New machine has knackered control box :-( Need a new one

[ravihotwok]

Hair dryer idea also not success :-(

[Boyan Silyavski]

It could be anything from the crappy plugs at the back, broken signal cable to faulty driver.

Be patient inquisitive and buy yourself a multi meter to check continuity.

1. Open the box and ensure all connections are connected right. Especially DIR and STEP signals to the drive
2. Ensure all is soldered well and plugs especially
3. Swap cables and make sure that the cable is OK. Check motor and the cable to motor connection.
4. read particular motor driver documentation and see if some adjustment there is not wrong.

Anyway, if are persistent you will find the problem and demonstrate it to them. So no need of sending anything back.

There are not so many things that could go wrong, so just take your time. Its board, cable to drive, drive, cable to motor. Thats it. One of these is wrong.


And yes, buying Chinese boards and searching support from the original maker does not make sense. Buy a board from him and then seek help there :-)

[ravihotwok]

The seller has responded and offered to pay half towards a new control box, im currently looking at the planet cnc control box, has anyone used this box? Main reason for choosing this is for their support. But I dont know if it is overpriced or even if it is anygood?

https://planet-cnc.com/product/mk34-...e-accessories/

[bobster1]

Comments from a novice who in the last couple of weeks has learnt not to trust what you see with regard to wiring etc. I agree with Boyan that checking continuity with a multimeter is a must. In my case my stepper motor wires are colour coded red/green/yellow/blue. I found that the wires in the plugs that go into the back of the control box do not follow the colour code. i.e. the blue wire in the plug that connects to the stepper motor ends up as the yellow wire in the plug that goes onto the circuit board.?
Not uncommon apparently to have poorly crimped connections.I had a wire fall out of a plug.
I also had issues inputting the correct parameters into "settings" / "axes 2" To be fair the vendor did mail me with some figures.
Don't know if that helps but it's a very steep learning curve!!

Bob S.

[Boyan Silyavski]

I answered you in private, but for the benefit of others.

for that money and less i will buy:


DDCSV1 offline controller + 3-4x AM822 drives +PSU with proper voltage for the motors.

or


CSMIO 4 axis + 3-4x AM822 drives +PSU with proper voltage for the motors.


or


All in one Leadshine MX4660 4-Axis Stepper Drive or the MX3660 3 axis combo +PSU


or

UCCNC



In that particular order, as my personal preference. But if anyone that sees all too complicated then preference goes to all in one solutions. Mach3 is needed for all but first and last solution. Then one day if you decide on a bigger machine, all electronics -PSU will be ready.

[ravihotwok]

is there a similar alternative so I can use the planet cnc software a I have just purchased the license?

[Boyan Silyavski]

Its said many times in the forum : DO NOT BUY before you know what you are doing.

Anyway, you can buy their board and buys separately better drives for the motors and make the box.

There is also the http://cncdrive.com/UCCNC.html which people report is a very nice solution. They have all components also. Ethernet connection, which is better than USB.



I have a feeling you are going to make some other mistake, so why dont you stop, take a minute and start from point 0. Buy a multi meter and check connections. Whats the hurry? I also was in you situation with my first machine and it took me some time to figure whats happening.

[ravihotwok]

Cheers mate will have a look, this is a long term sort of investment, I have seen numerous comments about the control box I have being of poor quality, so want to start off with the best equipment possible within my budget. Had the machine a few weeks now and not even fitted a tool into it, the fact im having to use a multimetre on a brand new product tells me that this is a poor way to start.
Everyone seems to be using mach 3 so im also a bit gutted ive bought the planet software now :-(

But i dont have a parallel port on the pc I have for the machine