Losing steps/position, again

[Doddy]

If these are wired in a unipolar manner - which is sounds as though they are... you will need to isolate the centre taps. I appreciate the buggeration that comes with this - and recognise that at this time you're probably trying to keep the machine in a recoverable format (normally I'd just cut/isolate the cable at the stepper), but I understand you may want to be a bit more circumspect. the centre tap will be either to ground or to +V and it'll be causing problems for the driver - certainly your described behaviour I can imagine with the centre taps connected.

[ngwagwa]

Doddy - I wasn't too worried about leaving the machine recoverable I was simply worried about cutting the wrong wires and disabling Y and Z.

[ngwagwa]

This appears to be getting complicated.
Out of the stepper motor I have Black - White - Orange - Red - Blue and Yellow
Blue and yellow are not connected to the cable
White is connected to the yellow in the cable

I can't be sure if these are the same in the cabinet but in the cabinet I have the following pairs
Read and Yelow
Black and orange
These are all labelled X

The Stepper motor is Sanyodenki 103H7124





So by my reckoning I I am connecting to the taps on the stepper?

[JAZZCNC]

It's simple to test just check the resistance between the three wires of each coil. One pair will be double the resistance of the others. These two are the ones you want for each coil.
Do the same for the other coil and you have found your 4 wires needed. Just leave the others disconnected but terminated for safety.

[Doddy]

If I understand Carl properly, what he's saying is (I think - please confirm) from the first paragraph: that one the centre-tap to one end of the coil is wired into the cabinet - a half-coil configuration. This presents a reduced torque for the machine (obviously by Denford design) - and those motors aren't particularly torquey to begin with. You can work with this for now at least - it was always a choice on this conversion.

But you're still just getting a knocking noise from the stepper under drive?, can you take a photo of the driver, in particular the connectors/wiring AND the DIP switches? I'm curious about your current setting and the microsteps.

If I was in your boat I'd be setting the driver to 2.5A and 8 microsteps to begin with... maybe even just 1 step to keep things simple. I'd be measuring the volts on the supply to the driver, and even swapping out the driver for another just to check that.

If we're ever allowed out I'll offer you a second pair of eyes if that would help - but I can't see that happening any time soon - and I think you'll resolve this a long time before then.

EDIT: One of those DIV268s has a label, something like "Modified" on it - try that one, it's geared to handle fast signals.

[ngwagwa]

Original pairs has resistance of 2.3 and I have now wired up pairs with a resistance of 4.0
Still no movement just a knocking noise though the knocking isn't as harsh as it was (if that makes any sense).

[ngwagwa]

EDIT: One of those DIV268s has a label, something like "Modified" on it - try that one, it's geared to handle fast signals.

That's it. Changed over to the "modded" stepper and I have movement - but slow.

[ngwagwa]

Set steps to 2 and X now moves at same speed as Y (by eye).
The X axis stepper is silent now when running compared to the whining of the Y stepper.

[JAZZCNC]

Set steps to 2 and X now moves at same speed as Y (by eye).
The X axis stepper is silent now when running compared to the whining of the Y stepper.

Do you understand the relationship between Micro steps and Steps Per setting in Motor tuning that need setting so you get correct move distance? Also, the affects higher and lower micro-steps have on the motors.?

The first is something you need to know if you want correct movement and the second is worth knowing get a better idea of the effects of micro-stepping.

If not just say and will explain.

[ngwagwa]

Do you understand the relationship between Micro steps and Steps Per setting in Motor tuning that need setting so you get correct move distance? Also, the affects higher and lower micro-steps have on the motors.?

Not a clue to be honest I would appreciate an explanation. After homing the machine appears to be going to the correct point when I zero all.

One thing I did notice that wasn't shown well in the cabinet photos is a "Control Transformer" with outputs marked 28, 110, 120 and 240 if that's something we can reuse. All my parts should be coming next week.