[Normsthename]

Hi
I have recently finished building my Steel Router with a working range of 920mm x 600mm x 140mm and it worked fine except that the motors continually lost steps while cutting even at quite slow speeds.
The general opinion on this forum was that the 1 nm Motors that I fitted were not powerful enough for my size of machine.
So I have now bought some new 4.5nm motors and electronics to 'beef' up the machine.
The Guy that supplied my original electrics wanted £600 + all my old electronics and wiring returning to upgrade to a more powerful setup.
So I decided to source the parts myself.
Here is the list of the new parts that I have bought from Motion Control :-

2 x 8 wire 4.5 nm Stepper Motors for the X & Y Axis
1 x 6 wire 4.5 nm Stepper motor for the Z Axis
3 x MDS542 4.2amp Driver
2 x 42vDC 280w Power Supplies (The guy recommended that I bought two to be on the safe side, and to 'gang' the outputs together)
1 x Breakout Board
1 x 4 Relay board to drive my Router and Dust Extraction system.

The reason for the different motors is that they only had 2 in stock, the guy said the 6 wire motor would be fine for the Z Axis.
This weekend I would like to get the parts up and running on the bench, and I could do with some help from the electrical Gurus that are on this site
Electrics are not my strong subject and bring me out in a cold sweat so please be gentle with me
I do have a multi-meter available if required.

Now onto the questions :-

1) The X & Y Motors have 8 wires, how do I wire these into the A+,A-, B+ B- on the driver.

2) The Z Motor only has 6 wires, one of these is just a 'bare' wire with clear insulation on it.
How do I wire these into the A+,A-, B+ B- on the driver.

3) On the PDF file attached for the driver it shows a typical wiring diagram and it shows 3 x 270 ohm resistors, are these already fitted internally, or do I need to add these?

4) In my enclosure I have only 240v AC and 42v DC available, what is the best method for me to power a 12v cooling fan?

5) I have my original box and working Mach2 file to get all the pin numbers for the limit switches etc. What pins on the parallel port would I use to switch the relay card on & off?

6) What pins do I use on the Breakout Board for connecting the Driver PUL+, PUL-,DIR+, DIR-, ENA+, ENA-

Thanks in advance, it is very much appreciated.

Andy

[Oldmanandhistoy]

Hi Andy,

I am by no means an electronics gurus ( could not be further from the true) but I have experience with the MSD556 drives. You may like to read through this thread and see wiring diagram. http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17857

1 / you should have some info with the stepper explaining which wire is for which phase; if you don’t have the info you need to get it. If this machine is for wood then I recommend you wire bipolar parallel.

2 / Same again you need wire colour code information before you can wire it to the drive.

3/ Yes they are fitted internally and the drive is also optically isolated.

4/ I would just use a 12v adaptor but others may give you better advice.

5/ Not sure would need to find information.

6/ See wiring diagram in suggested thread.

Hope this helps,

John

[Oldmanandhistoy]

I just checked the wiring diagram and it is in DXF format if this is a problem give me a shout. Wiring diagram is in the last post (ignore the start if you can as it is a little embracing).

John

[Oldmanandhistoy]

Just read your post again; I presume you checked the printer port when investigating your lost steps?

The reason I ask is I had a problem with loosing steps and after exhaustive investigation it turned out to be my printer port; changed PC and the problem went away.

Btw they are some beefy stepper you got there.

John

[Normsthename]

1 / you should have some info with the stepper explaining which wire is for which phase; if you don’t have the info you need to get it. If this machine is for wood then I recommend you wire bipolar parallel.

2 / Same again you need wire colour code information before you can wire it to the drive.

Thanks John for answering so quickly
I did not get any info with the stepper motors which is why I attached a picture showing the label......
I thought I read somewhere that you could determine which wire was which with a Multi-meter??

just checked the wiring diagram and it is in DXF format if this is a problem give me a shout. Wiring diagram is in the last post (ignore the start if you can as it is a little embracing).

I found your dxf diagram, and it is very helpful, I just need some help sorting out the stepper wiring and I will be ready for the smoke test!

Andy

[Oldmanandhistoy]

If you bought the steppers from Motion Control they will have the wiring information.

John

[Normsthename]

he reason I ask is I had a problem with loosing steps and after exhaustive investigation it turned out to be my printer port; changed PC and the problem went away.

I am pretty sure that the stepper motors were not man enough for my steel router, the gantry is made from 30mm box section, and it must weigh quite a bit!

Btw they are some beefy stepper you got there.

I hope so!
I built the machine for my business, and once it is reliable it will be running most days, so I made sure the motors were upto the job!

Andy

[Normsthename]

If you bought the steppers from Motion Control they will have the wiring information.

I had a look on their Website and could only find the Drawings and torque curves
I will get in touch with them on Monday to see if they have any more info available.

Andy

[Oldmanandhistoy]

I had the same situation when I bought some of their steppers; Gary (mcpltd on cnczone) very quickly sorted them out for me via email.


