My control box
 

Need some wire and paint, all in good time

Hi Koning,
Does the second pc board at the top work with your spindle?
I see that you will have to use shielded signal wire like me as well.:)
Looking good!

Hallo Lex
Yes the second pc board is for the spindel control, shielded is the way to go, I can only follow the advice from my friends here in the forum, they have the experience.

Hi to all
I am back at working on my MM, work kept me away for a long time, I have done most of the control wires and some of the this and that things, tomorrow will be testing day to find out if all is working or not, The steppers is connected, Andeli VFd is connected, watercooled Spindel mounted and so on, pictures will follow with the questions of "why or how do I get the motors to turn,

Progress on the stoep
 

The kitchen table process is in progress, 3 of the steppers is moving and Y axis gecko error, When i power the control pannel all 4 Geckos green LEDs is on, as soon as i connect the cabel and motor to the gecko the red and green led lights up, according to gecko trouble shoot this indicate a short to ground. here follow my actions of fault finding:
1)Disconnected the motor and cabel from gecko - reset power= green Led
2)Connect only stepmotor cabel to gecko = red/green Led
3)Connect cable and motor to gecko = red/green Led
3)Complete elimination of short circuit in cable and motor winding with fluke multi meter = nothing found
4)Connect cable and motor from 100% working drive = red/green Led
5)Comlete gecko swap from Y drive circuit to fully function X circuit with no motor and cable connected = green Led
6)Connect any motor and cable to this gecko = red/green Led
7)Tested and swapped current set resistor = red/green Led

Any sudgestions on how to get rid of the Red led, can it be that the Gecko is "kapoet"

I had better success with the Chinese spindel, programmed the Andeli VFD, Spindel is turning nicely without the PMDX 106, have done the connetions for the Pmdx106spindel control card, now I need to find out how to configure Mach 3.

The water system to cool the spindel is in place, for now I will use a standard water bucket with a fish tank water pump, I have soldered bigger fittings to the inlet and outlet at the spindel to be abel to use a larger diameter tubing.

Thats all friends

Koning,
An easy way to find out if the drive is bad and you have exhausted all the wiring options, is to swap a known good drive for the suspected bad one. Or just swap a known good motor connection to the suspected bad drive to isolate bad drive or bad motor wiring.

The proof of progress
 

The MechMate Logo will be on the next set of Pictures

Hi Heath
I have done that in point (4) and (5), i wonderif should open the gecko to see if there is a piece of copper wire offcut stuck in there?

It's not clear in (6) if this was a good gecko in the bad circuit, or the bad gecko in a good circuit.

If it's good gecko in bad circuit, then something may be funny with the mounting or power supply to this one gecko. if it's the other way, then I would suspect a bad drive.

There is always the possibility that you have a defective G203v, but I'm guessing that the problem is improper grounding of the heat-sink. According to Mariss, who designed the G203v, the power FETs used in the G203v are grounded to the G203v's case, but the case is insulated from the heat-sink by its hard-anodized coating. If a screw cuts through the hard-anodizing, you might have a problem - unless the heat-sink is properly grounded to the power supply ground. So, verify with a meter that the G203v's heat sink is grounded properly to the power supply's ground connection.

There is quite a bit of discussion about the insulating properties of the hard-anodizing that Gecko uses on the geckodrive forum at Yahoo.com. Several people have had similar problems over the years.

(Grounding is often misunderstood and often done incorrectly. Gerald has posted photos and diagrams showing the proper methods to use when grounding.)

Excellent progress!

Your Gecko does sound suspicious. No harm in removing its cover and checking inside.

Hi Mike and Gerald, Thank you for the advice, Grounding:I removed the anodizing,at the point where I screwed it to the alu plate, ran a direct ground from Eleck supply to that point with a continued ground dicect to the motor = same effect
1) Removed step/Dir/Comm from PMDX 122 = red/green led replace these again
2) I removed one leg of phase B= red/green Led replace phase B leg
3) Removed one leg of phase A = GREEN LED

I think that gecko need to be replaced

Suggest you phone Geckdrive and discuss it with them. Be ready to answer the questions on their form:
https://www.geckodrive.com/upload/STEPPER%20RETURN.pdf

First cut
 

Hi one and all
I have received a new Gecko, the red LED is something of the past, my MechMmate is smooth as a clock (for someone inexperienced as myself), I am sure there will be some setting and adjusting to be done in the next week. I made the first cut today, nothing much only a circle. I control the spindle manually on the VFD, I still need to learn how to start/stop via Mach3
Regards

Koning,
Looks like all you need now is some labels and your good for a serial number! Looking great!

Well done Koning!

Koning,

Congratulations...!!

Koning,

Congratulations, smooth cutting :)

Koning - congrats

is that earth wire running thru the motor?

Pragtig ! Glad to see it nearly finished.

Koning, there was something unusual about your last picture, and it took me a while to figure what it was . . . .

The dust is so neatly stacked next to the cut.....there is no air stream from the router/spindle. It is now obvious that a water-cooled spindle will leave you with a cleaner workshop.

Goed gedaan! Well done. Koning

Vacuum
 

Thank you, it’s a nice feeling to see it cut,
Irfan, yes that is earth direct from the 220V main power supply, the blue wire is for the Z zero
Gerald
It is nice and clean, that cut was made with no suction on, what bother me is the little nick opposite the cutter, at that point the circle goes wider, will play today and see if it repeat itself.
I have made a swing arm that follow the Z axis, used 4" straight connectors to suspend the hose, fishing swivels between the hose and bracket to allow the hose more flexibility, it works for me, just add blue paint and it will be perfect.

and yes i see the water bucket - does it have a fish pump in it :)

Have a slow read through this thread: Circles are not cut round

Hi Irfan
An ordinary submersable water fountain pump, a fish tank waterpump does not deliver at pumphight (head) of 2meter
Regards

Thanks Koning - thats exactly what I was thinking :)

RGDS
IRfan

My Mechmate is official
 

I have been playing today with the MechMate, did my first cut today that I designed in TurboCad, Then we had the naming ceremony tonight...... nice isn`t it
Regards

Great job Koning!

Congrats on #20

That is a proud man!