Help please. Dip switches and mach 3 settings

[Radu_Andrei]

I.ve tried lots of settings in motor tunning, and it worked fine at any speed, and then it did not, again at any speed. When this stalling happens, it does not matter the speed. The z axis for example was set at 100 mm/sec, which is dead slow, and it did the same problems. I.ve tried all speeds up till 3000 mm/sec, even a bit more for x axis, and it had times when it worked smooth, and then the steppers changed their noise, and either behaved like after minute 1.05 in video, when they just stop, or kept running in a jerky manner and made the ballscrew vibrate.
SW4 is off at the moment.




The supply has like a potentiometer, on the left side of the the DC output terminals, which says +V ADJ. I did not touch that, but reading with a multimeter, I get exacly 60V.
The drivers are DQ860MA, 24-80V, set at the 4.9A Peak, 3.5A RMS option at the moment. The steppers have written on them 5.6A(U). The next driver setting is at 5.7A Peak. They go up to 7.8A Peak.

As for steps, I.ve tried 800.1600 and 2000 rev/min. It either function ok with any setting or it does not work, no matter the steps.

The cnc worked smooth on and off, and a driver or source problem would be persistent and require fixing right away. It would not allow the cnc to work sometimes. That.s just my thought.

Could you please tell me why you find ..pulsing to slow.. thing to be irrelevant? What is it, or what is the cause of it?

[Clive S]

The z axis for example was set at 100 mm/sec,

That is 6 mtr/ min. I doubt your machine with go that fast. Are you using belts between the motor and screw or direct drive?

Turn SW 4 on. It will not affect anything when the motor are moving. when the motors stop it just reduces the current to half.

As for steps, I.ve tried 800.1600 and 2000 rev/min. It either function ok with any setting or it does not work, no matter the steps.

Only play with 800 Sw 5-6-7-8 = off-on-on-on - it is not rev/min.- it is pulse/rev

What exactly do you have your motor tuning in Mach3 for each axis.

[Radu_Andrei]

Hi. Sorry, my mistake. I meant 100 mm per minute, not seconds. And up to 3000 mm/min which I think it is 100+ ipm. It works ok with this speed. Anything higher shakes the gantry when it stops.
Only the z axis has a belt 2:1 ratio system, X and Y are direct drive.
I still have the 800 pulse/rev setting. I.ve only tried 1600 and 2000, and they worked fine, when they worked.
In motor turning I had (as the pc does not work anymore), the STEPS PER set by the the test done in Settings Alt6 tab.
ˇˇIn settings tab, I typed I want to move it 50, and it did move 150, and mach 3 set it to 160 steps for X and Y axis. The driver setting is at 800ˇˇ
VELOCITY 3000 and ACCELERATION 200.

[cropwell]

VELOCITY 3000

That velocity seems way too high for Nema34's at 60v. Don't expect speed from those motors. Try V600 A100.

[Clive S]

And up to 3000 mm/min which I think it is 100+ ipm. It works ok with this speed. Anything higher shakes the gantry when it stops.

If you need faster than this you might want to think about putting belts on the x and y and gearing them up.

It would improve the speed if you could up the voltage to the drives. Nema 23's might have been a better choice!!

If you change the micro steps then you have to change the "steps per" to get the same distance travelled.

[Radu_Andrei]

It may very well be too high, but it works. This 2500-3000 velocity can be seen in this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiXksh0ZlZ4. Here it works just fine.
When the things go bad, like in this video after minute 1.05 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWlVfyy1hFU&t=1s, it is irrelevant what velocity is set. I.ve tried from V100 to 3000 and it just as bad.
It.s irrelevant what driver setting I have, 800, 1600 or 2000. Or if the workshop lights are flashing. It does not matter. When it goes smooth it does it with any settings and speeds, and when is not, it is not, with any settings and speeds.

The pc is out. Keeps restarting so I can.t try any new things just yet. I.ll sort it out somehow in the next days.

The first rule of ˇˇpulsing to slowˇˇ is never talk about ˇˇpulsing to slowˇˇ. :)) :P

[Radu_Andrei]

I would not have any doubts about this problems you.ve menitioned if there would be a constant. Like, ok 60V is not enough. It should not work. But it varies. Sometimes works just fine.
Changing the microsteps was just an experiment to see if the steppers would sound different. I did adjust the STEPS PER each time I.ve played with the microsteps.

You are right about Nema23, but who knew. I bought this kit more than 3 years ago. And the rails a couple of years ago, and finaly the steel a few months ago. I did some research back then, and I think I did like any guy who did not have experience with cncs. Bigger is better. And it was a whole kit for sale.

I have the hardware available to go with dual ballscrew for the y axis, and then I.ll build some belt system to drive these with one stepper, and here include some gearing to make it faster, and I would do it, if this design did fail. I don.t have any problem with improving or modifing the project, IF there is a clear, specific and permanent error.
All this voltage, microsteps, heavy gantry, direct coupling, mach3 settings would create permanent errors.. It will just not work, or work bad constantly. Is this not true? There is a variable which gives me a hard time. What is it? Who knows.

[cropwell]

I think it is about time we had a proper review of the situation.

When you have your PC up and running with Mach3 loaded and you can get each axis moving, then we should tackle problems one by one.

Starting from basics :-
Leadscrew pitch
Belt ratio if not direct coupling
Microstep settings
Steps per
Velocity
Acceleration
Driver current

If anyone thinks something else is needed please add to the list and I will revise this post.

BTW Andrei 5.7A is less than 2% above 5.6A and the stepper should handle this.

[Radu_Andrei]

Ok. I.ll get back when it.s ready for review.
Thank you.

[Clive S]

Ok. I.ll get back when it.s ready for review.
Thank you.

OK remember that nema 34 do not spin as fast a nema 23-24

Your win 7 pc should be fine (as long as it is 32 bit). Also If I remember keep the kernel in Mach3 to 25k/cs I have a feeling you tried it at 35k

I would not have any doubts about this problems you.ve menitioned if there would be a constant. Like, ok 60V is not enough. It should not work. But it varies. Sometimes works just fine.

This will work but not as fast. Ie the motor won't spin faster unless you up the volts to the drive