[CNC74]

All,

I thought I had licked the majority of my issues but they somehow seem to come back to the forfront. With every issue that gets resolved another as yet to be fully understood issue waits in the wings to show itself just I I am set to proclaim victory!

Is there anyone here that has experiance in dealing with Mach3 and Geeko G540's loosing steps per inch due to signal processing?
:boxing:

I have read that enabling the "SHORELINE HALF STEP MODE" in Mach3 settings helps to aliviate the stepping loss but it is not the fix for the root cause of the issue.

The short version of the issue I am dealing with is as follows:

1. The Steppers do not have enough torque and are very prone to lossing steps during normal operation and never hold zero points.

Explaination of how I came to this point:
I was loosing steps on jobs and thought it was due to a driveline issue such as a loose collar on my Y axis or the coupler that mates the Y stepper to the rest of the screw but after taking everything apart and reverifying that the parts were all holding true and tight I decided to simulate a job with the spoilboard removed and saw and heard what clued me into the issue.
When the Y axis is under load in a cut it is sometimes lossing stepps to to loss of torque in the stepper motor. THis produces a low toned clicking sound in the stepper and the power is lost and thus the stepp gets skipped.
Additional testing verified that it takes very little resistance to produce this issue which conicides with the issue that has been happening all along.

I read that this is a known issue for "some" Geeko G540's and that it can be "stop gapped" by setting the "Shoreline Half Step mode" in Mach3. I did this and it seems to help allot but it still apears that there is a torque issue (Especially on my Y axis).

Should I be thinking abouot replacing my G540? (Its only 2 months old!)

Has anyone ran into this issue?

HELP!!!! (wedge)

[CNC74]

MACHINE PORN!!!!!

Also: Anybody have thoughts on my previous post?

(group)

[brtech]

Looking back through the thread, looks like you are using the cncrouterparts cables on the G540. There is a known problem with them that causes the motors and the G540 to run hot and perform badly. The problem is that the resistor that sets the current for the motors is on the pigtail on the motor, rather than on the connector that plugs into the G540. Probably, the G540 shouldn't be so sensitive, but the fix is to put the resistor at the end that plugs into the gecko. Nate can arrange for Ahren to send you a set of fixit cables that goes between the red cable and the gecko. Or, you can buy some new D-shell connectors, cut off the end of the red wires and rewire them yourself.

I'm not sure if that is causing you more than temperature problems, but you should get that fixed.

[CNC74]

BRTECH,

Ahren sent the cable adaptors a few weeks ago and they are installed now and made no difference with or without them from both a heat and stepping standpoint. I read a few post where GER21 was saying that there is a known issue with a very small percentage of Geeko G540's and that the only real fix is replacement. I was just hoping to see if anyone else had any experiance with that issue or if Ger21 could chime in.

The only thing that made a real difference was enabling the "SHORELINE HALF STEP MODE" in MACH3. It allowed me to continue cutting with some level of reliability and reduced the heat being generated by the steppers too!! (I do not consider this a real FIX to the issue though since I shouldn't have to deviate from the stepping pulse settings that everyone else is using in order to make it work.)

Thanks for the sugestion thought it is apreciated!!! :wave:

:idea:

[wingarcher]

CNC74-

Router is looking great- quick question- what's your max cut area, and what's the max sheet size you can fit on the table?

N

[ger21]

I read a few post where GER21 was saying that there is a known issue with a very small percentage of Geeko G540's and that the only real fix is replacement. I was just hoping to see if anyone else had any experiance with that issue or if Ger21 could chime in.

If I said that, it was a very long time ago, when the G540's were first released. I really don't even remember what the actual problem was, it's been so long ago.
I seem to think it was a "bug" in a chip, and the error only occurred in very specific circumstances.
Personally, I tend to think that almost all reported G540 problems are PC related. From what I've read, a lot of newer parallel ports can't supply enough current to properly drive the G540. Sherline mode increases the pulse width to 40us, which can mask the issue on some PC's.
I know that not everyone agrees with me on this. And I've never used a G540.

