[Madda]

Hello!

I completed wiring my controller (5056D, 570 motors, c32, c38, ESS) according to this scheme: http://cnc4pc.com/Tech_Docs/CS4EA4-1.pdf
Now when i’m trying to move motors only one driver and motor works. To ensure that all three motors are working I tried all of them with that driver and they work. I changed power/output terminals and c34 boards between different drivers for searching wiring errors but still the same result – one works and other two are dead. To check Mach3 config correctness I tried working driver with all axises – you probably know the answer to this. On C32 all the leds show that everything is working greatly. Green led is on on all the drivers; also the motors are locked.
I measured voltage on C34 pul- pul+ and got 2.43 volts; on dir- dir+ I got 4.89 volts (measurements taken during manual jogging, place where I measured was on the c34 board soldering points). Also measured stepper motor wires and got there smt like 135 volts on both a-+ and b-+ (this info is same on all drivers). There is going exactly 48v to drivers.
Arturo suggested to remove enable hard/soft jumper from C34 but that didn’t help. I also removed ena-+ block from drivers, that didn’t help either.
Dip switches are: off on on off off off on on, 1/8 microstepping, with ebay ballscrews i got 320 steps per mm.
I have checked and troubleshooted the system for a long time but with no luck. It is getting pretty frustrating, I would really like to get the machine running. Maybe some of you guys can spot the error.

Thank you!

[recordingwhiz]

Have you tried just having the enable + on only minus the (-) ? that had mine exhibiting the same behavior. Mine are not that brand or model, but Im sure inside a lot of these are very similar.

[Madda]

Have you tried just having the enable + on only minus the (-) ?

Could you explain a bit more? Not sure what you're suggesting.

[recordingwhiz]

Whn I was hooking up my drivers, I had connected the step enable and step a and direction all sharing a ground to the BOB, then I read somewhere that sometimes the ground being connected to the enable (-) would keep it in a disable mode, so then I disconnected the (-) from the enable and only had the (+) connected then the controllers started to work.

Not sure why but this made the difference.

Hope this helps.

Gerry G

[Madda]

oops, something went wrong, double post

[Madda]

recordingwhiz, tried your suggestion to disconnect enable - but with no luck.

[recordingwhiz]

only disconect the (-) not the (+) , well that is the only time I had an issue trying to get them to work,

are you sure you have Mach3 set up properly? there are individual settigns for each axis and each have to be saved before proceeding to the next otherwise the settings dont take, and you have to select which axis you want to modify before changing figures, first make sure all 3 axis are showing same settings just ot be sure. (there are several videos on youtube on this )

can you draw up a diagram on how it is wired? maybe that will help.

GG

[Madda]

I did that, I should have put the minus in parentheses to make it more clear for you, my bad.

I'm pretty sure that Mach3 settings are fine. All the axises work with that one driver, i have swapped power terminals, c34 boards and cat5 cables to search for errors but nothing changes - that one driver works and other just stare. Arturo also sent me a config file for this package but the result is same.

You can see the wiring diagram I followed in the first post, mine is wired 1:1. One thing is that the wiring is a bit messy and all the wires aren't shielded. I planned to build a new case after I get used to CNC but now that problem came up...

[recordingwhiz]

try swapping around the Cat5 cables, they do go bad on occasion or the pins dont seat properly... just guessing at this point. dont know what else to suggest.

[Madda]

try swapping around the Cat5 cables, they do go bad on occasion or the pins dont seat properly... just guessing at this point. dont know what else to suggest.

You directed me to the right path - C34 and the terminal where it is pushed didn't make very good contact and I accidentaly pushed one C34 forward and one motor started working. Then I pushed all the C34s little bit forward and all drivers started working. And this was the problem that I was searching for 4 days, I feel so stupid now, atleast it is working now.

Now I have to find out why all the motors turn in one direction even though I press + or - in mach3 and the DROs move in positive or negative way.

[recordingwhiz]

Glad you found the issue,

now there is a settings to tell the drivers whether to go CW or CCW based on direction (-) or direction (+) its in the Mach3 settings, I dont have a copy here at work but Im sure you can find it.but it is defenetly a simple check box in the settings of Mach3.

Cheers.

