Help! Stepper motors rough after computer replacement
The motherboard on the computer that runs Mach3 and my Microproto Microimill 2000 died, so I grabbed another computer from my boneyard (I'm a computer guy by trade), put in a new hard drive, a new parallel card (the old one was PCI and the new computer has no PCI slots) reinstalled XP and Mach3, put my old XML file in and thought I was good. But the stepper motors run rough, like they're filled with gravel. Since I haven't used the mill for nearly a year I disassembled it, cleaned out all the dirt and old grease, lubed it and put it back together, but the motors are still rough and uneven, with clicking and popping noises. With the motors off the feed screws turn smoothly.
Thinking that it had to be the computer since that's all that I changed, I grabbed another old computer, this time one that has a PCI slot so I can use the original parallel card, installed Mach3 and my original XML mill file. No luck, the motors are still rough, both jogging and running Gcode..
Since then I've tried everything I could think of but can't get the motors running smooth like they used to. And it's not just one stepper motor, it's all 3.
But here's a kicker, with the Motor Tuning window open in Mach the motors run much, much better. But as soon as it's closed they're rough again.
Some more info. The motors are Shanano Kenshi SST57D 1.8 degree per step, the mill feed screws are 20 threads per inch. I'm using 8000 steps per, 30 Velocity and 5 Acceleration. .
I've been working on this for 3 days now with no success. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
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Re: Help! Stepper motors rough after computer replacement
I'm having a similar problem. Connecting usb directly to drivers and running motors they are perfectly smooth. Connecting thru controller and running mach 4 they stutter. I've tried every motor tuning configuration I can think of and get somewhat better results but the jerkiness or stuttering remains. I'm going down the computer route as well. Going to do a fresh install of win7 and hope for the best. If you do solve this. please post what fixed it.
So I solved it. I saved my original OS and also made fresh win7 32bit OS. I was still having same and worse problems with new OS and mach 3.Originally Posted by hotrd717
Definitely thought it was a com issue so I tried Ethernet connection on original win7 64 bit and viola, problem solved. I still don't understand the problem though. Updated usb drivers, the computer is maybe 5 years old, z68 Intel i5 and a very decent custom motherboard. I had also tried various usb cables.
The upside is now motors run extremely smooth, quiet, and at very high speeds without missing. Some slight tuning onnz axis and I'm ready to make chips.
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