Newbie- Trying to find a Wiring Diagram?

[Droider]

Hi, I am currently rebuilding a CNC router. And I just bought a kit from http://www.kelinginc.net/ which was recommended to me. And I am trying to find a wiring diagram to put this all together becuase I am totally new at this, so if anyone can help me I would really appreciate it.

This is the package I got:
G540 3 axis package (One G540 + Three
KL23H284-35-4B (1/4” Dual shaft with a flat) 387 oz-in + one KL-350-
48 48V/7.3A 115V /230V power supply: $494.95

It came with the DB9 connectors to plug into the G540 driver, and I bought a male-male parallel port connector.

[CarveOne]

You need to go the GeckoDrive website and download the G540 manual file and the initial setup guide files (green color links) here.

The G540 manual has a pictorial wiring diagram. The initial setup file shows how to configure Mach3. You may also need the XML file.

CarveOne

[pencilneck]

These threads may help a little bit....

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79382
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...t=75368&page=2

I've got the G540 as well and a 48 volt power supply that has the model number "S-350-48" on it. It is the generic power supply that a lot of places are selling... about 8.5" long, 4.5" wide and 2" tall with a cooling fan on top... they come in different output voltages and amp ratings.

Yeah, be nice if the sellers nice little sheet showing how to wire them up. I think I'm set, hope to bench top test my set up this weekend and listen to the steppers whirl away. If I don't burn down the house, I'll post up a nice detailed drawing of what I did.

[Droider]

Ahaha thanks a lot, I'll see what I can manage for now myself. Though if you do manage to get the steppers working without burning your house down, it would be great to see how you went about wiring it all.

[Droider]

Oh another thing I could also use help with is where to buy the correct "Stepper Wire." Every time I try googling it to get a visual I keep getting everything under the sun accept the actual wire I need for a result. Can it be picked up at a common store?

[FandZ]

Originally Posted by Droider Oh another thing I could also use help with is where to buy the correct "Stepper Wire." Every time I try googling it to get a visual I keep getting everything under the sun accept the actual wire I need for a result. Can it be picked up at a common store?

I have the same setup. Excuse my 2 minute skethcup below but it should get you going. I'm currently running my machine without limit switches or a homing switch and this is how it is wired.

For stepper wire you can use http://cgi.ebay.com/Stepper-Motor-Wi...item45ecb75966

It's too late now but cncrouterparts.com has stepper motors that have the resister pre wired for the g540. You only would have had to pay 3 more bucks for a plug and play setup for the g540. It wasn't available when I was buying my steppers.
http://cncrouterparts.com/index.php?...ahst6mjdph4nm0

[Droider]

Okay great I purchased some of that stepper motor wire. I do have a few more questions though.

1)I know I need the stepper motor wire I purchased to wire the DB9 connectors. Though, is there a particular type of wire I should use to wire everything else together?

2)How do I wire the Current Set Resistors into the DB9 connectors?

3)I know i need 3.5k resistor becuase i have a 3.5amp motors, what I want to know is can you pick resistors up at like a home depot or lowes?

[FandZ]

Originally Posted by Droider Okay great I purchased some of that stepper motor wire. I do have a few more questions though. 1)I know I need the stepper motor wire I purchased to wire the DB9 connectors. Though, is there a particular type of wire I should use to wire everything else together? 2)How do I wire the Current Set Resistors into the DB9 connectors? 3)I know i need 3.5k resistor becuase i have a 3.5amp motors, what I want to know is can you pick resistors up at like a home depot or lowes?

1)
You want to go with 12 or 14 gauge wire to use between your g540 and your power supply. Any thicker and you won't be able to fit the wire into the g540, I believe. I used an extra pc cable for the power supply to the wall outlet. You can just about slice up any 3 prong extension cord really. If you do use an extension cord, get a thicker one from a hardware store and not the elcheapo ones. Make sure you use a three prong for ground.



2) You are going to need to solder them and your stepper wires in. If you haven't soldered before, let me know and I can give you a run down on how to do it properly. I had to learn the hard way. I believe for the resisters it's pin 1-5.


3) Radio shack is your best bet but I didn't have any luck. However, you can run resisters in series. So if Radio shack has a 1/4w 2.2k resister, and a 1/2w 1.3k or 1/4w 1.3k resister, you can splice them together and get a 3.5k resister. You can also run lower then 3.5k just not over and it'll work. But you will not get the full power of your steppers if you do.

[Droider]

Originally Posted by FandZ 2) If you haven't soldered before, let me know and I can give you a run down on how to do it properly.

Please and thank you, haha. I have not done any soldering before.

And so what you are saying about wiring the resistors, I dont wire the stepper motors through them (This is how I just assumed it worked)? I just wire one end to pin 1, and the other end to pin 5? (I'm assuming?)

[FandZ]

Originally Posted by Droider Please and thank you, haha. I have not done any soldering before. And so what you are saying about wiring the resistors, I dont wire the stepper motors through them (This is how I just assumed it worked)? I just wire one end to pin 1, and the other end to pin 5? (I'm assuming?)

