Fustration

[contractdesign]

I am having major problems with my Gecko drives on my rebuilt bridgeport. This problem has always been present but is getting exponentially worse as time goes by. In the middle of a run, suddenly the drive drops out and axis travel stops. The Mach screen shows the increment change on the axis but there is no movement. When I look at the Gecko 202 drive in the electrical cabinet the LED that indicates the drive is running is dimmer or not as bright as the other drives that are still functioning. This problem has occurred on all three drives periodically. When it happen os the z axis it causes major crashes. Over the last two days, the y axis drive has dropped out 10 times. The drive usually does not drop out once the axis is moving, it usually drops out when told to move. I have requested replacement connectors from Gecko. The connectors on my drives were manufactured durring a bad period for defective connectors at gecko, something to do with not enough copper in the connectors. The dimley lit LED is what troubles me though. Has anyone experienced this. It just happened again as I am writting this!!!!!!!!

[contractdesign]

I just witnessed the drive dropping out, it did it when it completed the move. The LED shifted to half lit. Just an observation if it helps.

[mxtras]

I would suspect a weak power supply based on what you have conveyed.

Scott

[wcarrothers1]

Personally I would tie all the geckos together so if one faults (due to a real problem like a jammed axis over power situation) they would all fault. Sounded like you were saying the other axis would continue moving after 1 would fault. That isn't something I'd want to happen as it would make a mess of the part.

That said I run servos so probably a bit different but you are saying it faults while slowing to a stop or after the stop? If I set my acceleeration/deceleration to high I can get this effect with my servos if they can't keep up or something like that.

Still in any case I'd wire the fault lines together so 1 gecko can fault out and stop the others. Course this might make it hard to tell of 1 is having a problem since it will fault the others at the same time.

I'd think that a power supply could cause this.

b.

[wcarrothers1]

Also could swap the geckos and see if the problem follows the gecko or stepper.

b.

[contractdesign]

Keep in mind these are servos and are therefore open looped, no feedback, not closed looped like a servo. I really think it is a connection problem. I am getting new connectors this week, I;ll post a reply then.

[contractdesign]

I;m sorry, steppers not servos. I also did lower the accel rates, no improvement.

[mc-motorsports]

Call Gecko, thier customer service is EXCELLENT! The engineer will talk your ear off, garanteed. And tie them all together so if one faults, they all shut down.

[contractdesign]

I replaced the connectors with new ones given to me from Gecko just today. we'll see what happens

[contractdesign]

I have not had a problem since I replaced the Gecko connector terminal blocks. I am reporting this now because yesterday I milled an 8 inch dia hole in a piece of 1 inch thick CRS flawlessly. The X and Y drives ran simultaniously for about 2 hours. In the past, a circular cut would almost always be a problem. I'm relieved and am convinced that the problem was just a bad connection in the terminal blocks.