New Member On South Coast

Hi,

I am a new member located on the south coast of the UK looking for inspiration. Have a home constructed small CNC router, using motion control drivers and stepper motors, Mach 3 mill and a DIY CNC interface board.

After much frustration can't get the thing to work. Have communication between PC and drivers but after all attempts can't get motors to do anything other than sit thier and do nothing!! not even buzz lurch or burp!!

Anybody who can suggest a good technician in Sussex would be usfull.

Cheers

CDDMFlyer

Welcome.

Which of their drivers are you using and when you say 'communication' how are you determining this?

Assuming there is power to the motors a common occurence is incorrect wiring/usage of the enable line to the drivers.

When you switch the drivers on do the motors lock-up/become hard to turn? Is your parallel port set EPP mode or something else?

Jonathan,

Hi and thanks for stepping in and trying to give some guidance. My drivers are Motion Control MSD542, they are fed by 2 power supplys. I am using the enable signal from the breakout board. This is what I get at present, using Mach3 and when all limit swicthes are reset, as these all work fine, I then get green lights on the driver. If I run code I get relay operation at the breakout board, so I know I have communication from Mach 3 to the breakout board. I have tried many combinations of dill switch on the drivers. I beleive the motors lock, but need to check this ?. I think I have measured voltage at the motors of 44v, but I will recheck. Have attached a few photos to show setup. Any further things to check would be a great help. I seem to be missing the pulse signal or not reading the pulse signal, but I believe I can't see this without an Oscilloscope, as I am pretty sure I have the power supply/driver/motor wiring correct as I have checked it several times. Dave
Attachment 7139Attachment 7140
Attachment 7141

I'm in Seaford, I have an oscilloscope, I could probably find a spare MSD542, I've been doing CNC for years but I know nothing about MACH.

Is it portable, could you get it over to Cradle Hill industrial estate?

Jonathan,
Not sure about the EPP mode, PC was internet purchase and is a Mach3 machine, seen it run another set up similar in scale to mine.
Have checked motors, they are pretty stiff un fed but when I get volts at the motor terminals, they don't change so I would say they don't lock up. Should they?
I have 17V dc across the A - B outgoing motor feeds at driver when drivers enabled, and same at motor.
Cheers

Robin,

Thanks for offer very near to you, would need to get lift into car i think but easily done. See if I can make progress over weekend.

thanks

Dave

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cddmflyer

Robin,

Thanks for offer very near to you, would need to get lift into car i think but easily done. See if I can make progress over weekend.

thanks

Dave

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Robin,
No new ideas on why I can't get it to work. Is there anytime that would suite you best. Is it OK to call to discuss.

Cheers

Dave

Not a problem, best to 'phone after 10am by which time I have drunk enough tea to get my brain in gear.

My phone number and email are easy to find but it is generally considered a bad idea to post them on forums.

Go to www.chronoscopes.com and click "Contact" in the left margin.