Solved Z Axis stepper not stepping

[TarHeelTom]

Been in a long process of rehabbing a Bridgeport. After gutting it, had it running, though with all the various bits and pieces scattered all over the garage.

Then spent a bit of time trying to get a back plate made, and mounted all the various components to the back plate, and mounted the back plate inside the old electrical cabinet.

Installed a big heat sink under the Gecko 203V's, with a good quantity of fins under the heat sink, and a pair of computer fans blowing air across all of the above.

Fired up the computer, and the X and y moved perfectly, but not the Z. Spent some time trouble shooting, and finally located what looked like a solder bridge inside one of the connectors which hook the steppers to the back plate.

Tried and tried to remove the solder bridge, but it wouldn't budge. Finally pulled out the two shorted wires. Turns out one of the wires had slipped out of the pin in the plug, and was soldered to two pins. A dead short across one of the coils.

Now I'm worried. Checked the fuse for the Gecko, it's fine. Hook everything by up, fire up the computer, now the Z moves just fine.

Wonder how many other drivers can handle perhaps ten hours of testing with a dead short across the leads to a stepper coil.

The 203V ROCKS!

Tom

[dmauch]

Indeed the G203 are virually bullet proof. For my commercial customers I use the G203 and have never had a failure of a system that I built. I did have one customer who bought 4 G203 and then proceed to reverse the polarity to the G203 power supply terminals. He called and I told him that he needed to call Gecko drive and they will send him replacement fuses that are internal.
A week or so later he called back and said he was really impresed that the G203 survived the reverse polarity and are now running fine.

Dan Mauch
Camtronics, inc. -- CNC with Dan Mauch

Originally Posted by TarHeelTom Been in a long process of rehabbing a Bridgeport. After gutting it, had it running, though with all the various bits and pieces scattered all over the garage. Then spent a bit of time trying to get a back plate made, and mounted all the various components to the back plate, and mounted the back plate inside the old electrical cabinet. Installed a big heat sink under the Gecko 203V's, with a good quantity of fins under the heat sink, and a pair of computer fans blowing air across all of the above. Fired up the computer, and the X and y moved perfectly, but not the Z. Spent some time trouble shooting, and finally located what looked like a solder bridge inside one of the connectors which hook the steppers to the back plate. Tried and tried to remove the solder bridge, but it wouldn't budge. Finally pulled out the two shorted wires. Turns out one of the wires had slipped out of the pin in the plug, and was soldered to two pins. A dead short across one of the coils. Now I'm worried. Checked the fuse for the Gecko, it's fine. Hook everything by up, fire up the computer, now the Z moves just fine. Wonder how many other drivers can handle perhaps ten hours of testing with a dead short across the leads to a stepper coil. The 203V ROCKS! Tom