4'x8' RouteBot

[hacker7]

Ok where are you on this build?????????????
Last post was March.........................

[RouteBot]

Ok where are you on this build?????????????
Last post was March.........................

I have not had time to work on it. It is so close to being done but life is getting in the way. It will get done! I expect to have time during the winter months. I'll continue to post as changes are made.

[stuarttaylor00]

this machine looks incredible - love your work!

this post has inspired me to start my own build, thankyou!

After such a long build I bet you can't wait to be sitting back with a victory beer in your hand watching it rip through a sheet of ply like it isn't there!

[RouteBot]

this machine looks incredible - love your work!

this post has inspired me to start my own build, thankyou!

After such a long build I bet you can't wait to be sitting back with a victory beer in your hand watching it rip through a sheet of ply like it isn't there!

Thanks for that. It will be an awesome day for sure!

You are at the right place for help. There are guys here who have build some really nice machines. Good luck with your build!

[RouteBot]

After a year off I'm trying to move forward again. I'm trying to get my head around what I did last year with the circuit diagram. Right now I have it such that when the power is turned on the two contactors kick on the VFD and 75VDC. The 24,12 & 5VDC come on directly from the switch. If the e-stop is triggered, It's wired to kick off both contactors. Do I want to do that, or keep power on and expect the control board to stop the drives and spindle? I'm not sure about exactly what the e-stop needs to turn off.

If you guys have suggestions that would be great, as I don't want to wire it twice!

[RouteBot]

Got the power connected and flipped the switch on at midnight last night. LED's came on and I was happy I didn't have to use the fire extinguisher!

However, Mach3 does not communicate with the router. I have not configured Mach3 yet so I hope this is the issue. The board does seem the talk to the computer, as the ethernet connector lights flash. E-stop LED will come on if triggered and then powered up. After powered up, the e-stop trigger has no effect on the board LED. Green LED's flash on the Y and Z drives. Both green and red LED's are off on the X and A (X2) drives. I have no experience at all with this software, CNC or machining in general so this could take awhile! At least it didn't blow up!





C32 board Rev 5.4. lights on after powered up.


Delta VFD-B wiring

[arturod]

WOW beautiful machine. DC servos.... FAST!!!!.. Nice. At this time there two things you need to get going: 1) Establish communication between the C32 and Mach3 and 2) tune the drivers. Lets talk about getting your system working. Here are some things to keep in mind:
- Get the ESS talking to Mach3. Run the SCU from Warp9: Software . This will help you configure the fixed IP on you PC, white list ESS's IP and install the plugin. You can then run Mach3 and establish communication with the ESS and not see errors.
- The second thing is to get the C32 to activate (green LED). Keep in mind that the C32 controls the enable line on the system, so if something is faulting or not configured or wired right, it will not let you go on. This can be a little frustrating at the beginning, after all you are just starting to test and configure things. So keep this in mind you need to start by disabling all possible fault causes: a) Connect an E-Stop switch, and make sure it is closed. b) Disable the SCHP (Safety Charge Pump) by setting DIP2=off, or make sure you configure it in Mach3 by enabling the SCHP on pin 17 port 2. c) Disable the pendant by moving the jumper to disable it, so the board does not look for the e-stop on the pendant. d) Disable the VFD Fault. After you get the green LED, start configuring and testing the features, in the same order, first e-stop, then SCHP, then pendant, etc...
- The you need to get the drivers talking to the C32. This wiring and configuration is so much easier with the new C62, as we use one +12vdc for the whole system, you do not need to use the C34DG, just an special cable from the C32 to the DG4S. In any case, keep this in mind. You are wiring and setting the jumpers like it is shown in this manual: http://cnc4pc.com/Tech_Docs/C34DG_R3_USER%20MANUAL.pdf . The first objective is to get the blinking LEDs on the DG4S. For this: a) The encoders must be connected and working OK. b) the driver needs to see the enable line comming from the C32. You can place the jumper on the C34DG on HARD ENABLE for now, to force the drivers to be enabled. c) The logic of the drivers must be +12vdc coming through the C34DG. We suggest not wiring the main power to the drivers yet, make sure you can establish communication with the drivers with the Servoconfigurator. Make sure at this stage the motors are not connected to the machine, they should be allowed to run freely, as if they are not tuned, they can move violently once they are powered. Once you get to this stage, you want to follow the instructions on the servoconfigurator manual and the tuning guide found in our website: http://cnc4pc.com/Tech_Docs/PID_tuning_eng.pdf

Once the motors are tuned, make sure to mover the jumpers on the C34DG back to SOFT ENABLE, so that a driver fault will trigger e-stop on the system.

