StepperOnline A6 Servo

It's been almost a year since I originally started this thread and thought it might be of interest to give a status update on my machine.It's been humming along without issue powered by the A6 400watt AC ethercat servos.It is a 4x4 size router direct driven with ballscrews on all axis (XYYZ). I highly recommend the A6 servos for simple set-ups. Mine is not a demanding setup but for the cost, in my opinion they are an unbeatable value. Thank-you to those that gave me pointers when I was making the transition from step drive to ethercat!

 

Hi, that looks really good.
How stable is your system?
Have you ever had the problem where one of the Y-axes doesn't start moving during homing and the gantry is crooked?
That happens to me a lot. I have to restart the machine and then it works again.

andrax wrote:

Have you ever had the problem where one of the Y-axes doesn't start moving during homing and the gantry is crooked?
That happens to me a lot. I have to restart the machine and then it works again.

That should not happen, ever, and it did not happen as i have probably over 15 machines with tandem joints, some industrial ones with over 400KG heavy gantries.
You should check the wiring first, then test the failing side drive.
Are you using the same drives mentioned here?

I don't know what the problem is. It's always the left Y-axis that sporadically fails to start during homing. I always have to turn the machine off, and then it usually works. There haven't been any problems after homing so far. I can rule out wiring issues because I would get an error message.
I think that for some reason, the servo occasionally doesn't receive a start command for homing and therefore doesn't start.
The error must be somewhere in my configuration. 
 

Hi Andrax,
I am also currently in the middle of converting the previously working build to run with the absolute encoders so homing is only required once and I am somewhat experiencing the same issue as you. You said you fixed the sporadic jumps after homing by setting the homing_absolute_encoder parameter to 2 which i am trying out aswell. Sadly, the drive somehow doesnt start its usual homing scheme after the ER87 error (and the corresponding axis jump), it either doesnt do anything or its suuper slow. Did you also encounter this?

No, that wasn't the problem.
For me, it was the handwheel.
Do you have a similar device or something like that?

Then deactivate it.