Messages

61

General Mach Discussion / Re: Only X-axis motor is working

« on: March 30, 2018, 02:36:24 PM »

I think a lot of the problem might be that I hooked up my 8 wire steppers wrong.

I, mistakenly, thought I just needed 2 of the 4 coils wired and isolated the other 4 wires. It turns out I need to hook them all up either unipolar or bipolar connections.
The trick will be to find out which wires go to which coil.

These are 23LM-C304 motors. I still haven't found a color coded wiring diagram for them.

I'm not ignoring the advice of the PS issues. I just think I should have better results (even if not perfect) than I am.

Is that number correct?

Here is data for 23LM-C304 motors and it only shows 4 wire/2coil

http://web.archive.org/web/20050224182758/http://www.taxibooking.net/23LM-C304-51V.pdf

Yes, that number is correct. This seems to be an oddball one but I have over 25 of them.

62

General Mach Discussion / Re: Only X-axis motor is working

« on: March 30, 2018, 10:01:21 AM »

I don't have access to an oscilloscope but have basic knowledge of how steppers work and a logical mind so this is what I am doing.

To isolate the paired wires (coils) I am bridging wires, two at a time, and spinning the motor by hand. When i feel the pulsed resistance, i know I have a coil.
Using this method I will end up with the four pairs.

Since the wires are color coded, I can, probably, deduce left and right pairs by picking the solids, and calling them right, and the stripes and calling them left.

So, I have four pairs, two left and two right.

When I bridge the two solid pairs, I have a smooth resistance. When I bridge the two striped pairs, I have smooth resistance.

So, to match the left and right I am using the same method.

First I bridge two solid wires. I have stepped resistance. If I add in pair of striped wires, bridged, I will either still have a stepped resistance or I will have a smooth resistance. If the pairs match then it's stepped resistance.

Using this method I have the paired coils.

I hooked these up in bipolar series last night and had a very smooth motor but the direction wasn't reliable. This tells me one set of coils was backwards. Just one though.
I now have a diagram written out that will help me tonight. It was too late last night to keep working on it or I would have had it ironed out then.

Stay tuned.

63

General Mach Discussion / Re: Only X-axis motor is working

« on: March 30, 2018, 12:15:12 AM »

I think a lot of the problem might be that I hooked up my 8 wire steppers wrong.

I, mistakenly, thought I just needed 2 of the 4 coils wired and isolated the other 4 wires. It turns out I need to hook them all up either unipolar or bipolar connections.
The trick will be to find out which wires go to which coil.

These are 23LM-C304 motors. I still haven't found a color coded wiring diagram for them.

I'm not ignoring the advice of the PS issues. I just think I should have better results (even if not perfect) than I am.

64

General Mach Discussion / Re: Only X-axis motor is working

« on: March 29, 2018, 11:10:19 PM »

Cool. Thanks for the advice.

I'm still trying to understand the ministepping feature.

For what it's worth, I lose steps at low speeds.

65

General Mach Discussion / Re: Only X-axis motor is working

« on: March 29, 2018, 09:17:39 PM »

I don't know why 24V power supply isn't OK. Here's my logic.

First, I misspoke. The steppers are 5.1v/ph, 1A/ph
The actual number is 23LM-C304

And the reason I think the 24v power supply will work fine is because these motors were originally mated to this power supply. In fact, this power supply fed 6 of the steppers, not just four. It's not some cheap Chinese power supply. It was in service for over 10 years with no issues.

The rest of what you said is something I will keep in mind. I don't know half of what you were saying but I get the jist and could figure out the other half if needed. I'd prefer, if necessary, to buy an actual power supply that doesn't need any tinkering.

Not sure what a LINEAR vs switch-mode power supply is.

Still learning though.

66

General Mach Discussion / Re: Only X-axis motor is working

« on: March 29, 2018, 05:17:35 PM »

Stepper motors?
What is the maximum voltage allowed on the DRIVER (not the motor),
what is the power supply voltage you have,
and what is the current setting on the driver,
what current is the motor rated for?

Cheers
Roger

From memory.
The drivers are rated to 48v, my power supply is 24v
Current setting on the driver is 1amp.
Stepper motors are rated 1.2 Amp and 4.7v

I will correct this info if it is erroneous

67

General Mach Discussion / Re: Only X-axis motor is working

« on: March 29, 2018, 10:06:26 AM »

Thanks for the encouragement.

Last night I played with the tuning a little. It seems to not run the steppers as smoothly as I thought, at low speeds.
At faster speeds the motors will stall and lock.

I'm going to be playing with the tuning a lot, I think.

I'm wondering what the purpose is for having such a wide possible range on the tuning sliders. It defaults at 2000 steps per revolution (which my motors don't like) and then has a long range of speeds and possible acceleration.

I assume part of it is that I should have my stepper drivers and the steps per revolution matching before I try to tune it too much. Right now I think I have the driver set to 400 steps.

It's all part of the learning process, I'm sure.

68

General Mach Discussion / Re: Only X-axis motor is working

« on: March 29, 2018, 12:46:14 AM »

Thanks for chiming in.

I sort of took your advice. I built new probes on my multimeter and used it instead of the LEDs. It was faster.

I checked continuity across all my grounds, voltages and connections.
I saw inconsistencies so I figured, since I still had time tonight, to swap out the boards.

I was meticulous about the wires. I found, when I took them off the other board, that a strand of wire had bridged one of the connections. That's fixed and ferrules have been ordered to prevent it again.
Powered up the new board (different manufacturer but same design and components) and ended up with a repeated set of tests. Z still didn't work but X now worked 100% of the time but, like A, it only spun in one direction.

Back to the cable I went and discovered that this cable was also not giving good signals from mach3 to the end of the cable.

New cable woes....

I didn't have it in all the way.

It was a very tight fit to get it in and it almost snapped into place but I now have FOUR working axis.

Thanks for hanging in there with me.
I DO have a little better understanding of Mach3 and can now proceed with tuning the motors (just to learn) and building the next stage of the project.

69

General Mach Discussion / Re: Only X-axis motor is working

« on: March 28, 2018, 11:38:50 PM »

Take cable back to store for refund?

Cheers
Roger

They gave me another cable. They tested it first.
There's an actual machine for testing DB25 cables. Who knew?

Now I have different results.
The second I plug the cable in, the relay triggers. That's cool. It could be a brake release or whatever or I could set it low in software or whatever. No biggie.

First I set the pinouts.
2/3 X
4/5 Y
6/7 Z
8/9 A

Tested X and it works for about 5 cycles or less.
Tested Y and it works perfectly
Tested Z and have zero movement
Tested A and no matter which direction it's supposed to move, it moves clockwise.

I checked wires a few times. I swapped the headers on the drivers (basically traded cables) and everything repeated the same indicating the problem is either in the wiring, or the BoB.

I ran three different XML files to come to this conclusion.

I got my new BoBs in today so tomorrow is swapping one in

70

General Mach Discussion / Re: Only X-axis motor is working

« on: March 28, 2018, 02:11:12 AM »

I take it the cable was 'collected' from a different bit of equipment.
You can't undo the shells and unsolder all the wires at one end?
Or do the connectors have injection-moulded covers?

Cheers
Roger

The cable was brand new, in a factory package. Molded ends.
It must have been a special cable. Didn't have anything special on the packaging though.

I'm taking my multimeter to the store with me tomorrow. It's an unusual store....

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