That should get you going.

Arturo Duncan
Welcome to CNC4PC

[RouteBot]

WOW beautiful machine. DC servos.... FAST!!!!.. Nice. At this time there two things you need to get going: 1) Establish communication between the C32 and Mach3 and 2) tune the drivers. Lets talk about getting your system working. Here are some things to keep in mind:
- Get the ESS talking to Mach3. Run the SCU from Warp9: Software . This will help you configure the fixed IP on you PC, white list ESS's IP and install the plugin. You can then run Mach3 and establish communication with the ESS and not see errors.
- The second thing is to get the C32 to activate (green LED). Keep in mind that the C32 controls the enable line on the system, so if something is faulting or not configured or wired right, it will not let you go on. This can be a little frustrating at the beginning, after all you are just starting to test and configure things. So keep this in mind you need to start by disabling all possible fault causes: a) Connect an E-Stop switch, and make sure it is closed. b) Disable the SCHP (Safety Charge Pump) by setting DIP2=off, or make sure you configure it in Mach3 by enabling the SCHP on pin 17 port 2. c) Disable the pendant by moving the jumper to disable it, so the board does not look for the e-stop on the pendant. d) Disable the VFD Fault. After you get the green LED, start configuring and testing the features, in the same order, first e-stop, then SCHP, then pendant, etc...
- The you need to get the drivers talking to the C32. This wiring and configuration is so much easier with the new C62, as we use one +12vdc for the whole system, you do not need to use the C34DG, just an special cable from the C32 to the DG4S. In any case, keep this in mind. You are wiring and setting the jumpers like it is shown in this manual: http://cnc4pc.com/Tech_Docs/C34DG_R3_USER%20MANUAL.pdf . The first objective is to get the blinking LEDs on the DG4S. For this: a) The encoders must be connected and working OK. b) the driver needs to see the enable line comming from the C32. You can place the jumper on the C34DG on HARD ENABLE for now, to force the drivers to be enabled. c) The logic of the drivers must be +12vdc coming through the C34DG. We suggest not wiring the main power to the drivers yet, make sure you can establish communication with the drivers with the Servoconfigurator. Make sure at this stage the motors are not connected to the machine, they should be allowed to run freely, as if they are not tuned, they can move violently once they are powered. Once you get to this stage, you want to follow the instructions on the servoconfigurator manual and the tuning guide found in our website: http://cnc4pc.com/Tech_Docs/PID_tuning_eng.pdf

Once the motors are tuned, make sure to mover the jumpers on the C34DG back to SOFT ENABLE, so that a driver fault will trigger e-stop on the system.

That should get you going.

Arturo Duncan
Welcome to CNC4PC

First problem was not installing the ESS plugin. Then I disabled the VFD and it came alive. It's acting strange though. The reset button on Mach3 doesn't work right. I need to look at it more tomorrow. At least I'm moving in the right direction now!

[kevincnc]

It will never work, especially if you got any mechanical advice from anyone here.

Your best bet is to pack it up and ship it freight prepaid to my house. I'll see what I can do with that monstrosity you've created.

Kevin

[RouteBot]

It will never work, especially if you got any mechanical advice from anyone here.

Your best bet is to pack it up and ship it freight prepaid to my house. I'll see what I can do with that monstrosity you've created.

Kevin

I could pack it up and send it to you, but you would have it running an hour later! So if I can't get it working I'll burn it in the driveway and roast marshmallows over it.

[RouteBot]

There must still be a fault. If I turn on the control box with the estop not triggered everything comes on. The Y and Z drivers have flashing green LED's. However, X (X1) and A (X2) have no LED's on. I also noticed the Z brake is released. Then when I run Mach3 it shuts the box down and a red LED on the ESS is on.

The estop switch does activate the C32 red LED so that's working but it gets overridden by Mach3.

Not sure what to do next . . .

