Greetings, Need Help (newbie)

[Cinenaut]

Hello, this is my first post on CNC Zone. I own a metal fab shop in Thousand Oaks CA. I am new to the CNC world and getting my feet wet with a used Router Table that I purchased on Ebay. The table is complete with motors and hardware, but I need to get it working with a set (3) of drivers that I have acquired. Here’s what I have:
3 - Super Vexta 2-phase Drivers UDX2140A W/ internal power supply
3 – Slo-Syn Stepping Motors M063-F-S-402B 2.25V 4.6A DC 200
1 CNC4PC C10 Breakout Board

I have installed Mach3 on my PC. All seems well with the software. I have the drivers and motors wired up on a bench. When I test the motors with the up and down arrow keys they “chatter” erratically. I’ve tried moving the windings to different terminals but no improvement. These motors appear to be unipolar (6 wire). Right now the drivers are set at “pulse 1”. I have documentation for the drivers but nothing for the motors. They a stamped “Eastman Kodak” so I assume they came from some type of printing machine. Perhaps someone can give me some help with this.
Thanks, Randy

[Fatboy]

Randy,
Do a google search on "unipolar stepper motor wiring", for information to help you Id the leads using an ohm meter. For a 6 wire motor there should be 2 common wires and 4 phase wires. You may have to tie the commons together if your board has only one common terminal. Also, you didn't state that there were any other markings on the motors, if there are then use them to search by.

Good luck,
Fatboy

[oldhack]

Originally Posted by Fatboy Randy, Do a google search on "unipolar stepper motor wiring", for information to help you Id the leads using an ohm meter. For a 6 wire motor there should be 2 common wires and 4 phase wires. You may have to tie the commons together if your board has only one common terminal. Also, you didn't state that there were any other markings on the motors, if there are then use them to search by. Good luck, Fatboy

Might sound simple but mine chattered because of the printer port and lack of enough electrical power. Sometimes simple can help

[Fatboy]

Yep, that would do it. In fact, when I was checking my system last year I used a 12v wall wort and had the same problem. Tried a 30v wort and bingo!!!

I can't remember what happened yesterday let alone last year.

Glad that you got it worked out.
Fatboy

[Cinenaut]

I've checked all connections and power supply. They all seem to be fine. The guy I got the motors and drivers from maintains that they work together very well and he has had great sucess with them. I am using a cnc4pc C10 breakout board. There are jumpers for a "pull up" and "pull down" option on the output pins (2-9). Could that be the problem? They are set for "pull down".

Randy

[Fatboy]

Since the seller states that the system worked for him I would think it unlikely that he would have changed the jumpers.
It's most likely that the problem is the setup of your Mach3 motor tuning, do you know what program that he used? Best way to sort this out is to work with one motor and get the steps and speed in a range will get this motor going.
To do this you need to know the threads/inch of the lead screw and the degrees/step for the motor. The Mach3 documentation will give you the information to set the step/inch, if you have 1.8°/step motors then 360° will be 200 steps. For a 10/inch thread is 200*10=2000 steps/inch.
Set the speed at about 5 and go up from there till the motor loses steps and then back off.

Good Luck,
Fatboy

[Cinenaut]

The former owner has used Mach3 but not with this computer and not with this CNC4PC C10 Parallel Port Interface board. Will I harm anything if I switch jumpers to "pull up"?

[Fatboy]

Originally Posted by Cinenaut The former owner has used Mach3 but not with this computer and not with this CNC4PC C10 Parallel Port Interface board. Will I harm anything if I switch jumpers to "pull up"?

Update: The 2-9 should be set as output! I Checked the website!!!!
I'm not familiar with the C10 but I would go the their website and ask there. If these were limit switch ports then yes, I would switch them, however limit and home switches are usually on 10 11 12 13 15 which are pulled on my HobbyCNC board, 1 14 16 17 are not pulled up.

Also, check that the step and dir pins are setup correctly in Mach3, the HobbyCNC board is connected contrary to the setup screen and is a constant misunderstanding with new users and probably doesn't appy in this case.

Fatboy

[Cinenaut]

Yes, thank you for that. My pins (2-9) are set for output. I tried your suggestions in MACH3. Motors are set for 2000 steps/inch and I do have
1/10" thread pitch. I've tried some different speed settings in Mach3 but not much of a change. The motor just rattles on the bench and shows very little staft movement.