Where is the fountain of knowledge for learning about CNC setups / understanding them

[Palletlad]

Hi all I have set up my CNC 6040 machine now and have an issue with the motors jamming whilst manually moving them (jams and makes a high pitched noise)
To my understanding this could be my setup of the motors but when I initially got my machine moving yesterday I moved all the motors fine with no issue so not 100% sure.

At the moment I am just copying what others are telling me to put in mach3 settings but I would like to know what I am inputting and why so that I can better understand my machine.
Is there anywhere particular I can look up for research material or download a book etc. and or is there sites to avoid as known for giving incorrect information?

If you are interested my settings on the motors are on the attachment, I am not sure what else you require other than I am using 220v and all three motors have jammed.
PS the temperature in my garage has dropped to 3 degrees I do not know if this makes any difference in the structure/performance of the machine itself.

Kind Regards Graham

[magicniner]

Halve your speeds and try it again, if that works creep them up until you get the occasional issue then back off 15% or so

[Neale]

I'm guessing from the Mach3 settings that you have 5mm lead ballscrews with 8x microstepping in the stepper drivers. That explains the "320 steps per unit" in the motor tuning page. That's about right, but you also need to check the drivers themselves to make sure that they are also set to 8x microstepping to match. If they are set wrongly, you might be trying to move the machine much faster than you expect. The drivers normally have a little table on them showing DIP switch settings.

As long as that's correct, Nick's advice in the previous post is spot on - you can do as much analysis and design as you like, but at the end of the day we all just gradually crank up first speed and then acceleration until the machine starts misbehaving, then back off a bit for safety.

[Neale]

[double post due to network issues]

[Palletlad]

Thanks I will try that my 2 sons wanted to see the machine move so I took them both in the garage and when I clicked the arrow buttons I was sweating thinking oh no the rods aren't properly aligned.

[Palletlad]

oh and Neale this is what I mean you lost me part way through with your explanation so I will research what your referring to, to understand it. my knowledge level on CNC's is beginner at this moment and will try my best to learn it all.

[m_c]

The high pitched noise is the motor stalling.

Stepper motors rely on their windings being energised in order. If you overload the motor mechanically, rather than the motor spinning smoothly, it will stall, and vibrate as it jumps between the activated windings, which is the noise you hear. If you were to feel the motor, you would also feel the vibration. The motor will only start spinning again, once the winding switching speed slows to a point where the rotor can be accelerated fast enough to re-synchronise with the switching.

As others have said, reduce the settings, and try again. There are that many variables involved, that it's hard to accurately calculate readings, so trial and error is the easiest option.
Looking at your figures, I'd reduce max speed to 2m/s, as you may be pushing the limit of what the stepper drivers are reliably capable of.
But I'm confused in your screenshot, because the acceleration figure doesn't match the graph. 300ms2 is very slow for acceleration, yet the graph shows a setting nearer 16'000, which would likely stall even the best of CNC stepper systems.

[Neale]

Is there anywhere particular I can look up for research material or download a book etc.

Try a Google search for "mach3 settings explained". There are plenty of sources of info there, and different people prefer different ways of explaining things, so take a browse through what's on offer.

[Kev2960]

Hi have you tried my mach 3 set-up here
https://the-cnc.blogspot.co.uk/p/hom...6142822415&m=1

[Palletlad]

Thanks guys I will persevere, all your help has saved me from going bald :D
I got the settings originally from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mlfccAVUP4&t=700s was I wrong to trust this then?