If it's only the Y axis, try swapping the X and Y motors at the G540, and change the pin settings in Mach3 to match. If the Y still has problems, I'd look for other problems.

You mentioned you have another G540? I'd try swapping them, and see if the problem remains. Again, try swapping axis to see if the problem moves from axis to axis.

What are your acceleration and velocity settings in motor tuning?

What feedrates are you cutting at?

[revwarguy]

oops, sorry

[CNC74]

:wee:

Upgrades!

Notice the dust rails (Upper and lower on left and right sides)!

Cool lights!

Kick butt dust system!

[bobsch]

Nice looking machine, but I'd suggest straightening out your DC hose. You're going to lose a lot of suction in the loop, especially with the rippled surface inside the hose.

[cmorrowk]

CNC74, I'm about to start a similar build and have been following your thread and others with similar FLA-100 setups. I LOVE the addition of LED's. What a great idea! My first question (literally, since I just joined the forum) is did you simply slide the LED's in the T-track of the 80/20?

Secondly, did you buy the FLA-100 kit or did you buy bundles and get anything separate? Just wandering if there are any suggestions for cutting cost. Thanks!

[CNC74]

Hey thanks!!

I got the LEDs at Harbor Freight (Cheap) and glued them to the inside of the tracks. As for the kit I purchased everything seperatly kbut if I was going to do it over again I would have bought the rolled steel parts from FLA because that was a nightmare getting the holes drilled exactly right and is CRUCIAL to the calibration of the machine once its all together.

I did save some money and have a ton of extra parts but I would rather have saved the agrivation that I experianced trying to get the correct parts ordered from a very vauge materials list. It takes time away from the fun part! (Building this monster)

By the way, I am nothing but happy with the end result! I have endless plans to make all sorts of stuff and can't stop cutting!!!

[cmorrowk]

Could you go into more detail about your dust hood? Did you make it or was that something you found online? Also, any tips on wiring the LED's on the hood? I'm likely going to have blue on the gantry, and white on the dust hood to really light up the work area.

[davecaswell]

What sort of movement speeds can you get? I built my FLA with single start screws and only get movement sppeds of 30 or 40 ipm.

[CarveOne]

What sort of movement speeds can you get? I built my FLA with single start screws and only get movement sppeds of 30 or 40 ipm.

Change the lead screws to 5 start types and use 5 start anti-backlash nuts and see it go to 200+ ipm if whipping doesn't start before then. Well worth the extra expense. 30 ipm was all my Solsylva 25x37 would do on 1 start screws.

CarveOne

[davecaswell]

Change the lead screws to 5 start types and use 5 start anti-backlash nuts and see it go to 200+ ipm if whipping doesn't start before then. Well worth the extra expense. 30 ipm was all my Solsylva 25x37 would do on 1 start screws.

CarveOne

The reason I went with the single start screws was that I wanted to try PCB isolation routing. (see http://www.cnczone.com/forums/diy-cn....html#poststop ) I'm not sure the 5 start screws will give enough accuracy to deal with some of the tiny parts. Of course, If I cannot solve the issue with jagged cuts that will become a moot issue.

[CarveOne]

The reason I went with the single start screws was that I wanted to try PCB isolation routing. (see http://www.cnczone.com/forums/diy-cn....html#poststop ) I'm not sure the 5 start screws will give enough accuracy to deal with some of the tiny parts. Of course, If I cannot solve the issue with jagged cuts that will become a moot issue.

It looks like something isn't rigid enough when traveling in one direction. There could also be some binding that is causing the chatter. if your lead screws feel a little rough on the tops of the threads you can polish them smooth with 400 and 600 grit sandpaper. I had to do that on the low cost ACME rods I got from Enco for my first build a few years ago. For what you're doing you really need high quality precision ground rods. Try some lubrication on your screws to see if it lessens the chatter patterns.

