Ballscrew compensation on a paired Y-axis router

[Alex B]

Hello Everyone! I just purchased an Avid CNC Pro 4'x8' router with Acorn controller package and Clearpath servo motors. Out of the box the Y axis drive motors are hardware paired (both drives receive step/dir from the same Acorn outputs). This infers that there is only one ballscrew error compensation table for both axes.

If I reconfigure the machine so the Y-axis drives are software paired, will this enable me to individually compensate the lead error on each Y-axis motor?

I understand this router not necessarily a high precision piece of equipment but I would still like to try and extract the best possible accuracy and repeatability.

[CentroidFrog]

Hi Alex,
While some people on this forum may know the answer to your question, Avid has their own methods of doing things.
If you haven't already I'd recommend checking out the Avid forum for more direct support for your machine.
The AvidCNC Forum: https://forum.avidcnc.com/

[cnckeith]

Hello Everyone! I just purchased an Avid CNC Pro 4'x8' router with Acorn controller package and Clearpath servo motors. Out of the box the Y axis drive motors are hardware paired (both drives receive step/dir from the same Acorn outputs). This infers that there is only one ballscrew error compensation table for both axes.

If I reconfigure the machine so the Y-axis drives are software paired, will this enable me to individually compensate the lead error on each Y-axis motor?

I understand this router not necessarily a high precision piece of equipment but I would still like to try and extract the best possible accuracy and repeatability.

short answer , No. paired axis are treated as having the same pitch.

long answer, this is on the to do list for future software feature and will be apart of the Ultimate License file package.

[suntravel]

At the moment you can use the srewcompensation and dial it in at one side of the gantry and use the beta volumetric compensation to keep the gantry straight.

Uwe

[Alex B]

short answer , No. paired axis are treated as having the same pitch.

long answer, this is on the to do list for future software feature and will be apart of the Ultimate License file package.

Keith, thanks for clarifying. Is this a feature that is closer to being months away or years away?

At the moment you can use the srewcompensation and dial it in at one side of the gantry and use the beta volumetric compensation to keep the gantry straight.

Uwe

Uwe, that's a great point and something I will absolutely consider implementing.