Centroid Community CNC Support Forum

Not a lot of progress to report, but I was able to test my newly wired encoders with my oscilloscope. The A/B signals are clear and appropriately offset. I’m slightly worried that these encoders have a B signal that leads the A signal, but I think in the worst case, I might have to use the Acorn opt...

Funny you should mention Chinese encoders. On Friday, my backup plan arrived: Three encoders ordered in late January from AliExpress. They go under the brand name Calt. You can see their offerings here: https://caltsensor.aliexpress.com/store/group/Hollow-shaft-encoder/513333_511301496.html. I paid ...

There is some good news, though. It does indeed seem that the encoders were the issue. I wired up the motor with the new encoder to my drives and was able to read them and begin the PID tuning process. I’m not going to put a lot of effort into that until I remount the motors on the machine and have ...

Where we last left this story, I had decided the encoders were the cause of issues and had begun the search for replacements. Marty had offered some suggestions, but I had already been looking at US Digital. One of their mounting options of their inexpensive E5 “kit” line jumped out at me, the addit...

Good suggestion. I was hoping this was going to do it, but all it seemed to do was pull down the voltage ( I used a single 5.1KOhm resistor; didn't have any 2.2Ks handy). Still no signal change when turning the encoder :

I don't know the history of the machine, except that the control was not working. You're right: for all I know, they put mains powers into the encoders and blew them both out, and the subsequent runaway is why they decided to get rid of the machine.

Thanks for the encoder supplier suggestions.

Theoretically, that 5-24V just means the encoder is happy to be powered with that range of voltages, meaning if it is fed 5VDC (as I'm doing), it shouldn't be a problem. However, I do think this encoder is bad. I hooked up the motor and encoder that I know works (unfortunately, not a motor suitable ...

Hi Marty, yes, my tuning attempt did not involve the Acorn at all. It was done purely with the Servoconfigurator software, a bench power supply, and the drives. I did swap the motor leads, since I had read that this can fix runaways, but that didn't help. I'm curious about your suggestion: "if ...

I've got a roll of Ram Board (dense cardboard used to protect floors during construction) left over from a recent remodel, so I decided to try a different kind of CAD: Cardboard Aided Design. IMG_0847.jpg Cut out to approximate dimensions of my control box: IMG_0848.jpg Added placeholders for the ex...

Back in 2011, I bought a Sharp knee mill with a broken 2-axis CNC controller (X & Y). I'll never forget taking this beast off the flatbed truck with a rented forklift, using strategically placed railroad ties as a lifting point. That was a nail biting day, especially as I heard one of the ties c...