CarveOne

[CNC74]

Hey all,

I have been chuging along with my machine and am very happy at this point. I am looking for some more cool artwork to cut though. I have perfected the Mayan calendar and Harley signs but I am bored with them and looking for other cool and interesting artwork to cut up now.
Is there a good free repository for sign art that is clean enough (vectorized)to use with programs like Aspire and V-Carve Pro? Has anyone done any conversion from the google 3d warehouse repository to DFX files for use with the aformentioned programs and been sucessfull?

Thanks for your replies!

:idea:

[CNC74]

Pics...

[revwarguy]

Hey all,
Is there a good free repository for sign art that is clean enough (vectorized)to use with programs like Aspire and V-Carve Pro? Has anyone done any conversion from the google 3d warehouse repository to DFX files for use with the aformentioned programs and been sucessfull?:idea:

There are some, but they are frustrating to get to, and how "good" they are in terms of their vectorization is very spotty. I gave up on them.

However, if you are using either the Aspire or VCarveP programs you mention, you have the very tools to take any image file of any sign, diagram, logo, or shape and turn it into a very good .dxf file with all closed vectors, etc. ready to toolpath. (Of course, you can then go right to the toolpath as well.)

I can pretty much grab any image file I see on the net, or make my own image of anything I see with a camera or scanner, and turn it into a .dxf and then to a toolpath at will, and usually in short order.

The key here is to be willing to take some time and learn to use the software tools like the ones you mentioned.

For example to convert any image using VCP or Aspire (since they have the same user interface, the steps are the same for either one - I'll just refer to it as VCP from now on, but I use Aspire) try the following steps:

1. Prep the image if necessary. If the desired shapes are clean, like a logo or sign with a plain monochrome background, you're done. If not, use something like Photoshop or open source GIMP or your other favorite imaging program to erase away as much as of the background as possible, and perhaps make the contrast pop so the outline of the shapes has clear defined edges.

2. In VCP, create a material blank about the size you want to make, and use the "import bitmap for tracing" tool in VCP. Size the bitmap to fill the desired space in the material.

3. Use the "fit vectors to bitmap" tool, playing with the sliders until you get the best, cleanest outlines, and create the vectors. If it was a clean image to start with, there may be little else to do. If not, delete any small, closed "noise" vectors.

4. Most resulting vectors at this stage (especially if a noisy image was used) will be pretty busy with many, many nodes. Pick one of the outline vectors to start, and apply the "node editing" tool. This tool is your friend. If you see lots of tiny squares (nodes) along the vector, you can delete many of them and still roughly retain the shape. Select various outline vectors and use the "fit curves to selected vectors" tool, which will try to minimize the number of nodes in the vector. (This is a really great tool, under-appreciated and rarely found in other CAM packages!) With the bitmap layer still visible, you may have to move some of the nodes back onto the outline of the shape, and adjust the curvature to them. Once this is done, you can turn off the bitmap layer and just see the vectors.

5. Make sure all the vectors you want to cut around are closed. There are several tools on the left that will close them for you using different approaches, and you get to decide the tolerance you'll abide to make the closure.

Ok, at this point you have vectors for the outlines of the objects you wanted, pretty much like vectorized images you might download. However, whether you made them or downloaded them, now you need to look at them to figure out how you want it shaped into a carving. If V-carved, you want the material around the letters removed, or you want the material "inside" the letters removed? At this stage you may need to add outlines, customized text, etc.

You might spend several hours doing the first one, but after you know these tools better it usually doesn't take more than 30 minutes, and at that point you know that you can pretty much do anything you can see, instead of being dependent on some freebie website.

Got an image you want a vector of? Send it to me and I'll turn it into a vector right away, but you really won't "feel the force" until you can do this yourself.

Any questions about the process, shoot me a PM.

[CNC74]

That was seriously some of the best advise I have received since I have been here!

Teach a man to fish! He will eat for a lifetime!

Thanks again!!!!!


CNC74