[Pplug]

You need the proper resistor to set the current running to the motors from the 540. The instructions from the 540 will explain the simple formula used to calculate the resistors and also where to put them. They are cheep and might be found at any radio shack.

[Tsooko]

You need the proper resistor to set the current running to the motors from the 540. The instructions from the 540 will explain the simple formula used to calculate the resistors and also where to put them. They are cheep and might be found at any radio shack.

Thanks
:cheers: Ted

[Tsooko]

It's here:rainfro:

I am totally surprised at how small the g540 is.
Customs only charged me the gst which is a sales tax and that's ok.
I went and got all the electronics and a motor so I can wire everything up here at home.and test it out. Pics and text to come!!! :banana::banana::banana:


:cheers: Ted

[Tsooko]

Couldn't wait:
Here's what I got done so far...First I gutted the m100 box, taking a ton of pictures so I could remember where everything goes, especially the wires. The motor drives, the breakout boards and the power supply came out the only thing I left in was the main plug as it has a ton of wires and I didn't want to be concerned where they went back. Then I cleaned everything, as parts were full of dust, this was a working machine after all.
There were some holes in the back where componants were attached So I took a piece of abs sheet plastic and made a plate. this covered the main hole. Then I cut a pocket in it that the g540 would fit in. I then mounted the plate in the original hole using the old screws and fancy nuts. Looks pretty good huh? That's it so far. Took me about 3.5 hours, I move sloooow. and take lots of breaks. Tomorrow the power supply goes back in and I'll hook up some wires.

Here's some pics.

:cheers: Ted

[Tsooko]

Got stumped :violin:
Now I have put back into the box, the fan, the power supply and the front cover with all the switches. Using the pics I took I hooked up the wires but not the gecko drive so I could test the voltages coming out of the power supply. I could not get a dc voltage reading on the output side. When I switched over to ac voltage, I got a reading of 26 volts. Don't know if this would have blown the gecko as it take between 18 and 50 volts DC but I am not hooking it up!!
So I'll look around locally for a power supply, if I can't find one then it's back to mail ordering one.(nuts)
The adventure continues!! It has been said "it's not the destination... but the journey"

Some pics.
:cheers: Ted

[Tsooko]

Hey Guys
Some progress and some questions. I got a power supply. 24 volt, 6.5 amp out put which is as close as I could get to the original power supply except this one is dc not ac. It falls into the range the g540 requires. (18-48 volts) The motors are 2.5 amp rated which means that I need 2.5 k resistors on each axis for the current set. I could not find 2.5 k resistors. I got 2.4 and 2.7 k so my question is which one do I use? Can anyone tell me? Since the resistor goes betweem pin 1 and pin 5 of the output side of the gecko on the db9 cable the 2.4 will let a bit more power through, will that damage the motor circuit? Or if I use the 2.7 will that choke the current to the motor too much causing a performance loss?
I'm going to hook up the rest of the wiring and will take some pics as I go and will post them latter. Thanks in advance.

:cheers: Ted

[Tsooko]

I got the power supply hooked up and wired to the gecko 540.
When I power up, the leds that indicate power or fault do not light up. The computer is not yet hooked up, but should these lights not come on ?
Some pics.

:cheers: Ted

[Tsooko]

Interesting developement. I called Gecko to see if they could help me out. Talked to Marius and he walked me through the hook up. After checking out the wireing and testing to see if I had burn't the fuse ( I hadn't) we put the drive back together and it worked. The lights went on like they should have. There was a poor connection somewhere. Remember I know nothing about electronic and Marius had to walk me through every move, he spent almost 1.5 hours with me. Now that's service!!! Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou! He also gave me a bunch of hints on what to look out for as I hook up the rest.
I'll work on it this weekend and should have a motor working by the end of it.
I'll report more then.


:cheers:Ted

[cabnet636]

last year we had an issue with multiple machines and at the end it was a simple fix!! the reason i am making this post is marriss was on the beach in hawaii in a chair soaking up the rays, he calls me on his cell phone when we figured out the fix says he will call me back in a few minutes and does!!! the next day i get a package with all we needed to get going!!! i feel the same way when it comes to drives gecko is it, when it comes to the man behind the drives marris is the MAN!!!!!


jim

[Tsooko]

Well I finally got the soldering iron out,and got the motor coils soldered to the gecko db9 connector along with the resister. But now I'm stumped again. The black wire in the picture is a ground but to which pin does it go? I understand it has to go to the ground on the power supply? It was pin 5 on the teckno db9. And where do the others go? they were:

pin 7 was red
pin 8 was blue
pin9 was green

This was on the teckno db9

Which wire goes to which pin on the gecko db9?
Can anyone help? :withstupi

Thanks in advance.

