[pantonov]

Hi,

Note sure if this is the right forum to post...

I'm a complete rookie with CNC and stepper motors. Otherwise I'm an electronics engineer and have not bad background IMO, simply my experience with CNC, Mach3 and steppers is equal to zero (0)!

My intention is to build a plasma cutting machine. Some day...

To start with something and figure out what I actually need I decided to go cheap and oredered one of these eBay Chineese driver boards - TB6560 based. This board: 3 axis CNC stepper motor driver controller board V type. Reading some posts here regarding very similar blue boards I decided that that one is better buffered. Anyway...

Installed Mach3 (not licensed) under Windows 7 x86, hooked up the LPT, and here is the problem:

1. Y motor only trembles left and right otherwise holds position when inactive.

2. X amd Z motors spin, but direction is random - I'm trying same direction jogging button, motors rotate left or right randomly.

1 and 2 happen only with default board setting: slow decay, 1/16 microstepping. If I change something motors do not spin, I can only hear them. Installed the Vista patch from Artsoft to no effect.

Motors are small Sanyo stepper motors (103-556-0270) borrowed from old printers just to start with something.

Right now I only have a single-channel scope (that is solvable of course), so I can eventually look for some slowly rising/falling edges...

So any clue/help will be highly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Plamen

[john-100]

to test the board, try this link to a test circuit :-

http://www.geckodrive.com/images/fck...tionTester.jpg



PC's with low level printer ports can be a problem that requires
a breakout board with buffers

laptops can have additional problems with timing of the Mach3
and in some the inbuilt printerport is infact a USB device !
that Mach 3 cannot drive


as for the driver board look at this :--

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/genera...y_chinese.html


John

[doorknob]

What voltage are you using to drive the motors?

Do you have any load on the stepper motor shafts? You might find that they operate better with at least some load, especially when microstepping.

[pantonov]

Thanks a lot for the replies. I was away and unable to respond earlier.

1. I'll chaeck that idea with the tester schematic from geckodrive - at least I can fix the direction signal and apply steps from external generator which I have.

2. Tried with supply voltages from 12V to 18V - that's what I have at the moment (+ my old single-channel scope :-).

3. My motors are unloaded, but I tried to create some "load" with my fingers to see if something changes - no effect.

My biggest concern so far is if I'm doing something wrong or my red Chineese board is simply crappy. In that case I should return it to the seller.

Forgot to mention: My LPT is a PCI-E card - Oxford chip inside, ECP mode - the CD says Oxford 95XE (whatever this might be). I read somewhere that this chip should be OK with Mach3 and Windows 7 x86 - any idea about that?

Thanks again!

P.

[stewi]

The driver board is meant for 0.8-3.5 Amp, bi-polar stepper.
Your little printer steppers have likely only 0.5 A, or better said, they had before they were connected to your board. If the motors have 5 leads, then you can't use them on this board.
If the direction changes all the time, than the port and pin setting is incorrect.
How did you set up motor velocity in Mach 3? The tin can steppers have only 15 or 7.5 degree step angle, meaning steps per inch travel is lower number.
PC should have at least 900 Mhz clock speed, I think Mach3 recommends 1GHz.