Hello all! Long time no see!
I was busy working on the wiring, component layout and the location of the electronics box.
Initially I wanted to install the electronics underneath the machine but was also thinking about where I will put my computer running Mach3 so I came up with a mobile desk! The design developed in my head on the go so it is nothing special but it works haha
That's also where the electronics box will be mounted on. It needs some more holes drilled for the wiring.
So far I got the X and Z axis to work with Mach3 but currently struggle with the slaved Y axis. I thought the 5 axis BOB I bought is an upgrade to the famous cheap 4 axis red Mach3 board but turns out I was kinda wrong. Apparently it doesn't support slave axis mode like the cheaper 4 axis board does as nothing happens when I select slave mode in Mach3?! That is really annoying. Well, for now, I will have to connect 2 stepper drivers to the same output on the BOB and therefore can't use auto square for the gantry which I initially wanted. If anyone has a better solution than buying another BOB which supports slave axis please speak out
Other than that I had some issues with interference. Mach3 randomly spit out a communication error. I narrowed it down to a badly or probably not at all shielded USB cable (which I ran across the power cable when testing) which came with the board and now have a properly shielded one on the way. Also separated the 240V AC/DC PSUs to the rest of the electronics with an aluminium foil lined piece of plywood inside the box. Let's see if that helps a bit. Do I need an additional grounding for the PSUs? There are already have 3 prongs on the plugs.
Currently waiting on a c clip and the coupling for the Z axis to arrive as they did not come with the order for the ball screw...
Happy chipping!
Cheers
Dan