Mystery hardware

Did you configure the X axis this way when you tested?

Yep, its the only config that made the motor do anything at all

Andy just mentioned that his crappy board had some limits that needed to be jumped out to work. The DB9 has the X axis limits on pin 1 and 10...

So I can just insert a wire from 1 to 10 on the DB9 and it might do something?

And yes, I have considered just buying something I know will work and moving, but since I was kinda forced to pay for this I just wanted to make sure that I could not use it for anything at all.

Nope, made no difference.

I have made a discovery.
When I jog in EMC the motor jumps to a position, then jumps back again 0.04mm later. And so it goes
Whenever I pass one of those 0.04mm marks it jumps to the other side.

Maybe I will just have a google for something about the symptoms I am having and I am contemplating sending an email to the Chinese company that made the board. Maybe they will be able to tell if this is a bad board.

If you think of something in the meantime, please share

Tried pinging "the zone" to see if someone there might have seen this before.

I have found someone with the same problem, but not with hardware that even remotely resembles mine.

www.makingthings.com/forum/devices/163705799

Maybe one of you guys can make some sense of the answers?

Tried with a different motor. This one goes all the way around and changes direction as directed, but it is still VERY choppy.
Changing the steps-per-revolution to 2000 from 200 makes it smooth, but that seems silly that it should be that high. And the motor still squeeks, even with 2000

I have sent an email to the hyu68 guys to ask if they can see if the board is dead.

It wouldn't be so bad to buy a new controller if I just new that all my motors are working and what kind of motors they are. Oh well, lets see what tomorrow brings.

Changing the steps-per-revolution to 2000 from 200 makes it smooth, but that seems silly that it should be that high. And the motor still squeeks, even with 2000

As stated in the begining of this thread you may just have a Scale/velocity/acceleration mismatch.
You just may be trying to accelerate and run the steppers faster than the available power allows.

I would start over with...
Run the latency test on the computer you are going to use.
Run Stepconfig with those numbers.
See how a scale of 2000 or even 4000 works.
Steppers motors even small one have a limited rpm range if they are smooth at a low rpm everything may be O.K.
Your latency, drivers, micorstep setting, power supply and motors will be some of the factors that determine how the motor can be driven.

Rick G

First to answer a few questions.
I run in mm
I am using stepconf. If AXIS means trying to jog the axis in EMC, then I do that as well.


Where do I set scale? The motor has 200 steps for revolution for sure. When I set it to 2000, it takes 10 revolutions when I tell it to move 5mm. The pitch is set to 5mm so it should be only one revolution.

Could this be a grounding issue, should something be sharing a ground connection?

I have found something a little odd.
If I use stepconf and the "Test this axis" button. If I set velocity to 0.0, I get much smoother movement. But holding the motor it still feels like it is struggling inside to find the right steps. A scouring feeling, if you get what I mean. If I then increase acceleration to 400 I get OK smooth movement, but I have no idea if it suppose to be at that speed. Also I cannot set 0 in velocity since the stepconf wint allow it. But setting -1 works just as well in the test window.
But using this configuration I cannot make the motor move from inside EMC.

Also I have a feeling that I am fixing some problem from the wrong end you know?
But the microstepping matches with the Dip's on the board. And the revolutions match with the distance I ask the motor to travel.

EUREKA!!

I think I got it now!

Took your advice Rick and just started a new stepconf. I must have forgotten something in the old one, because now it works.

Only one little thing to rain on my parade. One of the motors is not working properly. It was the first I tested with and maybe I broke it or it is the reason I thought nothing worked to begin with.

It stutters much more that the others and stalls all the time on any settings I throw at it. It also sound much worse than any of the others.

Its a real pain if I have to try and find a new matching one since I know nothing about these motors. So I might be forced to by a new kit anyway


So how do I make the A axis a "slave" to the Y?
I know there is a gantry sample config, but how do I merge it with my settings from stepconf?

Oh, forgot to add that I am deeply grateful for all the time and effort you have put into helping me.
It is of course easy to promise when most of you are halfway around the globe, but should you ever find yourself in Denmark, I do believe I owe you a beer