G0678 CNC Conversion Thread

[Dave_C]

Progress Report:

And now you get to see why I bought this particular mill in the first place. It has a place under the spindle drive pulley that would allow for me to install a timing pulley for the spindle encoder. It is 2.126" (54 mm) in diameter and the largest pulley I could buy was 2.667" so the wall thickness left after I bored out the center was just a little over .250".

It is on!

Pulley and Belt

And with the spindle pulley back on.

Stay tuned, I'm getting close to being able to rigid tap!

Dave C.

[martyscncgarage]

Very nice Dave. Boy you are close....

[Dave_C]

Un Progress Report:

I finished installing the encoder today and started to test the belt alignment. I had previously tested my encoder for direction and everything was fine.

Now that I have the encoder installed, I boot up Acorn, try to run the spindle and I get a Quadrature Error. The only thing I know that would cause that is a miss-wired encoder.

I've taken the wiring apart three times now looking for anything that might be the cause and I can't find anything!

I took pictures of both the wiring and my wiring layout sheet.

Anyone have a clue as what might be wrong?

It's not the acorn setup because it worked the last time I tested the setup and nothing has been changed!

Dave C.

Better add the report file just in case:

report_985DAD490575-1006170161_2018-03-14_12-33-07.zip

(151.73 KiB) Downloaded 95 times

[Dave_C]

More Testing:

I unhooked the DB9 connector and wired it over just to be sure, pulling on each wire to make sure it is seated.

I then decided to do what CNC Keith shows in his encoder video and that is to go to the setup, PID and see if the counts would go up and down if I turn the encoder by hand.

IT DOES! and that is the test that I said I did in the beginning. so if it I can make the counts go up and down by turning the spindle and the direction is correct in that it count up when I go forward and down when I go in reverse.

So if it is counting, why am I getting a Quadrature error.

One thought. My encoder says it is 2500 PPR so I set the encoder count to 2500! I read that PPR as "Pulses Per Rev" so is that right or do I multiply by 4 and enter 10,000?

Other than that, I am clueless!

New Report:

report_985DAD490575-1006170161_2018-03-14_15-17-54.zip

(151.67 KiB) Downloaded 80 times

I hope some one can shed some light on this as it has me pretty frustrated. OF course this is just one of the many challenges I have faced building this machine. Issues such as Leadshine closed loop steppers not working and had to be returned, ordered a computer and it had a bad power supply, Still don't have a new one yet, pulleys back ordered for a month, new end mills coming in with corners chipped. (there is more)

Ok, Gripe, gripe, gripe. I thought maybe that would help but, nope, still frustrated!

Dave C.

[martyscncgarage]

Yes! 2500 count encoder=10,000 entered in the spindle encoder field in the wizard

[Dave_C]

Marty,

I entered 10000, checked in Parm 34 to be sure it took the change and it did, but I still get the same fault.

I can estop the machine and clear the fault and then when I turn the spindle by hand my spindle RPM go up or down depending on which way I turn the spindle.

So that tells me the encoder is wired properly. I'm wondering if by chance the encoder is not 2500 PPR as it states on the label. I bought this from Automation Direct so I may have to call them and see if they have any clues.

I understand that a 2500 "line" encoder is times 4 but I thought if the encoder label says "2500 PPR" then it outputs 2500 pulses per rev. (making it a 625 line encoder, that doesn't sound right either)

Either way, it does not work, 2500 or 10000 gives the same results. I will try some other numbers like 2000 and 8000 and see what I get.

Dave C.

[Dave_C]

More Testing:

Marty is correct, even though this encoder says "2500 PPR" it is 10,000 pulses because Acorn measures both rising and falling edge of the pulse. That is according to Automation Directs Tech support person.

So Here is another way to find out what pulse count you are putting out from your encoder:

I did a test with a bar in the spindle that lets me turn the spindle 1 turn (belt off for easy turning) and I put a mag mount on the table with the arm pointing toward the end of the bar so I could get a reasonable full turn.

I hit F1 to ener setup and on down to the PID readings. Looking under #5 for the pulses I turn the bar on full turn and I got 10007 pulses. (Not bad for a hand turn)

Turn 2 - 20016, turn 3 - 3,0023, turn 4 - 40007 and turn 5 - 50011. Then I turned it backward and got 40013, then 30020, then 10012 and then 10.

So it is a 10000 pulse per rev encoder, it reads both forward and backward but guess what.

IT DOESN'T WORK!

When I run the spindle I still get the "quadrature error" #5 something something.

I've checked the parameter table for #34 and #35. #34 is 10000 and #35 is 5.

So is there some setting to be changed so Acorn will run with this encoder?

Dave C.

[martyscncgarage]

Do you get the error when running the spindle?
Long shot Dave, but did you try putting a minus sign in front of 10000 in the Wizard?
-10000

[Dave_C]

Do you get the error when running the spindle?
Long shot Dave, but did you try putting a minus sign in front of 10000 in the Wizard?
-10000

I tried the - sign in front of the 10000 and it made no difference. The count is correct in that it counts up when I turn the spindle forward and down when I turn it in reverse. (and the count is correct, no missed pulses)

I only get the error if I try to run the spindle from either a manual or auto command!

When I put the spindle in manual mode, set the speed for say 700 rpm, hit start, the spindle tries to start, gets to about 30 rpm on the display and then I get the error message. What I see though does not make sense as the RPM reading goes from positive to minus and back and forth as it shuts down.

And then there is the "M" to the right of the RPM reading, not sure what that means! (IN manual mode I suspect)

Dave C.

[Dave_C]

Marty,

Since no one seems to have seen this issue before I'm wondering if it might be a software glitch? If I did not know any better I'd say the spindle is trying to sync to something and can't!

I will have a different computer here in a week to 10 days and I think I'll just do a complete clean install from scratch and see if that does anything.

I can duplicate all of my wizard settings without any problem so unless someone at Centroid has a better idea, that is the plan.

Dave C.