[CrashMasterKev]

Ok lets see if I can explain this.
I have a new machine a 24X36 tabletop with geckos and steppers and had it running pretty well until the cold set in last weekend.
I was running a program that I had already ran a couple times and it was fine, then I lost steps or what I believe is lost steps in the Y axis and ever since it has not worked right, my X & Z axis’s are working fine (Jogging) but the Y is still acting up, when I try to jog it will go in whatever direction it wants not necessarily the direction I choose to jog, it was a fairly warm day today I had hopped it would clear up but it hasn’t.
I cant even home it, it just groans..
Any ideas???
Thanks in advance.
Kevin

[joecnc2006]

Ok lets see if I can explain this.
I have a new machine a 24X36 tabletop with geckos and steppers and had it running pretty well until the cold set in last weekend.
I was running a program that I had already ran a couple times and it was fine, then I lost steps or what I believe is lost steps in the Y axis and ever since it has not worked right, my X & Z axis’s are working fine (Jogging) but the Y is still acting up, when I try to jog it will go in whatever direction it wants not necessarily the direction I choose to jog, it was a fairly warm day today I had hopped it would clear up but it hasn’t.
I cant even home it, it just groans..
Any ideas???
Thanks in advance.
Kevin

sounds like it may have been zapped with static electricity somehow, just a guess.

[CrashMasterKev]

How much static would it take to cause that?? Are you thinking like a surge???
Thanks,
Kev

[bill south]

I'm definately not an expert on this, but it sounds like a control issue to me. Loosing steps would not cause your directional problems. Sounds like a loose wire or bad ground. I would swap the step and direction wires on my breakout board with another channel and see if the problem is transferred to the other motors. If it doesn't transfer, then put everhthing back and change the wiring on the geckos. Keep eliminating sources until you find the problem then concentrate on that area.
Hope this helps!
Bill

[CrashMasterKev]

Yeah I have no idea, it all kinda came on at once, It was doing fine, then it didn’t position correctly in the Y (where I feel like I lost steps), I stopped the program and the Y just hasn’t worked right since then.
I’ll definitely look into what you were talking about, I had thought about swapping the Z stepper with the Y and see what that did but I think swapping the wires will probably be easier.
I’ll have lots of time to work on it this weekend so keep the ideas coming.
Thanks

[jeffs555]

How much static would it take to cause that?? Are you thinking like a surge???

I think Joe was talking about the static you get from walking across a carpet when the humidity drops because of cold weather. You can discharge many thousands of volts from your fingertips. While most electronics is well protected from static discharge, it is possible that you zapped either the drive or the parallel port on your computer.

[CrashMasterKev]

I just don’t know guys…
I checked the wires, I didn’t find anything.
I didn’t do any wire swapping yet, I guess that’s my next step.
I did swap the motors, that didn’t do any good, I guess it ruled out the motor.
I removed, cleaned, inspected and greased the lead screw and nut as it sounded like it was hanging up (dry), it sounds better, but still doing the same thing.
I even pulled the router out to lighten things up a little.
Well, I’m gonna go swap some wires around, any other ideas if that doesn’t work???
Kev

[pminmo]

what does your electonics layout and wiring look like? maybe a picture? wiring anomolies can pose many symptoms, even though it worked at some point.

[CrashMasterKev]

This is driving me crazy.
I swapped the Z gecko drive with the Y drive and no change and the Z still works fine.
The Y just goes in whatever direction it chooses, it does go in both directions, it’s just inconsistent, if I try to jog in the Y+ it may go Y+ or it may go Y-, sometimes it just kinda hangs there, I have the motor disconnected from the lead screw so I know nothing is hanging up.
Any Ideas would be great as I have no clue what to look for now.

[ger21]

Make sure your getting 5V and 0V on your Y direction pin.

[jeffs555]

Like Gerry said, check the voltage on your direction pin right at the Gecko. When you jog one direction, it should read 5 volts, and when you jog the other direction it should read 0 volts. If it is not, then it could be a broken wire or bad connection on the input, or a bad breakout board, or a bad parallel port.

[Halfnutz]

Could be voltage level dropping out, you may not have adequate current coming from the parallel port. Have you added any hardware to the computer? Static could have definately zapped one of the output transistors in the Parallel port driver chip. It can be more pronounced when the air is dry, while the furnace is running, ....

Do you have another computer you could try it out on? Maybe try using different pins on the port, like 8&9, usually used for A axis, or LPT2 if you have one.

Your going to have to just keep swapping things out and eliminating possible culprits, not difficult, just time consuming, take notes and eliminate one thing after the other. Also try changing the cable between the controller and the parallel port if you can, it could be as simple as a loose connection.

Good luck, keep us posted.

[pminmo]

In your pictures, I didn't see a seperate 5V for the gecko inputs, is there one?

My suggestion would be much as above. I would probably start by taking a voltmeter with the negative lead on the the direction pin and the positive lead on the +5v line to the gecko. Jog the axis and the voltage reading should change from something in the 0 to 1.5V range to over 4V. If your getting something in between, but seeing a distinct voltage change, you maybe having a problem with the ability of your pc to drive the Gecko directly. Some pc's have difficulty with the input needs of the opto isolators.

If you see no change in voltage or minimal, try changing the direction wire from the bad axis on your breakout board to the direction wire on a good one(unhook the good direction wire, don't try to drive two lines at once).
If that works, you have a problem from the BO/board back to the PC, if it doesn't there is some other anomoly.

Another other suggestion would be to contact Gecko, they support what they sell!

[cutter]

Had almost the same problem on my Z. Disable the Limit/Home switches and see if it works. May not work for you, but it did for me, turns out I was jumping the signal from the limit/home switches and was getting some interesting patterns on the Z. I had to re-route and shield my wires to get it to work correctly.