Chinese 6040 stepper drives

[Jed Clampit]

Hi All,

i have been running the Chinese 6040 for a couple of years on light work and i have been happy with it so far. a couple of weeks ago the X axis stopped working so after a little research i managed to swap the A axis driver (which was never used) over and it worked great. yesterday however the Y axis stopped working and again after swapping drivers around it was confirmed to be a driver issue. this leads me to my questions
where in the UK can i get a replacement YOC335 driver FAST as i need to finish a job.
would i be as well replacing all the drivers and BOB and if so would i need to replace the stepper motors?
can you make some recommendations as i know absolutely nothing about any of this and after reading some threads i am even more confused

thank you in advance

[john swift]

Various Chinese 6040 manufactures use different electronic hardware
some use an all in one board others a variety of breakout boards and stepper drivers

photos of the electronic hardware in your machine will be helpful


If you have lost two” X axis stepper drivers”
inspect the cable connecting the X axis motor to your control box for damage
an intermittent break will damage the driver

a quick web search for the YOC335 didn't indicate if its built around the TB6560 or TB6600 IC
open the faulty driver and take a picture of the board

to complete the job you may find you can obtain a TB6600 based driver for example quicker than the original YOC335
one thing to check is the connectors : –
some have screw terminals for all connections others 2 and 4 pin connectors

what's power supply output voltage ?

John

[Jed Clampit]

Hi John and thank you for the reply

it was the X axis that originally stopped working but this time it is the Y axis.
when the X axis went i did read about checking wires and i did change the X axis one but i found it to be a little more fiddly than i thought it would be. i also didn't ground it out as i wasn't confident in soldering a wire to the sheath without damaging the wires below, anyway i am sure that it isn't the wires causing the issue

i have looked at other drivers but was unsure if they are compatible or if i had to change the motors as well. the terminal connectors on the drivers are also a concern as i wouldn't have a clue which wire is which.

the power supply voltage is 24volt

i have contacted cnc4you and they are currently looking into which driver would be best suited as a replacement so i will let you know what they say. in the mean time i have attached a photo i took of the X axis driver but they are all the same

25798

25799

[john swift]

It looks like the driver is one of the many TB6560 based drivers

some CNC kits sold comprise of motors & drivers and a 36V power supply
the TB6560 IC has a maximum supply limit of 24V !!!! so the drivers don't last very long

most if not all TB6560 drivers do have design problems

https://www.cnczone.com/forums/general-cnc-machine-related-electronics/110986-software.html

with the 24V supply they should be OK but the low supply voltage limits the speed you can step the motor

do you have a multimeter to do some simple continuity checks ?
25800

the main thing is to connect one motor coil across the +A & -A terminals
and the other across the +B & -B terminals

you can sort out the motors direction later in software

John

PS
your driver looks like another version of the TX14207

25801

PPS
going by this diagram it looks like the + step , + direction & + enable terminals are commoned and only have one + 5V connection to the breakout board +5V

25802

[Jed Clampit]

thanks again john even though that is as clear as mud lol
the thread you linked to was well over my head
not sure what you mean by

going by this diagram it looks like the + step , + direction & + enable terminals are commoned and only have one + 5V connection to the breakout board +5V

i have managed to get my hands on a TB6560 v2 but it looks nothing like the one in the photo you posted (see attached)
the switches are also different but hopefully i can figure these out as there is the info printed on the board
would this work do you think ?

[Jed Clampit]

after comparing the two boards i think i could match most of the wiring up. the only ones i am unsure are marked up on the YOC335 board as DIR +, DIR- and PUL+, PUL-
on the TB6560 board they are CW+, CW- and CLK+, CLK-
it doesn't look like the EN+ - are used

[john swift]

yes your correct

the odd thing about these boards is the enable is a negative logic input
the board is enable with no input and disabled by a 5V enable signal !!!

the TB6560 CLK = YOC335 board PUL

TB6560 CW = YOC335 board DIR

connect the +5V wire (or wires) from the breakout board to the +CLK & +CW (positive clock & positive clockwise

the BOB's - PUL (negative pulse ) to the TB6560 - CLK (negative clock)

the BOB's - DIR (negative direction ) to the TB6560 - CW (negative clockwise)


without the data for the original drivers or motors we don't know what the motor current is

I would start with switches SW! to SW3 &S1 set to 1.5A
S2 for stop current 50%

if the torque is lower than with the YOC335 board increase the current in small increments and re test
if you set the current too high the motor will over heat

as we don't know the setting for the number of microsteps
try S3 &S4 set to 8 micro steps
if the axis moves too far set it to 16 micro stepps

you may need to make other adjustments in Mach3

John

[Jed Clampit]

ok that makes sense John :thumsup:

now to the switches, i thought this might be easy but no lol

on the YOC335 i have

pulse/rev = 1600
decay mode = 0%
peak/rms = 3.5/1.8
switch 7 set to half current

so am i right in thinking the TB6560 should be set like this
sw1 = on
sw2 = off
sw3 = off
s1 = off
giving a working current of 1.6

s2 (stop current) i am unsure off

s3 = off
s4 = on
the above two switches are marked as excitation mode which i presume is the pulse/rev so i have it set to 16

s5 = off
s6 = off

[Jed Clampit]

having watched this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRoe4_XM884 i think my voltage should be set to maximum ie SW1,2 and 3 on and S1 off giving a current of 3amps ???

and after watching this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy8vDJTGCY4 the S2 should be set to off as i don't want the motor to move

