Hello again Guys,
I can't seem to catch a break with this retrofit. Today I actually got around to cutting the first real part on the Matsuura MC500V retrofit with CSMIO/IP-A. It was a fixture plate for some parts I plan on making. About halfway through the program I noticed two things that must be addressed.
This first was a jerkiness in arc movements when I tried running faster than 30 ipm. I think this either has to do with rough servo tuning or I need to uncheck constant velocity mode in configurations. I would have tried this today, but I didn't have internet at the shop so I couldn't research and trouble shoot the problem. If its a servo tuning issue, I might need a bit of help. These are the first servos I've tuned and although I'm using the auto tune application in the CS plugin, I'm still showing slight errors. (I think I get 20 for a max error when oscilating at full speed and acceleration over an inch) When I try to adjust the PID parameters to 'tighten' up the tune, The servodrive makes a high pitched oscillation sound. When I think about all the fiddling I've done with the tuning of these servos, I realize that I should probably start a CS labs servo-tuning thread.
The second problem is a bit more scary. It involves position creep. As the machine worked its way through the program, I noticed that my z depth seemed to be steadily increasing. At the end of the program I confirmed my suspicions. Sure enough, not only was the Z axis creeping, but the X and Y were creeping as well. Its like the machine was missing steps but only in the positive directions for all three axis. After the program was finished (the fixture is useless) I re-homed the machine and suddenly my zero point was back were it started. This leads me to believe its a missing steps problem, but why would it only miss steps in one direction? In the case of the X axis, it was missing steps and thus over-traveling while under load and moving at 20ipm rather than at rapid speed.
Thanks for any and all help!
Jonathon