1024 X 768. Currently it is set to 1280 X 1024 which works fine with other programs on the machine. Have tried selecting the auto screen size option but this didn't help.

Do I have any other option, other than to set the resolution to 1024 X 768 to get a full screen? Is there a later version or file to download which addresses this issue?

Appreciate any advise.

Stuart