[john swift]

the motor current set by SW1,2 , 3 and S1 depend on your motor
the one in the youtube video may not be the same as yours

if it has a partnumber that enables you to download the motors data sheet
it will make it easy

without the information I would start at about 1.5 A

the YOC335 switch 7 set to half current = the TB6560 S2 (stop current) set to 50%

with a 200 step/rev motor
the YOC335 pulse/rev = 1600 gives you 1600/200 micro steps = 8

so you need to set the TB6560 switches S3 & S4 to 8 (both to 1)

John

[Jed Clampit]

i was going off the setting of the YOC335 Peak 3.5a and RMS 1.8a so i thought the peak would be the same.
i have had a look and there are no identifying information on the motors but in the info i received with the machine it say they are two phase 57/3 stepper motor. i presume that stands for series 57 and 3amp but the only info i can find says the revs are 600 for this motor, you might know better ?
now switch seven makes sense

[Jed Clampit]

OK i have finally got round to wiring everything up and it seems to work other than the fact that the motor sounds very rough and missing steps.
any ideas how to fix ?

[john swift]

Does the motor run OK when connected to one of the original drivers ?

without detailed information or boards to test
I can't be 100 % sure but one diagram for the TB6560 I have
shows the decay mode set to 100% not the 0% you posted

Another possible issue could be the acive high verses active low setting in mach3

without the circuit diagrams of the two boards I don't know if the step signal passes through to the TB6560 step pin unchanged or if it is being inverted

if the step pulse has been inverted the IC will see a very wide step pulse with a very narrow gap between pulses and as a result miss pulses
try changing the step pulse to active low to see what effect it has

the TB6560 steps on the positive transition of the step pulse as it goes from 0V to +5V

John

[Jed Clampit]

john your a star
i altered the decay mode to 100% and it made a vast improvement but it still wasn't right. i then went in to mach 3 and altered the active high verses active low setting and that worked a treat.
i went back to the decay mode and tried all the different settings but the best was the 100% setting.
i am busy with other stuff over the next day or two but as soon as i get a chance i will try it by cutting a job.
will this have an effect on the distance travel or will that side of things remain the same.

thank you for your help so far :thumsup:

[john swift]

good to see your making progress

If I was correct in post 7 in calculating the number of micro steps as 8

"with a 200 step/rev motor
the YOC335 pulse/rev = 1600 gives you 1600/200 micro steps = 8

so you need to set the TB6560 switches S3 & S4 to 8 (both to 1) "

setting the new drive to 8 microsteps should make distance the axis moves stay the same as before

John

[Jed Clampit]

yes i set the switches to 8 but i will check the travel distance before i do a test cut.
i will get back to you and let you know how i get on

[Jed Clampit]

i have just gone to set the job up and zeroed everything and noticed the stepper motor is creeping while on standby. i run the cutting program anyway just to see how it performed and when cutting in slow areas like arcs or corners the motor is noisy as if missing steps

[Clive S]

i have just gone to set the job up and zeroed everything and noticed the stepper motor is creeping while on standby. i run the cutting program anyway just to see how it performed and when cutting in slow areas like arcs or corners the motor is noisy as if missing steps

I would check thee stepper motor connections at the bob to see if they are loose it could also be EMI does it move when the spindle is off. Which stepper is it all or just one?

[Jed Clampit]

it is only on the axis that the new board operates and it only seems to do it when the spindle is running

[Clive S]

it is only on the axis that the new board operates and it only seems to do it when the spindle is running

Then that sounds like EMI

[Jed Clampit]

what is EMI Clive ?

[john swift]

EMI is Electromagnetic interference

Is it just the new axis driver that's moving on its own ?

does your break out board look like this TX14175
25812

John

[magicniner]

Then that sounds like EMI

Clive is spot on here.
The EMI often tracks up the mains lead from the spindle motor/driver and back down the lead to the PSU for the control system, separating the two to plug-in points opposite ends of the ring main can help, or running the spindle motor/driver from the furthest possible socket via an extension lead.
Ideally you'd fit separate EMI filters to the mains inputs close to the equipment.

[Jed Clampit]

thanks for the replies. i did a quick search and found these

https://www.cnc4you.co.uk/Electrical/EMI-RFI-Suppression

[magicniner]

They should work, but if you have any particularly sensitive drivers they might still jitter a bit, I had some particularly sensitive drivers and ended up using filters and the long lead to a remote plug trick ;-)

[vondeliusc]

I am going to just throw in a blanket response here.
We have a 6040 CNCEST parallel (TX14175 BOB) and started to have Z problems intermittently.
At some point I discovered that the stepper wire on the gantry was janky; you could wiggle the wire
and the stepper would change tone. We cut out a section of the black 4-wire where it doubled back on
the drag chain, and spliced in a proper section and it fixed it. Then it started to do it again about a week later.
On closer inspection, I found on of the four wires from the motor itself where it went into the connector was
hanging by a thread because it had been over-crimped at the factory, so only one tiny filament was making contact
and that was actually separated and only mechanically touching the crimp of the pin.
We replaced the motor connector with a proper Molex 4-pin aviation connector and no problem.
Later it happened again, this time on the gantry axis, and when continuity testing with a multimeter, we found one of
the runs (on the gantry (Y)) had one wire broken inside 'somewhere'.
That was the last straw, so we replaces ALL the wire runs from the controller with PROPER aviation 4-C shielded wire
from the controller to each motor AND replaced ALL the remaining motor connectors to get rid of the HORRIBLE Chinese wire.
There was more to the troubleshooting nightmare, including swapping stepper drivers, AND purchasing a used TX14207 stepper driver
off eBay because we 'thought' the stepper driver was the fault (it was not).
So sharing this lesson before you tear all your hair out in futility.
-Christian