[abond13]

alright repacked,same thing, so i flipped the nut to see if the direction of binding would change, it stayed the same. ok i see the red things keep the bearings in there circuit making them loop around.
this seems like a good binding point, the transition from plastic to steel, the #3 transition piece seemed to have a burr on the edge of the groove, like a ball was binding up in there and pushed up
the plastic.i dont know just guessing. hope you all still wanna help, even though i was stupid about putting a possibly defective screw in my machine. but the grease seemed to make it go away. but
it seems to be back and almost worse than before. i will inspect and repack. and let you know. thanks

[abond13]

alright ive packed and unpacked several times. cleaning things out. i tryed different combos, circuit 1 alone,circuit 1 and 2 alone etc. still binding. it dos look like there is room in each circuit for
1 or 2 more balls, would that help. also curious if there are some settings i need to look into. would binding be kind of random not,same error every time.
i need to try another nut. think i will run that screw into the x axis nut and see what i get. thanks

[abond13]

ok, i ran the y axis screw into the x axis nut and it was smooth,not binding. do you guys think this issue of accumulative error could come from this. it seems like such a small bind that
a stepper would just push right threw it. it binds and then clicks and gets smooth if you listen closely you can hear it and feel it. guess i will order a new nut and pack it with the balls
that are in this one unless, the balls in this one are the reason its binding. dang what a nightmare. thanks for all your help.look forward to see if there are some settings i need to look into.
i gotta step away from this thing and hit the woods find some mushrooms for dinner.

[datac]

Thanks for the reply. i will run some more tests. how dos one go about re-examining my "direction change driver requirements" also, "pulse,width,timing,edge, settings" sorry noob here.

motor drivers often have very small windows of time to accomplish things. one of those important things happens to be DIRECTION timing. a definite, repeatable loss... the kind you have indicated could show that during direction change timing, the driver MISSES one or more step pulses each time direction is changed. you need to find out exactly what timing requirements are for the motor drivers you are using, then make sure your control software reflects those exact settings.

If by chance your X and Y settings are identical, and also correct, I would swap your X and Y motor drivers, then re-test your 50 moves. if the driver has an issue, your step loss should have moved to the other axis because the drive moved.

if you have repeatable and reliable step loss... like .005" in 50 moves and subsequently, .010" in 100 moves, you MUST solve this first before worrying about any hardware issues because your problems will never go away.... only get more confusing. what you really need to base your findings on though is number of DIRECTION CHANGES...... that is the moment that usually creates repeatable lost steps.

[abond13]

motor drivers often have very small windows of time to accomplish things. one of those important things happens to be DIRECTION timing. a definite, repeatable loss... the kind you have indicated could show that during direction change timing, the driver MISSES one or more step pulses each time direction is changed. you need to find out exactly what timing requirements are for the motor drivers you are using, then make sure your control software reflects those exact settings.

If by chance your X and Y settings are identical, and also correct, I would swap your X and Y motor drivers, then re-test your 50 moves. if the driver has an issue, your step loss should have moved to the other axis because the drive moved.

if you have repeatable and reliable step loss... like .005" in 50 moves and subsequently, .010" in 100 moves, you MUST solve this first before worrying about any hardware issues because your problems will never go away.... only get more confusing. what you really need to base your findings on though is number of DIRECTION CHANGES...... that is the moment that usually creates repeatable lost steps.

Thanks, i am using KL-8060 drivers
how would i find the timing requierment and adjust the direction change timing?
this might be what i need at the bottom of this link to the drivers i have there is a download that talks about DIR and PUL is that the info im needing to find? KL8060 Bipolar Stepper Motor Driver 24-80VDC 6A | Automation Technology Inc
but first i need to switch the drivers and see if the problem shifts to the other axis. or is the info about the dir and pul, what i need to go into the software and see if its set correctly?
thanks again ps could i just switch the motor cables and run the x as y and y as x just for this test? just wondering

[Kingjamez]

Yes you could switch your motor wires, that is probably the easiest way to test for this error.

