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

[Palletlad]

ok so I think I did the ballscrew pitch check? I couldn't find a how to do video on it so went along like this, placed ruler 0'd with the drill bit, marked the bolts holding the ballscrew's, 0'd the axis and then inputted a move instruction and stopped the movement when a full rotation of the bolt came round... probably way off what you had in mind.
anyway with this I got the following results:
Y axis moved 5mm with 4.9535 on mach3
x axis moved 5mm with 5.0031
z axis moved 5mm with 3.6062
I took photos of the inside of my control box and you were right its different to the previous photos.
I found the DIP Switches were set on 3 (K3), the X Y and Z axis were also set on SW1.
there is a chart but as its in Chinese I weren't 100% sure what it meant as K3 had a 1 marked in 2 (25%) and 16 (100%)
the motors are 1.8deg
the power is apparently 220 (written on)
please see photos
I tried various settings on the motor tuning ranging from 200, 1000 at 200 to 400. 2000 at 400 I set the step pulse and dir pulse as 0 but all has similar results where there will be a clunking noise once or twice and in worse case on a few of the settings it jams.
at this point I thought could the clunking noise be down to lubrication factor?
Also I have figured out what was causing the EStop so that part is all sorted.

[JAZZCNC]

Ok, so you have 5mm ball screws.

Now the Sw1 SW2 SW3 set the current range for the drives which must match or be just less than the motors rating. This setting can be set above the motors rating but recommended to keep on or just below.
In your case looks set at 1.8a for all motors even thou the motors are rated 3A. This is a common practice of manufactures when they use these cheap boards. They do it to protect the drives so not working at maximum and overheating.
What this means to you is that you are not getting the full power of the motors. However, it's double edge sword because if you turn them up you'll most likely fry the board unless put some cooling on it.

SW4 it doesn't mention but I suspect it will be to turn motor current reduction on/off. Currently set to ON. What this does is reduce the current to motors when at idle.
The amount of reduction is probably set by K3 K4. Currently set to 50% which is a standard current reduction on drives.

K1 K2 set the Micro stepping which looks to set at 8. Which means 8 x 200=1600 Micro steps.
However, I find it strange jumps from 2 to 8 because usually there's a 4 so can set 800Ms which is a common setting. So I'm not sure I fully believe these markings.
However, it's easy to find out now we know the pitch because the distance traveled will be exactly half or double what we set if wrong.

So start with what it looks to be set at and will take from there. So enter these settings in Motor Tuning.
One note makes sure you select the axis in motor tuning by clicking the axis buttons on the right-hand side when in motor tuning. Also, remember to save before moving to next Axis other wise you'll lose the settings. Also when you input settings into boxs click enter before moving to next box.

Enter these.
Steps per = 320
Velocity = 750
Acceleration = 300
Step pulse =0
Dir =1

These are very safe setting so should work. If you have OK movement but travels wrong distance then probably because switches K1 K2 are not setting MS to what they say they do, which again happens often on Chinese drives like these.

So if traveling wrong distance got 2 options. Change the steps per to exactly half or double 320. If moves half the commanded distance then double the steps and vise versa.

Option #2 let mach 3 do all the work for you by using the SET STEPS PER UNIT feature on the setting tab.(just above Reset)
This will ask you for distance to travel. Then it will travel ask you how far it moved.

So you'll need to mark the table or setup a reference point. Then accurately measure how far it moved. Digital Vernier gauge is good for this.
Can either measure by hand or Open the gauge up full and Zero it then let the machine push it closed.
The large the distance you can measure over the more accurate it will be.

This is good way to quickly set steps per if your unsure. While not always spot it gets you very close.

If machine isn't moving or moving badly then will need a video.

Question what computer are you using. Desktop or laptop.? And what cable.?
If machine isn't moving or moving irraticly then often Parallel cables give troubles so try another cable. It must be Straight-thru or whats called Null Modem cable not an Old printer cable which often cross over the pins.

If using Laptop then that's most likely your problem. Mach3 doesn't work well with laptops unless using motion control card.

[Palletlad]

I'm at work at the moment reading this so will do as you mentioned later on today, I brought a dedicated Pentium 4 pc with XP and Mach3 on it at the moment while using a male to male parallel cable from control box to pc motherboard.
I did a video of me testing random setups with the motor tuning but I will redo it again with your settings.
I let you know the outcome later on tonight.
Thanks for your time with this its helped.

[Palletlad]

ok I did option 2 that's all sorted,

I am still getting the jarring jolts on all various settings so I'm now considering of replacing the wiring with screened wires, greasing the machine all over and buying a UC100 now its payday and looking at new stepper motors.
I found another thread on the web and discovered you was in that one as well Jazzcnc (2014 thread) :D, the guy seemed to have the same issues as me and its looking more like because its cheap parts causing the issues.
I recorded a video and will upload it when I get in to show you what I am getting.

what grease do I get for cnc machines is there a specific/preferred one?
I've found a UC100 on amazon for £53 (its the only one on there) is this trustworthy or a cheap knock off as I thought they are around £130 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cable-Paral...X8Q9QHK2KA3BGY

[JAZZCNC]

Ok well first don't spend any money on anything because you still don't know what the problem is. Could be anything and throwing money at it without knowing what problem is foolish and sure way to waste money.

The steppers you have will be fine so don't worry about those. Steppers are simple things, they just work or they don't. Provided they are sized correctly for the machine, which these are you won't have any issues with them.
Also just because other folks have had cable issues doesn't mean this is your problem so again leave well alone until you know they are the problem.
Grease doesn't need to be anything special, just normal lithium grease will be fine. However don't go greasing anything yet let us get it working correctly first.

So put up the video and let's see what it's doing.

What you can do thou is going over the machine top to bottom checking no loose bolts or slop in bearings etc. Pay attention to the connection of steppers to ball screws. Check ballscrew end fixing that it's not got any axial movement. Also check Ballnut mountings are tight.

If nothing appears to lose or wrong the next thing you can do is check for any Axis binding. The way to do this disconnects the steppers from ball screws and push each axis thru it's full travel length. They should move quite easily with no binding or tight spots.
Don't be surprised if they don't glide like as if in thin air, this is quite normal and something people often misunderstand.

Only after you know the mechanical is ok should start looking at the electrical. Even then provided nothing is broken you shouldn't need to replace anything just to get motion.
Yes if you want to improve performance then will most likely need to replace some components but should still be able to get good smooth motion using the parallel port and what you have.

So Hold off throwing money at it just yet.

Oh and that isn't UC100 so leave well alone.

[Palletlad]

here is the link to the video

[cropwell]

This sounds 'mechanical' to me. Does the noise always happen in the same places ?