[RouteBot]

I just noticed that if the SCHP (DIP 2) is enabled the box does not fully come on. It acts like the estop is active.

[arturod]

Are you getting the green LED on the C32? After you get the green LED on the C32, test and make sure E-Stop is working OK. That when you press it, the green LED goes off. Once E-Stop and reset/enable are working ok, enable the SCHP (DIP2=ON) and enable and configure the SCHP on pin 17 port 2 and make sure that the C32 gets enabled when you press the reset button on the screen.

Arturo Duncan
Welcome to CNC4PC

[RouteBot]

Are you getting the green LED on the C32? After you get the green LED on the C32, test and make sure E-Stop is working OK. That when you press it, the green LED goes off. Once E-Stop and reset/enable are working ok, enable the SCHP (DIP2=ON) and enable and configure the SCHP on pin 17 port 2 and make sure that the C32 gets enabled when you press the reset button on the screen.

Arturo Duncan
Welcome to CNC4PC

If I power up the control box with the estop triggered, open Mach3, then reset the estop hard button I get this:



It's hard to see, but the ESS two green and lower red LED's are on. The soft reset button Mach3 does not reset. The SCHP is disabled on the C32 and in the Mach3 output screen, Y and Z drives have flashing green LED's and the X1, X2 LED's are off. How do I configure the two X drives to work together and get the green LED's going?

I have the estop configured to port 1 pin 10. Correct? I have not configured anything else in Mach3. What do I configure or check next?

[RouteBot]

Are you getting the green LED on the C32? After you get the green LED on the C32, test and make sure E-Stop is working OK. That when you press it, the green LED goes off. Once E-Stop and reset/enable are working ok, enable the SCHP (DIP2=ON) and enable and configure the SCHP on pin 17 port 2 and make sure that the C32 gets enabled when you press the reset button on the screen.

Arturo Duncan
Welcome to CNC4PC

Yes, the green light goes off when the hard estop button is triggered and the red estop LED comes on. The green LED comes back on when the hard estop is reset.

[arturod]

Perfect, what about the SCHP? Did you configure it?

[RouteBot]

Perfect, what about the SCHP? Did you configure it?

I just did. I set Mach3 output SCHP to port 2 pin 17 and enabled it. Then I turned on DIP2 on the C32. I rebooted Mach3 and turned on the control box. Now the green LED will not come on. The Red estop LED will go on and off with the hard estop button.

[arturod]

Please confirm the e-stop is out and you pressed the reset button in the mach3 screen. If it does not activate, it would make me think the C32 is not communicating with Mach3. Here are thoughts / Troubleshooting tips:

- Go to the data monitoring utility under plugin control. Make sure you see action for the pins. Test input pins.
- Confirm that when you press reset, it Mach3 sees it and e-stops resets mach3. Make sure you have e-stop configured in mach3 on port 1 pin 10 as active low (checked).

[RouteBot]

Please confirm the e-stop is out and you pressed the reset button in the mach3 screen. If it does not activate, it would make me think the C32 is not communicating with Mach3. Here are thoughts / Troubleshooting tips:

- Go to the data monitoring utility under plugin control. Make sure you see action for the pins. Test input pins.
- Confirm that when you press reset, it Mach3 sees it and e-stops resets mach3. Make sure you have e-stop configured in mach3 on port 1 pin 10 as active low (checked).

I did not have active low checked for estop. The mach3 reset and hard estop work as expected with the SCHP dip 2 enabled. The X1 and X2 drives still have no LED's on. What's next?

[arturod]

Check the wiring of the drivers. Here are some thoughts:

- What LEDs are you getting. Check the manual for the drivers for status of the LEDs.
- It is usually a bad connection with the encoder.
- For now, set the jumper on the C34DG to HARD ENABLE.

What about the drivers with blinking green LEDs? Have you tried connecting the programming stick and talking to them through the servoconfigurator? Here are some things to keep in mind:

- Make sure the motors are not connected to the shaft when you power them, as if not tuned, they could move violently.
- Do not connect/disconnect the USB cable with the drive under power.
- Make sure you read the servoconfigurator manual and the tuning guide.
- Do not allow the motors to vibrate or move violently for a long period of time, as you may damage the drive.

Please check that and let me know how it goes.

Arturo Duncan
Welcome to CNC4PC