[wmgeorge]

wmgeorge, please see the comment from Teknic below. And yes, they are wired in series:

"3rd party controller setup:

We have had countless customers that have successfully used 3rd party PLC's and CNC controllers with the HLFB servo on function."

So is there a quote from the manual where it says they are supposed to be wired in Series? Or is that just the way you have it? On the CNC router I had with Servos when that servo faulted it would turn a LED on, and it was on the board that faulted out.

[davida1234]

So is there a quote from the manual where it says they are supposed to be wired in Series?

wmgeorge, yes, the manual states to wire it that way. It is also on Neo7's video I posted a few posts above.

You can read about it on Teknic's website as well. Pages 47 through 52:

https://www.teknic.com/files/downloa...ser_manual.pdf

[davida1234]

So is there a quote from the manual where it says they are supposed to be wired in Series?

It is also on Teknic's document they sent me which I posted here as well:
Attachment 419784

[GME]

Clamp on the hose from the machine onto the elbow:


Push the fiber glass rod through the hole on the elbow.
DC system ready to be connected to the vacuum:

Nice solution. I have mine coming from a pipe above the machine. I like yours better, but I'm not sure it would work on a 4 x 4. There's a potential for too much hose sag. I'll have to play with your idea a bit and see if I can modify it to suit.

I'm sure dust collection on a CNC is nothing new to you. A suggestion, though. Be sure to ground your hose! My dust collection is currently running though a combination of PVC pipe and flex hose. Back when, my machine would run fine for awhile, then a limit sensor would mysteriously fault. I suspected the dust collection, because without it, there was never a problem. I knew I was getting a lot of static buildup in the hose. If I walked under it while the machine was running, my hair would stand on end. It also arced over a lot.

I took some pretty extreme measures, but they worked. First, I connected an uninsulated stranded copper wire to the router end to the hose and ran it inside the hose from the router clear clear through the inside of the PVC pipe to the end. I then started at the router and wrapped the same wire on the outside of the hose and outside the PVC, clear to the end. At hose to PVC connection points, I inserted screws from inside the PVC, put crimp fittings on the wire and tied them all together by putting the fittings on the screws and clamping them together with nuts.

I used more flex hose from my dust collector to the PVC. Although I wanted the grounding wires to go to earth ground, I decided not to wrap the outside of the additional length flex. I just ran the wire inside the tube. I used the same fastening arrangement as described before. My fitting on the flex between the dust collector and PVC is removable, so I used a short piece of ground wire with an alligator clip attached at one end and used the clip to attach to the screw on the PVC - sort of a removable bridge connection. At the dust collector end, I attached the ground wire to the earth ground for the dust collector electrical circuit.

Problem solved.

I know I packed a tedious description into a few words and it probably difficult to follow. I apologize, but I am at our place out at the beach right now, and can't provide photos. When I get home, I take a few photos to add some clarity, If you believe some variation on what I did might interest you. However, no matter how you decide to do it, I strongly recommend grounding your hoses.

Gary

[davida1234]

I'm not sure it would work on a 4 x 4.

Those fiber glass rods come in 8 ft. lengths as well. That should be better for a 4x4.
Rod is also not rigid. It pivots and bends, following the X-axis. You might need the
next size up rod though as your hose will be longer = heavier.

Be sure to ground your hose!

I know about it and it is easy to incorporate the drain wire as the collector on top
has aluminum plates attached to the machine. Just need to attach it to the plate.

Thank you.

[davida1234]

Pics from FG rod bending. It can lean about a foot over the machine.
An 8 ft. rod can probably lean 2 foot over your machine.
Attachment 419796

[wmgeorge]

Very nice, and it sounds like your on track with the servo’s.

[ger21]

wmgeorge, yes, the manual states to wire it that way.

I've looked at the manual 6 or 7 times in the last few days, and don't see anything other than a single drive connection.

And the other doc is using a 15V power supply and a relay.
I haven't seen any document from Technic that has the HLFB wired in series. with a 5V breakout board. But I have read multiple posts saying it's problematic.

