HELP! nothing moves anymore!

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08 May 2012 10:32 - 08 May 2012 11:04 #19920 by SvenH
Hi folks,

After starting up this morning my stepper motors no longer move. Everything was fine on friday but now things move in axis but not on the machine. At first the z axis would move down but not up and after a restart moving x+ resulted in a Y+ move!

How can this be? I have removed the breakout board and connected the motors directly, no result.
The only thing that may have changed on friday was a software update.

What can I do to test things?

Edit: tried stepconfig, also no movement, reconnected the breakout board, x+ now moves Y+ but very rough and slow motion

linuxcnc 2.5.0
Last edit: 08 May 2012 11:04 by SvenH.

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08 May 2012 11:45 #19922 by Rick G
Sounds like a poor connection(s)
You could start by reading the voltage getting to the step drivers. An easy test is to look at the direction pin, when you chnage direction it should switch from say 5+ volts to around 0.

Rick G

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08 May 2012 12:02 #19924 by BigJohnT
What software did you update?

Can you turn the steppers by hand when your system is powered up and enabled?

John

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08 May 2012 12:24 - 08 May 2012 12:29 #19925 by SvenH
Steppers have a good grip.

after shut down and lunch X+ resulted in a Y+ movement at normal speed. Z down also worked again. The rest did not.

I am unsure what software was updated but it was the standard software update. I think firefox may have been one. I'll reinstall, there was some stuff about languages that should not have been installed anyway.

I do not have volt meter at hand at the moment. But bad connections should not have resulted in X+ and Y+ switching pins, am I right?

I'll go and try my luck with a fresh live cd.
Last edit: 08 May 2012 12:29 by SvenH.

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08 May 2012 12:29 #19926 by BigJohnT
A loose bad connection is unlikely to swap an axis with another. A shorted out BOB might... can you fill in the blanks as to what drives, BOB, software version etc you have on your system? If your going to try a fresh install make sure you get the 2.5 version.

John

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08 May 2012 14:43 - 08 May 2012 14:51 #19932 by SvenH
Replied by SvenH on topic Fixed: nothing moves anymore!
After an aggravating afternoon of checking and switching wires, changing computers burning new disks I found it.

I am not sure if this was the thing all the time but it was a loose connection of the worst kind:

The usb cable that supplies 5+ volts was not plugged in...

Electronics are not my thing.
After this the old configuration without the breakout board worked again. I'll reconnect it next.

EDIT: BOB works too!
Last edit: 08 May 2012 14:51 by SvenH.

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08 May 2012 15:09 #19933 by cncbasher
never use USB to connect 5v , the connectors are far to fragile and prone to problems as you found
use a 5v direct supply , with solid connectors ( or better still ) least connectors as possible , for safety

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08 May 2012 16:21 #19935 by SvenH
I realise now I must have forgotten to plug it back in when I decided not to move the computer to the next room.

But far point, about the 5V supply.

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09 May 2012 09:14 - 09 May 2012 09:15 #19938 by Rick G
Glad to hear you got it sorted out.

Although the usb 5 volt supply is not particularity robust some break out boards with low power requirements such as the pmdx-122 use it successfully.
(But yes it does work better when plugged in.)

Rick G
Last edit: 09 May 2012 09:15 by Rick G.

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