Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / Iissues with my cnc router

« on: February 01, 2014, 02:33:06 PM »

Hello,
Can some one give me guidance on what I may be doing wrong.

I had purchased a cnc router and after having it for a few years I wanted to add a 4th axis

I purchased all the components that I needed and I matched exactly what I had existing in the machine.

stepper motor- Sure step STP-MTR 23079
stepper driver- Geckodrive G201

I matched the wiring as I saw it wired on the other motors and drives and I went into Mach 3 and enabled the 4th axis.

This is what I did so far:
Under ports and pins I enabled the A axis using step pin #8 and dir pin #9 step port 1 and dir port 1
Input signals A home enabled Port#1 Pin #14
Toolpath config A rotations enabled
I turned off the A axis inhibits under the settings tab

I tried to use the rotary and it worked but all 3 other axis when they move have a kind of grinding moaning noise.

I looked at the driver and miss read the power requirements and thought maybe there wasn't enough power, the power supply was on the low end but it was in the requirements.

Now I have a power supply on the middle to upper end and I still have the same problem.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Greg

2

General Mach Discussion / CNC router power supply question

« on: December 24, 2013, 07:37:19 AM »

Hello guys and Merry Christmas!

What is the difference between this linear toroidal unregulated power supply,

http://www.automationtechnologiesinc.com/products-page/torroidal-power-supplies/unregulated-350w-48dc7-5a-input-120vac-or-230vac

and this Switching CNC Power Supply?

http://www.automationtechnologiesinc.com/products-page/switching-power-supply/kl-350-48-48v7-3a

I have a linear toroidal unregulated power supply on my CNC router I upgraded the power supply to a higher volts and now I need to upgrade the capacitor.

Whats the difference? Is one better then the other?

Thanks,
 Greg

3

General Mach Discussion / A axis setup problems

« on: May 04, 2013, 12:21:23 PM »

Hello everyone,

I have a K2CNC system and I recently added a 4th axis on my own.

I added a G201 Stepper Drive from Gecko drive and a SureStep stepper motor, single shaft, 276 oz-in holding torque, 2.8 amps/phase, 1.8 degrees / full step (200 steps/revolution), NEMA size 23, bipolar

I just setup my 4th axis and it works but now I get noise on my other 3 motors when they move it's almost a grinding noise.

I changed my Step Pulse to 5 from 0 and it got much better but still makes noise.

I created a new profile in Mach 3 for the rotary axis and if I use my old 3 axis profile the motors run quietly.

Any help would be appreciated.

Greg

4

General Mach Discussion / homing not working correctly

« on: June 29, 2012, 01:11:06 PM »

Hey guys,
When I reference my machine it no longer travels to the limit switches.  It moves a undetermined amount, no consistent amount and on all x, y and z axis. This doesn't happen all the time but mostly on my y axis. When it homes correctly it trips the switch then backs off the switch, when it does it incorrectly it does not back off it just calls that position 0.

Any help is appreciated.

Method.

5

General Mach Discussion / 4th Axis add on/build

« on: August 02, 2008, 02:26:17 PM »

Hey,
I have a K2 cnc router, and I would like to add a 4th axis, a full forth axis not a indexing 4th. I want the challenge of making it my self but I need your help. Any ideas where to start? I am running Mach3 with no problems. My wish list would be to have it spin like a lathe spindle and also to be able to run it slow like a mills 4th axis.

Thanks in advance, and it's good to be back!

Greg

6

General Mach Discussion / Problems with movement with Large program loaded

« on: December 16, 2006, 01:01:24 PM »

Hi,
I loaded a large cutterpath into Mach2 and when I move the machine it keeps moving after I release the button. It moved fine before and then after I closed the program it would move just fine, but while the program loaded into Mach it had problems.  For example, before the I load the program when I would tap the Page up button it would move about .03, but when the program was loaded, I would tap the Page up button and it would move up 1.43 with just one tap of the button!

Any Ideas whats going on? I can get you the cutterpath if you want but its 78Mb.
Thanks,
Greg

7

General Mach Discussion / Help! Please! this Chaos has to stop!

« on: December 02, 2006, 02:33:39 PM »

Hi,
Can anyone help me! My machine is loosing its location everytime I run a cutter path. This is getting ridiculous   I have a K2 cnc router kt2514. I am running Mach2 and am in the process of switching over to Mach3 but I am having problems with it running smoothly, so for now I am running Mach2.  I am using a P4 2gig with 1 gig of ram for the controller PC, I have 276oz steppers direct drive with couplings and gecko 201 stepper drivers.

My machine screws up and then starts to run again out of location, I have played with the velocity and the acceleration, I was wondering if there could be something wrong with the machine electrically. The stepper controller box gets very very hot so I added fans to cool it. The motors arn't getting hot, and I used WD-40 for the lube on the leadscrews, and when the machine isn't on I can move all three axis with ease by rotating the leadscrew by hand. I have plastic antivibration nuts on all three axis and couplings that I made sure that the fit is good and not binding.

These are my questions:
Can anyone go through the voltages on my stepper drivers to see if there a problem with too much power or something like that?
Should I use grease instead of WD-40 for lubrication? Does anyone have any suggestions?
Any other Ideas that could be the problem I will check them all, I need to get this problem fixed!
I will be checking for posts all day.
Thanks,
Greg.

8

General Mach Discussion / Where to buy linear rails and bearings?

« on: November 17, 2006, 08:50:53 PM »

Hi Everyone,
I was wondering where I could find linear rails? I need them 8ft long and bearings to go with them, I am looking for a good price too.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Greg 

9

General Mach Discussion / Settings or machine problem

« on: September 23, 2006, 12:48:47 PM »

Hey,
Can stepper motor over heat? and then miss steps?
The other thing is that I didn't  make my machine like some of you I bought mine so I'm not too sure how things work in the other stepper Controllers, but mine gets very very hot too hot to touch is that normal?  To me that doesn't sound normal.
What do you think?
Thanks,
Greg

10

General Mach Discussion / 50 in/min but no faster

« on: June 22, 2006, 11:07:54 AM »

Hi,
I am having a problem with my cnc macnine, I bought a macnine from K2cnc and I am trying to tune it so I can machine faster with out missing steps. I have no problems cutting at 40 to 50 in/min but if I go any faster it messes up and looses its place. Other problems I have been having is when it goes from G1 to G0 it looses it place more often. For example I was finishing a sign and profiling out the outside shape and it was at last pass I was about .5 deep and it was to rapid up to Z+.5 and it only made it about .05 up from the bottom and it took off to X0Y0 right through my finished part.doh!
When I bought the machine I was under the impression that it could cut at feeds of 120 in/min, I don't want to talk bad about the guys from k2 because they have been really helpful in the past but I though it might be worth asking a question in a forum that is dedicated to helping people with these problems. 
I am new to all of this and am not familiar with the terminology so who ever replies to this post must have a lot patience with me and be very descriptive.
Also,
I would like to try Mach 3 but I haven't even got my machine running right with Mach 2 so mabe I can try that at a later time, unless we can try to fix my problems using Mach 3.
Thanks,
Greg
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