Well Guys,
What an excellent topic to be greated with on my first day as a member of CNC Zone ( cool site by the way).
I have recently experienced this exact problem with some motors I picked up off e-bay. The motors were Maxon RE-35 motors. They are very powerful motors but extremely small in diameter. I picked them up for $30 each and I got 4 of them. After making a few enquiries, I found out that brand new they a $350 each (not a bad deal I thought).
Anyhow here is my story:
I first purchased 4 "(lizard)" drives and hooked them up. The motion was OK, fairly smooth, but after about 10 mins both the motor and drive were very hot so I shut the system down. I scanned the documentation to make sure I had done nothing wrong in my wiring and after being positive that I was right, I uncoupled the axes from the motor and tried powering them up again. Funny, I got the same result but this time while I was powered up I decided to check everything out with my multimeter. I could not find anything wrong, but then it happened, I let the smoke out of one of the drives. I contacted the manufacturer, who I must say were very helpful and offered me a new replacement drive at no cost, but could not answer why this had happened after I explained the fault (or no fault) finding I did. I recieved the new drive, and GUESS WHAT the same thing .
I then decided to spend a few more dollars and buy the lizards competitors drives "Ru***" . Can you imagine my frustration after another investment of serveral hundred dollars when the exact same scenario occurred. Once again I contacted the manufacturer of these drives and was ignored for about 1.5 weeks but after e-mailing to the point of becomming a spammer I finally got an answer. The total content of the e-mail was the following "Try putting a Resister across the terminals". I e-mailed them back with my motor specs and asked "what Value Resister shout I use?, the reply, well I'm still waiting.
Anyhow, I had been keeping my eye on this new type of drive that had popped its head up called a TEKDRIVE but being the type of person that likes to keep up with the Jones's and not actually be Mr Jones himself I decided to go with the run of the mill stuff that everyone uses (Eg: the above products).
The time had come, however, that I was completely and utterly frustrated beyond belief that I decided to take the plunge and try this new drive. This time though I decided to be smart, so I rang the TEKDRIVE manufacturers first and explained my troubles. LIKE MUSIC TO MY EARS the first thing I was asked after explaining my issues was "What is the inductance value of your motor?", when I said 0.1Mh I almost felt the gasp of air being sucked through the phone. However after a few seconds pause, a reply came back saying, MMMmmm, Ok I will send you a set of drives on a sale or return basis, if they work, send me some money, if not send them back, I think the main problem here, they said, is the ??? frequency (Tecko talk). I was told that they could be set to any frequency via a series of do thises and do thats but the man on the phone said that they would come pre-programmed to suit my motor.
I recieced them two days later and promptly hooked them up (very carefully I must add as I had not parted with any dollars for them) and guess what, well I bet you can guess, THAT"S RIGHT!!!!!!!!! Motors were cool and the TEKDrive was like an icicle. I am still using them now and have been cutting parts like you wouln't believe, these guys saved my life as I was nearly at the point of cardiac arrest.
Sorry for rambling on but I am a convert. I wanted to tell my story because I think that these guys acually know the guts of motor control and not just how to make something that drives a motor.
Don't be afraid to try a new product like I was as you may lose money like I did. Give these guys a call if you want the real deal and get their advice.
THUMBS UP FOR THE TEKDRIVE and the guys who make it.
Regards
Number Five!!!
If religion is not true, then why have I been converted to CNC?