THe Gecko lives!!

I hooked up a different stepper with the output amp set to 1AMP.
Everything else was set exactly the same as it was when I was getting the pulsing, after verifying that's what the manual said to do.

I did a quick spin with Mach 3 and the keyboard and it seemed to work fine.
I ran a test G-code and it performed flawlessly. There was no resonance.

At the end of the G-code I sent the motor back to zero and it went there. No lost steps.

I still need to run it through some tuning exercises but I'm confident that it will work fine now.

Next big purchase will be either the motion controls for the table or a set of NEMA 34 or 42 motors.

Thanks for all the input.

Victory!

OK, at a price, but I think we have ALL paid that price. Fwiiw, I had to strip out and replace ALL the electronics in my CNC in the early days, and it had cost me a lot more than yours. All I kept was the big transformer. I used Geckos for the lot, with much satisfaction.

Photos might be of interest later on.

Cheers
Roger

Victory!

OK, at a price, but I think we have ALL paid that price. Fwiiw, I had to strip out and replace ALL the electronics in my CNC in the early days, and it had cost me a lot more than yours. All I kept was the big transformer. I used Geckos for the lot, with much satisfaction.

Photos might be of interest later on.

Cheers
Roger

Photos will be provided later on. I'll possibly add a build thread.

So far the price has been reasonable. I have burned up a cheap BoB and a stepper motor. The BoB was CHEAP and the stepper was all but free. I have more than 20 of those left over.

I hadn't counted on the cost of the Geckos and the cost of the bigger motors but the rest of my costs are staying well within my initial estimates. So, all in all, it's all good.

I need to start thinking of a central controller enclosure. An old PC cabinet might be where I will go for that. I think I have one laying around somewhere.

Hi,
I would use a cardboard box until you have a few hundred hours machining under your belt.
Its amazing how things that you thought were important at the beginning prove not to be so
and things that you'd never considered become critical.

Craig

This is my setup with three active, accurate, stepper motors running.




I've run a test G-code a few times now and it always returns to zero when I prompt it to.

Hi,
KOOL!

Craig