Messages

1211

General Mach Discussion / Re: help

« on: July 18, 2007, 09:06:27 AM »

If you are in UK, contact  Arceurotrade. The sell 8 wire stepper motors - at a reasonable price. They enclose a wiring diagram of how to wire 8 wires into 4 (bi polar) together with the wire colours.

The chap there is very friendly and should be able to e-mail you a copy of their sheet.

I would send you mine - but I appear to have binned it !!

1212

General Mach Discussion / Re: limit switch help

« on: July 18, 2007, 08:49:54 AM »

I take it then, all the switches are wired in series.

The thing to do is to short out two of the switches at a time, and see if the third one behaves, then try one of the other two, until you arrive at the one that is going open circuit. If they all behave (or conversly all mis-behave) then it must be a wiring fault.

I personally would wire the three switches seperately so that the led display will indicate which one is the trouble.

The alternative - and I don't know whether I am right or not - have you any of the soft limits set inadvertantly - and your program is tripping them - just a thought, and I don't know whether they would cause the same reaction

1213

General Mach Discussion / Re: How fast is your G00 Rapids?

« on: July 17, 2007, 11:36:25 AM »

If you are getting a Bridgeport mill to run at 70 inches per minute - I think that is good if it is the big Bridgeport I am thinking of.
I notice you are using servo motors -

I am using stepper motors on my Warco lathe, but the maximum traverse speed of either axis is a bit disappointing at 4 inches per minute - yes - 4. Any faster than this and the steppers seem to lock up. They are geared 3 to 1, but even so I would have thought I could have them going a little faster.

1214

General Mach Discussion / Re: limit switches

« on: July 17, 2007, 11:10:40 AM »

The connections for the limit switches can be configured in CONFIG/PORTS AND PINS/INPUT SIGNALS where you can see the limits and homing for all the axis can be set up. My limit switches are a return wire (from the 25 way D plug) to the switch and then to the 25 way D plug to the appropriate pin you have set. I have used a seperate pair for each limit switch via a 9 way D type plug from my control box (which houses all the drivers and other electronics) to the lathe - I only need four limit switches so only have 8 wires. You don't need a seperate pair for each switch, but could wire them all from a single return wire if you wanted. As has been said - connect the switch to the NORMALLY CLOSED set of contacts

The  link above showed all the limit switches in series, one after the other. You DO NOT need to do this, because Artsoft has provided seperate inouts for each switch. You can double up on a limit switch - and use it as a homing switch as well if you want to.

Have a look at the tutorial video - although it gets confusing with the ACTIVE LOW options. Basically connect the switches to the pins as above, then look at the diagnostics page, and manually click the switches to see if the led lights up to show the switch is activated.
If it is already lit, and goes out when you click the switch, you need to change the ACTIVE LOW on that pin.

1215

General Mach Discussion / Re: Rapid movement (G0) tied to FRO

« on: July 17, 2007, 10:46:51 AM »

On my system, g0 movement is set on the  CONFIG/MOTOR TUNING  page, and you can set the traverse speed of motors there. I must admit I am having a bit of trouble with mine and can't get them to move reliably much above 4 ins per minwithout missing steps - but I think that is just my particular motors and the gearing I have.

1216

General Mach Discussion / Re: 9 Pin serial interface

« on: July 16, 2007, 03:38:23 AM »

Brian - Can you give us an idea of what is possible over the 9 pin serial connection - e.g. spindle motor control, limit switches etc and what kind of interface we would need to use it.

How do we access this connection through the pins and ports page etc.

1217

General Mach Discussion / stepper motor driving speeds

« on: July 16, 2007, 03:30:43 AM »

Can anybody explain the relationship between "kernel speed" as set on the prots and pins page, and setting up the stepper motors.

I have two 220Ncm motors driving the main axis and cross slide on my lathe (A Warco). Even running light, i.e. not cutting, I seem unable to get the motors moving faster than 4" per min traverse speed. The machine cuts alright and everything else, but I would like to get the traverse speed up during G0 movements.

If I move up to say 6" per min - the traverse might run but the motors might then start missing steps and once the start missing the seem to carry on missing.

I have a 3 to 1 reduction on the drives so I need 48000 steps per inch, but divided down to seconds it is only about 1.6kHz which doesn't seem a lot.

The only other thing, of course, is the motors - perhaps these will not go faster - but they are brand new - 8 wire, but connected as bi-polar.

Any offers, please

Jim Pinder

1218

General Mach Discussion / Re: help

« on: July 12, 2007, 03:13:03 PM »

drut - you haven't said a lot !!!  how many wires are coming out of the motor - I assume this is a stepper motor you are talking about - to drive one of the axis. The motor could have 4, 6 or 8 wires, and if you buy them from a reputable dealer, there should be a wiring diagram with them to tell you how to make them into a two phase motor. What sort of driver are you trying to connect to - again, most drivers boards from a reputable dealer should have a wiring diagram with them - which show which terminals are going to the motor and which are going to the computer and which are for the power.

Come on !!! You can do better than this !!!

1219

General Mach Discussion / Re: newbie to cnc

« on: July 07, 2007, 02:09:17 PM »

O ordered a motor from arceurotrade last Wednesday, it came on Thursday at 12.25 - I have never known such a fast response. 220Ncm and it powers my Warco lathe without trouble. I am getting another when I have finished replying to this. I have no connection with them other than being a staisfied customer.

For drivers I looked on eBay and found one selling Stepmaster - I got a single drive, which works very well, and have just ordered a double. I power these from a pair of 12 volt bateries in series ( i.e. 24 volt). Neither motor or drive seems to overheat (and the Stepmaster is heat protected anyway)

Jim Pinder
Wakefield, West Yorkshire,

1220

General Mach Discussion / Re: Cutter comp

« on: July 07, 2007, 01:52:09 PM »

Lew - I am a complete novice at this, but surely if you start a program, without giving the machine the necessary information, i.e. tool no, and diameters or whatever, then it will just cut without any compensation.

Jim Pinder