Verify that you have correctly set jumper JP-1 on the PMDX-122 board for the Gecko G203v stepper drivers. The G203v drivers use Common GROUND, so you must use the settings found in Figure 2 on page 7 of the manual. (The manual can be confusing because many users assume that the settings for all Gecko stepper drivers use Figure 1 that is found on page 6; however, that jumper setting is for the G201, G202, G210 and G212 stepper drivers. Those stepper drivers all used a Common HIGH signal. Marris changed things when he designed the G203v. There have been several times when I've gotten caught when I've switched the PMDX-122 card between test benches. One of my test benches is setup with G202 stepper drivers. The other test benches all use G203v stepper drivers. When I forgot to change the jumper setting, the stepper drivers didn't work. One time I even had the oscilloscope hooked up so that I could look at the signals - then I remembered to switch the jumper.)

Motors won't turn after the setting up - PMDX-122 jumpers incorrect

Cannot get motor to turn - Mach Ports & Pins setup

Motors do not move after initial setting up - Mach setups

http://mechmate.com/forums/images/misc/paperclip.gif Upgraded Mach, now the motors won't turn - Different ports/pins for later Mach

There is some change in the motor reaction and lights on the geckos. But still nothing close enough to wha it should be. When pressing arrows on the keyboard the motors are buzzing or wibrating. They do not turn just vibrating. I did change the jumper to be grounded for the gecko on the pmdx. There is red light on the gecko together with the green one. Maybe the power is not sufficient enough to power up the motors? When I press tab on the keyboard and there is 100 % slow jog motors buzz. I changed that to 60 % motor started to turn slowly but still vibrating. Any ideas what might be wrong?

How have you connected a power supply to the PMDX-122 card? Page 4 of the PMDX-122 instuction manual lists the three different ways that a power supply can be connected to the board. (In your photo, I don't see anything connected to any of the three power supply inputs - to the USB connector, to the J11 coaxial jack, or to terminals on J8.)

I have it connected via usb from a computer. The picture does not show that but chose this way of powering the pmdx.

Let's do some basic trouble-shooting. Check the voltage on the PMDX-122 J5 connector. Verify that you have 5VDC between the +5 and the GND terminals. Then, with your meter connected to the +5VDC terminal on J5, verify that you have 5V when you touch a probe to J1-Common, J2-Common, J3-Common and J4-Common.

The actual voltage may be slightly different, but +4.75V to +5.15V is acceptable for most TTL type circuits.

If the voltage test passes, then you'll need to use an oscilloscope to check the actual pulses being sent to the G203v stepper drivers. All that the PMDX-122 board does, as far as step and direction, is to buffer (amplify) the signals. Whatever signal is sent through the parallel port to the PMDX-122 is buffered and then passed on to the G203v. If you connect the 'scope's ground lead to GND on the PMDX board, and then touch the probe to J1-Step you should see pulses being sent to the G203v. The voltage of the pulses must be at least 2.5V (they will probably be about 5V). The width of the pulse must be at least 2uSec (which you can set in the Motor Tuning section of Mach 3).

At this point, as long as you have a Green light on the G203v stepper driver, pulses sent through the PMDX-122 to the G203v should make the motors turn.

A very crude test can be made my connecting two fresh AA batteries in series (so that you have about 3V). Connect the (-) end of the batteries to the Common on the G203v and then tap the lead from the (+) end of the battery to the Step terminal on the G203v. The pulses will cause the motor to turn. It will take 2,000 taps to make the motor's shaft turn one time, but you will at least be able to verify that the G203v is working.

I checked the voltage. It shows 4.9 VDC on the pmdx +5 and ground on J5. I also tried J5 +5 and common on J1 J2 J3 J4 and again it showed 4.9 VDC. I used tuninig settings in mach3 and managed to have the motors turning nice and smoth for 30 seconds or so. Then they stop and the red light appears on the gecko next to green one. The green and the red are lit together. I think it might due to the wire I used for the kitchen project. The trouble shooting page in the gecko user manual there is something abouth not using short circuit. I cut wire which is a meter long and used it to connect the geco and the motor.

Hmm. Two thoughts:

Check this: http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showt...07&postcount=2

And, from the Gecko manual:

ERROR LED: The RED ERROR indicator is lit when:
1) During power-on reset for 1 second when power is first applied to the G203V.
2) While the DISABLE input is active.
3) When there is a short-circuit on any motor output. Momentarily activate the DISABLE input to reset.
4) During over-temperature shutdown. The LED automatically resets when the drive temperature drops.

Obviously it's not case #1. Since you motors did run for 30 seconds, it probably isn't #3.

So I think you should:

A) take a measurement on your disable input pin
B) Double check that issue with GND it the referenced post above.
C) Double check your current set resistor values by measuring them.
D) Double check for a thermal problem. Are your geckos warming up? Are they heatsinked well?

