my 6040 experience (yeah, and problems) so far

[jimbo_cnc]

Oh yes, the M5642 drivers were set at 16 microsteps. I changed this to 8 but it made no difference. Is it worth trying other micro-step settings?

Would I be right to assume that smaller (more) steps is harder for the electronics to do / more likely to go wrong ?

[JAZZCNC]

Would I be right to assume that smaller (more) steps is harder for the electronics to do / more likely to go wrong ?

No it's the Parallel port that struggles not the electronics. The higher the steps the more pulses required for the same distance hence why the higher the step count the slower the machine can be tuned with the set Kernal speed in Mach3.

Going higher on the steps helps smooth the motors but works the PP harder and this can cause missed steps if it's struggling.

8 is a good setting and I would leave it there.

Regards the drive problems check the STep & Dir connections at the drive giving the trouble this as been a cause of trouble in the past on these machines along with shity wire quality.

Spindle will run for ages 1 hour + without cooling if not under load. I've often cut small jobs without turning my pump on.

[JAZZCNC]

Not sure if your aware or not but if you change the MS you will need to re-tune the motors Step per setting.?

Also don't run higher than 45Khz kernal speed in Mach3 other wise your opening your self up to potential problems. Best to keep at 25Khz or if must then 35Khz but don't change unless you really can't get the speeds you would like.

[jimbo_cnc]

Regards the drive problems check the STep & Dir connections at the drive giving the trouble this as been a cause of trouble in the past on these machines along with shity wire quality.

I'm not familiar with what the diffferent wires are, but the BOB has a 4pin connector for each axis. 3 of the 4 pins are used and the 4th pin has a loose wire hanging from it. The BOB looks like it has also the option of output via screw terminals, so I could cut the terminal blocks off and use those. But I'm wary of doing that before I hear from the seller, and if I get a replacement BOB Id rather just plug it in.

The wiring all looks pretty nice to me, but I'm not an electrics person. All the sockets into the controller feel like plastic, but they are conductive, I've tested the continuity of the casing.

Just grabbed this pic of my BOB from ebay

[JAZZCNC]

Ok well I'm not a fan of those silly plugs and I'd wire to the terminals every time but your correct to wait untill seller responds.

That said if the problem moved then it won't be the BOB and chances are it's a drive or wiring to drive.? . . Again I would check the connections at the drives.

[jimbo_cnc]

I moved the outputs of the BOB to different drivers. So the problem changing axis shows that the driver is not the problem as the problem follows the BOB output independent of which driver it is wired to.

Here is a boring video of the 2 problems.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoAGHdbffnQ

[EddyCurrent]

Using the red LED's on the drivers as diagnostics, what happens when everthing is connected apart from all the motors ? i.e. just unplug all the motrs, does the fault still happen ? DO NOT unplug them with power on, it will probably blow the drivers.

[jimbo_cnc]

The LEDs behave the same with no motors connected (there was just 1 connected in the video)