What i am doing wrong with mach3?? trying to config machine.

Once again thanx for all your replies,

I think I might get some new drivers, breakout board and power supply. I am a complete beginner but i will try and have a bash at it. I suspect i may get stuck so hope you guys can back me up.(as you have so far!!) in the worst case scenario I will bring it along to jhon or i2i if the offers are still there. so heres what im thinking of getting as jhon mentioned :

CNC Micro-Stepping Stepper Motor Driver 2M542 Bi-polar 2phase 4.2A Switch | eBay

5 Axis Breakout Board Interface FR Stepper Motor Driver | eBay

also a 2 way male parallel port.

also what voltage power supply would i need? I noticed on some videos there are 2 power supplies including a 5 volt one so would i need 1 or 2?

thanx again

lets say you buy new drivers and power supplies and a breakout board, you'll probably be replacing perfectly good drivers and power supplies and a breakout board.
it will make things a bit simpler as you'll get instructions how to do it, but you'll probably be spending £150+

Ok, so what would be the best thing to do?? I was told that the current drivers were old and may not be stable. also that they dont have micro stepping capabilities or something. would there be any advantages to making a new control box?? or is it best to keep with the same?

thanx

Quote:

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Originally Posted by i2i

lets say you buy new drivers and power supplies and a breakout board, you'll probably be replacing perfectly good drivers and power supplies and a breakout board.
it will make things a bit simpler as you'll get instructions how to do it, but you'll probably be spending £150+

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Close call really to me.? He'll need to spend £30-40 on fuel there and back to wales with no guarantee something won't be dead anyway. He'll still have drives that only Half step and a rats nest of out of date and obsolete components that could give up the ghost at any time with little to no chance of replacements.

Sometimes it's best to just cut your loses and start a fresh with decent and easily replaceable gear and £150 isn't out the way to me. Plus it will be added to the value of the machine by the very fact it's upto date with modern drives.

Looking at the rest of the machine which looks half decent then If it was me I'd still rip the lot out even thou I could probably get it working just for the very fact it will perform so much better and makes it much easier and more selling point when the time comes.

they are old and don't have micro stepping, but they will be stable. If your system works and just needs sorting you'll save £150 bucks.
It may not be the fastest system out there, but it will do the job.

scnc, the balls in your court mate. Drop it down and i'll do my best to get it working, and if there's a major problem i'll help you install the new stuff.

Or spend your bucks and get the "drives" and "psu" and start from scratch, which i'm sure the guys on here will give you all the help they can.

Either way you'll get sorted.

Thanx would really appreciate that. Ill pop down and bring the old box and the new parts but ill try and get the new control box done if i can manage it. Can you guys confirm the parts?

Im going to try and make an attempt to making a cnc from scratch but ill need to do loads of research but that would be later on so if i end up with 2 working control boxes i can always have one readily prepared for the other table.

would the following be ok:


CNC Micro-Stepping Stepper Motor Driver 2M542 Bi-polar 2phase 4.2A Switch | eBay

5 Axis Breakout Board Interface FR Stepper Motor Driver | eBay

also a 2 way male parallel port.

and what kind of power supplies?

would i need anything else for a new box??

thanx guys :-)

They'll do.
Power supply wise, take your pick. You can either build one yourself by buying a toiroid transformer, a bridge rectifier, and big capacitor(s), or look for one of the pre-built switched mode (rectangular metal box) ones that outputs around 48V. Either will work, and of the top of my head, if you were to use the 3 drives to their full capability, then a minimum of 6 amp output would be needed, but I'd doubt the motors will need that much.

If you're doing a complete box, then you'll need things like connectors, switches, terminal blocks, and possibly a few indicator lamps. Also a good selection of cable will help.
Control boxes aren't really a one-size fits all thing, as different people prefer different things and will do the same thing different ways, however for basics, you need to consider your options for the following main items-
-E-stop system
-Power Supply(s)
-Motor Connections
-Computer interface
-Additional features (jog buttons, probe connections...etc)

I've not got time right now to explain those items further, but if nobody else posts up, I'll expand on them later.

Ok so my understanding so far apart from how to connect the motors to the drivers to the breakout boards is attached. please let me know how to add to it.Attachment 8097

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scnc

Ok so my understanding so far apart from how to connect the motors to the drivers to the breakout boards is attached. please let me know how to add to it.

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Here you go try this.

The motor wire colours probably won't be correct and you'll need to test the wires to find the phases. Also it doesn't show fuses etc and you'll need to add some but should give you an idea of what wire goes where.!!
Attachment 8099