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  1. #21
    ha ha I just finished jotting down the information from this exact video, the guy explains it well unlike the chinazonecnc videos. I will put these details in tomorrow now as I had to go in from the garage pc to the house pc as 1 degrees outside atm.

    thank you for your help I will let you know if this solves the "external Estop Request" error message.

    Cheers
    Graham

  2. #22
    Morning, I’m sure you’ve checked, but is the emergency stop button on the control box off (twist to turn off and it pops out) sorry I don’t mean to insult your intelligence. Just a thought
    Kev

  3. #23
    Ok I do believe I've messed up the settings on the vfd control box... #sigh
    is there a way to reset the settings on the box or do I just go through each setting again and try and put it back to default?
    Also I believe I have found someone who has the same box as me and took photos of the innards so I copied the images for you guys to check out and see what I am dealing with, this person also had a UC100 so there thread did not help me.
    I am attempting to set up Mach 3 to be able to control the spindle/VFD but am I right in thinking that I cannot do this via a parallel port and instead require a UC100 and Controller card?
    I am very tempted to ask if there is anyone that lives near me for a 1 to 1 visit and assistance

    Click image for larger version. 

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  4. #24
    ~It looks like that board has the facilities to control the spindle with Mach3, but they are not wired in. at the bottom right on pic 4, the board is marked C (Com) NO, which is a spindle relay connection and 0-10v GND, which is the analogue voltage to control speed. I would leave it alone until you have the box working with manual spindle control. Then we can look at the box wiring.

    I would not recommend a factory reset on the VFD as you would have a hell of a lot of parameters to sort out. You have probably just taken it off manual control.

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  6. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by Palletlad View Post
    Ok I do believe I've messed up the settings on the vfd control box... #sigh
    is there a way to reset the settings on the box or do I just go through each setting again and try and put it back to default?
    Also I believe I have found someone who has the same box as me and took photos of the innards so I copied the images for you guys to check out and see what I am dealing with, this person also had a UC100 so there thread did not help me.
    I am attempting to set up Mach 3 to be able to control the spindle/VFD but am I right in thinking that I cannot do this via a parallel port and instead require a UC100 and Controller card?
    I am very tempted to ask if there is anyone that lives near me for a 1 to 1 visit and assistance
    Suggest you take step back from messing and changing settings etc until you know 100% what you have. Just because the box looks the same doesn't mean whats inside is the same. These chinese things are like box of chocolates.? Never know what your going to get.!!

    Also, work thru the issues one at a time. Get the machine moving correctly first then move onto VFD etc. With a systematic approach, you'll have it working in no time.

    To setup the Motor tuning correctly in mach3 you'll need to know several things.

    #1 Ballscrew pitch: To determine this measure how far each axis moves for one revolution of the ball screw. Do this for each axis because very common for Z axis to be different to X & Y.

    #2 What micro steps are set on the drives. Most drives have DIP switches that are set in a order depending on what MS you desire. Often the MS setting range is printed on the drives or board. The available choices will be something like 1x 2x 4x 8x or 200,400,800,1600.
    If unsure post pictures of your actually board/drives not some one else whcih are the same.

    #3 Power supply Voltage and Motor size/Step angle. Two of these are technicly not required but they do give a good indicator for setting Velocity/Acceleration.

    To explain the Micro steps ie: 1x 2x 4x 8x: This relates to the Step angle of the motors. So if motors are 1.8deg then this equals 200Steps per Revolution. (360Deg/1.8=200). So 1x 200= 200Ms per rev, 2 x 200=400Ms etc etc.
    Now if 200,400,800,1600 etc this says exactly how many Microsteps per rev so easy to workout.

    So to calculate the steps Per setting in Mach3 take the MS setting and divide by the ballscrew pitch. IE 800MS / 5mm=160 step per

    Now Velocity and acceleration are some what trial and error and dependant on many factors. Motor size, voltage, Friction etc and no two machine will be exactly the same, even if built exactly the same. This is why people just tweak the settings.

