CNC.xyz

Ok, I'm running into what now seen to be quirks, The first issue was with the Z-Axis motor, It will stall out after one revolution in the continuous jog mode because it seems to be running too fast, the other Axis do fine. It also makes a hissing noise that the other motors do not.

I was also running into trouble with the kickstartercnc XML file and specifically the Steps Per unit setting, every time I would set the machine to move one unit (inches on my setup) it would move four, I tried creating a 1" rectangle with a depression in the middle and every time it would move the machine in a 4" area.

As an aside I did all this with no router mounted for testing purposes mainly because I broke the Router mount almost immediately.

I used the kickstartercnc XML and I also created a new one from scratch using the guide here, both did the same 4" move for 1 unit.

I ran the Mach3 driver test and it seems to work, every time I try to start the timer I get an error saying missing vectors, but If I just let it run it stays in the excellent range and it finishes on it's own.

So in the settings tab of Mach3 there was a Set Steps button that moved the machine and had me measure, It reset the Steps per inch as follows X 1000 Y 1000 Z 2400 now the machine moves the correct distances at a much slower speed, the hissing is still there but when moving under Computer control has yet to stall out, is there a reason my computer or controller would be doing the math for Steps per Inch wrong?

TL

Its possible we set your step size wrong on the electronics when we set them up. That would also explain the stalling on the z-axis.

Is there a way for me to test this or set it up correctly? Or will I have to send it to you?

TL

Would you be willing / able to remove the cover from the electronics (with everything unplugged) and take a photo of the dip switches on the main control board?

They should all be set to 1/4 step, but it is possible they were set to something different by accident.

I found the Board manual here http://www.lightobject.info/download/file.php?id=91

so it seems the Attenuation is set to 0% and Resolution is set to 1/8



Tommy

Mine are setup the same way as Tommy's. There's no way to set it to 1/4" as you mentioned according to the manual.

Any word on the dip switch setting? I'd rather not novice-ly just start flipping switches.

Tommy

Sorry,

We did in fact mean 1/8 microstepping, not 1/4.

We have read that these controllers, in fact do not match the settings in the manual for the DIP switches. If you found that 1000 steps per inch was what was working right, then it is currently set to 1/2 microstepping. Which actually should be just fine.

That means the machine has a resolution of 1/1000 or 0.001 inch.

If everyone is having the same problem where the machine moves a factor of 4 larger, then we will have to update the Mach3 file.

Does the Z-axis also function in this way? The 9600 steps may need to be changed to 2400. (This would also help stop the locking up).

OK my controller was acting the same way as the others so I did some experimenting. I reset the counts per inch in Mach 3 to match the actual move distance and repeated this for all 4 DIP switch combinations for microstepping. Here is what I found out. With both sw #3 and sw #4 in the off position (default condition my controller shipped in) it took 1000 steps to move 1 inch. with 200 steps per revolution of the motor and 5 revolutions of the leadscrew per inch that is FULL STEP. sw #3 on and sw #4 off took 2000 steps per inch or 1/2 STEP. sw #3 on and sw #4 on took 8000 steps per inch or 1/8 STEP. sw #3 off and sw #4 on too 16000 steps per inch or 1/16 STEP.

Right now I am working on 1/2 STEP setting and Mach 3 motor tuning for X and Y axis I have 2000 Steps per inch, 65 for velocity and 15 for acceleration. For Z axis I have 4800 steps per inch, 25 for velocity and 10 for acceleration. This seems a little slow but it is smooth, fairly quiet, and doesn't stall. If I try to push it faster I get stalling.

I might play with 1/8 STEP setting a little also but I think 1/2 STEP will probably end up being the best setting.

I too went with 1/2 step at 2000 steps @ 40pm, I have not cut yet so I don't know how fast I wanted to move things, I might try speeding things up to see how it goes.

Tommy