Let's look at the wires from the motors again.

- Have you taped each unused wire so that it cannot short itself to any other wire?

- Are the current limiting resistors about 40K?

- What is the temperature of the G203s (Room temperature, warm or hot)?

- Is anything at all connected to the Disable terminals on the G203s?

Assuming that you've used an extension cable between the G203 and the stepper motor, are the wires electrically insulated from each other?

My G203v drivers are all heatsinked on a large piece of aluminum, but I don't think that even unheatsinked drivers would overhead in 30 seconds from motors that only pull 3A maximum. When I run my PK296B2A-SG3.6 motors, the G203 drivers hardly ever get much above room temperature.

I'm thinking that you have mistakenly miswired the drivers to the motors somehow. If possible, connect a motor directly to the G203.

-Wire the motor's BLACK wire to coil A (Terminal #3).
-Wire the motor's YELLOW wire to coil /A (Terminal #4).
-Wire the motor's RED wire to coil B (Terminal #5).
-Wire the motor's WHITE wire to coil /B (Terminal #6).

Hi Martin,
I had the same problem with my test panel. I checked every wire to the motors for continuity. I found 4 bad crimpings. Fixed them and everything worked! Problem was that only one coil was working making the motors to oscilate. Good luck.

Hi everybody, I used your advice and connected motors directly to the gecko. I did it and it turned out to be excelent idea. Well I tried with only one connected and it run smoothly and continously without any interruption. It seems there was a a problem with the wire I used for connecting the motors to the gecko. Anyways, I hope all of them will work fine just like the one I tested. I thank you guys for your advice. It was awesome experience to see the motor turn and change direction without a problem.

I have almost everything ready with them control box. My other parts for the mechmate are also waiting. Racks and pinions, bearings from Rick and Superior Bearings. At first I wanted to have the table made form me but now I will venture to build it. Just need to find space for it. It would be quite difficult to find some in the block of flats I live in. Let alone it is on the second floor:). I have a question about the E-stop though. I run my power supply on 230V and I read that it is not advised to place any switches on the DC side of the control box. So bearing in mind that high voltage do I wire the E-stop to PMDX using the voltage through that BOB?

Martin, can you give us photos inside your control box before we answer the E-stop question? I would like to see the back of the E-stop switch on the door, and the components where you connect the transformer.

This is how I got it wired in the control box.

Normally the E-stop will have 2 independent switches behind it (your photos show no switches on the E-stop button now). Both those switches will be Normally Closed (NC), for us they will be red, similar to the red and green switches behind your stop/start buttons.

One switch will handle the PMDX - see diagram in this post. See connector J6 at top left.

The other switch will break the mains supply to the transformer, by switching off the contactor. At the control box, this does exactly the same as your red stop button.

Gerald gave an excellent description of connecting an E-stop switch.

It's good to remember that the E-stop on the PMDX-122 board ONLY handles 5V. It SINKS current, meaning that whatever is attached to the E-Stop input must normally be connected to ground. When the E-stop switch is activated, it opens the circuit so that the E-stop input floats HIGH and the PMDX-122 stops all outputs.

So, if you use a two-switch E-stop, as Gerald described, it will be easy to let one switch handle the low voltage/low current required by the PMDX-122 while the other switch handles the high voltage/higher current required by the self-latching circuit that keeps the Contactor energized.

HI everybody, it is good to be back. I am happy to show you some more pictures with the progress. The next stage is finished and the table is standing. Before we started with the welding of the actual table frame we decided to practise on the shop table. It is good to have one anyways. Now probably more daunting objective is approaching. There are four rails to be done with the device attached to the grinder. Again I shall practise before I start the jobi.

Martin,

Your build is looking good. You need to add some color on your machine to brighten the place up.

Hmmm, in this particular shabby environment I think shinny yellow instead of blue would do the trick:D

Very nice Martin,

Although you might need more Zubr to hold down the I-Beams!

Good day to everyone, and I am happy to be back again. I will post some photos later on to give you an update on the progress me and my friend have made since last time.
At the moment we are choosing appropriate gas spring. I found one that it rated at 500N. It doesn not feel right when I press it. As a rule of thumb 500N is around 50kg this is the force I have to use to make it work. Taking into account the weight of them parts involved directly is this gas spring to stiff? The stroke is right for the 350 tube but I am worried about the motor if it is gonna handle the force.

Unfortunately the 500N is far too much!

I received screened cables and will do the drilling on pinions cause the hole diamiter does not match the size of motors shaft. Will post some more photos soon. I have two weeks holiday and I hope the machine will be moving in two weeks time. I cant find right sized gas spring. Decided to order chinese water cooled spindle as well. It will take some time before we receive it but we will be busy anyway.

