motor tuning

[urbanimports02]

ok, starting a new thread about motor tuning and mach3 setup. as far as my stall goes, it is only in one line of code at the end of a rapid. it doesnt seem to be a tight spot in the gibs as it only does it on this one line, and there are 5 or 6 other rapid codes to this same position. this line of code has the y axis moving like .020" and the x axis moving oh 1.5" the other rapids to this location only move the x axis, could be the simultaneous rapid of both axis, but there are several more of those in the code as well, and they all sound nice and smooth with a nice smooth stop before doing next move. i changed that rapid movement to a G1 move and ran the program successfully with rapids at 120ipm, so this has me perplexed. as far as pulse tuning, not quite sure what those numbers do, but mine were at 2 and 2 and i tried a couple different combos to no avail. some wierd things about my setup.
none of the novakon xml files will work on my machine. one they sent me shows external e stop requested and wont reset, another looks very similar to the one i modified to get to work, but none of the axis will move. my limit switches do not seem to do anything, and the settings are all the same as the xml that novakon sent me and the one they just posted a couple weeks ago on the site. i tried changing a couple of the settings, but nothing seems to work. would someone be willing to send me a known good xml file? ihavenofish?

[urbanimports02]

ok, got homing and limit switches to work and implemented soft limits. i seem to have everything pretty well tuned, so i tried that program again with 120ipm rapids, and again it fails at that spot. tried moving the table to totally different location and resetting offsets and rerunning again(testing for tight spot in gibs), and still, same line of code. so i turned rapids down to 50ipm and tried again. still same buzz sound and stall, just more quiet, but still there at the same spot just shy of the rapids destination. this is about the most bazzar thing i have ever seen. all other rapids seem to work fine. i can work around this, but it is really irritating!!

[joeybagadonuts]

Urbanimports02,

Are you sure you have your license file "Mach1Lic.dat" installed in mach3?

Mach3 runs in Demo Mode without it and will only run 500 lines of code.

JoeyB

[urbanimports02]

yes, it is installed, or atleast i see it in the mach3 folder. it doesnt fail as in just stops, it misses some steps at the end of that rapid and keeps on going, just now its out of place and machining the part offset by however many steps it misses, if that makes sense?? all other rapids leading upto and after that rapid are nice and smooth. i killed the breaker for the 240v to the back of the machine so the fan and spindle were not running or anything so i could really hear what is going on. i ran the program in air with 50ipm rapids, and can still hear it buzz, not as bad, but buzz lightly, at the end of that one rapid, all other rapids even when i turned it back up to 120ipm are smooth as silk. when at 120ipm it misses bad and is off like 1/4", when at 70ipm, it is only off .007", but still off. its wierd that it misses at the end of that rapid, where as normally if it is going miss from being too fast, or tight gib or something it misses as soon as it attempts the rapid. it is also a long enough rapid that it is at full speed for some time before stalling, so its not an accel problem. i am thinking it has something to do with the rapid calling for such a slight move in the Y direction while making a larger move in X. it has plenty of rapids that are simultaneous and has no problems with those, just maybe its one of those weird glitches. i changed that rapid to a G1 move with feed at 15ipm, and ran it with no problems, and at least got my part done.

[urbanimports02]

the other wierd thing is the first time it did the big stall and was off by 1/4", the x axis went offline at the exact same time. i stopped the program and jogged up out of the part and tried jogging the x axis and nothing, so i shut down mach and restarted, and still no x axis, so i restarted the cd100, and the x axis was back. could this be a faulty gecko drive or stepper or something?? i figure i have had all sorts of other little problems with my machine that others dont have, so why not?? i also know that my machine was delayed on shipment for like 3 extra weeks and khai said they were having problems or something, but never said what it was, maybe i just need a whole new cd100. i really dont have the time or patients to chase this down.

[joeybagadonuts]

Urbanimports02,

What is the acceleration set at?

Please post the xml

JoeyB

[urbanimports02]

acceleration was set at 40, as per ihavenofish settings. but tried 20 and even 10 and even 10 at 50ipm, and still hear and measure a slight miss at those settings. i will try yo get some time to post the xml tonight. i cant emphasize enough that it only does it on this one line of code at the same spot at the end of the rapid, all other rapids, including several to these exact coordinates are smooth. i am sure you would find plenty wrong with my xml, as i have been creating everything from scratch as none of the xml files i have received from novakon will work for my machine. when i pop them in, nothing will move at all. mine seems pretty good now as i finally have homing and soft limits working well. another thing to note, is the machine will not travel 15" in y like they claim, there is no way. it hits mechanical limits at both ends with only 13.5" in between. one end puts the table against the collumn, and the other is clearly at its limit, and just about touching the front splash shield. i set it to 13.35 for soft limits, and it works great.

[jalessi]

What stepper driver is your mill fitted with?

You may have a resonance issue, do the steppers have harmonic dampers attached?

Jeff...

[urbanimports02]

i believe the stepper driver is a cnc4pc driver, i am not too good at this side of the stepper system stuff. i do not believe the novakon nm-200 has dampers installed on the axis, i am not even sure what that is? my understanding was that the motors were direct coupled to the ball screws. again i am not sure why that would have anything to do with a stall at only one line in one program code regaurdless of where i set the work offset zeros. i have tried multiple different coordinates(different spots on the table) and it always does it at this one spot in the code. the stepper driver or gecko drive or something inside the controler i guess could be to bkame, but i am not saavy on whats all going on inside there, thus i bought a turnkey machine. i will probably understand this stuff more in the near future then i ever wanted to!! any help on this side of things will be greatly appreciated! thanks for the help.
jesse

[urbanimports02]

oops, i guess you were probably refering to the gecko drive, and i am not too sure what exact gecko they are using currently, but i am sure there are plenty of people here that know which one it is. how do i upload the xml? i tried attaching it, it says invalid file type. i tried draging and dropping it in the body of the message, and it just opens it up in a new window.

[jalessi]

The file needs to be zipped.

[jalessi]

Link to Zip Utility

http://sourceforge.net/projects/seve...5.exe/download