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Author Topic: Only X-axis motor is working  (Read 48381 times)

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Re: Only X-axis motor is working
« Reply #210 on: June 10, 2018, 02:00:06 AM »
One thing to remember: if you have damaged the Gecko 201X, contact Gecko about a repair. They are very, very good about that.

Cheers
Roger

At $100 each, they damn well better be.
Re: Only X-axis motor is working
« Reply #211 on: June 10, 2018, 02:07:18 AM »
Hi,
if I understand your post you hooked up a motor without bothering to set up the driver per the manual???

Geckos have a great reputation for reliability and you've managed to pop one straight out of the box.

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'
Re: Only X-axis motor is working
« Reply #212 on: June 10, 2018, 02:16:51 AM »
Hi,
before you hook up another one confirm the inductance of the motor you are hooking up. Don't guess....get an accurate number,
the G210X will accept motors with a minimum inductance of 1mH. If you try a motor with less, and your little 1A motors could well be less,
the driver may well not adequately control the current and you'll blow the output bridge.

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'

Offline rcaffin

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Re: Only X-axis motor is working
« Reply #213 on: June 10, 2018, 02:20:11 AM »
> if I understand your post you hooked up a motor without bothering to set up the driver per the manual???
Such is life for the vendor.

That is the joy of the 203V: Gecko claim you can NOT destroy it. But the 201X does not carry that claim. Instead the PDf states:
CAUTION! Do not short the motor leads to each other or to ground; damage will result to the G201X.
CAUTION! Current settings above 3 Amps without a heatsink will result in damage to the G201X.

Cheers
Roger
Re: Only X-axis motor is working
« Reply #214 on: June 10, 2018, 02:31:29 AM »
Hi,
thinking a little more about the minimum inductance specification and your experiments earlier in this thread with these motors.
If the are 8 wire motors ie 4 pairs of windings and you hook them out of phase then the field of one winding cancels the other and in effect
you have zero inductance, and that will pop your driver for sure.

I think you are going to have to nail that down properly BEFORE you do any more damage. You must devise some test to ensure that the two windings
you are hooking in parallel are co-phase. If I recall you said that these motors are only for experimentation...you plan on replacing them in the real machine?
If that's the case get one of your intended and final motors and DONT LOSE THE PAPERWORK if you don't want to blow s*********t up.

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'
Re: Only X-axis motor is working
« Reply #215 on: June 10, 2018, 02:55:40 AM »
I've verified the windings through a few methods as well as reading the data sheets on the motors.
As for blowing the motors, if the manufacturers have a driver that will blow right out of the box by connecting them to motors with  a lower amp rating than stock config then they are selling a crappy product.

I know the gecko didn't get hot. I was holding it in my hand. My stepper DID get hot though.

If the supply amperage is the problem then I should be able to take a second gecko and hook it up with the proper amp setting and it should perform beautifully, right? If that's not the issue then it will surely suffer the same fate as the first driver (assuming it's damaged)

At any rate, other than the dip switch setting, I hooked it up according to the manual. What I found interesting is the manual says if I hook it up to a common on terminal 10 it can be 3.3vdc, 5.5vdc or gnd. I find it odd that it can be any of the three without additional jumper settings.
Re: Only X-axis motor is working
« Reply #216 on: June 10, 2018, 03:26:48 AM »
Hi,

Quote
a lower amp rating than stock config then they are selling a crappy product.
Bull*********....its a good product and you are misapplying it. Double check the inductance before you try another one.

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'

Offline rcaffin

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Re: Only X-axis motor is working
« Reply #217 on: June 10, 2018, 05:28:58 AM »
Quote
if the manufacturers have a driver that will blow right out of the box by connecting them to motors with  a lower amp rating than stock config then they are selling a crappy product.
I think you misunderstand. If you connect a 1 A motor to a driver set up to deliver 7 A, you might blow the MOTOR. That would be your fault.
If you connect a driver to a motor which has been mis-wired to present zero inductance, then you might blow the driver. That too would be your fault.

Quote
I know the gecko didn't get hot. I was holding it in my hand. My stepper DID get hot though.
Holding the Gecko in your hand when it should have been bolted down to a heatsink would also be your fault.
It may be that in this case yo have merely 'warmed' the motor and the Gecko has survived.

Quote
If the supply amperage is the problem then I should be able to take a second gecko and hook it up with the proper amp setting and it should perform beautifully, right?
NOT if you have the motor mis-wired.

Quote
What I found interesting is the manual says if I hook it up to a common on terminal 10 it can be 3.3vdc, 5.5vdc or gnd. I find it odd that it can be any of the three without additional jumper settings.
Yeah, that is OK. It just means they have a 'smart' front end or interface. Quite reasonable.

Building a CNC actually requires some engineering and electronic skills. It is not something you can easily do by yourself without those skills - despite what vendors might claim.

Cheers
Roger
Re: Only X-axis motor is working
« Reply #218 on: June 10, 2018, 01:20:43 PM »
rcaffin,

I appreciate all your input.
I held the driver in my hand to assure that it wasn't getting hot, that's all. It barely got beyonc room temp so the heat sink wouldn't have done anything anyhow at that point.

I'm using the same windings on the stepper that I used on the cheaper drivers, that worked flawlessly except that it had the resonance. The resonance is the only reason I felt I needed the gecko drivers as it says they have a resonance buffer (rheostat) onboard to smooth out resonance.

I checked my power supply and it is 48 volts and clean. No reason for the pulsing LED I observed on the gecko or BoB. With the gecko disconnected from the power supply I don't see any pulsing on the power supply side of the BoB.

So, something IN the gecko is drawing the power from my power supply down to zero in a pulse. I'm surprised it's not fused to prevent such things.

Next step is to disconnect EVERYTHING from the gecko to see if it still draws down the power supply when it's only connected to the power supply.


P.S. My heatsinks aren't here yet. I'm thinking of robbing the ones on the other drivers for now.
« Last Edit: June 10, 2018, 01:22:28 PM by Inferno »
Re: Only X-axis motor is working
« Reply #219 on: June 10, 2018, 02:20:11 PM »
I just disconnected everything from the driver and turned on the power supply. No pulsing.
I reconnected the stepper and... pulsing.

I disconnected the stepper and hooked up a different stepper... no pulsing.

I now have a stepper motor in my garbage can.

It seems the 7 amps tot he stepper was more than it could handle. I know at least one winding fried because I did the test to see if shorting a winding would drag the motor and it didn't drag. Winding "A" is toast.

So now I have it all set for 1 amp. The second stepper is connected and testing will continue.

P.S. I am well aware that electrical knowledge and some engineering is involved with making a CNC machine. I'm more than qualified to learn as I go about things I don't know about. The only reason I screwed up the 7 amp thing was because I misread something in the manual. There's a part that says you don't need to use the resistors and they were optional. I then missed the part about using the internal dip switches. The manual covers 3 versions of the gecko and I read a part of one and a part of another.