New build with recycled parts on a ridiculous budget 120cm*60cm work area

**Clive S** · 15-09-2017

Ok what does it say on the side of the transformer

If the schematic that you have shown has come with the transformer then follow it.

on the sec. side short yel and black together then red and orange go to the AC side of the rectifier.

on the primary side short grey and violet together and connect the mains to brown and blue.

Before you connect the caps up measure the voltage on the secondary side of the transformer (it should be around 50v AC) With the caps connected DC side it should be about 70v dc (DON'T TOUCH THE CAPS WHEN THEY ARE CHARGED as they will bite you) without a load on they will stay charged for a long time.

**Desertboy** · 15-09-2017

Originally Posted by Clive S

Ok what does it say on the side of the transformer

If the schematic that you have shown has come with the transformer then follow it.

on the sec. side short yel and black together then red and orange go to the AC side of the rectifier.

on the primary side short grey and violet together and connect the mains to brown and blue.

Before you connect the caps up measure the voltage on the secondary side of the transformer (it should be around 50v AC) With the caps connected DC side it should be about 70v dc (DON'T TOUCH THE CAPS WHEN THEY ARE CHARGED as they will bite you) without a load on they will stay charged for a long time.

Nice one! The diagram was from the datasheet on rapidonline's website.

I was using joe's psu as a guide

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On Joe's he's connected the red & orange together, blue and brown are going to the mains, then he only has yellow and black (1 primary core I guess) which he has going at diagonal across the rectifier. I didn't really get what was going on how Joe has it wired but what you said is how I thought it should work ;)

I'll connect a 10k resistor like Joe across the outputs to discharge the capacitors but will avoid them been bitten more than once repairing ps2's.

Looking at the rectifier datasheet I can now see why it's connected diagonal

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**Desertboy** · 16-09-2017

Power is turned off on the estate for 24 hours whilst they upgrade the transformers (They've added 22 acres of warehousing on our estate in 2 years!) so having a relaxing weekend.

So time for some tunes

**AlexDoran** · 19-09-2017

You think UPS are bad, DHL charge you for just importing the damn parcel even if there's no tax on it.

**Desertboy** · 19-09-2017

Originally Posted by AlexDoran

You think UPS are bad, DHL charge you for just importing the damn parcel even if there's no tax on it.

Fedex were real good I got charged £15 on my ballscrews not sure how much was there charge if any. I got lucky as they cost over £250 so £15 was peanuts.

They were marked as 2nd hand value $5 each good old Chinese. Customs didn't buy it but they also didn't put the £55 they should have ;)

**Desertboy** · 21-09-2017

Had to go work at 4am this morning and then drive for 11 hours so not in the mood lol but when I got back work a nice surprise the other AM882's came with NO import tax!

Just luck of the draw but now have all 4 so really have no excuse to get her cutting this weekend ;)

Including the import tax I paid £215 for all 4 2nd hand not sure how good a deal that is compared to new from UK.

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Spindle is on

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My spindle mount drilling is atrocious (Table slipped) some how I got it on straight and tight but I'm going to buy another one and use my machine to get it straight this time. I won't chuck the old one though I will fill the holes with chemical metal and then when I rebuild the Z axis I will use 2 spindle mounts one on top the other to get a really tight spindle.

£17 for another mount not the worst mistake and it will work for now.

I would really like joystick control and digital readout wondering if Linuxcnc would support this with an analog joystick. I'm thinking get a flight sim stick and a throttle then if possible I could use the throttle for spindle speed now that would be uber cool if you had an air cooled spindle you could literally close your eyes and pretend your in a plane lol.

e2a ordered another mount will do it right next time not worth messing about, will take me at least a few days to wire this up.

**Desertboy** · 22-09-2017

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I'm confused where everything goes and how to wire it up. I'll try and explain what I understand please correct me where wrong I normally am lol.

I can see the X, Y, Z & A pul/dir go to the AM882's, the power from the stepper motor PSU goes directly to the drivers not through the BOB.

I think the limit switches one wire to each input and the other wire to the shared gnd? I need 2 limit switches for my Y and 1 for my X can I reconfigure the Z axis limit to be my 2nd Y? I want to set linuxcnc up so it squares the gantry. I'm going to use microswitches for now but I might use inductive sensor instead do I simply find 12v for the sensor elsewhere and wire 1 wire to the Axis input and 1 to the GND?

Tool setting is this the input you would run a probe to? Again is it a shared gnd?

Emergency stop run my stop button to it AND the outputs from the AM882 for stall protection.

I believe I don't need the enable pin out

PWM must be pulse width modulation but for what?

PC GND and the 2 PC 5v outputs where do they go?

the spindle on/off and 0-10v are self expanatory but the 12-24v is that an input for driving the board? If not what is it used for. I thought the board was powered by 5v from the USB socket.

What does the relay jumper do?

Thanks
Desertboy