You got it. I'll post back some soldering advice in a few hours. Right now I'm neck deep into designing a shadow box to cnc out for my daughters science class project. We're talking 5 bonus points here. Serious stuff I tell ya. haha

[Droider]

Ah I'm sure she'll get some serious bonus marks! Just another quick question, you mentioned getting 12 or 14 gauge wire to use between my power suply and the G540. Does that wire thickness apply to wiring the limit switches etc?

[FandZ]

Soldering:



Work area.

I find it’s best to have your soldering Iron base in front of you and beyond anything you may need to use. I line my pliers and clips to the left right of the work area. The reason is you may absentmindedly reach for something over the soldering iron while it’s in its base. I quickly reorganized my soldering area when I accidently burnt my wrist reaching for a wire. Won’t make that mistake again.

Solder

You want a very thin solder. I don’t know the exact gauge but it’s close to fishing string in thickness. It should have rosin in it. It’ll say something like rosin core on the packaging. Rosin cleans the surfaces that are being soldered so they bond better. Don’t get the thick solder. It’ll frustrate you to no end.

Soldering Iron

They come in different wattage. 40watts works great for this type of soldering. The lower ones tend to take too long and can cool too quickly when cleaning in-between solders. I’d avoid the higher ones as it’ll transfer the heat too fast for newbie’s like you and me. Also get one with a thinner tip and shaft. The shaft will be about the diameter of a que-tip or a little bigger. The tip will be pointy. They have other types or tips but I think that’s best for us newbie’s. The thicker tips will be cumbersome when you are trying to solder the db9 connectors.

Tin the solder iron tip.

Soldering is about heat transfer. You don’t want to use your soldering iron to melt your solder, you want to warm the part till it can melt the solder. To transfer heat effectively you want to tin the tip of your iron. Once your Iron has heated up, feed a little bit of solder onto the tip of the iron. You don’t need to load the tip down with solder or run it up the length of the shaft. You want to coat the tip of the iron about 1/8th to 1/4th and inch from the tip back. About as much area as the lead in a sharpened pencil will have.
Once you have the solder on the tip, flick the access solder onto a wet rag. It should just run right off and you’ll be left with a shiny silver tip. After you have flicked it use a wet sponge or a wet rag and drag it back on it real quick. Your just getting more of the extra solder off. Don’t dig into the sponge or drag it too slow or else you’ll have to wait for the iron to warm up again. You want to clean it by dragging it across the wet sponge after every time you solder something. You’ll want to tin the tip about every other time or so.


Tin the wire,

Use a wire stripper to strip your wire. Leave about 1/4th an inch of exposed wire or a little more. You shouldn’t need more exposed wire than that for the DB9 connectors. Twist your wire lightly starting from the base of the wire and ending at its tip. All your doing is making sure that none of your wire pokes out.

Secure your wire in a vice, a clip, or between two books, whatever you want, so that it is protruding freely and can be accessed from below. Put your tinned soldering Iron tip under the exposed wire. Hold it there, and after a few seconds, start touching your solder to the top of the wire. Rub it back on forth on the wire until the solder starts to melt from the heated wire. You should not touch the solder to the iron at any time. It doesn’t take a lot of solder. All your doing is coating the wire.


Tin the DB9 connector.

Secure your db9 connector like the wire. Apply the soldering iron tip to the bottom of the terminal you plan to solder a wire into. Rub your solder back and forth on top of the terminal until it starts to melt. It only takes a little solder. About a 1/4th an inch. If you apply too much it’ll run down the part and ruin the plug. Less is more. Also if you hold your solder iron on the terminal too long it may melt the plastic that secures it rendering the plug useless.


Connecting your wire to your db9 connector.

Secure your db9 connector. With the wire tinned and the terminal tinned, apply your iron to bottom of the terminal and watch it. You’ll see the solder liquefy. Then lay your wire onto the top and remove the iron and allow to cool. Bam you just got a nice strong and clean solder. Rinse and repeat down the line.


Soldering your resister in.

Cut the ends of your resister and fold the ends so that you got an exact fit. Don’t leave too much length on your resister as you don’t want the exposed ends to touch one of the wires above row. It should be a nice clean and short U from 1st pin to the 5th. I didn’t tin the resister but I did tin the terminal. You should have it from here.

One last tip, in your excitement, don’t forget to use the relief clamp inside the plug to secure your wires. Yes, I speak from experience. Solder isn’t welding and your soldered joints could easily come undone if you accidently yank on the wire. If this happens when your machine is running, wires may cross and short your G540. Every now and then you’ll read a post about someone having a confused stepper. It’s because those wires are being crossed and a stepper may suddenly change directions.

And another thing, I found it helpful to do a dry run of the what I planned to do before I heated the iron. That way you’ll have a better feel for what you are about to do.

Whew, that was a mouthful. LoL

Chris