[Madda]

I had today more time to mess with the electronics but I can't seem to find those cw/ccw settings, could you look up where they exactly are?

Z-axis works with every setup (I changed c34 boards, motor connectors etc to see of there is anywhere a wiring fault but nothing - z-axis worked all the time and x-y turned in only one direction).

[DonKes]

I had today more time to mess with the electronics but I can't seem to find those cw/ccw settings, could you look up where they exactly are?

Z-axis works with every setup (I changed c34 boards, motor connectors etc to see of there is anywhere a wiring fault but nothing - z-axis worked all the time and x-y turned in only one direction).

I am not familiar with the c34 board, but the ones I have seen are labeled direction and step (or something that means it).

Don

[recordingwhiz]

I think the solution to your ill are in the "Ports and Pins" configuration in the "Motor output" tab with the the "step low" or "dir low" settings of them , If I remember correctly this is how I was able to reverse the set up direction of the motors based on direction of travel of axis. my first conversion was a Proxxon MF70 which I hat to reverse an axis to get it to match the G-code.

I do have to say that getting travel in only one direction is perplexing, not sure if you have the pin settings correctly you might be sending step info to the direction or vise versa.

Keep in mind that Mach is made to be sort of generic and can work with many controller boards and machines so it has to know EXACTLY what your needs are as far as printer port pins, it doesnt care what brand of controller or cable type it is only concerned about what pins you need what kind of signal at.

My first machine I used a "hobby CNC" board which has very different pin requirements than the new 5 axis controller BOB and stepper controllers that I now use for my PM25MV conversion. and the answers you seek are more than likely in those pin settings. but from what I can remember is that the "dir low" setting reverses if the stepper is going in the wrong direction.

Hope that helps a bit.

[DonKes]

If it only goes in one direction, it is probably a hardware problem -- grounding or missing connection.

Don

[recordingwhiz]

Did you get it working? If so let us all know what it turned out to be so it gets added to troubleshooting ideas for future.

[Madda]

Sorry for not replying, I tried changing these dir and step low settings but nothing changed. Also the motor settings you are referring to are correct, I double checked with other configurations from internet.

It can't be missing connection because I connected the motor directly to the driver and the same thing occured. Now the only thing I'm not sure about is the grounding. In the first post you can see wiring diagram I followed and I made the grounding as suggested there - screwed wires to the case. Don't know what else to do for grounding.

[DonKes]

Get out the digital voltmeter and check some voltages. Even the cheapest of digital voltmeters should work.

Check from the DIR to GND. Make sure it changes when you change the direction.

Check the STEP to GND.

Check at both ends of the wires.

Don

[recordingwhiz]

since you do have one axis working lets run the process of elimination.

1. first step is to take the two non-working cat 5 cables from the main controller out.
2. next take the cat5 cable of the completely working controller and stepper combo and try it in the other axis. does it still work? do this to all of the axis. but only using the cat 5 connection. (if the working axis works across all the other axis by only moving the cat 5 then the problem is downstream of the main controller board) this step eliminates ANY problems occurring at the main controller board or in the Mach setup. also making sure that all axis have identical set-ups in mach.

3. if the problem with the good working stepper controller combo persists when connected to the other axis cat5 cables then the problem is either the C32 board or the Mach setup. If this is the case I would highly recommend calling who you purchased it from to get their tech support.

4. if on step 2 the working axis combo worked on the other axis cat 5 connections then make sure you are indeed mimicking ALL connections (and dont take anything for granted) one at a time and all dip switch setting to make sure you have good solid connections in all the screw down terminals. these are notorious for not being properly terminated either because the screw is not tight enough or not enough insulation was stripped for the wire to make connection with the terminal and the terminal clamping on the insulation instead of the wire.

5. if you are indeed using the 4 pin connectors that your drawing shows, make tripple sure that they are indeed wired correctly and match the one functioning axis.

the basics of trouble shooting is to eliminate possible causes and NOT take it looks "OK" for granted. actually test and re tighten the screw terminal, make sure there arent any bent pins on the cat 5 jack and basically the steps I have outlined for you will lead you to at least narrow it down to which part of your system is at fault.

hope that helps some .

GG

[Madda]

Thanks recordingwhiz, I will try these steps in the weekend.