Messages

71

General Mach Discussion / Re: Panasonic servo drive help

« on: April 01, 2013, 04:34:46 AM »

I'll keep that in mind if it gives me trouble, most of the Fanuc drives I swap out at work use the clip type shells. Do you know if the "guts" from the one I have will fit in a clip shell? Sure would be nice to skip the soldering.
     The good news for me is, drum roll, the encoder cables are done!! I just installed and tested the last one. 3:30 am here, Think I'll call it a night for now.

        Later, Rick

72

General Mach Discussion / Re: Panasonic servo drive help

« on: April 01, 2013, 03:34:51 AM »

Hello Hood,
     I took a vacation day for tomorrow (today) so I would have a 4 day weekend, so I'm burning a little midnite oil working on the last encoder cable. Well If you got bye without fixing your drive I think I'm going to just let it ride for the time being, just hope it doesn't cause reliability issues later, I guess if it does I'll deal with it then. Soon as I finish the encoder cables the line driver is next. Then I get to make cables for the signal input to drive. I will be happy to see these cables done so I can move on, this isn't the most enjoyable part of the build I must say.

                 Rick

73

General Mach Discussion / Re: Panasonic servo drive help

« on: March 31, 2013, 11:27:49 PM »

BTW,
    The good news is that as long as I don't tighten the retaining screws the drive seems OK other wise. I ran the servo motor tuning routine and that seemed to go properly.
                 Rick

74

General Mach Discussion / Re: Panasonic servo drive help

« on: March 31, 2013, 10:57:32 PM »

Well damnit,
    I double checked the cable and found nothing wrong. I had first tried it on the same drive and motor as the first cable I made,(which turned out fine) so I figured the cable had to be the problem. When I couldn't find a problem I decided to try it on a different drive and motor, it worked fine there. So I put it back where I had it in the first place and it's OK, WTF  Now here is the depressing story. When I installed it the first time I tightened the retaining screws cause I was confident the cable was going to stay there, (first one was fine so this should be too, right?). When I double checked and found nothing I tried it on a different drive and it was ok,(no screws). So I put it back where it was in the first place and it's fine?(still no screws yet). Puzzled over why it didn't work the first time I decide to secure it and move on, as the upper screw is beginning to snug up I hear a "click" and drive alarms with an encoder error. So I slightly loosen screw and drive resets, encoder error gone.
     Now I'm NOT tightening these screws like the lugnuts on a dump truck, just snug. I guess I could just leave the screw a little loose and move on but I'm afraid the board in the drive has a crack and tightening the screw must be warping the board enough to cause the crack to cause an "open" in the encoder circuit.
    I got the connectors with the drives and think they have been together since day one. The screws look original to the connectors so I don't think it's a case of wrong screw or screw too long. I've attached a couple pics of the connector for the last cable I have to make yet.
    So what ya think? should I leave the screw a little loose and forget it for now or do I need to open the drive and hunt the problem? Seeing how I'm NOT an electronics guy I don't know if I oughtta' open the drive or not.

            Rick

75

General Mach Discussion / Re: Panasonic servo drive help

« on: March 31, 2013, 02:37:36 PM »

Just thought I'd post an Easter update, good & bad.
     I have the differential line drivers in hand,pretty sure I have the installation figured out and got an "all good" from Professor H.
    I still have to make 2 more encoder cables & install line drivers before next test. Now the bad news, I have just spent the better part of 4 hours making ONE of the encoder cables,(soldering all those tiny wires into an even tinyer connector is some of the most aggravating work I've EVER done) getting every connection shrink tubed and buttoned up looking good. Put  cable on for a test and I STILL have the encoder error just like it isn't even connected. The cable I'm using is used cable so at this point I don't know if I made a mistake or the cable has a broken wire? I should have continuity tested before putting it together I reckon but it's the same cabling I used for the first encoder cable I made and it turned out great.
    Oh well, taking a lunch break for now, get to checking it over after I cool off & fill up.

              Rick

76

General Mach Discussion / Re: Panasonic servo drive help

« on: March 29, 2013, 01:57:09 PM »

Why I outta'.....................you guys are lucky your so far away or I might have to..............oh,nevermind.

                      Rick

77

General Mach Discussion / Re: Panasonic servo drive help

« on: March 29, 2013, 01:21:18 PM »

What Great folks there are on this forum! Hey Chaoticone, pm sent.
                     
                               Rick

78

General Mach Discussion / Re: Panasonic servo drive help

« on: March 26, 2013, 05:22:56 PM »

 

79

General Mach Discussion / Re: Panasonic servo drive help

« on: March 25, 2013, 09:47:26 PM »

OK guys,
    Here's what I think is going on. I have spent the evening looking the  manual over, checking parameters, made some changes,same result,changed them back,read Mach manual,read servo drive manual some more,,,My conclusion? I don't think it's a parameter problem, I think it comes back to the crappy instructions and the way the step/dir commands are being input to drive. Page 24 of the drive manual deals with position command input (pulse), it shows two ways to do it, A-by line drivers which they recommend (Hood did as well) or B-by open collector which I think is what Hood & some others have called single ended. Well I still don't have the line drivers so at this time the signals are single ended (open collector) BUT the way the instructions had me hooking things up I'm putting single ended signals where the line driver signals should go. so in effect the drive is seeing "half" what it should one direction & the other half when jogging the other direction. That sounds clear as mud even to me but if you would care to look at page 24 of the manual and then look at the connection instructions (all have been attached to earlier posts) maybe you can see the problem I think I see.
              Rick

p.s.  I REALLY need those line drivers.   

80

General Mach Discussion / Re: Panasonic servo drive help

« on: March 24, 2013, 07:30:22 PM »

OK Hood,
    I'll hopefully have a better look through the manual tommorrow evening after work. I've had a pretty good day today by finally getting so see motors run. But sadly now my weekend of play must end, time for supper,shower and off to beddybye so I can be up early bright eyed & bushy tailed for another fun workweek. Least this one is a short one, Good Friday is paid day off for me.

    As always thanks,   Rick