Xylotex drive, How much torque? Test Steppers?

[dkp_design]

I'm trying to resurect my Taig mill here. One of the problems I was having was loosing steps and th steppers just coming out of sync when reacing the ends of travel etc. I have a Xylotex 3 axis drive, fed with 24vdc, and I belive the steppers were 166 Oz? It's been so long I cant remember. Is there a easy way to tell the torque I'm getting? Is the xylotex a low ooutput board? About 18 IPM rapids are about the best I can acheave safely. I have checked and lapped all ways and things are about as smooth as they can get. I hate coming back after letting the mill run for 3+ hrs only to find its lost its mind and ruined another job!!! Can;t afford new drives or steppers at this moment, but if there will be a night/day difference, maybe I can budget for them?


Thx in advance

[Jeff-Birt]

Lost steps can come from a variety of places. It sounds like you have covered the mechanical parts, although it does concern me that you say it is missing steps at the ends of travel. That could indicate that your lead-screws are worn more in the middle and the nuts were adjusted there. When you get to the end of travel the nuts will be tighter and may bind. If you have a heavy, lopsided piece of stock that could cause some binding as well.

The Xylotex drives are good drives but are limited on performance due to the stepper drive chip they employ. I bought one of their 4-axis systems a few years ago and suspect that 20 IPM is about as good as you will see on a Taig.

Your 166 oz-in motors are likely fine, it depends on their exact specs. I recommend the 166 oz-in I sell for Taigs, larger motors DO NOT improve performance on the Taig. On the Taig in my shop I can do 100 IPM all day long with those motors and my drive box. (http://cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89536) I generally have my max velocity set to about 40 IPM as I'm not cutting anything that can take advantage of the higher speeds.

Another possibility is that your PC is not outputting a smooth pulse stream to the driver. This can cause missed steps and limited rapids as well.

[dkp_design]

Yes, My leadscrew nuts were to tight at the ends. I never really knew how much untill I took them off and tried by hand. I have since adjusted the nuts. Good to know on the Xylotex max rapid 20ipm or so. Will a Gecko 540 or 250's get better results? 40ipm rapids would be real nice. I end up having alot of rapids.
Also, my computer, ya, It;s a old P1 200mhz machine. I run TurboCNC in DOS. I would love to run Mach3 but my laptop doesn't have a parallel port. I bought a NcPod a couple years ago, used. never found any real support and havnt tried implementing it with my laptop. I would love to use my laptop for it all.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to finish adjusting the leadscrews today and retry. Just had the Z left to do last night

PS, With the Xylotex on, and a stepper/leadscrew in my hand. I can turn the shaft. it doesnt seem to have a lot of holding power. Hard to describe how much, but how much should it have? I dont have a in/lb wrench or anything.

[ger21]

If you run the ncPod with Mach3, it should work fine with the laptop. At one time quite a few people were using them with Mach3, but development seemed to stop and everyone jumped to the Smoothstepper. But, from what I recall, it dos work fine.

[dkp_design]

Originally Posted by ger21 If you run the ncPod with Mach3, it should work fine with the laptop. At one time quite a few people were using them with Mach3, but development seemed to stop and everyone jumped to the Smoothstepper. But, from what I recall, it dos work fine.

Thx Gerry, Off to get a USB and parallel cable tomorrow

[Jeff-Birt]

Will a Gecko 540 or 250's get better results?

The G540 is a much better driver, it incorporates 4 of the Gecko G25x drivers on a small mother board that has optical isolation built in. To get the full benefit out of it you will need to match your power supply voltage to the steppers.

[dkp_design]

Well success today. I got x-y moving 45ipm today, with no work on table. but I think it will be instable for long, 3+hr jobs with no extra lube. But, thats a good thing. If I can cut 20ipm in alum, I'd love it. even .020 cut. I've allways had to go too slow, and burn up bits because I cant apply the proper chipload without skipping steps. ANd I think my steppers are 267oz?? They are from xylotex, have a nameplate, just forgot what numbers. I'll get them tomorrow.


Working on home switches too, just for x-y. no real reason for Z home as that allways changes depending on what work im doing.


Now I just need ideas to make LOL. Im unemployed as an Electrician in a month, well, other than the Powder coating I do here on the side. Hoping between the Taig, and the 10x18 lathe I just bought, I can make something someone wants to buy!!!