John

[Normsthename]

Hi John
Did a bit of searching on the 'Net' and came up with these drawings, are they any use?
If only electrics was as easy as doing a search on the net

Andy

[Oldmanandhistoy]

The PDF looks to me to be the one you need for the 8 wire steppers; just double check the ref number as similar stepper don’t always have the same colour code.

Where did you get the attached pic of the 6 wire?

John

[Normsthename]

Where did you get the attached pic of the 6 wire?

I did a search for the part number on the Stepper motor and I found them on this Website
http://www.silmanet.com/dk/catalogue...roduct_id=4860

One more question (Honest!), what should I set the Rev/unit setting on the driver to, it starts at 400 and goes upto 25000!
On my current 1nm motor I use a setting of 80 in mach2 with a 5mm screw equals 400 per rev.....

Also found another drawing that looks definitely like the right part.....

Andy

[Oldmanandhistoy]

I don’t use Mach software so have no idea about the settings; as for the Rev/unit will need to check my paper work and get back on that one.

John

[Normsthename]

By reading everything I can on this forum and off of the 'Net' I have got most of it sorted (in my head!) and using my original working Mach2 file, I have the Limit Switches and Motor Pin settings on the breakout board etc
These are the following :-

X Axis Direction = Pin 2
X Axis Step = Pin 3

Y Axis Direction = Pin 4
Y Axis Step = Pin 5

Z Axis Direction = Pin 6
Z Axis Step = Pin 7

Z Limit Switch = Pin 10
Emergency Stop = Pin 11
Y Limit Switch = Pin 12
X Limit Switch = Pin 13

Using Oldmanandhistoy (Johns) wiring diagram I am 90% sorted, I just need the correct wiring for the Stepper Motors to the drivers and I will be ready for the smoke test!

Any help is much apreciated.

Thanks

Andy

[Oldmanandhistoy]

I just need the correct wiring for the Stepper Motors to the drivers and I will be ready for the smoke test!

Any help is much apreciated.

Thanks

Andy

For motor wiring look here http://www.wimb.net/index.php?s=motion&page=52 all the information for wiring stepper motors in different ways.

If your machine is for routing wood I would wire the 8 wire motors bipolar parallel as this will give you more torque at higher speeds; set drive to 4.2 Amps

For the 6 wire motor I am unsure which of serial connection or single winding would be best. If no one else steps in with more info on this then you may wish to try both and see which works best for you.

If you still need more help just shout.

John

[Normsthename]

If your machine is for routing wood I would wire the 8 wire motors bipolar parallel as this will give you more torque at higher speeds

Hi John
I am routing wood, and I have attached a modded drawing from the site you recommended.
Does it matter which way around the windings are wired?
Does this look correct for my 8 wire connection?

set drive to 4.2 Amps

I rang the guy at motion Control and he recommended that I got the system running on 4.2amps, and then when everything was working O.K to lower the setting until the motors started to lose steps, and then put it up a level.
This would keep the motor temperature down to a minimum.
I use this machine for my business and I don't want any more missing steps!
What do you think?

For the 6 wire motor I am unsure which of serial connection or single winding would be best. If no one else steps in with more info on this then you may wish to try both and see which works best for you.

When I talked to the guy at motion control he told me how to check the connections on the 6 wire motor, but it went right over my head!
He said something about using a meter to check the resistance, and 2 wires would be half the resistance and to ignore these??
I will give him another ring tomorrow and try to understand it a little better.....

Thanks for your help

Andy

[Oldmanandhistoy]

Hi,

Wiring as in the picture will give you bipolar parallel and is imo the best way to wire your 8 wire motors. As for the Amps setting, I would recommend you follow advice given by Mcpltd. If you are still worried about loosing steps then just go down to the next setting. If you use the motor at max amps it will only reduce motor life a little. If they are attached to your steel frame that will help keep them cooler.

The advice on the six wire motors was to help you workout which wire was which but you already have that information in a previous post. So now you just need to work out which type of connection will be best for you; be careful to set amps setting correctly for type of connection and you can’t go wrong.

John

[Oldmanandhistoy]

One other thing if your motors run the wrong way reveres the connections on one pair only per motor will sort that out

Hope that made sense,

John

Now I better get back to work:tired:

[Normsthename]

Hi John
I rang Motion Control today, and I got the connections for the 6 wire finally sorted.
One other thing, the circuit you drawn shows fuses on the 240AC live wire, and also fuses on the +DC to the Drivers.
What size fuses do you think I should use, if you think I should use any.........
My two driver Power Supplies are rated at 280watt 240AC Input / 42vDC Output.

Thanks

Andy

[Oldmanandhistoy]

Fuses dc side drive rating times 1.5; I’m not sure about ac side there is a formula but I can’t remember it.
I would use fuses as they are far cheaper than new drives and the lost machine time.

John