Super X1 conversion - motor tuning questions

[bruce_miranda]

I have now got my machine assembled and all the motors are moving but I have at least 3 issues.

1. My Z axis makes a noise when it tries to move above 50mm and actually doesn't move. The motor just stalls and the couplers slip and makes a clicking noise. Below 50mm and the travel is fine. What could be the problem here. Is my Z axis not aligned properly with the CNCfusion kit?

2. My Y axis has markings on the CNCfusion block for + and - and when I use the Mach3 jog controls it moves but in the opposite direction of the CNCfusion markings. All the motors are wired exactly the same way and even rotate in the same direction wrt to the + - controls on the Mach3 Jog but the table is moving is the opposite direction. On the mill when you stand in front of it should the table move out or back when + is pressed in Mach 3?

3. My motors are moving the tables very very slowly even on full Velocity and Acceleration. I have a Metric X1 machine and the motors are 1.8 deg/step ones. I'm using a MSD542 driver which has various setting for the Microstep and I'm using the Default which is 125 Microstep - 25000 ustep/rev for a 1.8 deg motor. But I've not changed the Steps Per in the Mach3 software, which is still set at 2000. What should that value be? Should I change the Step value in Mach3 to 25000.

[Crevice Reamer]

Originally Posted by bruce_miranda I have now got my machine assembled and all the motors are moving but I have at least 3 issues. 1. My Z axis makes a noise when it tries to move above 50mm and actually doesn't move. The motor just stalls and the couplers slip and makes a clicking noise. Below 50mm and the travel is fine. What could be the problem here. Is my Z axis not aligned properly with the CNCfusion kit?

First, try a lower microstep setting. Then play with lowering the acceleration settings in config motor tuning.

This could be caused by binding. Loosen the gibb adjustment and see if the problem persists. You may also have a misalignment somewhere. Try loosening the various bearing block screws.

2. My Y axis has markings on the CNCfusion block for + and - and when I use the Mach3 jog controls it moves but in the opposite direction of the CNCfusion markings. All the motors are wired exactly the same way and even rotate in the same direction wrt to the + - controls on the Mach3 Jog but the table is moving is the opposite direction. On the mill when you stand in front of it should the table move out or back when + is pressed in Mach 3?

You can change motor direction in Mach3 by config to move whatever way you want.

3. My motors are moving the tables very very slowly even on full Velocity and Acceleration. I have a Metric X1 machine and the motors are 1.8 deg/step ones. I'm using a MSD542 driver which has various setting for the Microstep and I'm using the Default which is 125 Microstep - 25000 ustep/rev for a 1.8 deg motor. But I've not changed the Steps Per in the Mach3 software, which is still set at 2000. What should that value be? Should I change the Step value in Mach3 to 25000.

Any microstep above 10 is wasted. change to a lower setting and match it in Mach3. Steps per inch in Mach is calculated by: 200 times micro step times TPI of lead screw. Is your Mach set for metric?

CR.

[bruce_miranda]

In terms of the Y table travelling reverse, I actually read that according to the Mach3 manual the X was travelling reverse and that has now been set to travel in the reverse direction. The travel according to Mach3 is the tool and not the table i.e. the table travels in the opposite direction of the tool.

Someone please help. The slow turning motors are causing me the most trouble.

The motors I'm using are
http://www.motioncontrolproducts.co....TH76-2808B.pdf wired in parallel to MSD542 controllers with all DIP switches left as default.
http://www.motioncontrolproducts.com...0datasheet.pdf

The power supply has been verified to be outputting 40V and its supposed to be able to do 10A of current.

The motors are running extremely slowly, they don't spin I can almost count the steps its making in a complete turn. Even on full Velocity and Acceleration the tables move very slowly. I've seen some videos here of people's tables moving quite fast from end to end. I don't know what to set the driver's microstep as or what settings in Mach3 need to be made to speed things up.

[Crevice Reamer]

You have WAY more microstepping than required. Lower this to 2, change steps per inch in mach to steps per mm, and see what happens.

CR.

[bruce_miranda]

Yes my Mach 3 is set for Metric and the entire system is supposed to be Metric. I've now set the Microstep on the the Drivers to 2 and set the Mach3 Step Per to 80
Speed has picked up but its still slow and very jerky. What should the Velocity and Acceleration be set as roughly?

