Switching board is my own plan for my DLC V2.0…
I tried using a board I had available to me. The MKS Gen L V1.0 running GRBL.
My results are not good.
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Can you run all the same cut settings but with linear moves: lines, square, rectangles etc. Just to confirm that you aren’t losing steps. With linear moves it’ll be a lot easier to confirm that all the lengths are correct compared back to the cad.
Because if it’s for some reason how Grbl is handling arcs and curves… Then your straight line move G-Code test should come up correct.
I’d say it didn’t go well. Not sure why the first 3 squares are not connected like the picture. Not sure how it managed to get the last one right.
OK, this is a long shot here, but how long have you been using this rig? If you have been having good luck but now all-of-a-sudden you’re getting unexplained deviations, my guess is the belts. White usually indicates a steel reinforced belt. Bending over those small pulleys the steel wire in the belts will break relatively quickly. My guess is that you are getting belt stretch that is causing your seemingly random cut deviations. Try pulling your belts at intervals and see if there is a noticeable stretch in places. If so, replace them with the black, fiberglass/nylon reinforced belts.
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I went out this morning and thought I would tighten the beds and all would be good. Not!!
I figured out that the slightest pressure will cause it to miss steps. I’m surprised I could stop X or Y with my hand. Something here doesn’t seem right.
Both X and Y are set and 4 amps. 1/16 micosteps.
Can I supply the steppers with 5 Volts from the board?
The 5V you are supplying to the drivers should be for the Enable+, Direction+, and Pulse+ lines only, and that you can supply from the board. The Vmot that you provide to the stepper drivers to power the motors needs to be much higher. (It looks like this is labelled “Vcc” on your TB6600 drivers.) 24V is common and should be sufficient. 5V will absolutely not be enough to supply the stepper motors themselves.
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Ahh, @mcdanlj is right! If you are only supplying 5v to the VCC terminal to power the motors, especially through/from the DLC board, your under powering your stepper motors. Those look like NEMA23 motors which you will probably want at least 12v to power. As for the EN/STEP/DIR connectors, all the (-) terminals should be tied together to ground. The (+) terminals should correspond to the EN/STEP/DIR coming from each axis output on the DLC board.
@Strider_Matic Look much earlier in the thread; I believe that @bcrazycramer is using open drain configuration in which voltage is supplied to the + terminals, and the signals are connected individually to ground. This is a pretty normal configuration.
(I’m not using open drain for my MKS DLC V2.0 because I’m using external drivers that take logic level inputs, rather that the separate optocoupler inputs that are on these TB6600-based drivers.)
Ok, got it. After seeing that my guess is that he probably didn’t get movement when hooked up active high without inverting the Enable pins in the Grbl config.
So, going way back to the topic of “open drain” I see this:
So I don’t know that the firmware on the MKS DLC V2.0 actually supports open drain. The if in “if it’s working” may have been “well, actually, it isn’t”
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Kind of sounds like I just need to throw in the towel and call this done.
I will be getting a Root Controller ESP32 in a few days.
Note that ESP32 GPIOs are reported to be sometimes 5V tolerant (for open-drain configuration) even though they are not labeled as such, but might not drive those optocouplers in active-high configuration. Is the Root Controller ESP32 known to drive external controllers well? Or does it have sufficiently powerful drivers on board?
I have this Root Controller GRBL_EPS32 now and of course I’m still having trouble. I don’t get any movement from X or the Z stepper motor.
How can I check to see if the Root Controller is actually sending the needed signal to the DM542Y stepper drivers to move the stepper motor?
Is it configured for open drain? The signals you have marked as connected are for open drain configuration, but the ports actually have to be set as open drain on the ESP32 for that to work. I don’t know about the Root Controller; do you have information documenting how to configure it for open drain?
I got it working by with the help of Pete by changing these to enabled: $2=1, $3=1, $4=1.
I’m still getting an error when I try to home though:
Hard limit has been triggered. Machine position is likely lost due to sudden halt.
You might want to post a complete $$ dump? That’s normally a problem if $5 isn’t set right.