On going chinese 6040 problems

**EddyCurrent** · 09-09-2014

Originally Posted by amxen

I'm pretty sure I got nothing regarding the micro settings. I got one sheet of paper showing how to put the parts together that was unreadable.

So are you okay with what microstepping actually does ?

**amxen** · 09-09-2014

Is it how many steps it takes the stepper to do 1 revolution of the spindle?

**EddyCurrent** · 09-09-2014

Originally Posted by amxen

Is it how many steps it takes the stepper to do 1 revolution of the spindle?

Yes, so a setting of 1 will give you the maximum torque, any higher will give you less torque and the reduction can be dramatic. The downside is you will loose accuracy because the smallest increment of the tool is determined by this value. However this is only true up to a point, the greater stability of the motor means there would be fewer lost steps due to the higher torque so a lower setting may increase accuracy, this sounds like it could be the case with your machine and I think you should set the microstepping to the lowest value that is acceptable to you.
If you set it to 1 then the stepper would have 200 steps per revolution, with a ball screw of 5mm pitch the smallest increment would be 5/200 = 0.025mm
It sounds small but if you zoomed in on diagonal cuts it would give you a 'staircase' effect.

Just remember to also set the appropriate 'steps per' in Mach3 so it moves the correct distance.

**amxen** · 09-09-2014

Is it how many steps it takes the stepper to do 1 revolution of the spindle?

**amxen** · 09-09-2014

And this is set on k1 and k2. I'm not sure as I'm not at home but is that a 2 or 3 position switch on the board. ?

I'm going to guess it is a 2 position switch and it is either ON or OFF and you can have a combination of on-on, on-off, or off-on. And this will determine what micro steps it runs at?

**EddyCurrent** · 09-09-2014

Correct, there is a table printed on the PCB showing the options.

**EddyCurrent** · 09-09-2014

Originally Posted by amxen

Is it how many steps it takes the stepper to do 1 revolution of the spindle?

It would be with a 1 to 1 relationship but if you had pulleys for example with different diameters, then the ratio of those diameters would come into the equation.

**amxen** · 09-09-2014

yes it looks like the board has setting of 16.8.2.1 so ill try it set to 2 see if that helps. ill let you know. iv told the seller im not happy with and i would like him to exchange the controller for something thats proven to work or i will open a paypal dispute. i will let you know how i get on

**amxen** · 09-09-2014

ok here are my findings for today. I changed the switch settings to 2 in the mico stepping (K1 n K2) and the steps per to 80. The motor runs smooth when not attached to the cnc (good i thought sorted ). But as soon as i attach it back to the cnc the motor jams more than before. It has no torque at all i can put my hand on it and it jams. it has not got the power to traverse the axis. i put it back to how it was.

So my thoughts are that the steppers motors are under powered.

But the question

1 will the stepper motors take more power

2 will this board give them more power

3 do i need to replace just the board,? should i get a new all in one board or use the drivers i have from the other kit and just get a BOB that will run these drivers,

4 will the stepper motors from the other kit i have be ok for me to use ?

so many questions

thanks for all the help btw

**EddyCurrent** · 09-09-2014

Wait, give this a go first, if the velocity / accel in Mach3 is set too high the motor will stall, put the setting back to 2, fit the motor to the machine and reduce the velocity and acceleration until you get good torque.
Even though you reduced the velocity it could well be faster than previous.

Here's a quote from another forum;

"The other day I did switch from 1/10th step to 1/2 step. Seems to operate about the same overall - only MUCH faster. That first rapid move at 180 ipm was a bit shocking. I ended up at 108 ipm - the motors quit stalling then. Probably had to do with the 20 tpi lead screws. The mill runs great! I was slotting ).050" deep with a 3/16 end mill in aluminum at at 18 ipm and the machine seemed happy as can be. And a 0.015" climb cut finish pass left an awesome surface finish. Fun stuff!"