Looking very good Martin! You'll be up and running very soon. Happy Zubr to you ;)

Thank you Greg, I am still waiting for thins to arrive. The spindle has arrived in
Poland. This is quite fast actualy, I only paid for it last week. I also ordered some other stuff from local sources but they gonna take longer to arrive than that spindle from China. I found 150N gas spring and it is used in agriculture equipment like tractors, it is far more weaker than the one I had previously with 500N. At the moment we are working out how to cool down the spindle. We decided to use 110V pump that we found in a machine used for developing pictures from a film. Old school equipment. Will post some more pictures soon. I ordered some more push buttons as well. So the wiring shall start as soon as we receive them. As far as the proxies are concerned can all four be connected in series to a pmdx board? Or do they all have to be wired independetly? This is the one I would like to use IME12-04NPSZW2K it is M12 4mm range NO PNP

This is the pump and radiator is from ford sierra. Got it from scrapyard. All together with the fan connected shall be sufficient enough to cool down the spindle. What do you guys think about that solution?

Hi Martin,
You need some more stuff. The radiator you have will act as a condenser and must be linked to the high pressure side of the compressor. The outlet of the radiator must be connected to a flow restriction device, normally a capillary (small diameter) tube. This can then go into a water container with a 1/4 inch copper coil to remove the heat from the water, which then circulates to spindle. Solder everything up with coppertec.

I would not circulate the refrigerant to the spindle.

Pressure test your system with nitrogen to detect any leaks, evacuate down to 500 um to remove any moisture and charge with R134A, any other refrigerant will damage the compressor.

Better to have a cousin in the refrigeration business.

Jan

Thank you Jan for your input. I was thinking that the radiator would absorb the heat from the water while flowing through it. The fan that is shown in the picture is to ventilate the radiator so that the heat is reduced. Hmmm, how hot can the spindle get anyways? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OZCviK0msg I saw this video and liked the idea. I am getting same spindle.

well chk this cooling I have done to a similar spindle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a04a_FtbR44

no problems even when working for the whole day - only see that your pump is rated for continuous operation, (it should be brushless)

the radiator is essentially un-necessary. and I would not like to have extended wiring on the y car for the pump etc, better to have it located in a static position. The tubes are really cheap -

RGDS
IRfan

Jan, you are are thinking of a gas refrigerant system, which completely misses the basics of a standard water-cooled spindle.

Ja, got it! Somewhere between 2 and 5 this morning.

Thank you Ifran for your link, It is great. I plan to do something similar. Although I would like to have my cooling system located on the gantry.

Can anyone please tell me why it does not work when I try to use this extention? When I use regular cable it is ok. But when I the one in the photo it is different. I wanted to make some drilling to locate the xtention on the side of the control box and then plug the cable to it from computer.

Response is posted here

Jack, I copied his post to the other thread, where I thought there would be more readers - but I forgot to add my normal note.

I have received my spindle and VFD today. The spindle itself weighs 5.5 kg. I also received phoenix din rail block connectors and interface relays as well. So the wiring of the machine should start soon. I am still waiting for 3 more proxies and of course a gas spring. It all takes so much time for me to grasp the knowledge as far as the electronic is concerned. Now my main concern is to find right way to connect the VFD and the spindle:confused:Wil keep you posted;)

Hi Martin, There are threads on here and elsewhere which explain how to wire it up. I am hopefully going to wire mine up tomorrow (if cable arrives) so once ive done it if i can help i will.
Hopefully be cutting at the weekend:D
Andy

Thank you for your input Andy. I received email from the seller and he recomends programming the VFD before running the spindle.

I just tell you how to set up vfd as following
Firstly, adjust the PD013 to 8
Secondly, adjust the PD005 to 400
Thirdly, adjust the PD004 to 400
Finally, adjust the PD003 to 400
Note: you should set PD013, PD005 ,PD004,PD003 in order. It mean you should fistly set PD013, then PD005, then PD004, finally set PD003.
Note: after you set the all above, then please recheck the PD005, PD004, PD003 value is 400 or not to confimed that you already set it.
The reason we let you recheck is that if you do not set it at 400, then when you run the spindle motor, the spindle motor will be over-current, then the spindle will very hot and then within 5 minite, it will broken.
Regards Aoran
4. Note, please use the clean water to cool the spindle, and also do not let the dust to dirt the water. If the water not clean, it will lead the spindle to jam.

This is what I received from him. This may help you program yours.

Testing or actually tunning the machine we are now. At the moment all the wires are run through. I am trying to set Mach3 for optimal configuration. I get wierd sound whenever the speed reaches 360. The motors lock up and then move again when the speed drops. I am using geared motors unipolar connection using four wires out of 8. My power supply deliveres 33 VDC to the drives. I think it might not be enough for faster speeds. I got the steps set for 127.388 with 36 tooth pinion. I am gonna try and adjust the tripot next time and see what happens or replace the tansformer to raise the voltage.

Martin, have tried using a different computer? I don't think you have a voltage problem.