Motion Control drivers and motors

[bruce_miranda]

This seems like an easy solution. I just hope that I can cancel the order on that BOB I just bought if this works.

Oh my half price comment was related to the BOB I bought as compared to that sold by Motion Control - but its not as nice looking as the MC one.

[Gary]

It does the same as the one we do, so £10 was a good deal.
We are designing a new motherboard that lets you plug up to four MSD542/556 directly into the board and on the other side it will have the connectors for the motors and a 25 way connector for the parallel port or smooth stepper.
This will eliminate the wiring from the bob to the drivers.

This seems like an easy solution. I just hope that I can cancel the order on that BOB I just bought if this works.

Oh my half price comment was related to the BOB I bought as compared to that sold by Motion Control - but its not as nice looking as the MC one.

[bruce_miranda]

I have GOOD news to report, my motors are now spinning very well. I used the USB to supply 5V to the drivers and everything suddenly started to work.
Thanks a lot irving2008.

Oh in the meanwhile I also rebuilt my laptop and then reconfigured things using these instructions here and everything works quite well. http://pminmo.com/PMinMOwiki/index.php5?title=Laptops

I have now an issue where if I jog the axis suddenly at no certain point the motors will stall but if I release the key and jog again it continues just fine. Jogging slower the motors stick less often but still stick about once per end to end travel. How do I resolve that issue.

[Gary]

At what speed are they stalling?
Is it happening between a specific speed range?

[bruce_miranda]

They seem to stalling at all speeds and even without any load connected i.e. motors not connected to machine. Also it happens only when I continously jog from one end to another.

[Gary]

OK are the spped you running at between 70 and 100 steps a second? if so the problem could be resonance.
Try it with load and see if the the problem is still there.

[bruce_miranda]

So I've finally got my motors running smoothly on the Mach 3 but I've hit yet another problem.

Every so often the motors will stall for no apparent reason. I first thought the lead screws where getting jammed but I've even tried the motors without any load and they still stall.

When the motors stall even if I try to help it to move forward it won't. But the moment I release the jog key and start jogging again it works fine.

Jog at slower speeds causes it to stall less but it does stall. Also when jogging at slow speeds I can hear the motor sometimes hesitate.

See the video or a fast and slow jogging X axis without it being connected.



P.S> I don't know what's the BBCode to embed YouTube Videos in this forum.

[bruce_miranda]

At the moment Mach3 is set to 1000 Steps per mm. The problem is both with and without load.

[Smiler]

I've gone through exactly the same process as you Bruce. I have the MDS 542 drives, 3nm motors and PSU's from Zapp

I bought a laptop to use with Mach3, had nightmare issues with missed steps and stalling even while the motors were on the bench at very low speeds. I got in touch with Pminmo who was extremely helpful and got me at least working. Running on the bench was much better, in fact I was pushed to make the motors stall. Putting them on my machine however, I had to run at very low speeds to get smooth motion. I could jog the X maybe 150mm before it would miss or stall, jog again and it would be fine for maybe 500mm before missing or stalling, jog again and it might instantly stall, no set pattern.

In desparation I ordered a SmoothStepper from the states and what a transformation. Before, the best I could get from my Ballscrew X axis was 1000mm/min, now I'm up at 3000mm/Min and it could go faster comfortably but it seems fast enough for me to leave it set at. My rack and pinion Y axis, whose motor turns slowly, would stutter randomly, that is all gone now, smooth in all three axes. Just running Mach3 with the SS attached and no machine, the toolpath display seems smoother running.

I know this doesn't help you solve your problem but this little board has transformed my laptop controlled system and I'd bet it would do the same for you if you cannot cure your problem. At the end of the day Mach3 and Laptops have an uneasy relationship and even if you get yours optimised to the Nth degree, I feel it will always be marginal. Cost me £130 total with all taxes but worth every penny. I know I could buy a S/H desktop for the same money and probably have zero troubles but I don't have the option of using one, I simply HAD to use a laptop because a desktop could not survive for long where it would be living.

Worth thinking about.

[Gary]

Thanks for the comment,
I have been talking to them about distributing the smooth stepper, but held back till it had some in the field and all the bugs had been ironed out.
Bruce, If you decide to go down that route, keep me informed with the results

I've gone through exactly the same process as you Bruce. I have the MDS 542 drives, 3nm motors and PSU's from Zapp

I bought a laptop to use with Mach3, had nightmare issues with missed steps and stalling even while the motors were on the bench at very low speeds. I got in touch with Pminmo who was extremely helpful and got me at least working. Running on the bench was much better, in fact I was pushed to make the motors stall. Putting them on my machine however, I had to run at very low speeds to get smooth motion. I could jog the X maybe 150mm before it would miss or stall, jog again and it would be fine for maybe 500mm before missing or stalling, jog again and it might instantly stall, no set pattern.

In desparation I ordered a SmoothStepper from the states and what a transformation. Before, the best I could get from my Ballscrew X axis was 1000mm/min, now I'm up at 3000mm/Min and it could go faster comfortably but it seems fast enough for me to leave it set at. My rack and pinion Y axis, whose motor turns slowly, would stutter randomly, that is all gone now, smooth in all three axes. Just running Mach3 with the SS attached and no machine, the toolpath display seems smoother running.

I know this doesn't help you solve your problem but this little board has transformed my laptop controlled system and I'd bet it would do the same for you if you cannot cure your problem. At the end of the day Mach3 and Laptops have an uneasy relationship and even if you get yours optimised to the Nth degree, I feel it will always be marginal. Cost me £130 total with all taxes but worth every penny. I know I could buy a S/H desktop for the same money and probably have zero troubles but I don't have the option of using one, I simply HAD to use a laptop because a desktop could not survive for long where it would be living.

Worth thinking about.