I’m building the OX CNC and using the Smoothieboard 5X. I’ve read where people build the whole thing in 2 days. Well, I’ve been working on it for a few months and most of that time has been spent trying to figure out how to get the Smoothie to send a command. I don’t understand circuit boards very well and I’m learning on the Smoothieboard but need some help.
My setup is as follows.
24V PSU is powering the board and a 48V PSU is powering the spindle.
I have the spindle working using the M3 and M5 commands just like it says on the site.
The stepper motors are another issue.
Since I need more than 2A for each NEMA 23 stepper motor, I am using motor controller boards and have them set up according to the external stepper section on the site. There is an X, 2 Ys, and a Z motor but only the Z is connected at the moment for testing purposes.
Z is connected as described in the “external driver requires 5V” section as Open-Drain (see http://arthurwolf.github.io/smoothieboard-graphics/schematics/external-driver-open-drain.svg). I am showing 4.1V on all of the ENA, PUL, and DIR pins as measured with a multimeter but I’m not sure if that is correct or not since I thought I would see 5V. I’m guessing it’s a voltage drop across a diode.
I have added the ‘o’ to the three gamma pins in the config file.
When I access through Pronterface or the browser interface I get the same results. I click on all step sizes of Z both positive and negative and don’t get so much as a click from the stepper motor.
Since I’m learning as I go, it might be something obvious in my config file. Is there something else I would need to set besides the ena, dir, pul, and current in the file to make this work?
Have you been able to get anything to move? Could you post your configuration file? When did you last update the board firmware? Have you been able to get it to move with the onboard stepper drivers?
I have not been able to get the steppers to move yet but I have been able to get the spindle to spin up using the big MOSFET 1.23. I last updated the firmware in July. https://www.dropbox.com/s/pyteh4b5duyyda6/config?dl=0
You do have ground connected to your external drivers right? Try using smoothie’s onboard drivers for testing, your motors will be a bit weak but should still turn well enough
@Triffid_Hunter Yes the external drivers are grounded. Here’s a pic of one of the motor controllers.
So are you saying I go straight from M1 to my X stepper motor and bypass the motor controller even though the motor requires 2.8A? It will still work with such a low current? missing/deleted image from Google+
no I want you to change whatever channel you are using (you said Z) and change the gamma_en_pin so it has a ! after it. (or alpha if that is the channel you are testing)
I will first try inverting the pin in the config file and if I get no response from that then I will do what @Triffid_Hunter suggests and bypass the external driver and wire straight from the board to the motor.
Torque is loosely proportional to current, 2.8A motors at 2A should still be pretty strong. Keep in mind that many repraps are running 1.5-1.8A motors at only 1A with great results. Also keep in mind that if you run a motor at it’s rated current, it’ll heat up to about 80°C - usually we run them lower than their rating to prevent the motor getting too hot.
For best results at 2A, organise some airflow underneath the onboard stepper drivers - on smoothie, their heatsink is the back of the PCB. If your ambient temperature is hot, you might have to turn them down to 1.8A or so
@Arthur_Wolf I’m wired up as shown in this pic with the open drain. I’m going to go try the suggestions from @Wolfmanjm and @Triffid_Hunter right now and report back. missing/deleted image from Google+
I inverted the enable pins and now something is happening. I now have
gamma_step_pin 2.2o # Pin for gamma stepper step signal
gamma_dir_pin 0.20o # Pin for gamma stepper direction
gamma_en_pin 0.19o! # Pin for gamma enable
gamma_current 1.68 # Z stepper motor current
gamma_max_rate 300.0 # mm/min
So here’s the next problem. I go into the web browser UI and press the Z up or down buttons and I get that high pitch stepper motor sound but nothing is moving.
I just tried it again but this time put slight force with my hand and it moved. It almost seems like it’s not getting enough power. I know mechanically it’s not too tight since I can move it pretty easily when no power is on. Any ideas?
I just have the default settings in the config file. Do you have some ballpark figures for a NEMA 23 motor as I’m not sure where to start with this. All I know is I have 20 tooth gears and an GT3 belt on my XY and a screw for the Z. Here’s that top portion from my config file.
Robot module configurations : general handling of movement G-codes and slicing into moves
default_feed_rate 4000 # Default rate ( mm/minute ) for G1/G2/G3 moves
default_seek_rate 4000 # Default rate ( mm/minute ) for G0 moves
mm_per_arc_segment 0.5 # Arcs are cut into segments ( lines ), this is the length for
# these segments. Smaller values mean more resolution,
# higher values mean faster computation
mm_per_line_segment 5 # Lines can be cut into segments ( not usefull with cartesian
# coordinates robots ).
Arm solution configuration : Cartesian robot. Translates mm positions into stepper positions
alpha_steps_per_mm 80 # Steps per mm for alpha stepper
beta_steps_per_mm 80 # Steps per mm for beta stepper
gamma_steps_per_mm 1600 # Steps per mm for gamma stepper
Planner module configuration : Look-ahead and acceleration configuration
planner_queue_size 32 # DO NOT CHANGE THIS UNLESS YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE DOING
acceleration 3000 # Acceleration in mm/second/second. #z_acceleration 500 # Acceleration for Z only moves in mm/s^2, 0 uses acceleration which is the default. DO NOT SET ON A DELTA
acceleration_ticks_per_second 1000 # Number of times per second the speed is updated
junction_deviation 0.05 # Similar to the old “max_jerk”, in millimeters,
Stepper module configuration
microseconds_per_step_pulse 1 # Duration of step pulses to stepper drivers, in microseconds
base_stepping_frequency 100000 # Base frequency for stepping, higher gives smoother movement
Set acceleration to 100, and in the software you are controlling Smoothie from modify the speed to 100mm/minute, and try again.
Did you set the current on the stepper drivers correctly ( using the switches ) ?
