[ljd10]

can anybody explain how the microstepping feature on keling drives work.
can they be used to come up with the same steps per unit as say a gecko drive? I am trying to mix and match drives under mach3 and the basic numbers don't com out. the best I can come out with is (1 step per rev) in the motor tuning section. the rest of the numbers don't even make sense.
the 1 step er rev will make the keling drive accurate but not compatible in any way. the conclusion. speed is so slow that it cannot be ran in mach3 or compatable with other drives. I thought that. apparently microsteps have different meanings in different drives or have no resolution at all. any light would be appreciated.
thankyou

[rpovey]

The kelling drives I have support a range of uSteps, but they are labelled as steps per revolution on a 1.8 degree stepper.
The G540 is 10uSteps or 2000 steps/revolution, so would set the kelling to 2000.

[ljd10]

well for an accurate movement in this case-- is anguler --on a 1 to 1 gear ratio responds to 1 step per 360 degrees. that is the point i am trying to make.
for a complete revolution of just the motor alone with out any microstep settings it shoud be 200 steps in 1 revolution before you even get to microstepping. and in mach3 to get it to make 1 revolution you have to use 1 step to get it to do 360 deg. now--- just spinning the motor with the keling drive will allow the motor to spin quite nicely not accurately.

[rpovey]

Which driver, what setting and what values in the mach motor tuning do you have?
1 step per revolution makes no sense, where are you getting that number from?

[ljd10]

the drive is a 6050.
in mach3 the
numbers are
axis-a
steps per-1127054526 -will move a motor rotation of 360 deg
velocity- is 31500
acceleratio-4500
g's--11.65585
step pulse-3
dir pulse-3

[ljd10]

on the steps per-should be 1.127054526-file picture.
as far as making no sense look at the initial posting again.

[ljd10]

to get to the complete picture the XYZ axis are all gecko drives.
attached photo is an motor tuning photo of the y axis. x and z are typical.
for objective functioning the step per unit ---should make all drives equal in the final result. in this case it does not. as I said before this not the first import drive I have tried and there always is a problem with steps per--or resolution. --reread the initial post. it states the problem. I am looking for an answer that makes sense. I don't care what the best drive is. if they are going to make a drive it should be able to march to the same drum.

[rpovey]

Ok those a axis settings are totally nonsensical.
I assume it's some sort of rotary axis it's connected to?
If the 6050 is set to 8 uSteps, it should be 1600 steps per revolution, without knowing more about the physical setup I can't give you numbers.
Obviously you have to set the velocity and acceleration to something reasonable, once the steps per are correct.

[ljd10]

what you are saying I have to agree with with you. apparently I am wrong.
I have posted this same subject on another forum. the answer I was given for a rotary axis is you take the 1600 your numbers and divide it by 360 degrees and the result is 4.4444 steps per degree. now that is close to what I was getting by process of elimination and insert a number and test. whether that answer is correct or not remains to be seen. It will take alittle bit for me to test it all out than talk about it. what is your opinion on that answer.

[Dreamer63]

Hi ldj10,
I'm new to this forum but am interested in your question as I have worked with micro stepping years ago for motion control in the film industry but now I'm getting back into stepper motors for my model engineering hobby.

Micro stepping should be equal and as you say march to the same drum.

I'm not sure how much you know about stepper motors so please don't be offended if I'm telling you stuff you already know.

A typical 1.8 degree per step motor requires 200 full steps to rotate 360 degrees.
So with 8 micro steps per step = 8x200 =1600 step pulses to rotate 360 degrees.

Dividing 1600 by 360 =4.444 but why did you do that?
200 is the magic number of steps per rev.

Have you actually had a system working but now changing drivers or are you trying to build something?

I could be totally wrong but it sound to me that you have motor issues. eg Phases wired wrong
Not enough voltage applied to driver for micro steps to work
or motor not designed for micro stepping.

This hopefully has helped or I have gone totally in the wrong direction :-)

[ljd10]

My mind works like yours does but apparently 360 degrees is what you have to disect to get down to the unit "1 degree". so if you have 1600 steps in 1 motor revolution you only have 4.4444 steps in 1 degree. It confused me too and I still have 100% prove it to myself yet. I use mach3 and in the motor tuning area on th a axis setup as you input numbers 10-20-6- 5- 4.444 you start to see the "motor" coming closer to an accurate revolution. which should be right on using 4.444. I will know in a couple days. I have already tried it with a mock run supposedly of my plasma cutter cuting a 45 degree cut on a 2 "pipe.--Air cuting-looked good. I have several machines including a retrofit bridgeport I have done--just not much in the rotary area untill now which will be pretty constant.

[skrubol]

I don't know of anywhere in Mach 3 that uses degrees (unless you're dealing with a rotary axis.)
I would forget about degrees entirely. Just worry about steps per rev, microsteps per step, and rev's per unit travel (whether inches or mm.)
Mach 3 only cares about clocks (electronic steps, which would be considered microsteps if you're using a microstepping driver.)
So in Mach, steps per unit = screw pitch (tpi or 1/mm thread pitch) * steps per rev (almost always 200) * microsteps per step (determined by your driver.)
If you have gearing you'll have to put that in there as well. Also if you're using belt or pinion drive, the math is a bit different.

Microstepping means the same between Keling and Gecko's (and every other driver I've dealt with,) just the numbers may be different (half, 1/8, 1/10 and 1/16 are the most common.) My G540 is 1/10 microstepping, 6560 boards typically can be set to full, half, 1/8 or 1/16.

I'm confused why in the same post you mention 200 steps per rev and 1 step per rev.

[KOC62]

Does this help?
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/mach_s...xis_setup.html

[ljd10]

yes I am dealing with a rotary axis in this case "A axis". at this point I hope I have the right answer. Mach3 requires (in the motor tuning axis) for the rotary axis the (steps per degree) not the (steps per revolution). The steps per revolution (in my case turn out to be 1600 steps) to find the steps per degree you have to divide the 1600 steps by 360 degrees to find the steps per 1 degree. and that number is the number that is put into mach3 to set up A axis. in this case 1600 steps per rotation = 4.444 per 1 degree. I know I had a problem visualising it but apparently oyher people are too.

[skrubol]

Oh, ok. I didn't catch that you were talking about a rotary axis at all. I suspect some others in this thread didn't either.

Ok, so you've got 1600 microsteps per rev of the motor, so you're doing 1/8 microstepping? What about gearing to the rotary axis? You aren't doing direct drive or 1:1 pulleys/gears are you?

[ljd10]

no I just had it hooked up 1 to 1 ratio to test the basic set up. now that I know where I am at I will get into gearing.