Slaved Axis Issues

[Milestonecabinetry]

Hey guys, going to try and be as clear as possible. Having some major issues and hoping you someone can help me out

I installed a new Avid CNC plug and play ESS controller on my 13'x6' machine. This machine has Dual Y axis motors

Z works perfect
X works perfect
Y1 is extremely slow compared to Y2
Y2 works perfect

To try and troubleshoot we did the following:
-Changed the speed on the B & A (y1) axis to 3x that of the Y2 and Y1 was still slow compared- causing the gantry to torque.
-Set all speeds across all 6 axis to 600 IPM 25 Acceleration and it sped up the Y2 and Y1 but differential was still the same
-Changed the speed on Y1 (A&B) to double that of Y2 and it increased the speed on Y2

My guess is there is some setting inside of Mach 3 that I am not aware of- New to CNC programming and this is the first machine we have built. I have attached setting pictures of the motor tuning, and videos of what the machine is doing.

The only other things I can think of would be:
Remove the setup slave axis?
Gear ratio the same?
Ports in ports and pins are incorrect.
Motor Tuning?

Here is the link the system we bought.

https://www.avidcnc.com/plug-and-pla...tem-p-132.html

Thank you, guys, for your help!

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[joeavaerage]

Hi,
all development on Mach3 ceased eight-nine years ago. Notwithstanding that it still works its obsolete, consider Mach4. I've been using it for eight years and its light years ahead.

One of the areas where Mach4 excels is slaved motors.

In Mach3 you had to re-envision a rotary axis as a linear axis and slave it to another, usually a linear axis.
In Mach4 you have one master motor per axis and up to four slave motors to each master. The master/slave relationship can be broken and/or re-established at will by programming
and so you can build very sophisticated homing and squaring routines. Some of the better known motion control boards like the Ethernet SmoothStepper handle squaring a two motor gantry
autonomously.

One principle that Mach3 relies on is that both motors, master and slave, must be identical, that is to say steps/unit, max velocity, accel etc.

Mach4 can have two different motors of different tuning....although I think while it's possible to do so, how well it works in practice is another matter.

Craig

[Milestonecabinetry]

Craig, Thanks for the help. My biggest issue is that they are not operating at the same speeds, but the settings are all identical. This is causing the axis to torque, ( because y1 & y2 are operating at approximately 1/2 speed of each other) any recommendation on how to fix this?

[awerby]

Have you reached out to Avid for help?

[Milestonecabinetry]

Have you reached out to Avid for help?

I did, I have not heard back yet. They did tell me the first time that they will try to support Mach3 but it is no longer their operating program. So I downloaded Mach 4 and am having the same issue. I will be calling again tomorrow

[joeavaerage]

Hi,

My biggest issue is that they are not operating at the same speeds, but the settings are all identical.

That suggests one of two things.
1) The required torque of one motor is so much more than the other that it runs slow. I imagine you've already considered this and investigated. For the problem to be as dramatic as you describe
you'd also imagine that it would be plainly evident, so while it can't be ruled out, neither is it likely....you would know already.
2) That one of your motor drivers is operating at half speed. My I suggest swapping the drives from side to side and see if the gantry now torques but in the other direction?

Craig

[Milestonecabinetry]

Yes, I did that, and it does torque to the other side. which is the conspicuous part? When I switch the cords after switching the drive motors than it follows the Y1. I have made a pdf of the settings in Mach 4 but it will not let me attach in this thread due to the file size

[joeavaerage]

Hi,
I think then its your driver, one is operating at half the speed of the other.

I would guess that the micro-stepping switches are set incorrectly or one of the switches is faulty, so while the switch positions would suggest 800 pulse/rev its actually doing 1600 pulse/rev.

Craig