[Kalvin]

Merry Christmas to all my friends here on the CNCZone.

I hope you and all your families are well and I extend my best wishes to all.

Kalvin

[Kalvin]

Ok, had a little time to work on the electronics today. I decided to build a temp setup like MRM RCModels.

First problem. Needed a straight through parallel cable, male end on both sides.
I had a male DB25 laying around and a regular printer cable....so......a little while later and a bunch of soldering I have a cable. (I should have just went out to buy one. )

Second problem. Everything worked but the X axis. Swapped out the stepper, then drive, then rewired. No joy. I tried a couple different output pins and things worked. Went back to the original setup and figured out that pin 2 on my C11G BOB is not working.

I have it set up as DIR in MACH so I can turn the LED on steady but I get nothing at the connection. I will have to remove the BOB tomorrow and check the bottom of the board to make sure all the connections are soldered. I sure it's something simple if the LED is lighting up.

That's it for tonight.

[Kalvin]

Update on my BOB problem.

Sure enough, the pin 2 output trace was damaged/missing just after the solder point for the current limit resistor for the LED for pin 2. So pin 2 LED was lighting up but no signal was getting to the pin 2 connection.

I soldered a small jumper over the damaged trace and I'm back online.


Today, I'm starting my cables for the steppers. I don't like the way the stepper wires just come out of the stepper and you splice your wiring into them. I figured a small terminal box on each stepper would be cleaner. I'm going to figure out something for this. For now I'll just splice into the wire. Taking care to secure a good loop so that the motion of the table is not working the wires where they are potted into the steppers.

[Crevice Reamer]

Nice work troubleshooting that problem Kalvin.

What a coincidence! I just posted this about cable making:

http://cnczone.com/forums/showthread...651#post545651

CR.

[Kalvin]

Thanks CR. Thats exactly what I'm doing right now.

When I get more time, I will pick up some small plastic electronic boxes. I will pot these onto the stepper motors. I will make all the cable to stepper connections inside the boxes. The other end of the cables will have the four pin cannon plugs. I will wait to install these until I make my electronics enclosure.

I see the weak point of having the stepper wires flexing back and forth. It's only a matter of time.

Cheers, Kalvin

[Kalvin]

I'm curious if anyone else who is using the C11G BOB noticed that the power LED is "ON" when there is no power to the board, but the computer is on and the parallel cable is plugged in (connected ) to the computer and BOB.

I'm guessing the power is leaking through from the parallel port, just wondering if others see this too?

[phungi]

Yes, It's not a problem.

[Kalvin]

What else can I say?

[Kalvin]

I'm wondering what everyone else has their X3 CNCFusion kit's setup to?

I've set mine up in metric, and was wondering what acceleration and top speed settings you are using? Mine seems to be working ok, but with nothing to compare it to how would I know?


An example of this, is when I first tried to draw out some text the path was not smooth. It would draw a bit and then pause then draw, seemed normal to me, how would I know, never seen one of these working in real life. I am presently using a laptop, my donor desktop PC should be here on Monday.

So...well I was reading last night I stumbled on a thread about optimizing a laptop. Boy oh boy, what a difference. Very fast smooth drawing. I would never be able to cut at those speeds.

So what settings are you using, for X3 with CNCFusion 5mm ballscrews?

Thanks

[ViperTX]

I just posted how to calculate the settings for inches using the CNC Fusion 5mm ballscrews over on another thread MRM using the Keling KL6050 stepper driver and Gecko 202/203 driver.

For Keling KL6050 using 8 microsteps the settings are 8128 and for Gecko using 10 microsteps the setting is 10160. Use that for all your Axis and they use the fine tooling tool to adjust the settings.

Paul

I have the X and Y set for 120 IPM and the acceleration is I believe set to 4.

Z axis missed seps at 120 IPM so I changed it to 60 IPM and didn't try any other settings.

[Kalvin]

OK, sorry another question.

I've tried searching with no direct answer found.

What ball screw lube is everyone using on the CNCFusion deluxe kit?
Does anyone know the manufactures name of the ball screw. I'm curious what they recommend for lubrication.

Kalvin

[cadmonkey]

Personally I used a plain lithium grease (no moly or graphite blends) on my Nook XPR screws. Any heavy oil that will cling works nicely but I like the thick nature of the lithium as it gives more time between maintenance of the lube. One note - my screws are fairly well secluded and I don't have an enclosure yet so very little if any foreign materials get near the screws - chips and particulate can wreak havoc with thicker lubes as anything that hits it will stay there and get into the ballnut(s). If you have an enclosure take caution blowing things around with air to clear things off as ricocheting chips can become problematic.

I think I read in the past that the "regular" kit from CNCfusion was using Nook SRT screws. Nook recommends the same lube for all their screws (my DIY conversion uses Nook XPR screws) - E-900 as they call it. I don't have any specs on it (like oil weight, etc). I don't know what the deluxe kit uses for screws. Do a search for lubrication or lube and you should get a few hundred recommendations

[Kalvin]

Can one someone explain to me how the Z axis gibb is adjusted on the X3. I've checked in the manual but it only shows info on the X/Y.