:cheers:Ted

[Tsooko]

I had enough fooling around. I ordered all the rest of the stuff I needed from

http://cncrouterparts.com/

Motors, power supply and cables, I had gotten the gecko 540 from them earlier.
Everything matched and worked together, it was a no brainer.
After hooking everything up to the gecko and setting up mach3 on the computer I got motor movement on the first try of the jogging buttons. Then I loaded the roadrunner program in mach and ran it and that too worked.
One thing that concerned me was that the stepper motors got really hot! On the mach forum I found out hot steppers is normal.
Now I need to replace the old motors with the new on the Techno and try them out there as all this testing was done on my work bench at home. I hope to do a test cut next week.
Thanks to all of you who helped me out. (group) In hind site I should have just gotten the right stuff to begin with. Hopefully my problems will be small from now on.
Will let you know how things go.

Some pictures now.

:cheers: Ted

[Tsooko]

I got all the equipment out to the cnc machine and got it hooked up. When I powered up the electronics it all work with no smoke being released, a big relief to me.
I tried jogging the gantry and that went well, although slower then I though it would be but every axis moved,
Then I tried the roadrunner program provided by mach with the router motor turned off .( an air cut?)
That worked too but it moved over a very tiny area, maybe 1/2". Then I stopped.
That was a few days ago and now it is -37c with a blizzard so it's going to awhile before I get to do a real cut.

The good news is it all works. Hipp, Hipp, Hooray!!

:cheers: Ted

[rowbare]

It sounds like you need to do some motor tuning. That would also explain why your movements were slower than expected. Did you account for the 10x microstepping when you set your steps per inch?

Check out this post. Hoss explains how to use the Mach calibration: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...ach#post563707

[Tsooko]

It sounds like you need to do some motor tuning. That would also explain why your movements were slower than expected. Did you account for the 10x microstepping when you set your steps per inch?

Check out this post. Hoss explains how to use the Mach calibration: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...ach#post563707

Hi Rowbare

When I go to the config button on the mach software then go to motor tuning nothing happens. page doesn't open. nothing . nada. What do you think is happening?

:cheers: Ted

[Tsooko]

I really don't know why the motor tuning window didn't open. but I got it fixed. Here is what I did. I deleted all the mach files and then downloaded the newest version of mach 3 from their website to the home computer, transfered that to a usb card then took it to the computer I use to run the cnc. After loading it into that computer I loaded in the licensing and voila' got it working. The motor tuning window now works and all that is left is to go through the setup, watching the videos. Of course I unhooked the computer from the cnc in the garage ( where it is -34c ) so it could be worked on in the comfort of my living room. Should be having it going latter to-day.:banana:

:cheers: Ted

[Tsooko]

How time flys, eh?
A whole new year has come along.
I have made it out to the shop to play with the cnc a few times but bad weather and poor health have kept me from doing too much.
Got the software working and the machine partly calibrated.
The x axis is good to .003" , the y is good to the same .003 and the z is right on .001. That is using a venier caliper measuring a pencil line drawn on the mdf waste sheet I put down. I got some 1-2-3 blocks and a dial caliper that I can put into the router bit holder and will try that to get it better. I would like to see .001 on all the axis but half that would be better (.0005)
I think that is good enough for a wood router.

All I used was the calibration sequence in mach as I have no idea what the thread distance is on the Techno.

I plan to cut some plastic and aluminium with it also. I'm kinda a picture guy so I'll take a few next time out there and post them.

It is funny how many times I broke the pencil's tip off by putting the tip down too far and jamming it into the wood. I have learned to use the adjustment for the jog steps because of that. Gotta luv mach. The videos sure come in handy for us newbees. I wish they were in inches and metric, as inches is what I use.

Doing an air cut of Mach's roadrunner it comes out at a better size now.

I also bought some router bits over the winter. Ya can't cut nothing without 'em.

Has anyone tried one of those Rockwell's plotter pencil holders? They look like they have a tension adjustment so you can draw on a piece without breaking the tip of the pencil off. That would come in very handy to line up cuts say on an 8' piece as I only have a 4' table and have to move the board to get the other side cut. That way a guy could draw it out to line up the cuts without wasting a board.

'nuff for now

:cheers: Ted