Tonsen 4 Axis Controller/Bob

Hi all, I also have one of these Chinese Wonders (It's a Wonder that it works!) with the Chinglish Manual and misspelled PCB designates. For my efforts I decided to fit Home/Limits to the X, Y, & Z planes which went quite smoothly until I inspected the I/O Board.

So I set to to bring this into line with half decent components. I upgraded both the 5v and 15v Regulators. Changed the polarity protection diodes for 3A shottkies which have a much lower forward voltage drop than the !N4007’s.
I also changed all the electrolytic’s for 108° low ESR, replacing the 407µF with a 1,000µF The PCB has all the locations needed to fit 5 Opti-Couples and the pull-up resistor network needed for the home/limit switches.
I thought I was doing ever so great and about to do a bit of ‘Yankee Back Patting’ as I connected everything up and switched on..

This time the Spindle Motor didn’t Rev it’s nuts of as usual and the System Fan did not work.... Yep, you guessed right I miss-connected the Fan and Spindle Motor Controller. No big deal as I didn’t see any ‘Smoke Escape’ ¹ However, putting 15V directly across the Anode and Cathode of the Motor Controller Opti-couple ensured its demise.
Whilst I was investigating the possibilities of any further damage I rung out to continuity the return line from the connector to the Parallel Port Pin 1.

The Drawing Les, (Pointy) has painstakingly provided is a great help apart from where the Motor Line from Pin 1 is connected to the 5v Line via one of the 330R pull-ups, and the second connection to ground. This is incorrect.

Pin 1 from the parallel port connects directly to the Opti-Couple on the Motor Controller Sub Board. Be very careful when tackling any problems with the Motor Controller Board It is connected directly across the Mains with enough current to blow your hat off!

The modifications and upgrages have done the trick, Scoping the Signal, I/O and supply rails show reduced electrical noise overall.


¹As the Mach3 Manual says, ’Contrary to belief Electronic Components work with Smoke. There is no documented evidence that any device has ever worked once the smoke has escaped’

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Originally Posted by Pointy

Here's a a pic with the parallel pin locations...

http://www.mycncuk.com/attachment.ph...id=11182&stc=1

Don't forget that none of these are opto-isolated. I will be posting on my blog in the near future on how to make an opto-isolated addon board for this controller.

Regards,

Les

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Did you get time to do this mate?? Have you a link to your blog??

Quote:

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Originally Posted by buggalugs

Pin 1 from the parallel port connects directly to the Opti-Couple on the Motor Controller Sub Board. Be very careful when tackling any problems with the Motor Controller Board It is connected directly across the Mains with enough current to blow your hat off !!

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Do I read this right ? Mains is connected to the Motor control board????

Yes, as it comes the Spindle Motor Speed Controller is at mains AC potential, however there is an optic-coupler between the Mains device from the pulse circuitry. I have since stripped it out and fitted a 48v Spindle Motor and a new PWM speed controller.

I have also fitted optocouplers, SIL Network Resistors to the Parallel Port PCB, beefed up the complete board with High Temp Electrolytic's to take the full X, Y, & Z limits including a couple of E-Stops.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by buggalugs

Hi all, I also have one of these Chinese Wonders (It's a Wonder that it works!) with the Chinglish Manual and misspelled PCB designates. For my efforts I decided to fit Home/Limits to the X, Y, & Z planes which went quite smoothly until I inspected the I/O Board.

So I set about to bring this into line with half decent components. I upgraded both the 5v and 15v Regulators. Changed the polarity protection diodes for 3A shottkies which have a much lower forward voltage drop than the !N4007’s.
I also changed all the electrolytic’s for 108° low ESR, replacing the 407µF with a 1,000µF The PCB has all the locations needed to fit 5 Opti-Couples and the pull-up resistor network needed for the home/limit switches.
I thought I was doing ever so great and about to do a bit of ‘Yankee Back Patting’ as I connected everything up and switched on..
This time the Spindle Motor didn’t Rev it’s nuts of as usual and the System Fan did not work.... Yep, you guessed right I miss-connected the Fan and Spindle Motor Controller. No big deal as I didn’t see any ‘Smoke Escape’ ¹ However, putting 15V directly across the Anode and Cathode of the Motor Controller Opti-couple ensured its demise.
Whilst I was investigating the possibilities of any further damage I rung out to continuity the return line from the connector to the Parallel Port Pin 1.
The Drawing Les, (Pointy) has painstakingly provided is a great help apart from the Motor Line from Pin 1 is connected to the 5v Line via one of the 330R pull-ups, and the second connection to ground. This is incorrect. Pin 1 from the parallel port connects directly to the Opti-Couple on the Motor Controller Sub Board. Be very careful when tackling any problems with the Motor Controller Board It is connected directly across the Mains with enough current to blow your hat off !! :distrust:

Scoping the Signal, DC Lines, and I/O lines shows that my efforts in upgrading the components has paid off with reduced electrical noise.

¹As the Mach3 Manual says, ’Contrary to belief Electronic Components work with Smoke. There is no documented evidence that and device has ever worked once the smoke has escaped’

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Buggalugs, any chance that you saved the before and after scope screens? If so, can you post them?

can the spindle be connected to moto pinouts, and can a probe tool be install to any of the 10-15 pins?

wesk18,
The MOTO plug requires an external Optoisolator to control the Spindle Motor On/Off state.
The +5V source for Pin 1 (Anode) of the external Opto is provided from Pin 4 (Actual Pin) of the 330R RN (Pull-Up Resistor) on the Tonsen 4 "AIXS" Board.

A probe tool / digitizer can be connected to Pin 10, 11, 12, 13 or 15 (Input Pins).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mr_Manville

wesk18,
The MOTO plug requires an external Optoisolator to control the Spindle Motor On/Off state.
The +5V source for Pin 1 (Anode) of the external Opto is provided from Pin 4 (Actual Pin) of the 330R RN (Pull-Up Resistor) on the Tonsen 4 "AIXS" Board.

A probe tool / digitizer can be connected to Pin 10, 11, 12, 13 or 15 (Input Pins).

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so pin 1 from the external opto goes to pin 4 on the board, how about the other 2 pins from the external opto where does it go? and what do i plug to the moto pins, the red and black coming from the spindle?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by buggalugs

Yes, as it comes the Spindle Motor Speed Controller is at mains AC potential, however there is an optic-coupler between the Mains device from the pulse circuitry. I have since stripped it out and fitted a 48v Spindle Motor and a new PWM speed controller.

I have also fitted optocouplers, SIL Network Resistors to the Parallel Port PCB, beefed up the complete board with High Temp Electrolytic's to take the full X, Y, & Z limits including a couple of E-Stops.

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please share a pic

I'm a complete novice at this. I have this bob on my 3040t and want to add Home and limit switches. Can I just put the switches between +5V and one of the input pins, 10-13 , 15?