On the Z axis I loosened thing up and now with some struggle the axis move above 50mm but the entire set-up seems very noisy. It sounds like some metal grinding together.

Can anyone post or point me to a video of an X1 micro mill just jogging from one end to another with sound. Want to come it to mine. I still can't believe how the entire weight of the Z axis is on the CNCfusion collar.

[bruce_miranda]

See video of my Axis jogging using Mach3. The setting used are 2 Microsteps on the Driver and 80 steps on Mach3 with Velocity and Acceleration set to 2500.

This is how it moves and sounds and although I'm not an expert at all that metal grinding doesn't sound right

http://www.youtube.com/v/yzgFNBwLoCk

[Crevice Reamer]

On your driver, the current set DIP switches should all be set to "OFF." Is that the way you have it?

CR.

[bruce_miranda]

All set to OFF would have made the the Microstep set at 125. You told me to try 2 so its set to SW5 SW6 SW7 SW8, Off On On On.

The current switches are all set to off.

So my drivers now look like

SW1 SW2 SW3 SW4 SW5 SW6 SW7 SW8 -> Off Off Off Off Off On On On


Still can't figure out what Value to put in the Mach3 Motor Tuning. What is the pitch of a Metric X1 lead screw?

[kawazuki]

Can't comment on your driver but i've only just added a Fusion kit to my X2 and found this......

The -Y & +Y engravings on the motor mount are (I believe) backwards from usual convention ie. 0,0,0 for machine homes should be table all way right for X, all way back (away from front) for Y and all the way up for Z.

The Fusion ballscrews are imperial so for motor tuning a mm conversion is required - in my case 1.8 deg 200 step motor 5tpi screw and 10 microstep drive = (200 x 10 x 5 ) / 25.4 = 393.7 pulses per mm/unit........ with a 2 microstep yours should = (200 x 2 x 5 ) / 25.4 = 78.7 pulses per mm/unit

My Z was noisy / nut grinding - some heavy oil quietened it down and it doesn't seem to bind. The little 'beeps' heard in the vid during Z move are lost steps I believe? Something deffo ain't right though!

Hope this helps?

[Stepper Monkey]

How much current is being pushed into the motors? The default jumper settings are set for 4.2A. Unless those motors are wired up in bipolar parallel, we may have found the problem. If they are wired up in series you are saturating the hell out of them.

There are a lot of other variables we aren't looking at here, can you please tell us a bit more about the entire motor/driver/power supply setup and wiring details along with any specific data on the ratings?

[bruce_miranda]

I undid the entire Z axis set-up and found a few things that are not completely obvious from the CNC Fusion instructions.

First I had left the spacer on the lead screw - the instructions made no mention of this. This time I took it out and its better out because then the bottom LoveJoy can screw on to the flat surface of the screw instead of the screw head of the lead screw.
Remember I said in the other thread that the Z axis seems a bit off and that the nuts were hard to put into the frame. Well that was actually quite a bit off and I'll be talking to CNCFusion about that shortly. The moment I put the second nut in the lead screw would become very tight. So I have it now fixed only with one nut. That way I could move the lead screw by hand.

When I had the motors off I decided to see how they run without any load connected to it and the motors are running very poorly. Jerky and Noisy.

When I put the Z Axis back I managed to align the parts so that the noise was reduced and now my Z axis travels nicely to the top.

But without my motors running smoothly the entire thing is not looking good at all.

My motors are wired up parallel.
PSU is a 40V 10A
Driver is set to 4.2A and 2 Microstep.
Mach3 is set as 80 Step per mm.
Velocity and Acceleration are set as 2500.

I can't get the motors to turn freely under the control of the software. What should I change to get them to spin. The motors are jerking and stalling as then go around.

The wiring is exactly like shown in the attached document except I have a single PSU which is 40V and 10A.

WIRING%20MSD542&556.pdf

The manual for the Driver is attached MSD542manual.pdf and the datasheet for the motor is http://www.motioncontrolproducts.co....TH76-2808B.pdf

[Crevice Reamer]

What is the ACTUAL voltage coming out of the power supply. Have you measured it?

CR.