Messages

11

General Mach Discussion / Re: Machine wont zero after Homing

« on: April 20, 2014, 04:18:56 PM »

Just to say - These skips just sound like a little blip. Not a graunching jump. However if you watch the cutting head,
you can see a slight jiggle as it happens sometimes. I am sure that's causing the in-accuracies.

Cheers Mate
Martin

12

General Mach Discussion / Re: Machine wont zero after Homing

« on: April 20, 2014, 04:14:11 PM »

Nope that didn't work for me... In fact at a lower current it got worse until the motor just hummed and didn't move.
Just noticed my power supply has a variable voltage. Will try tweaking that next. What voltage are you running at ?

Are you using VSlot extrusion on your machine?

Martin

13

General Mach Discussion / Re: Machine wont zero after Homing

« on: April 20, 2014, 02:09:05 PM »

Thanks Piccyman - I did try that, but i will try it again tonight. I think I mainly tried it higher....
What accuracy do you get?
Any skips jumps and bumps?

Thanks for your help
Martin

14

General Mach Discussion / Re: Machine wont zero after Homing

« on: April 20, 2014, 10:32:33 AM »

Well i have tried disabling all my other axis and switches and just running the x axis.
I also pulled all the boards out of my box away from the power supply and kept all the wiring separate.
I also used thicker wire for the power supply to the driver.
That made no difference.

Piccyman - have you got your motors running 100 smooth now, with no skips, notches or bumps ?
Just for information I don't think its the motors either because the NEMA 17 for my z is skipping as well as my NEMA23's on x & Y.

Any other suggestions ?
New drivers, motors, USB board or all of it?

Cheers
Martin

15

General Mach Discussion / Re: Machine wont zero after Homing

« on: April 20, 2014, 09:05:12 AM »

Thanks Tweakie.

I have a bit of shielded cable. I will try your suggestions on one axis only and see if it that makes a difference.

I have spent an age wiring all this - this week. Not to keen on doing it all again to find no difference.
If i can get a smooth running motor, then I will be well chuffed. You really think it will work?

Best Regards
Martin.

16

General Mach Discussion / Re: Machine wont zero after Homing

« on: April 20, 2014, 02:45:43 AM »

PS. My steps per seem really low compared to others i have read......
What makes my machine measure correctly in the auto set-up "Set Steps per unit" in mach3 is....

Steps Per : 44.31168831
Velocity : 1500
Acceleration : 300

Does that seem wrong?

Cheers
Martin

17

General Mach Discussion / Re: Machine wont zero after Homing

« on: April 20, 2014, 02:38:37 AM »

More Pics

18

General Mach Discussion / Re: Machine wont zero after Homing

« on: April 20, 2014, 02:36:48 AM »

Pics attached...

Motors skipping straight away this morning..

Cheers
Martin

19

General Mach Discussion / Re: Machine wont zero after Homing

« on: April 20, 2014, 01:38:51 AM »

PS. Who is Hood ?

20

General Mach Discussion / Re: Machine wont zero after Homing

« on: April 20, 2014, 01:36:53 AM »

Hi Guys.

Thanks for your replies.

I have not got shielded wiring. Do you really think that's the problem?
I made the decision about that after reading that it doesen't make much difference in a home environment and speaking to robocutters.co.uk where i got my kit from.
I couldent get the shielded wires in my carriers.....

I haven't got my A Axis driver yet, so i am not expecting the machine to be highly accurate, as the A lags behind slightly the Y.
However not 5mm out which is my experience so far!

Piccyman: I tried setting up a slaved A axis in Mach3. Then my Y homing switch did not stop the carriage at all.
Even though the light lit up on the diagnostics screen in Mach3, the machine did not stop when homing and pressing the switch.
I tested this a dozen times. The x still worked. So i think this is going to be another problem...
I was not planning on having any switches on the A Axis as i thought that would just follow the Y Axis. Is that not the case ?

Does your machine reset the machine co-ordinates when homed?

Running on Windows 7 - 64 Bit. Not keen on a fresh install to be honest, this machine is my main pc and has so much stuff on it. I honestly don't think thats the problem as its a top of the line PC with loads of power and graphics.

Tweakie: I tried the x axis on 1/8 and that made no difference to the skipping.

Yesterday i reinstalled mach3 and noticed that when i first fired up the machine that there was no skipping. Brilliant i thought. Fixed.
After 10 minutes the skipping seemed to return getting worse as time went on.

What would be the dogs in terms of alternatives to these electronics?
Reading the smoothstepper forum, it seems as some of those guys have similar problems as well - So i'm not sure that would necessarily help.

I have invested over £1000 in this machine, and i just can't accept a crap result in the parts that come out.

Thanks again for your help
Martin