Flashcut to Geckodrive 210

[whiteriver]

Been having problems with my router and trying to do anything remotly
complicated. 2d seems ok. but 3d cutting just looses steps all over
the place.
Talked to Ron at Flashcut. Had them send me out a new updated board
and a 201F chip. The old one was 5 years old and a 201C chip. That
didn't fix the problem. Didn't seem to make a difference.
Any hard science on what to set the Step Pulse Poliarty, Step Pulse
Width or Enable Signal Poliarty in regards to Flashcut to Gecko?
I ran a 67,000 line 2d engraving and only lost .00025 to .03 in the 3
axis's. I then ran a 16,000 line 3d engraving and lost, well gained up
to a 1" in the Z and .02 to .03 in the x and y. I ran it 4 times with
different settings in the Signals tab and slowed the (start/stop
Feedrate inches per min) to 5 from 15. No help.
Have Nema 42 motors. Gecko 210 drives running in full micro stepping
mode. +5v common. X is a rack with a timing belt 1.535 screw revs/"
Y and Z are ball screws, 2 screw revs/"
Any ideas. I'm pulling my hair out. Need to get it up and running.
Some times it looses steps. Other times It seems to gain them.

Anyone else using Flashcut to Gecko? Any problems? Any sucess? What
are your settings? What works? What doesn't.

Donny

[HomeCNC]

If you are gaining steps you can eliminate the IPM speed as a factor. If you push the machine to fast you will loose steps never gain them.

Are you sure that you have your math correct for calculating how many steps it takes to move 1 inch? Have you placed a dial indicator on your machine and told the controller to move 1 inch and looked at the indicator to see if you did move 1 inch? Do this on all three axies.

[whiteriver]

Yep its dialed in just right. It messes up mainly in 3d or 2d with alot of changes. Mainly the x and z axis. Its also random. Just a 2d profile cut it seems to do ok. Anything more and the mess seems to compound.

Donny

[balsaman]

You can gain steps if the accel/decel is not setup correctly. The motors tries to decel. and momentum of the motor/axis pushes it over steps...

Eric

[whiteriver]

I have slowed it down so slow it never can get up to speed. I have sped it up so fast it looks instant. Both ways it still screws up about the same amount. Never exact. Always random.

Donny

[ECRC]

I'm having the same random problem. I have changed everything in the setup tabs to no avail. I've also noticed that I get much faster rapids with mach 2(demo)

If I don't get it going soon I may change to Mach2.

Doug

[steveald]

When I built my machine, I took my time with the mechanical assembly, but rushed through the wiring just to see it run. I have been experiencing the same sort of problem as you, my course of action is to rewire, using shielded wire, keeping it as short as I can, etc... I'll let you know how it works out.
If the problem only occurs in 3D, maybe you need a larger power supply to handle all 3 motors under load, or perhaps your X and Z cables are interfering with each other and need better shielding. I have been using a 10A 24V supply to run all axis, and will be changing to 24V for Z and a 75V 6A to run X and Y.
Anyway, the gist of my message is that if it only messes up in 3D and works fine in 2D I would look at your wiring rather than your mechanical setup.
Also, if you seem to be gaining steps in one direction, maybe you are just losing steps travelling in the opposite direction.
Good luck with it, I know how frustrating random and intermittent problems can be.

Steve

[gberscht]

Hello: I have Designed a built 3 router tables and use Flashcut systems with them. I was having the same trouble with the machines not running very smooth.

If you are using any of the input lines for things like homming switches etc. you must use a cat 5 cable to clear any noise problems. There is also a certain paired order you have to use,I can send it to anyone that needs it. This should clear up a lot of problems.

A way to test if this is your problem is run your machine with the cabling you are presently using for inputs and get a good feel for how smooth it is running. Then turn off the power and unplug the input cable and run it again. Always use the same gcode file and the same speeds. If there is a change in how your machine runs then you should change to a cat 5 cable. You will notice quit a change.

Something else that shoud be done is to run a ground wire from the signal generatior to the control box this may help with noise and will stop the machine from creaping when sitting idol

As for losing steps in 3d and not 2d , there can be a few reasons for this.
eg. size of motors equals speed , if you look at a 3d gcode file there a big dif ference than a 2d file, the distance between moves can be vey small especialy on the z axis.

There is constant direction change and if you push the speeds and the motors or drive system are to small then you will most likely lose steps. something that you may try if possiable is run a small 3d file then scale it up as large as you can and then run the file at the same speeds and see if it makes a difference.

Hope this helps,

Greg

[whiteriver]

Greg,
You posted:
If you are using any of the input lines for things like homming switches etc. you must use a cat 5 cable to clear any noise problems. There is also a certain paired order you have to use,I can send it to anyone that needs it. This should clear up a lot of problems.
Are you talking about running your input lines thru your Motor Signals Plug. I run my inputs and Motor Signals seperatly.
As for size of motors if anything my Nema 42's are toooo big. This Is a retrofit on a old thermwood router that was designed to have about 800 more pounds on the gantry than is up there now..
You also posted;
Something else that shoud be done is to run a ground wire from the signal generatior to the control box this may help with noise and will stop the machine from creaping when sitting idol
When you say control box do you mean the computer? I have the geckos set to stay at full power even when at idel so they wont move I hope.
My motors run real ruff when doing alot of direction changes or alot of line segments no mater what speed. They run smooth in straigt lines or arcs or circles. Its just when they speed up and slow down.
What are you Feedramp ratings,start stop and countuinous countoring set at and what size motors,voltages and amprages are you running.

Donny

[gberscht]

Donny:

The inputs out of the signal generator a molex plug on the back of th box. If you are using it try unpluging it and see if it makes a difference.

I have Flashcuts complete system, I run a ground wire from the signal generater to the control driver box.

My system is a 3.5amp micro steper drive with timing belt gearing.
424 oz motors.
start and stop is at 25 ramping 2000 and continuous contouring 30in/min.

what are your settings.

how well can you cut a spline?


Greg

[steveald]

Hi Greg,

I am running Flashcut as well, and having problems in one axis. Can you tell me the method you use for wiring the twisted pairs to the home switches please? Also, if I turn on the driver box before turning on the signal generator, my motors go all over the place. I think I read somewhere that the signal generator needs to be on first, but sometimes I forget. Is it normal for the driver box to behave like that?

Thanks,

Steve

[whiteriver]

I always turned on my drives and let them warm up first then turned on the SG. No problem with the motors moving. Everything stayed tight.
I finnaly got my lost step problem fixed after a year of fighting with it off and on. I got rid of Flashcut and installed Mach2. My machine is dead on even after running for 6 hours and 500,000 lines of code at 150/ipm. Runs smoother and quiter and 4.75 times faster than with Flashcut.
I turned my 8000lb paper weight into a $50,000 Router by switching from Flashcut to Mach2.

Donny