-Jim

[abond13]

alright i was looking thru my motor outputs screen it is as follows
x axis step pin 2 dir pin 3 dir low active --------step low not active
y axis step pin 4 dir pin 5 dir low active--------step low ACTIVE?????
z axis step pin 6 dir pin 7 dir low active--------step low not active
i dont know why the y axis step low active is enabled but could that be the source?
the machine is in pieces right now or i would just switch it off and see what it dos.
let me know what you think about that. might be a normal setting i dont know.?
THANKS

[abond13]

aright good news, i switched drivers (motor cables) and the error stayed with the y axis driver. but, now im not sure how to fix it. thanks all for the help.

Ive went thru all settings in mach3 looking for "something" just to see if i could figure it out. i did toggle the
y axis "step low active" off just to see what it would do since the other 2 axis's did not have that selected. all it did was, allow the y axis to move in only one direction,so that dident work. I did turn "step low" on in the X axis to see what it would do, and it did not have an effect on it,it still would go in both directions.? i dont know.im just taking stabs in the dark.trying to get this thing going. wondering if its a bad driver now? i could order one and swap it out.

[datac]

aright good news, i switched drivers (motor cables) and the error stayed with the y axis driver. but, now im not sure how to fix it. thanks all for the help.

Ive went thru all settings in mach3 looking for "something" just to see if i could figure it out. i did toggle the
y axis "step low active" off just to see what it would do since the other 2 axis's did not have that selected. all it did was, allow the y axis to move in only one direction,so that dident work. I did turn "step low" on in the X axis to see what it would do, and it did not have an effect on it,it still would go in both directions.? i dont know.im just taking stabs in the dark.trying to get this thing going. wondering if its a bad driver now? i could order one and swap it out.

Find one of the Mach forums, then find someone in there using your same drives. ASK them what driver timing settings work the best, set yours accordingly. If you still end up with one driver that fails to conform no matter what axis you run with it, you could have a bad driver. Note too though, you should actually change out the driver or swap input lines to make sure it is not a problem with the pc's parallel port......

Of course you again must understand that this is based on the claim that your step loss is ALWAYS repeatable and directly recognizable by the number of direction changes called out in the toolpath. If you have erratic loss for other issues like binding and such, none of my comments really apply.

[abond13]

Find one of the Mach forums, then find someone in there using your same drives. ASK them what driver timing settings work the best, set yours accordingly. If you still end up with one driver that fails to conform no matter what axis you run with it, you could have a bad driver. Note too though, you should actually change out the driver or swap input lines to make sure it is not a problem with the pc's parallel port......

Of course you again must understand that this is based on the claim that your step loss is ALWAYS repeatable and directly recognizable by the number of direction changes called out in the toolpath. If you have erratic loss for other issues like binding and such, none of my comments really apply.

ok i posted over in the mach forum. i was wondering about the parallel port also. thanks alot, i appreciate the help, i will get back with findings. sorry for all the dumb questions but what input lines do you mean? also where do i adjust driver timing setting if i have to? thanks

[datac]

ok i posted over in the mach forum. i was wondering about the parallel port also. thanks alot, i appreciate the help, i will get back with findings. sorry for all the dumb questions but what input lines do you mean? also where do i adjust driver timing setting if i have to? thanks

Say you are using pins 1 and 2 for your troublesome axis' step/dir connections and pins 3 and 4 on an axis that works.....

You should then swap pin 1 for 3 and 2 for 4. That would tell you if you have a port issue.

I forgot where and or what Mach allows you to change for driver settings.... a good quality control can have MANY setting adjustments in order to function with the widest array of drivers.... I dont use Mach.

[abond13]

Well, you know how i said "step low active" was check marked for the y axis, and when i disabled it to see what it would do and the axis would only move in 1 direction. well i disabled it again and
turned off sherline 1/2 pulse mode. and the problem is gone!!! i did 2 test pockets 1.0dia. .2deep the only thing now is the hole is still not round. it measures .998 in the x and 1.003 in the y. but i sure am happy to have the other issue fixed.i do not know how or why the step low active was on, but i do remember turning on the sherline mode because, i read it somewere that it needed to be on. I sure learned alot i thank you guys a TON for the help and hope someone else can learn from this. any ideas on the oval hole? thanks!!