Interesting. Disconnect which two wires and wire which to a power supply?

Could you elaborate some more, please?

The two HLFB wires on your breakout board, to pin 10 and +5V.

Thinking about it further, I'm not sure how you'd measure it, as the meter would pick up the voltage from the power supply, and not the circuit through the HLFB terminals.

[davida1234]

I've looked at the manual 6 or 7 times in the last few days, and don't see anything other than a single drive connection.
I haven't seen any document from Technic that has the HLFB wired in series. with a 5V breakout board. But I have read multiple posts saying it's problematic.

Gerry, thank you for pointing it out and, yes, you are correct, there is no mention of serial connection in the manual.

My apologies to wmgeorge for my incorrect statement.

Neo7's video mentions the serial connection and setup on a 5V cnc4pc board which Teknic referred to in my correspondence.

https://youtu.be/Bb6QK_-I_CQ

6:35 - 8:35 serial wiring

15:20 - 15:50 explanation of HLFB

23:20 - 24:10 Mach3 setup

In my correspondence, Teknic engineer also mentions the serial connection. Here is a screen shot of his comment:

[wmgeorge]

Somewhere it was stated there was a .5 volt drop through each drive, and if thats true is there enough voltage left to trigger the input? The diagram above shows a +15 vdc source.

[davida1234]

Somewhere it was stated there was a .5 volt drop through each drive, and if thats true is there enough voltage left to trigger the input? The diagram above shows a +15 vdc source.

On the diagram with the 15V source, Teknic states it is a 0.25V drop but, I am not knowledgable with all of this stuff.

I hope Teknic will have some suggestions tomorrow or so.

[ger21]

The manual states a 0.3V drop at 2mA, and a 0.55V drop at 5ma.

[davida1234]

Just got this email from Teknic:

Hi David,

I'm looking further into this now, but will need to sit down with another engineer who has more familiarity with 3rd party CNC platforms. I should be able to offer some additional feedback tomorrow.

Best regards,

So, tomorrow it is, I guess.

[Ntl]

Just got this email from Teknic:

Hi David,

I'm looking further into this now, but will need to sit down with another engineer who has more familiarity with 3rd party CNC platforms. I should be able to offer some additional feedback tomorrow.

Best regards,

So, tomorrow it is, I guess.

Will be interesting to see what they say.

[Ntl]

For the heck of it you should ask them for a specific example of controller hardware that works with 4 motors wired in series with out additional hardware. The only thing I've seen from the company show's them being wiring to is a arduino board. I'm very curious since the motors have been on the market for years why it sounds like this is the first they're hearing about the issue.

If it turns out to be something with the drives not being able to wire more than two motors in series. You would think they would change the manual or update the drives to work as advertised.

I guess we'll see what it turns out to be. Who knows maybe it's a UCCNC setting or a problem with your bob.

[davida1234]

I understand your curiosity.......

[OlfCNC]

I guess we'll see what it turns out to be. Who knows maybe it's a UCCNC setting or a problem with your bob.

UCCNC setting that the voltage on that error output does not come out of the drive measured with a multimeter? Logical. (not)

[davida1234]

Email from the Teknic engineer:

Hi David,

In talking with another applications engineer, we have a plan to get the HLFB working:

1. Wire up one ClearPath servo HLFB to begin with.
• Wire the HLFB+ to the 5V "Measurement Point"
• Wire the HLFB- to Input 10

2. Make sure that pin 10 is configured for "Pull-down".
• The C11G manual specifies that this pin can be configured for Pull-down or pull-up with a jumper - please make sure this is configured for "Pull-down"

Attachment 420044

3. Use a multi-meter to measure the voltage between the two "measurement points"
• Measure the voltage while the servo is "Enabled" and while it is "Disabled"

I've Cc'd 2 other applications engineers so we can continue a team approach to get wired up successfully.

Best,

[Ntl]

Is that how you were measuring voltage before?

[davida1234]

Is that how you were measuring voltage before?

Yes, except this time they want me to measure just one servo.

I also don't remember whether it was pulled up or down as it didn't seem to make any difference.