I see the big flat screw on the top right hand side of the column. On my searches on this topic it mentions there should be another screw on the bottom of the gibb. I don't see that on my unit. I'm tempted to just play with it, but........

[dwessels]

Can one someone explain to me how the Z axis gibb is adjusted on the X3. I've checked in the manual but it only shows info on the X/Y.

I see the big flat screw on the top right hand side of the column. On my searches on this topic it mentions there should be another screw on the bottom of the gibb. I don't see that on my unit. I'm tempted to just play with it, but........

It sounds like it is the same as my X3. I also don't have a screw on the bottom.

To tighten it, I had a friend lift up on the front of the head whilst I tightened the big flat screw on the top. Seemed to tighten everything up.

[cadmonkey]

[QUOTE=Kalvin;551927]Can one someone explain to me how the Z axis gibb is adjusted on the X3. I've checked in the manual but it only shows info on the X/Y.[QUOTE]

Adjust that screw - in = tighter gibb, out = looser gibb. Test between each adjustment.

The double is the setup on the SX3 - it uses 2 opposing gibb angles to tighten from my understanding. The X3 is just a single taper so the head has a taper to it and the tapered gibb increases pressure as you press it in further. Moving the head up a little as you tighten makes it easier to get more tension on it.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

[quote=cadmonkey;551941][QUOTE=Kalvin;551927]Can one someone explain to me how the Z axis gibb is adjusted on the X3. I've checked in the manual but it only shows info on the X/Y.

Adjust that screw - in = tighter gibb, out = looser gibb. Test between each adjustment.

The double is the setup on the SX3 - it uses 2 opposing gibb angles to tighten from my understanding. The X3 is just a single taper so the head has a taper to it and the tapered gibb increases pressure as you press it in further. Moving the head up a little as you tighten makes it easier to get more tension on it.

If there is a single screw, then the screw has a flange that sits in a slot in the gib, so the screw can either push or pull the screw, and the gib can only move on its own the distance of the difference between the slot width and the thickness of the flange on the screw. If there are two adjusting screws, which is the common setup on larger machines, then one screw presses on each end of the gib. So, the gib is basically trapped between the two screws. To adjust the gib, you first loosen one screw, then tighten the other one.

Regards,
Ray L.

[cadmonkey]

If there is a single screw, then the screw has a flange that sits in a slot in the gib, so the screw can either push or pull the screw, and the gib can only move on its own the distance of the difference between the slot width and the thickness of the flange on the screw. If there are two adjusting screws, which is the common setup on larger machines, then one screw presses on each end of the gib. So, the gib is basically trapped between the two screws. To adjust the gib, you first loosen one screw, then tighten the other one.

Regards,
Ray L.

I understand now - the double screws eliminate the little bit of slop that the screw head in the slot of my gib experiences. Learn something new everyday!

[Kalvin]

Thanks again guys. I'm at work right now, but this gives me another reason to stay up when I get home late tonight.

I've been fine tuning, lubing, learing Mach 3 (drawing ).....it's just about time to put the column cover and motor back on. Everything is coming along good.....just slow...I'm sure you can relate.....too many toys.....so little time.

My donor PC (free desktop) just showed up today. Now I'm debating if I should stick with the old laptop I've been using. It's been working pretty good after I optimized it.

I'll play with this tonight.

Cheers, Kalvin

[Kalvin]

It's been a while since I've had a chance to play with this. (Just got back from my trip to China.)

Spent the day tramming and shimming and tramming.....pretty happy, in a 4" circle I measure a total of less then .001.

The problem I'm working with right now is in the Z axis I don't think it could be defined as backlash. Here's what is happening.


I set up my test indicator (attached to the spindle) touching the table with a slight preload.

Zero the z axis and the indicator.
Move the Z axis up.
Then hit "goto Z" in Mach. (head moves down) Bang on. Right where I want it to go. Every thing zeros up fine.

Now press the step up button, one press.....approx 0.001" (0.0250mm). The dial indicator shows the head move slightly down, not up. It will do this for approx three presses.......0.003" before it starts to move in the proper direction. I would have thought backlash would show no movement before it moved in the proper direction.

It does this in the opposite direction also.



Any ideas?

[MRM RCModels]

It's been a while since I've had a chance to play with this. (Just got back from my trip to China.)

Spent the day tramming and shimming and tramming.....pretty happy, in a 4" circle I measure a total of less then .001.

The problem I'm working with right now is in the Z axis I don't think it could be defined as backlash. Here's what is happening.


I set up my test indicator (attached to the spindle) touching the table with a slight preload.

Zero the z axis and the indicator.
Move the Z axis up.
Then hit "goto Z" in Mach. (head moves down) Bang on. Right where I want it to go. Every thing zeros up fine.

Now press the step up button, one press.....approx 0.001" (0.0250mm). The dial indicator shows the head move slightly down, not up. It will do this for approx three presses.......0.003" before it starts to move in the proper direction. I would have thought backlash would show no movement before it moved in the proper direction.

It does this in the opposite direction also.



Any ideas?

I noticed the same thing with mine. I think it's flex in the column from the change in direction and weight of the head. I've tried everything but can't seem to get it out either.