NEWBIE IN ELECTRONICS - PLEASE HELP!!!
Hello guys! A few months ago i have started to order and obtain parts for building my first CNC machine. After many days of waiting, I managed to have all the necessary parts for the electrical part of the machine.
The parts are:
- a DIY PSU from an old ATX that outputs 24V 12A
- 3 x Nema 17 24V 1.5A 1.8 Deg Stepper motors link -> MINEBEA NEMA 17 STEPPER MOTOR HYBRID 42MM 24V 1.5A
- 1 x Arduino Uno
- 1 x CNC Shield v3.0 from Protoneer link -> Arduino CNC Shield V3.51 - GRBL v0.9 compatible - Uses Pololu Drivers | eBay
- 4 x A4988 Stepper Motor Drivers link-> https://www.pololu.com/product/1182/specs
After wiring all together, I've connected the system to my laptop and sent a G-code to it, but nothing happened.
My question is, can I drive such motors with those drivers? Can I build a CNC machine in this configuration? I
Regards
Re: NEWBIE IN ELECTRONICS - PLEASE HELP!!!
I have not seen the parts you are using but looking at the pages that are posted you should be able to turn the motors on the bench. the motors are small and should be able to be used in a small CNC. When I first started it took me 3 days to get a motor to turn. I was using Mach 3 drive software ( I know you are using something different ) and there were enable signal and and getting stuff going the right way tha I had to find. Good luck.
Re: NEWBIE IN ELECTRONICS - PLEASE HELP!!!
Your stepper is a 1.5A while your driver board can only handle 1 amp. With a proper heatsink it could handle your 1.5A motor. you may want to review this.
When you wire all the parts together it is possible something was overlooked, or not configured correctly, or simply miswired.
Hence you need to break the project down into smaller parts.
For example, see if you can make the motors turn without g-code and with an Arduino sketch that runs the motors with your driver.
See post # 5; Arduino for A4988 Pololu Stepper Motor Driver code!
Another one; Fritzing Project – A4988 Single Stepper Test.
Re: NEWBIE IN ELECTRONICS - PLEASE HELP!!!
Hi, you most certainly can. The shield was designed to work with the A4988 drivers. Are you able to move the machine from the control panel at all?
Re: NEWBIE IN ELECTRONICS - PLEASE HELP!!!
Emanuelg
If all your wiring checks out then maybe it's a software problem. Have you loaded the GRBL software into the Arduino?? And run checks to see if the pololu driver boards are plugged in correctly. I plugged my first set in and blew out the voltage regulator on the arduino. Must be a shot in the board. I plan to make a driver tester using a breadboard to keep that from happening again!!! Don't give up their are plenty of working systems like yours once you figure out the problem it usually is something simple that was overlooked.
Be sure to try and run the motors unloaded ( not connected to anything mechanically so as to not draw too much current)
good luck
Doc