FineLine Saturn2 4' x 4' with ClearPath, UC300-ETH / UB1

[DDgitfiddle]

Robb,

I'm doing a little research in advance of our call tomorrow to make sure that I understand the differences between the MB2 and UB1 BOB. It is amazing how quickly I have forgotten all of these details. I tend to agree with Gerry, that you will be better off starting from scratch with your UCCNC settings since the BOB is different. That said, my UCCNC profile has a few actions programmed to get the safety circuit to work, so having those will be helpful. We can check through the settings to make sure that everything makes sense, though.

A big difference I am seeing is on the "Safety" inputs on the UB1. On the MB2, these are inputs X203-X210, but they are X103-X110 on the UB1. I THINK this is accounted for in UCCNC because the LPT1 and LPT2 ports on the MB2 are opposite on the UC300ETH-5LPT so the labels on the MB2 don't match the UCCNC designations. If I remember correctly, X203 is X103 in UCCNC when using the MB2, and X210 in UCCNC is X110 on the MB2. So I think you have this wired correctly there, and my profile should be correct for that.

Based on the picture you posted in Post #80 of this thread, it looks like you may have the step and direction signals reversed. This assumes that you used the same exact pinouts on your bulkhead connectors that I did, because the pink and blue wires are reversed. I think you mentioned that I may have reversed this on my schematics, and you are correct. So IF you followed my wiring diagrams then you will need to swap the blue and pink wires so that pink is on the XS- and blue is on the XD-.

A couple of things to be prepared to try:

1) Have a jumper wire available to short out across all of the HLFB and VFD alarm signals. This will allow you to make sure that one of those signals is not causing a problem with the safety circuit and motor enable.
2) Make sure that none of your limit switches is triggered when you start the machine up. It shouldn't cause a problem, but it might prevent you from enabling the system.
3) When you start up the system, power up the controller first then launch UCCNC. Once UCCNC is up and running and connected to the controller, press the hardware reset button. You should hear the safety relay click over and the big contactor will "kathunk" once. When you release the button, you should not hear any additional noises. If you then press the software reset button on the UCCNC screen, you should hear the motors fire up and hold position (light up flashing green instead of yellow). If either of these "reset" steps reverses itself immediately, then there is a problem with the safety circuit that we can try to debug.
4) We can also try to "force" the enable output for the motors from inside UCCNC to check that the motors will enable. If that doesn't work, then there may be a wiring issue somewhere.

I will make sure that I have as much documentation as possible at my machine tomorrow so that I can work through everything with you.

-Robert

[ger21]

I completely forgot that when using the UC300ETh with the MB2, ports 1 & 2 are switched. So I was most likely wrong, and the ports and pins are correct?

[rcmcdee]

Today I spent a lot of time cross checking pins & ports in UCCNC and validating wiring to the UB1. Robert joined me on the phone a few times and the net result is that the machine still won't jog. One error we discovered was that the VFD needed to be programmed and reporting a ready condition before we get a full enable signal. We bypassed that and now the status is as follows:
1) Power on the controller - OK
2) Launch UCCNC - UB1 recognized and various status lights come on
3) Hit hardware reset button - Motors power up and lights go green - UCCNC reset button flashing
4) Hit software reset button - Motors go yellow and enable lights on the UB1 go out.

We tried checking Axis Enable low & off for all axes, which creates the following condition - motors green and UCCNC stuck in a loop with flashing reset button and an error message every time you push the reset button.
Not sure where to go from here. I will post this in the UCCNC branch of this forum.
Any ideas greatly appreciated.

Robb

[ger21]

It's not jogging because of the way you have it wired. If you remove everything but the motors, it should work no problem.

Unless you can post a full wiring diagram, and your UCCNC profile, it's kinda hard to know what's going on.

[OlfCNC]

We tried checking Axis Enable low & off for all axes, which creates the following condition - motors green and UCCNC stuck in a loop with flashing reset button and an error message every time you push the reset button.

You should check the diagnostics page of the UCCNC to see what is causing the reset condition. It could be an external e-stop input or a limit input. Check the LEDs on the diagnostics to see and then verify your settings and make the required changes.

[rcmcdee]

You should check the diagnostics page of the UCCNC to see what is causing the reset condition..