    However Voltage plays big part in speed/torque that can get from stepper motor so if you only have low voltage PSU Ie: 24V then you'll need to tune Velocity/acceleration much lower than someone with say 48V supply.
    This is why knowing the voltage drives use is good indicator regards tuning. 24-36v will struggle much above 2500mm/min so start low and work up.
    Also note you cannot have high Velocity and High acceleration, it's one or the other.
    So start with both low say 1000 @ 300 then Change one at time and run machine before changing next. Suggest Start with Velocity try it and if motors don't stall then increase acceleration.
    Do this several times until find point where changing either one will stall motors. Then back both off 20-25% to give safety margin.

    The reason your E-stop isn't working is probably because you have accidentally changed the Input Pin # or Active state.
    If your sure E-stop button is working then go to Inputs settings find E-stop setting. First check there is Pin number assigned, if not then thats your problem.
    If yes then next toggle the Active Lo setting. Ie If ticked then un-tick vise versa. If mach resets then push the E-stop to make sure it working.

    Get this working then we'll look at VFD.

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  8. #26
    ok so I think I did the ballscrew pitch check? I couldn't find a how to do video on it so went along like this, placed ruler 0'd with the drill bit, marked the bolts holding the ballscrew's, 0'd the axis and then inputted a move instruction and stopped the movement when a full rotation of the bolt came round... probably way off what you had in mind.
    anyway with this I got the following results:
    Y axis moved 5mm with 4.9535 on mach3
    x axis moved 5mm with 5.0031
    z axis moved 5mm with 3.6062
    I took photos of the inside of my control box and you were right its different to the previous photos.
    I found the DIP Switches were set on 3 (K3), the X Y and Z axis were also set on SW1.
    there is a chart but as its in Chinese I weren't 100% sure what it meant as K3 had a 1 marked in 2 (25%) and 16 (100%)
    the motors are 1.8deg
    the power is apparently 220 (written on)
    please see photos
    I tried various settings on the motor tuning ranging from 200, 1000 at 200 to 400. 2000 at 400 I set the step pulse and dir pulse as 0 but all has similar results where there will be a clunking noise once or twice and in worse case on a few of the settings it jams.
    at this point I thought could the clunking noise be down to lubrication factor?
    Also I have figured out what was causing the EStop so that part is all sorted. Click image for larger version. 

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  9. #27
    Ok, so you have 5mm ball screws.

    Now the Sw1 SW2 SW3 set the current range for the drives which must match or be just less than the motors rating. This setting can be set above the motors rating but recommended to keep on or just below.
    In your case looks set at 1.8a for all motors even thou the motors are rated 3A. This is a common practice of manufactures when they use these cheap boards. They do it to protect the drives so not working at maximum and overheating.
    What this means to you is that you are not getting the full power of the motors. However, it's double edge sword because if you turn them up you'll most likely fry the board unless put some cooling on it.

    SW4 it doesn't mention but I suspect it will be to turn motor current reduction on/off. Currently set to ON. What this does is reduce the current to motors when at idle.
    The amount of reduction is probably set by K3 K4. Currently set to 50% which is a standard current reduction on drives.

    K1 K2 set the Micro stepping which looks to set at 8. Which means 8 x 200=1600 Micro steps.
    However, I find it strange jumps from 2 to 8 because usually there's a 4 so can set 800Ms which is a common setting. So I'm not sure I fully believe these markings.
    However, it's easy to find out now we know the pitch because the distance traveled will be exactly half or double what we set if wrong.

    So start with what it looks to be set at and will take from there. So enter these settings in Motor Tuning.
    One note makes sure you select the axis in motor tuning by clicking the axis buttons on the right-hand side when in motor tuning. Also, remember to save before moving to next Axis other wise you'll lose the settings. Also when you input settings into boxs click enter before moving to next box.

    Enter these.
    Steps per = 320
    Velocity = 750
    Acceleration = 300
    Step pulse =0
    Dir =1

    These are very safe setting so should work. If you have OK movement but travels wrong distance then probably because switches K1 K2 are not setting MS to what they say they do, which again happens often on Chinese drives like these.

