Disapointment with first gen g540 and Smooth stepper

[Fixittt]

So I had to test out some equipment. One of them being a smooth stepper wired to a BOB for relays switches and a vfd. Ohh and a really kick butt 2 hp 60,000 RPM spindle with air collet release for auto tool changes!!!! 2 HP on a table top mill!!!!!!

The c11g has the charge pump on pin 17 not pin 16 like the (first gen) g540 So going from the SS to the breakout board and then to the G540 was a bust. So I went straight from the SS to the G540. Got the green light. Motor tuned the machine and everything seemed to work. Decided to run some 3d g code. Motor stalls all over the place. Loosen/Clean/readjusted machine (took most of the day) and still the same. looked thru the smooth stepper configs. Cant see anything relating to motor timing. Disconnected the SS and went straight to the computer. Works perfectly. been running for a couple hours.

Conclusion. I have one of the first batch G540`s No charge pump disable switch. I also have to run mine in Sherline compatibility mode. So im figuring that the SS is not drawing out the pulses like my unit requires. Funny thing is, the G540 controller has sat idle for almost a year until I had to test this equipment.


Just an observation I came across while working. Thought I would put it out there.

[CoAMarcus]

Fixittt,

You can send the first gen G540 back to us for a motherboard upgrade. The lack of the charge pump disable is maddening and we upgrade all motherboards that come back here if they are a REV 1. Just fill out the return form on our website and mail it to the address at the top of the form; we will replace the motherboard and send it back to you free of charge.

Marcus

[Fixittt]

my only problem with that is the fact that I have to make my living with these machines, whats the turn around time on doing this?

Also will swapping out the mother board cure the having to run in sherline mode?

[CoAMarcus]

If you can send me an email at geckomarcus@geckodrive.com we can figure out how long it will all take and see if we can expedite.

Marcus

[ger21]

Also will swapping out the mother board cure the having to run in sherline mode?

Probably not. The typical reason for having to run in Sherline mode is a weak parallel port.

[Fixittt]

Back when I first got the g540, it was not dependent on the printer port at all. (remember, its a first gen) After trying many different computers with many different printer ports and even add in cards the only way to get it to run correctly was to use sherline mode. I think after my bought with it, there was a flaw found in the g540 itself. (going off of memory here)

[CoAMarcus]

You are correct. There is a design flaw in the Xilinx CPLD we use that affects about 3% of the components, which causes them not to detect an input signal for about 15uS. After talking to Xilinx about it they would not say if it was a manufacturing or design flaw and we have no idea if they actually fixed the problem; instead we made a work around in newer revisions of the G250, G251 and G540. Sherline mode was a band-aid for some people as it outputs a 40uS step pulse width which is long enough for the faulty CPLDs to register.

If we get a REV1 G540 back here for any reason we have a policy to replace the motherboard with a newer revision and test the G250 boards inside to see if they show signs of the CPLD error.

Marcus