The diagnostics page looks good. No limit or e-stop lights. I validated those inputs by triggering the condition and the diagnostic lights come on as appropriate. everything looks good to go until I press the flashing ReSet button in UCCNC. Then, the only change is that the motor enable lights go out on the diagnostic page.

Thanks,
Robb

[OlfCNC]

The diagnostics page looks good. No limit or e-stop lights. I validated those inputs by triggering the condition and the diagnostic lights come on as appropriate. everything looks good to go until I press the flashing ReSet button in UCCNC. Then, the only change is that the motor enable lights go out on the diagnostic page.

Thanks,
Robb

I thought you can't remove the software from reset? But appearantly it is not what the issue is?!

What causing the motor enable lights to go off? What signal? Something is turned off, but what? I would check that in the first place.

[rcmcdee]

I thought you can't remove the software from reset? But appearantly it is not what the issue is?!

I then press the hardware reset and the UCCNC reset starts blinking again and is stuck in a loop of error / blink.

What causing the motor enable lights to go off? What signal? Something is turned off, but what? I would check that in the first place.

I'll dig into that later today.

[wmgeorge]

Is there not some kind of High or Low enable checkmark to select in the software. Is it possible one or more of your Limits are setup wrong?

[rcmcdee]

Is there not some kind of High or Low enable checkmark to select in the software. Is it possible one or more of your Limits are setup wrong?

When I reverse the limits UCCNC goes into a reset / error loop.

[wmgeorge]

When I reverse the limits UCCNC goes into a reset / error loop.

Kind of like its doing now. I would take Gerrys advise and disconnect everything except the motors and get them running, forget the Auto homing and whatever. Just start from the basics and prove each step as you reconnect.
Plus its also possible that one limit is wrong or bad, doing the one at a time hook up will show you which one.

[DDgitfiddle]

Based on my conversations with Robb yesterday, it appears to me that UCCNC is behaving correctly. The Clearpath motors require a 24VDC enable signal that is being provided by 4 outputs on the UB1. When bringing the machine up, the hardware reset button enables power as it should, and the safety relay circuit latches as it should. UCCNC indicates it needs a reset (flashing reset button). The motors SHOULD be disabled (yellow light) but instead they are enabled (flashing green) even though UCCNC needs a reset, and indicates that the enable outputs are off.

To me this sounds like an electrical problem. For some reason the motors are getting the enable signal with the UCCNC enable signal. This could be a short or an incorrect connection. My thought is that when the UCCNC enable signals turn on, this voltage gets pulled to ground and results in no current flowing through the motor or enable input. It almost seems like there is a short to another voltage somewhere.

As we discussed, I would recommend disconnecting the enable signals on Y305-Y308 from the UB1 and connecting them to ground to try to find the problem. If the problem is in the wiring to the motor, the behavior will stay the same. If the problem is at the UB1, it should behave correctly. You also had the 24V for the enable signal connected to a power supply, not a UB1 24V point. That shouldn’t matter, but it could be causing a problem if there is a difference in the voltages.

Another possibility is that one of the 24V power supplies is connected in reverse. Not likely, but worth checking the connections.

-Robert

[wmgeorge]

Good thoughts, and when your troubleshooting Everything is open for checking. My son does building temperature control work at times via computer like I used to do. They had a problem system, and made change after change and reloaded the program every time. No joy, same o problem.... until someone suggested doing it and then Saving on a NEW USB Stick/drive. Problem solved, somehow the data got corrupted on the old one and it just kept rewriting the same bad code. Consider Everything suspect.

[klipsch]

Orange distribution block...

Just another set of eyes without any in depth knowledge. It appears that Robert's Orange distribution block is connected to both of the VCCs on the MB2 while Robb's Orange distribution block is connected to only one VCC on the UB1 based on the pictures in the two threads.

I believe the brown/green wires connected to the orange distribution block per the diagrams are for the motor enable/disable. Maybe I've looked at the pictures wrong or maybe this does not help at all, but I figured I would share anyhow.

[rcmcdee]

Could not make it back into the shop yesterday or Wednesday. Will be banging on this again next week.

[DDgitfiddle]

Orange distribution block...

