On my new system I am using Panasonic drives. As these use Open Collector with a 24V feed, the wiring is different from a line driver setup.
From this I need to provide +24V, 0V (Gnd) and one Step and one Direction.
Ive ordered twisted pair cables which can do all of the above.
Am I better to keep the power on a twisted pair and then a pair for both step / direction or should keep the step / direction on different pairs (ie, will they cause each other problems)?
Use a shielded cable with at least 5 conductors + shield wire. Use one pair of twisted pair wires to pins 1 and 4 and another pair of twisted pair wires to pins 2 and 6. Connect pins 1 and 2 to +24VDC. Connect one of Acorn's STEP outputs to pin 4 (STEP). Connect one of Acorn's DIRECTION outputs to pin 6 (DIRECTION). Connect pin to signal ground (Common). Connect the drain wire (cable shield wire) to Earth Ground (Chassis ground).
Richards wrote: ↑Wed Jan 16, 2019 11:42 am
Use a shielded cable with at least 5 conductors + shield wire. Use one pair of twisted pair wires to pins 1 and 4 and another pair of twisted pair wires to pins 2 and 6. Connect pins 1 and 2 to +24VDC. Connect one of Acorn's STEP outputs to pin 4 (STEP). Connect one of Acorn's DIRECTION outputs to pin 6 (DIRECTION). Connect pin to signal ground (Common). Connect the drain wire (cable shield wire) to Earth Ground (Chassis ground).
I also use Panasonic Drives and Servos. I discovered that the open collector approach was a challenge. I tried repeatedly and had lots of issues getting it to accept the pulse stream in a reliable fashion. Finally I just built a little board with some line drives and converted the singled ended outputs from Acorn to differential outputs. It is rock solid and can run at high pulse rates with no issue. If you don't want to build a line driver board you can just order them from CNC4PC.com. These take single ended inputs so Step output, and Direction Output and convert that to Step, Step/, Direction, Direction/
They cost $9 each so for $27 you can drive three panasonic amps....
I also use Panasonic Drives and Servos. I discovered that the open collector approach was a challenge. I tried repeatedly and had lots of issues getting it to accept the pulse stream in a reliable fashion. Finally I just built a little board with some line drives and converted the singled ended outputs from Acorn to differential outputs. It is rock solid and can run at high pulse rates with no issue. If you don't want to build a line driver board you can just order them from CNC4PC.com. These take single ended inputs so Step output, and Direction Output and convert that to Step, Step/, Direction, Direction/
They cost $9 each so for $27 you can drive three panasonic amps....
I wired up the first drive last night (after my temp wiring on the weekend to get it all going). The system only runs forward / reverse in Bench mode. Setting some of the others in the PLC does odd things.
That said, it does work, ill just sort the inputs / outputs out manually.
Did yours not work at all or did you find that at times it was unreliable (how soon could I know / tell if I will have issues)?
Suppose in the end of the day, the line drivers can be retrofitted, so not a big issue.
I have another machine running CS Labs IP-A. Been doing some reading about Velocity vs Position control ...... (also using Pana drives), wondering if I should sell that controller and go Acorn / Position there too.
Chaz,
In my case I could get the motors to move in open collector but in that mode it is much more sensitive to noise. I would get the wrong number of steps to go a given distance it was driving me crazy. I decided to switch to differential driver mode, and then if I told it to go 12.5" it would move exactly 12.5 inches. On your CS Labs machine I have read that is also a reliable controller. Keep in mind the Acorn only accepts step and direction and some of those other controls and use Velocity and Position control, so they are closing the loop to the servo drive. In my case I am using Panasonic Servos and AMPs in that situation the Panasonic AMP is closing the loop to the Panasonic servo, this avoid losing steps. It is just taking step and direction inputs from the Acorn. I have found it to be rock solid. If you other controller is working correctly why break something that is not broken. I do love the Centroid Acorn and especially their software. I have run Mach3 for 15+ years and it would often do something totally unexpected and unexplained. I even upgraded one machine to Mach4, but now that I have the Acorn running I would not go back. They have a few bugs in their software like all software but they do a good job of beta testing loads to a great degree before they release the load. This means the software releases come out slower but when they come out they actually work.
cncman172 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 17, 2019 9:33 am
Chaz,
In my case I could get the motors to move in open collector but in that mode it is much more sensitive to noise. I would get the wrong number of steps to go a given distance it was driving me crazy. I decided to switch to differential driver mode, and then if I told it to go 12.5" it would move exactly 12.5 inches. On your CS Labs machine I have read that is also a reliable controller. Keep in mind the Acorn only accepts step and direction and some of those other controls and use Velocity and Position control, so they are closing the loop to the servo drive. In my case I am using Panasonic Servos and AMPs in that situation the Panasonic AMP is closing the loop to the Panasonic servo, this avoid losing steps. It is just taking step and direction inputs from the Acorn. I have found it to be rock solid. If you other controller is working correctly why break something that is not broken. I do love the Centroid Acorn and especially their software. I have run Mach3 for 15+ years and it would often do something totally unexpected and unexplained. I even upgraded one machine to Mach4, but now that I have the Acorn running I would not go back. They have a few bugs in their software like all software but they do a good job of beta testing loads to a great degree before they release the load. This means the software releases come out slower but when they come out they actually work.
Russ
Agreed, I dont mind the CS Labs setup (the price, yes) but I dislike Mach 3 intensely. Their SIMCNC might be good but Ive not had the time to look at it.