    So if traveling wrong distance got 2 options. Change the steps per to exactly half or double 320. If moves half the commanded distance then double the steps and vise versa.

    Option #2 let mach 3 do all the work for you by using the SET STEPS PER UNIT feature on the setting tab.(just above Reset)
    This will ask you for distance to travel. Then it will travel ask you how far it moved.

    So you'll need to mark the table or setup a reference point. Then accurately measure how far it moved. Digital Vernier gauge is good for this.
    Can either measure by hand or Open the gauge up full and Zero it then let the machine push it closed.
    The large the distance you can measure over the more accurate it will be.

    This is good way to quickly set steps per if your unsure. While not always spot it gets you very close.

    If machine isn't moving or moving badly then will need a video.

    Question what computer are you using. Desktop or laptop.? And what cable.?
    If machine isn't moving or moving irraticly then often Parallel cables give troubles so try another cable. It must be Straight-thru or whats called Null Modem cable not an Old printer cable which often cross over the pins.

    If using Laptop then that's most likely your problem. Mach3 doesn't work well with laptops unless using motion control card.
    Last edited by JAZZCNC; 29-01-2018 at 10:13 AM.

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  11. #28
    I'm at work at the moment reading this so will do as you mentioned later on today, I brought a dedicated Pentium 4 pc with XP and Mach3 on it at the moment while using a male to male parallel cable from control box to pc motherboard.
    I did a video of me testing random setups with the motor tuning but I will redo it again with your settings.
    I let you know the outcome later on tonight.
    Thanks for your time with this its helped.

  12. #29
    ok I did option 2 that's all sorted,

    I am still getting the jarring jolts on all various settings so I'm now considering of replacing the wiring with screened wires, greasing the machine all over and buying a UC100 now its payday and looking at new stepper motors.
    I found another thread on the web and discovered you was in that one as well Jazzcnc (2014 thread) :D, the guy seemed to have the same issues as me and its looking more like because its cheap parts causing the issues.
    I recorded a video and will upload it when I get in to show you what I am getting.

    what grease do I get for cnc machines is there a specific/preferred one?
    I've found a UC100 on amazon for £53 (its the only one on there) is this trustworthy or a cheap knock off as I thought they are around £130 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cable-Paral...X8Q9QHK2KA3BGY

  13. #30
    Ok well first don't spend any money on anything because you still don't know what the problem is. Could be anything and throwing money at it without knowing what problem is foolish and sure way to waste money.

    The steppers you have will be fine so don't worry about those. Steppers are simple things, they just work or they don't. Provided they are sized correctly for the machine, which these are you won't have any issues with them.
    Also just because other folks have had cable issues doesn't mean this is your problem so again leave well alone until you know they are the problem.
    Grease doesn't need to be anything special, just normal lithium grease will be fine. However don't go greasing anything yet let us get it working correctly first.

    So put up the video and let's see what it's doing.

    What you can do thou is going over the machine top to bottom checking no loose bolts or slop in bearings etc. Pay attention to the connection of steppers to ball screws. Check ballscrew end fixing that it's not got any axial movement. Also check Ballnut mountings are tight.

    If nothing appears to lose or wrong the next thing you can do is check for any Axis binding. The way to do this disconnects the steppers from ball screws and push each axis thru it's full travel length. They should move quite easily with no binding or tight spots.
    Don't be surprised if they don't glide like as if in thin air, this is quite normal and something people often misunderstand.

    Only after you know the mechanical is ok should start looking at the electrical. Even then provided nothing is broken you shouldn't need to replace anything just to get motion.
    Yes if you want to improve performance then will most likely need to replace some components but should still be able to get good smooth motion using the parallel port and what you have.

    So Hold off throwing money at it just yet.

    Oh and that isn't UC100 so leave well alone.
    Last edited by JAZZCNC; 30-01-2018 at 05:10 PM.

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