My G0704 CNC Conversion - Down to the Short Rows

Lately I'm making significant progress.
This conversion is a Hoss-type.
X, Y & Z Axis Ball Screws/Nuts, Mounts and Steppers in place.
Oiling mods completed and plumbing in place.
Mach3 installed.
X, Y Steppers Jogged successfully but motor tuning not completed.
Z Stepper doesn't move.

Major Electrical Components
X, Y Steppers - KL23H2100-50-4B, 4-wire
Z Stepper - KL34H295-43-8A. 8-wire - connected in bi-polar series mode.
All three Drivers - KL-5056
BOB - C10
X, Y, Z Driver DIP Settings
1-off
2-on
3-on
4-off
5-off
6-off
7-on
8-on

Again, X&Y steppers jog.
Z does not jog - it doesn't move at all.
I have wire checked and connections are correct.
So, I would appreciate some guidance trouble-shooting the Z motor circuit and motor winding connections and driver settings.

Thanks in advance.
Frank

Mach3 settings correct?

Hi Frank
I would first
look on the mach3 main screen and make sure "Z inhibit" is not checked.
Steve

JimDawson said:

Mach3 settings correct?

Click to expand...

Thank you Jim, but if I knew the answer to that question, I'd be up and running!
So, what do you suggest.

jumps4 said:

Hi Frank
I would first
look on the mach3 main screen and make sure "Z inhibit" is not checked.
Steve

Click to expand...

Thanks Steve! I'll check that.

Could you comment concerning the Z-Axis stepper winding connections? For Bi-polar, what would be best, series or parallel?
In my limited experience, the Z-stepper seems to do the least amount of movement, so what would be best, highest torque or highest velocity?

Frank

Gentlemen, I went back and did a little research. It seems that my DIP SW setting for the KL-5056D drivers is good. So, I started trouble shooting my connections and tried a different set of connections for the drivers where they terminate on the BOB. That fixed the non-responsive Z stepper issue, and its now zipping up and down the column just as happy as could be! In fact all three axes are moving very smoothly. I really don't think the different pins I selected for X, Y, and Z made a difference - they should all work. I probably had a loose connection.

So, now on to the next steps.

Re-mount the head.
Add the limit/homing switches
Connect the oiler and check it's function

Thanks for your support.

Frank

jumps4 said:

Hi Frank
I would first
look on the mach3 main screen and make sure "Z inhibit" is not checked.
Steve

Click to expand...

jumps4 said:

Hi Frank
I would first
look on the mach3 main screen and make sure "Z inhibit" is not checked.
Steve

Click to expand...

Hello to Steve and anyone who might have a suggestion.



Although I have completed the conversion, I'm really having fits with the motor tuning and axis calibration. Something very strange is happening. I would like to take this real slow because I have very little experience with Mach3. I will list some basic facts regarding my cnc conversion. I apologize in advance if I repeat what I stated in previous posts.


My machine is a Grizzly G0704, CNC Conversion. Although this started out as a Hoss Phase II project, I changed my plans and decided to use a pre-engineered kit of mechanical parts supplied by David Clements, aka ArizonaVideo99, see for details. I had the saddle machining done by a local shop, they also did the oiling groves. Everything came together nicely.


The ballscrews/nuts are metric - 5mm pitch


The steppers and other electronics are:


2 - KL23H2100-50-4B, 570 Oz-In (NEMA 23, for X & Y axes


1 - KL34H295-43-8A,960 Oz-In (NEMA34), for Z-axis


Drivers


3 - KL-5056D Digital Bipolar Stepper Motor Driver, set for 1/8 micro-stepping


C10 – BOB parallel port connection


I'm using Mach3, running on Win XP. I currently have the evaluation (free) version, but intend to purchase a license as soon as I iron out the strange symptoms I’ve experienced.


I have been able to get everything connected and responding to mach3. I can jog the axes.


My problem started when I tried to use motor tuning.


Per suggestion based on others, I set the X, Y and Z very conservatively, with an initial velocity of 20 inches/min, and accel of 3 in/sec/sec


I calculated the steps per inch first before trying the routine within mach3. I did it like this:


My stepper motors - 200 steps/rev

Micro-stepping - 8 pulses/step

So, 200 x 8 = 1600 pulses/rev

no gear or pulley multiplier, e.g. N = 1


ball screw - 5 mm pitch or 5/25.4 in. pitch = 5.08 TPI

steps/inch = 200 x 8 x 5.08 = 8128.


So, I entered 8128 for steps per inch.

Then, I did an initial gib adjustment for the X-axis like Steve, Jumps4, shows on YouTube. I made sure that the X-axis gib wasn't too tight.

I set up a dial indicator to measure movement in the X-axis. I did this several times and took an average. For an input of 0.100, I was consistently getting .097. So, I went to the Mach3 settings page to use the steps/inch routine. I entered a value of 0.100 and the x-axis traveled .097. Then for "how far did you travel", I entered 0.097 and Mach3 returned a steps/inch value of 812.xxxxxxx, WHAT IS THIS? Since I was a bit short, I was expecting a number slightly bigger than 8128, maybe 8129 or 8130. But 812????? OK, I know something is crazy, so I answered NO to the recommended steps per inch, closed the program, turned off my electronics, turned off the computer and restarted. I repeated the routine in Mach3 settings for steps per inch but this time I got a different number but off by an order of magnitude, something like 812, 813. So, before I uninstall Mach3 and start over, I wanted to reach out to others who have some experience with Mach3 issues. Please let me know where I goofed.

Many thanks,

Frank

if you think that it should be slightly higher, then why not just enter 8130 and do you test again with the dial indicator. Direct experimenting should get you to the right answer fairly quickly without having to rely on mach3 to do the calculation for you.