[nateman_doo]

can you clarify the process? Do that on the BOB, or the geko drive output?

[jsheerin]

Assuming your gecko drives use step and direction input, your BOB sends a string of step pulses to the drive. How many pulses show up tells the drive how much (and how fast) to turn the motor. So it sounds like that is working. The other signal from the BOB to the drive is a direction voltage. This will either be high or low - probably 0V for low and 5V for high. So depending on what your cabling is like, either on the BOB output or the drive input, use a DVM on DC volts to measure the voltage between ground and the direction pin to the drive that's not working right. Jog the motor one way. The direction pin should be high or low. Then jog the motor the other way. The direction pin should change. If it was high, it should go low or vice versa. If the voltage always stays the same, that would explain the issue that you are seeing (motor only moves one way). Further, if mach thinks that you're going both ways, then that would mean the problem is somewhere after mach - either your output from the computer (whatever that is) or in your bob, or in your cabling, or in the drive, etc.

If you don't see the direction voltage changing, you could try disconnecting it from the bob and changing it yourself if you have enough spare electronics lying around to rig that up. If that worked ( you can reverse the motor now), you would know the motor and drive are fine, and the problem is somewhere between mach and the bob output.

[nateman_doo]

Even better... check the connection. simply put, the wire came out for the dir. I guess since I have been swapping boards all the time it came loose.
Also I changed the ground for the relay board and I got my fluid/air back.

I am 100% back to normal now. WEE!

[jsheerin]

Good to hear!

[nateman_doo]

Oh you have NO idea how happy I am. I was becoming QUITE irritable to say the least.

[nateman_doo]

exploded mosfet:

[nateman_doo]

super random failure:

NO idea how this happened.

[LeeWay]

Looks like the bottom Gecko has burnt terminals as well. How are your motors connected to those wires?

[nateman_doo]

I didn't even notice, and I am glad you pointed them out. Ironic how I am reading the description of the 203V:
"The G203V is Geckodrive's toughest drive. Designed with the intention of creating an indestructible stepper controller, no protection was left out of the production model. Where most other drives would be damaged or potentially destroyed the G203V will survive. "

I don't know the life expectancy of these drives, but they have been going for about 2 years. Is this normal? To be honest I leave my machine on 24/7.

The connections are solid all the way through, and they are mounted to aluminum plates with heat sink compound and plenty of circulating air. I am ordering at least 1 driver and 1 motor since that is my Y axis. All the other ones run just fine.

[spyderxxx]

Check if the terminals with the burn have come loose.


Ed

[nateman_doo]

OK, I am happy to report the machine is back up and running. I was cheap, and I bought a new G201X instead of the "indestructible" G203V. I also bought a new motor. I installed the 201X and ITS LIKE A NEW MACHINE. Well, that axis is. Its SO MUCH quieter then the X & Z axis. It makes me wonder.

Remember a while back I built those rattler's to attach to the motors because they resonated so bad?? I wonder if that is the first sign that the driver is going. They have been going almost 2 years. While I leave them on 24/7 they aren't running but a few hours a few days a week. I can probably take the rattler off the Y axis. Can someone explain why a direct replacement (touching no settings on either driver) makes a world of difference?? with the SAME OLD MOTOR?

Like you mentioned Leeway... the other stepper seems to have the same telltale signs of going with the slight char to it.

[bhurts]

I don't really like the idea of leaving a machine on 24/7. It seems like a fire waiting to happen. With steppers as hot as they get I would think that would cause them to break down there insulation quicker. At least turn off motor power when the machines not being used.

Ben

[nateman_doo]

I have aluminum heatsinks attached to each motor. Its just me being lazy not wanting to re-indicate the machine every day.

[bhurts]

That's what home switches are for. The proximity switches I use get me within .0005 or less of where I left off when I shut down. At $12.00 or so each from cnc4pc it was well worth it. Up until I put them in I had 2 options. Leave the machine on like you do or bore a hole somewhere to reindicate to. With servos like I have leaving it on is not so big a issue since the motors don't even get warm at idle and draw less than .25 amps on average. I imagine steppers since they run full power at idle would begin to effect the electric bill. Even if they have the ability to cut power by half or so it would still be somewhat expensive in the long haul. You could probably by dozens of very nice home switches for the cost of leaving it running all the time. Not to mention almost eliminating the likelihood of more burnt contacts and slagged drives.