Just another set of eyes without any in depth knowledge. It appears that Robert's Orange distribution block is connected to both of the VCCs on the MB2 while Robb's Orange distribution block is connected to only one VCC on the UB1 based on the pictures in the two threads.

I believe the brown/green wires connected to the orange distribution block per the diagrams are for the motor enable/disable. Maybe I've looked at the pictures wrong or maybe this does not help at all, but I figured I would share anyhow.

Good eyes! The orange distribution blocks are what I refer to as VCC Distribution. The Step and Direction signals to the motors need to have VCC supplied from the MB2 then the XS- and XD- signals switch to let the current flow an provide the signal needed. There are only 2 VCC points on the MB2, but I needed 4, so I had to make a distribution block. I suppose I could have doubled up the wires into the VCC points, but I wanted to be able to remove them independently if I needed to. I connected both VCC signals to the Distribution Block because I wasn't certain about how much current draw was needed, and each point has a limited output, so I figured it was better to connect both. I suppose it is possible that this will show up as a problem, but I don't think this would result in the problem Robb is seeing. The VCC supply should only provide current when a step or direction signal is generated. The ClearPath motor should only pull 8 mA per signal (64 mA total), so I don't think that will be a problem. I can't seem to find a rating for the VCC output on the MB2, though.

-Robert

[rcmcdee]

OK gang - new info as of today. Sorry for the slow drip of this build but there are many distractions.
I have revisited all the wiring diagrams and checked the cables for shorts and continuity. It turns out that I had a core flaw in the wiring due to misreading the motor connector diagram that Robert provided. The I/O Connector Pinout diagram is illustrated as if viewing the connector on the motor - but I had wired it as if it were viewed from the end of the cable. IOW I had flipped the connections right to left. That is now corrected but still the machine cannot be jogged. I have attached some pictures of the board and UCCNC diagnostic screens to illustrate the current conditions. The state of the machine is as follows in the pictures:
# 1 = Power On <> #2 = Launch UCCNC (has blinking Reset button) <> #2a = Diagnostic screen (no motors powered up) <> #3 = Reset UCCNC <> #3a = Diagnostic screen (motor enable lights go off - no motors powered up) <> #4 = Reset Hardware button (motors powered up and lights green) <> #4a = Diagnostic screen (reset button blinking). When I press the UCCNC reset button it takes me back to #3 with motor lights yellow.
I have gone through the wiring with my VOM and adjusted the power supplies to the correct voltage. My VCC voltage is now reading 5v as expected (previously crazy numbers due to the mis wiring).

[ger21]

As I said before:

Unless you can post a full wiring diagram, and your UCCNC profile, it's kinda hard to know what's going on.

[DDgitfiddle]

Robb,

Sounds like alot has changed, so the way things are working is different. It sounds like there is something a little weird in the e-stop circuit connecting to the controller (UB1). You might need to flip the "active low" toggle for the e-stop input (on the IO setup screen) and confirm that it is set to the right pin.

I need to think about it in more detail, but there is at least on thing that you are doing differently from me. When I start up my machine, I follow these steps:

1) Power on controller (same as you)
2) Start up UCCNC (same as you)
3) Press hardware reset (this should activate the main safety relay, provide power to the motors, motor enable lights should be yellow indicating power is on)
4) Press UCCNC reset (this should turn motor enable lights to flashing green)

You should not even be able to get the UCCNC reset button to latch until the hardware reset is pushed. That tells me that you may need to toggle the "active low" signal on your e-stop input to the UB1. If it is reversed, then UCCNC will think the e-stop circuit is closed when it is really open.

Something else: In picture 2 and 2A, it looks like outputs Y305 through Y308 are on, when they shouldn't be. Try flipping the "active low" toggle for the enable signals on the motors in the UCCNC motor setup screens. However, if I am right about the e-stop circuit above, then this may also fix itself.

-Robert

[DDgitfiddle]

As I said before:

Robb is following my build schematics, except he is using a UB1 BOB instead of an MB2. The main schematics that should be relevant are here:

https://www.cnczone.com/forums/finel...ml#post2208512

The rest are in post #144 and #145 of the same thread. I will admit they are not the most professional schematics around. Unfortunately, I have better access to mechanical design tools than electrical.

-Robert