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  1. #1
    Hi, I'm bench testing my motors - they are all wired up correctly and I can get them to turn when I run the roadrunner code in mach3, so I assume all connections are good. I am using this kit from cnc4you.co.uk http://www.cnc4you.co.uk/CNC-Kits/Di...3.1Nm-x-3-Axis

    Problem is I have no idea what settings I should be using. The motors seem to be turning very slowly. I have set up in mm's and in the motor tuning section I can change the velocity etc but I havent got a clue what I should be setting things at - I wonder if somebody could suggest some settings as a starting point? Seems the max mm's per minute I can set is 700 - even at that the motors dont spin fast to be honest - even at that speed a full 360 degree revolution of the spindle takes approx 3 seconds which doesn't seem right even to a newbie like me. I dont know what to set the "steps per" or "step pulse" etc under motor tunings too. I think also maybe I should be setting the switches on the driver - details are all below

    Quick stats:

    PSU outputs at 36v

    motors Nema 23 3.1nm / 60BYGH301B


    Driver CWD556 digital driver - switch setting chart below







    Instructions that came with the kit show the settings for getting the motors to work ports and pins/ motor outputs and input signals and I have followed them to the letter - but there's no word on setting up anything else.

    Any help much appreciated.
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  2. #2
    change the steps per unit to 200 and see what happens.
    https://emvioeng.com
    Machine tools and 3D printing supplies. Expanding constantly.

  3. #3
    Well, it certainly seems to run the motors more nicely - more of a deeper smoother sound - less of an angry wasp buzz about it. Now I have up to 7500 mm's per minute at my disposal but I am still not sure what to do with them

  4. #4
    There is not much else you can do unless you assemble them into a system. Speed of rotation is not really of much use because as soon as you put it on the machine you will start seeing the effects of inertia and friction.
    https://emvioeng.com
    Machine tools and 3D printing supplies. Expanding constantly.

  5. #5
    OK First you need to state what all the dip switches on the drivers are set at. So that the current can be set up correctly etc. Have you set up Mach3 in mm or inches

    Like has been sad already before you can tune the motors they need to be on the machine. ..Clive

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Clive S View Post
    OK First you need to state what all the dip switches on the drivers are set at. So that the current can be set up correctly etc. Have you set up Mach3 in mm or inches

    Like has been sad already before you can tune the motors they need to be on the machine. ..Clive
    I set mach3 up in mm during the install wizard. It is not so much that I wish to tune the motors to correct mm measurements along the axis etc, it is rather that I need to set the correct switches on the driver but am confused as to what they do. I see from the spec that when wired in parallel (which is what I assume they are since they are not in series) that the current should be 4.2 amps. There is no exact setting for 4.2 amps on my drivers - the closest is 4.3 which I assume is fine. That is sw1 on, sw2 off, sw3 on - if thats all I need to do and it's correct I am fine with that. I also get that sw4 is an option in that it determines whether the holding torque of the motors is 50% or not - I have sw4 set to "off" since that sounds "sensible" to me.

    It is sw5, sw6, sw7 and sw8 that confuse me - I dont know what microsteps are or what effect these settings will have - so I cant make a guess at which setting to choose from the chart above and how this affects the "steps per" value in mach3 "motor and tuning setup screen". The default of steps per was 2000 - I reduced it to 200 as per the advice above but I still dont know why exactly. The following chart shows even more info...



    Am I to assume from the above chart that the "step/rev" column of values is what I should be entering in the mach3 "steps per" field? If so, whay am I choosing one lot of settings over another? What's the difference?
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  7. #7
    Ok well here goes lets hope this sheds some light.!!

    Starting with motors and series or parallel wiring.?
    This is a choice based on how you arrange the 8 wires. In your case for parallel wiring they should be as below.
    Phase A+ = Red + Blue
    Phase A- = Yel + Blk
    Phase B+ = Wht + Brn
    Phase B- = Org + Grn

    Setting the drives:
    SW 1, 2 , 3 you are correct about and understand correctly.
    SW4 Reduces current to Half the Motor current (sw 1,2,3) but only when motor is stood still. This reduce heat build up in motors and should be used so OFF.

    SW 5,6,7,8.!! . . . Now this is where it gets interesting and little more complicated. Your motors have 200 FULL steps per revolution so 1.8deg per step.
    Micro stepping breaks these FULL steps down into micro steps.
    It's here where it gets confuddling for people due to the fact they state 2,4,8,16 etc Microsteps on the drives.??. . . What this actually means is each revolution is ie 8 x 200 = 1600 micro steps per revolution.

    Now Micro stepping is often misunderstood by people thinking that it's used for increasing resolution, which it does to some degree, but it's most useful use is for smoothing motor performance. You'll notice your drives can actually Micro step down to some silly figure like 256 so 256 x 200 = 51200 micro steps per rev.
    Setting to this degree is pointless as typical stepper motor can only resolve to around 3200 and make real use of them the rest are wasted.
    Not only are they wasted they also put excess stress on the PC or Motion control device. This is because more Pulses are required by a factor of the microstepping amount to turn same one revolution. ie 8x micro stepping needs 1600 pulses for one revolution 256x needs 51200 pulse for same revolution.

    This brings us nicely to Motor tuning and Micro steps Inside Mach3.?

    STEPS PER setting in mach3 motor tuning is How many steps are needed to move ONE UNIT OF MEASUREMENT in your case with mm's units how many steps to move 1mm.
    This is detemined by a calculation taking the Microstepping amount and dividing by PITCH of the ballscrew or how far ONE revolution of moves that particular axis.
    So assuming 10mm pitch ballscrews and 8 x 200 =1600 micro steps the STEPS PER 1mm would be 1600/10=160

    This will mean 160 steps moves 1mm.

    Now Velocity and acceleration are limited by the number of pulses the Motion control device can output. This is known as the Frequency or Kernal speed in Mach3.
    The parallel port is quite limited and safe frequency would be 25Khz or 25,000 pulses per second/per axis. This means frequency directly affects the Maximum velocity in this case mm/per min you can achive from the axis. So working with 1600 micro steps we get 25000x60/(1600/10)= 9375mm/min Max velocity.

    Now if we use less microstepping so 4x micro steps(800) Max velocity changes to 25000x60/(800/10)=18750mm/min max velocity.!!

    So has you can see going high on Microstepping does have an impact on speed. But going to Low on micro stepping can affect how motors run and can make for very rough running motors. So typical micro stepping values range between 4x and 8x upto max 16x often 10x is used which gives 2000 micro steps like you orginally entered.

    Motor tuning is a balance between Micro stepping, Velocity/acceleration, Pulse quality/frequency along with many factors like machine stiffness and resonance all playing some small part. This means each machine is slightly differant in how it's tuned so Motor tuning needs to be done with everything on the machine with each axis tweaked and setup individually. This is why you can't set motor tuning accurately on the bench as it will all change on the machine.

    Know this is a lot to digest but take the time and it will all make much more sense.
    Last edited by JAZZCNC; 13-03-2015 at 09:59 PM.

  8. The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to JAZZCNC For This Useful Post:


  9. #8
    Dean I could not have put it better myself ..Clive

  10. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Clive S View Post
    Dean I could not have put it better myself ..Clive
    Well unlike you I haven't started on the Vino yet. .

  11. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by JAZZCNC View Post
    Well unlike you I haven't started on the Vino yet. .
    Is it that obvious

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