Need Help!- BOSS I, DeskCNC, steppers don't work

[rpgdeity]

I'm not sure if this is the correct area for my question. My stepper motors don't work. I have a BOSS Series I, but I think my main problem is in general with either my Gecko drivers or my controller or software, but here is what I have:

BOSS Series I
Gecko 202 cards
DeskCNC 2nd Generation controllor
cncdirect Breakout Board
DeskCNC software

Everything is wired as correctly as far as I can tell. Everything seems to be getting correct power, all the lights light up. The computer reads the controllor card, it flashed its information to it the first time I started up (I did have 2nd Gen Controllor selected). But i can't get my stepper motors to turn. Its like I'm not sending a signal to my Gecko 202's? I'm not sure how to check what part is holding me up. All I'm trying to do right now is get the axis' to jog around.

I have a wire from LIM to GND to act as N/C limit switches.
I have a wire from EST to GND to act as N/C E-stop button.

All of my Step, Direction, and +5V common wires are correctly connected to each Gecko Driver. How do I check if the board is sending signal to the Gecko Driver, or if the Gecko Driver is actually sending power to my steppers?

I think I have the A, A common, B, and B common phase wires correctly connected to my stepper motor, but I would like some verification that I do indeed have it correctly wired. Does anyone have the pinout for the 8 post stepper motors on a Series I? Or can anyone tell or show me how they have theirs wired up?

When the stepper "should" be moving, should I see a voltage across A and A common, as well as B and B common? I tried this and all I get is 46 mV all the time so long as the Gecko is powered up. I'm assuming I should have a much larger voltage while the stepper would be turning.

Not sure where to go from here, how to troubleshoot what part is holding me up. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you.


Brandon Bartels
Bartels Machine and Tool

[rpgdeity]

As desperation set in, I started randomly switching wires. Okay, not really, did a little digging and made a strong assumption that one of my connections was in backwards. Swapped that around and now my steppers twitch. It appears they are getting signal, just not the correct wiring of the stepper.

So, does anyone with a BOSS series I have the wiring diagram for the stepper motors? Or could someone look and tell me how theirs is wired up? Thank you.

Brandon Bartels
Bartels Machine and Tool

[rpgdeity]

Well sure enough as soon as I ask for help, I figure it out myself, lol.

Turns out I have Superior Stepper Motors instead of the Sigma brand. Finally found the correct wiring pinout, it was on the Bridgeport_mill Yahoo group. Join that group and under "Files" is gecko.jpg, which shows how to wire the Geckos to both Superior and Sigma type steppers. Similar pinouts, but just a bit different. What happened was I only had 1 pole correct on the stepper, thats why it was just twitching and what not. Runs very smooth now.

Even though no one technically directly helped me, I have to say THANK YOU to all of CNC zone, as I've been reading so many threads on here lately, and it is what ultimately led me to the answer I needed. Thank you again.

Brandon Bartels
Bartels Machine and Tool

[TOTALLYRC]

High Brandon,
Sometimes just the act of posting your questions helps to focus the mind and clear some of the panic that sets in when you can't figure it out.

How do you like the breakout board for the deskcnc controller board?
It looks like it will make the wiring much easier.

Glad to see that you got it running.

Mike

[rpgdeity]

So far I have no complaints with the breakout board. It definately does make wiring a lot easier. I got great email support for questions that I had.

[j_wizard]

Where do you get a breakout board for DeskCam Controller?
Is there a break out board for Gecko Drives?