His breakout board uses Rj45 connections to the servo drives so he is definitely wired correctly.  If a servo drive produces a fault, would it not shut down regardless if Mach is made aware?  I'm just wondering out loud here.  Even if I had not wired the fault signal output from the servo drives to the breakout board, the servo drive shuts down when the following error is exceeded.  My servos will not run without an encoder feedback but is it possible that there is a parameter in the HLFB that turns encoder feedback off and on?
  He could still disconnect the motor and push the axis back and forth by hand to pick up on any noise, roughness or drag just to eliminate that as an issue.  In my opinion, V roller bearings on V tracks and rack and pinion drives are not on my list of good ideas.  The up side is that both are usually adjustable to compensate for wear and backlash.  The down side is that, you need to do that occasionally.  Also, a little Vactra 2 goes a long way toward making things work smoother longer.

Ed

Hi,

If a servo drive produces a fault, would it not shut down regardless if Mach is made aware? 

Not necessarily, and overload fault I would expect to stop the servo every time but a Following Error fault, who knows?. It would stop if that whats its programmed to do.
OP does not seem inclined to answer questions about how the servos are programmed or how the HLFB is connected to Mach4 if its connected at all. Not much that I can do.

Craig

Hi,
how about this for a test. Deliberately stall the servo and then command a movement. As it cannot is should produce an overload error (due to peak current) or
a Following Error, in either case Mach should see it. If Mach does not see it, then either the HLFB is not programmed, of it it is, then its not correctly wired back to the breakout
board or the motion control is not set up to monitor it.

Craig

  I just went through the Clear Path user manual and a following error, Tracking Error Limit as they call it, does shut the drive down when activated.  There is no capability to disregard the encoder input or, oddly enough, the ability to change the tracking error window (whatever it is).  So, if the system really is losing steps, it SHOULD shut down hard.  Given that, I think it safe to say that the HLFB is not seeing a following error; the motor is moving exactly as it is commanded as far as the HLFB is concerned.

Ed

Hi,
then try the experiment and deliberately stall the servo and see whether it faults out.

Craig

not sure that the c62 board can be programed for the HLFB
 

not even sure what the HLFB is

  The HLFB, as I understand it, is the stepper driver.  I don't think there is any programming that can be done with the C62 bob as it is only a communication and signal processing board.  What Craig is wanting you to do is to force a fault on the driver by deliberately overloading the axis motor to see if the fault shows up in Mach.  I am guessing it will but I can understand your trepidation at deliberately causing your motor to overload.  Don't worry about that as the system is designed to protect its self.  Another trick might be to swap drives to see if the problem follows the driver.  If so, then you have a faulty drive (HLFB). Just swap the X and Y Rj45 outputs on the C62, swap the motor and encoder terminal plugs and program a simple circular motion and see if the lost steps goes to the Y axis.  If it does, then you have an issue with the HLFB.

Ed

Hi,

The HLFB, as I understand it, is the stepper driver.

It is not a stepper driver, its a servo. High Level Feed Back is a signal that is programmed into the servo, usually to signal a servo fault. Has OP programmed the servo?

What Craig is wanting you to do is to force a fault on the driver by deliberately overloading the axis motor to see if the fault shows up in Mach.  I am guessing it will but I can understand your trepidation at deliberately causing your motor to overload.  Don't worry about that as the system is designed to protect its self.

Correct you can stall them all day long without damage.

Craig

as i understand it the c62 board has 6 RJ45 output jacks if the X axis output is faulty
could you switch to a spare output jack