Ben

[steve123]

OK, I am happy to report the machine is back up and running. I was cheap, and I bought a new G201X instead of the "indestructible" G203V. I also bought a new motor. I installed the 201X and ITS LIKE A NEW MACHINE. Well, that axis is. Its SO MUCH quieter then the X & Z axis. It makes me wonder.

Remember a while back I built those rattler's to attach to the motors because they resonated so bad?? I wonder if that is the first sign that the driver is going. They have been going almost 2 years. While I leave them on 24/7 they aren't running but a few hours a few days a week. I can probably take the rattler off the Y axis. Can someone explain why a direct replacement (touching no settings on either driver) makes a world of difference?? with the SAME OLD MOTOR?

Geckos are supposed to be GOOD at handling resonance. It sounds like that isn't your experience until now. I did some looking at the Gecko site and saw these two options for the G201X:

3.) NEMA-34 and NEMA-42 Motor
Use this option if the drive is to be used with NEMA-34 and NEMA-42 size motors. This option adjusts the midband compensation circuit for optimum performance when using a NEMA-34 and NEMA-42 motors. SW10 enables this function when “OFF” and disables this function when “ON”. SW10 should be “ON” when used with NEMA-17 and NEMA-23 motors.

LOW SPEED SMOOTHNESS ADJUST TRIMPOT
This trimpot adjusts the motor for the smoothest possible low-speed operation. Set the motor speed to about 1/2 revolution per second, and then turn the trimpot until a distinct null is noted in the motor’s vibration. This will result in the most even microstep placement for a given motor and power supply voltage

I see the the 203V also has the trimpot, but I can't find anything in the manual equivalent to dip switch 10.

I think SOMETHING on the 201X is adjusted better than the 203V for your motors. Have you tried the trimpot adjustment on the 203V's?

I have some experience with trying to cut down resonance on my brother's large 3D printer. We switched to KL-4042 drivers and ran the built-in tuning function. That helped quite a bit. They also had (VERY hard to find) software that would allow you to make tuning changes. I'm thinking that Gecko's equivalent is the trim pot and dip switch 10.

Regards

Steve

[phomann]

OK, I am happy to report the machine is back up and running. I was cheap, and I bought a new G201X instead of the "indestructible" G203V. I also bought a new motor. I installed the 201X and ITS LIKE A NEW MACHINE. Well, that axis is. Its SO MUCH quieter then the X & Z axis. It makes me wonder.

Remember a while back I built those rattler's to attach to the motors because they resonated so bad?? I wonder if that is the first sign that the driver is going. They have been going almost 2 years. While I leave them on 24/7 they aren't running but a few hours a few days a week. I can probably take the rattler off the Y axis. Can someone explain why a direct replacement (touching no settings on either driver) makes a world of difference?? with the SAME OLD MOTOR?

Like you mentioned Leeway... the other stepper seems to have the same telltale signs of going with the slight char to it.

Hi,

The drivers have a trimpot for reducing resonance. You need to adjust that to tune the resonance for the particular motor.
You adjust it with the motor rotating at around 2-3 RPS. At that speed you will hear the motor change pitch growl and sound rough. You then adjust the pot so that it is a quiet as possible.

As to the burns on the motor connectors, it looks like there is arcing going on. From the pictures, the leads to the driver don't appear to be tinned. That is a good thing as tinning can result in poor connections, as the tinning is deformed by the screw and with thermal expansion/contraction it becomes loose.

The arcing may be because the screw connections in the terminal block are loose. Recheck them as they may have loosened due to thermal expansion. Also check if the arcing is between the pin and the terminal block that sits on the pin. I've seen this in situations where the cable has tension on it, not allowing the terminal block to sit cleanly on the pins. This is usually when the cable has a 90deg bend close to the connector block.

Finally, I'd send the photos to Geckodrive and see what they have to say.. I'm sure they would be interested to hear about it.

Cheers,

Peter

[nateman_doo]

the connections are tight. But I really touched nothing on any of the drivers to adjust anything. It does sound like awful resonance so if I am not lazy I should check them for that.

Plus the new driver doesnt make the motor hot at all.

[nateman_doo]

OMG WHAT A DIFFERENCE THE ADJUSTMENT MAKES!!!!

[jsheerin]

Btw, do you have current limiting resistors on your other drives? No resistor sets the limit to max, 7A, per the manual. There's also a note in there about needing heatsinks for the drives for more than 3.5A.

[nateman_doo]

The drivers are mounted on Aluminum plates (with thermal compound in between) with fans in the case, so the drivers stay cool. No idea what the current limit is set, I just left them alone.