Need Help!- Baffled

[meflis]

Hi everyone

I have a serious problem this is the secound third and forth time it happens.
I have a homemade CNC machine and running Mach3.
Here is my problem.... i use Cut3D to create my toolpath and so on, after i bring it in Mach3 get the machine to start cutting the rough path no problem there, but here it comes it starts to cut the finishing pass gets half way thru and then its like it has a mind of its own it starts to cut off the parrtern and starts to dig into the actual patern where it should be finising, totally destroying my project.

Can someone please help me if you need more info i will be happy to supply it.

Here is some info

The steppers.....X & Y are Eastern Air Devices....6.0 V....4PH.....1.76 A....1.8 Deg.... Type LA23D6K-23
.....Z is a Astrogyn......Mini Angle Stepper....Type 23LM-C701-01.....P/N RH7-1048 04....5.2 B....1.4 A....1.8 Deg

As for the control box i have no clue what make it is or anything it has no name on it at all.
These are some questions that was asked

Screws (Ballscrew, Acme, Threaded Rod) ? Threaded Rod
Do you have anything magnetic in the close vicinity of the machine cables? No
How hot are the steppers getting while cutting? They actualy stay pretty cool
Does your control box have sufficient cooling? Unknown

I have checked all wire connections all are good and tight

[Crevice Reamer]

Is this a new problem that cropped up after previous normal cutting, or has it been this way since you started cutting with it?

CR.

[meflis]

Crevice Reamer
I have done a total of 9 paterns the first was good the secound srewed up the 3rd and 4th good 5th screwed up 6th and 7th good 8th and 9th screwed up.

[Crevice Reamer]

Ok! This is unlikely to be a mechanical problem, but check the tightness of all shaft couplings anyway.

My best guess is something in the computer or windows is interfering with Mach control. Are you running Vista? Vista is flakey. Change to XP or 2000.

Check that all background tasks like screen saver, virus scan, AOL etc. are turned off and their programs removed.

What computer are you using? Desktop or laptop? How fast is it? How long is the parallel cable?

CR.

[meflis]

Crevice Reamer

I have checked the motors no slipping all connections are tight
I have a Compaq pressario pentium 2 300 gig hd 2 gig of memory the only software in the system is Windows XP pro and Mach 3.

[CarveOne]

Does it always run correctly in simulation mode in Mach3? If yes, then it is a hardware problem that will be related to one (or more) axis.

Suggestions:

1. Run it without cutting anything and see if it still has problems. (Y/N)
2. Determine which axis is having problems. (x, y, or z)
3. If just one axis is having problems, it could be binding in the mechanics, or a problem with gantry racking. (Y/N)
4. If you have the limit switch wiring snugly bound with the stepper motor wiring try separating the limit switch wiring away from the stepper motor wiring to see if there are crosstalk issues causing the problem.
5. If #1 - 4 above are ok, then swapping stepper motors or cables to the motors may become necessary.

CarveOne

[tahustvedt]

This happened to me one summer and I couldn't figure out what it was either. If I remember correctly it was caused by an overheating controller. I hadn't yet installed any cooling on the controller and the machine was heating up the room enough from working for a while to actually overheat the controller. I opened a window to let cool air in and that fixed the problem then. I have sinced installed heatsinks and a fan on the board.

What mine did was run normally and then suddenly lose lots and lots of steps, making it look like it was moving around at random. What was really baffling was that it seemingly happened at the same spot every time.

[Crevice Reamer]

Originally Posted by meflis Crevice Reamer I have checked the motors no slipping all connections are tight I have a Compaq pressario pentium 2 300 gig hd 2 gig of memory the only software in the system is Windows XP pro and Mach 3.

P2 might not be fast enough for Mach. Is that a laptop? Power save might be a problem.

Mach3 Minimum Requirements:
Windows 2000/XP Operating System
1Ghz CPU
512MB RAM
Non-integrated Video Card with 32MB RAM
Basic Computer Skills (ability to copy/rename files, browse directories, etc)
Desktop PC if using the Mach3 Driver (Laptops are not supported because the power saving features of the chipsets disrupt the pulse stream)

How long is the parallel cable?

CR.

[ger21]

Try cutting your accel and velocity in motor tuning by 50% and see if it cuts OK.

[meflis]

the paralell cable is standard 6 feet

[meflis]

I have tried at 50% all the way down to 30% still the same

[meflis]

RE:
Suggestions:

1. Run it without cutting anything and see if it still has problems. (Y/N) No
2. Determine which axis is having problems. (x, y, or z) Sometimes X and other Y
3. If just one axis is having problems, it could be binding in the mechanics, or a problem with gantry racking. (Y/N) i have watched it and did not notice any skipping
4. If you have the limit switch wiring snugly bound with the stepper motor wiring try separating the limit switch wiring away from the stepper motor wiring to see if there are crosstalk issues causing the problem. No limit switches
5. If #1 - 4 above are ok, then swapping stepper motors or cables to the motors may become necessary. Have swithed X and Y no difference but have not changed cables

CarveOne