Help configuring DM542A drivers

I have the driver, model DM542A, powered up but I am having a lot of trouble configuring it.Should I be using the 'custom' profile from the driver selection in stepconf? Any pointers are much appreciated.

I am attaching my motor spec sheet.

I don't know if this can help you but here is my timing settings for this driver
DIRSETUP = 5500
DIRHOLD = 5500
STEPLEN = 2850
STEPSPACE = 2850

but for a second one i need to increase timing due to quality...
DIRSETUP = 6000
DIRHOLD = 6000
STEPLEN = 3000
STEPSPACE = 3000

Thanks! What about the dip switches on the side?

Do your drivers have an elephant printed on them? (made by Longs Motors)
I've never had any problems with them and a mate as a CNC mill made by Syil quite a few years ago that uses them too.
I've got a feeling some other brands are not the same. I was able to get dirsetup and dirhold down to 500.
But PCW recommends you go up to 20000 or so when you are starting out.

One set of DIP switches sets the current limit (eg if you have a 2.8 amp motor you can reduce the current down from 3.5 amps to that.

The other set is for microstepping.

I run them at 25x microstepping with a Mesa 7i76e (5000 steps per rev,)
I've never used pncconf to set any thing up other than to build a basic working config without worrying about the correct scaling and edit my ini files by hand

Hmm. I will have to check for the elephant.

There is another switch regarding 'full or half voltage' ... what do you use?

I thought the pncconf was the setup tool for Mesa boards and the drivers? How would you go about setting up a new 7I76e and the dm542a drivers for a plasma table. Can I just open LinuxCNC and fill in the parameters? Or do I need to use a wizzard to do that?

Also, do you choose 'other' as the step driver board type/manufacturer?

Thanks!

txtrone wrote:
There is another switch regarding 'full or half voltage' ... what do you use?

I would guess it is current, not voltage, but who knows....
That would be the standstill current, that can be lowered when stationary to reduce motor heating.

txtrone wrote: How would you go about setting up a new 7I76e and the dm542a drivers for a plasma table.

Use pncconf to set up a base machine, stepgens, switches, soft limits, homing, then check if everything works properly. Only after setting this up use the configurator to do a PlasmaC config by adding the encoder (THCAD) input, float switch and/or ohmic probing inputs and torch on output.

txtrone wrote: Also, do you choose 'other' as the step driver board type/manufacturer?

Yes, and i also set the timings to 15000 (yes fifteen thousand) to be sure the drives work, after setting up everything i do lower that to 5000 for step time and step space.

Yes, you are correct... it is half/full current.

Thanks for the very helpful info! I hope tomorrow will allow enough time to get it going... today I had to do actually work at work.... I am not complaining about that though, lucky to have it.

I will follow up when I get the motors running.

Here is a picture. I did not get to work on it today, hopefully tomorrow.

rodw wrote: Do your drivers have an elephant printed on them? (made by Longs Motors)

Yes

rodw wrote: One set of DIP switches sets the current limit (eg if you have a 2.8 amp motor you can reduce the current down from 3.5 amps to that.

Do you set the current according to the RMS or Peak chart on the driver?

rodw wrote: The other set is for microstepping.
I run them at 25x microstepping with a Mesa 7i76e (5000 steps per rev,)

So for switches 5-8 (on the driver itself) you are using OFF - OFF - ON - OFF ... to set it at 5000 steps per rev?
25x microstepping is set by using a 'multiplier' of 5x within the software, correct?

Just looking at one of my drives.
I thought I saw you had a 3.5 amp motor so I would set SW1,SW2,SW3 for 3.32 amps peak (OFF,ON,OFF)
SW4 off to enable less current when idle.

I would not go too high with the microstepping to start with. Probably start at 2000 (10x microstep) SW5 Off, SW6 & SW7 On, SW8 Off

To get to the higher settings you probably need to reduce you timings which we don't want to do right now as the goal is reliable performance.

Are you using a parallel port or a mesa card?