Servo Wiring and Tuning detailed How To example Mesa 7i77.

That also seems to be suspect, so I am re-running the code that calculates the scale from the passage of 100 revs according to the home switch. As its a bunch slower than your harmonic drive, it will take about an hour to do 100 turns.

Hi I`m relatively new to Linuxcnc but not new to cnc machines.
 I am retrofitting a bench top cnc mill made by the Light Machine Corperation and I am in the process of testing the motors and drives,
the motors are Lifton 24V brushed servo motors with 1000 line quadrature encoders and the drives are Copley Controls 412`s.
My setup is a Mesa 6i25 and a 7i77 controller, I currently have two of the motors and drives setup as a lathe configuration in Pncconf.
The drives are adjusted so that when power is applied the motors are stationary in thier deadband without input, but the moment I connect
the inputs and enable the dirves the motors run away and cause a following error and also you can`t control them using the open loop test 
in Pncconf.
As for tuning I`m possibly doing somthing wrong or there is a hardware problem, my attempt at tuning with the calibration page and 
hal scope I have  set all the perameters to zero and 1000 with any number inbetween and I can`t change anythig all the motors do is run away and cause
a following error whatever setting I try !
Could someone please help and give me an idear of what to try next.
Thanks

A runaway indicates that the feedback is backwards.

If the encoders read in the correct directions, you must change the sign
of the analog output:

For example, in the JOINT_N section of the .ini file, if

OUTPUT_SCALE = 10.0

Change it to

OUTPUT_SCALE = -10.0

I have tried every combination of wires and scale -10 in the ini file.
I started by enabling the drive and the motor ran away CCW I then reversed the motor power wires and enabled again this time the motor ran away CW with +0.8V on the input. I then reversed the input wires and the motor ran CCW with again +0.8V and the last time reversed the motor power which then ran CW with -0.8V on the input. (the encoders stayed as they are). Any ideas ????

Does the drive run away when enabled and its analog input is disconnected?

Sounds like a hardware or wiring error.

1. Do the encoders read the correct values and in the proper directions?
2. If enabled and with 0V input to the drive, do the motors hold position?
(they might drift slowly)

3. I would not bother with pncconfs open loop
tests but rather run LinuxCNC and use the calibrate pane.

4 If you set all PID parameters to 0 in the ini file (no feedback) the
analog output should be very close to 0V so no runaway should be possible.
If it still runs away (slow creeping is OK) you have a hardware issue

5. In general you should never swap the motor leads on velocity mode
drives as this reverses the drives velocity feedback, which guarantees
runaway in the drive itself.                                      


 

no the motor just hums a little with no input and if you touch the ihput wires with your fingers you can get the motor to turn cw or ccw depending on which wire you touch.
I`m certain the drives, motors and encoders are working fine, it seems to me to be an input problem. Maybe I`m missing something in Pncconf !
Any ideas ??