Stepper missing steps tried PLC968 not fixed

[martyscncgarage]

In this photo:

Where exactly is the red, green and black wire going?

I am very concerned about the way you are wiring your control. See attached photos from the pictures you uploaded.
I think you have noise in your system and is causing your problems. Can be caused by improper terminations, ground loops (ALL grounds not going back to the service ground point, VFD noise, motor cable from VFD to Motor etc.

If you do as I suggest, start back at square 1 you might get somewhere. Bench test, out of the cabinet. Get Acorn communicating with the PC. Then connect one stepper drive and one stepper motor. Get the drive and CNC12 configured properly.

No amount of "tuning" will get rid of the missed steps or extra steps induced because of Electromagnetic Interference (EMI). This is not an Acorn problem. Its either a wiring problem or you didn't configure the drives properly. Swissi is trying to help you with that. OR a little of both.

[ShawnM]

OMG, he really needs to take a step back and rewire that system correctly. I have no doubt that there is noise and surely a ground loop issue somewhere. Do my eyes deceive me or did I see electrical tape and wires nuts holding that system together? It’s just hard to fathom that the OP wants to blame the hardware. There are plenty of people here to help but you have to start with at least some good wiring practices. Good luck sorting this out.

[martyscncgarage]

OMG, he really needs to take a step back and rewire that system correctly. I have no doubt that there is noise and surely a ground loop issue somewhere. Do my eyes deceive me or did I see electrical tape and wires nuts holding that system together? It’s just hard to fathom that the OP wants to blame the hardware. There are plenty of people here to help but you have to start with at least some good wiring practices. Good luck sorting this out.

It's certainly nothing to do with Acorn.
I think he just needs some help cleaning things up.
A square one restart is highly suggested.

Marty

[Richards]

I rewired one of my test bench Acorns this morning changing the wiring from the DB25 connector to the H2-H3 connectors and using 5VDC from the Centroid supplied power supply as the source voltage for the signals on H2-H3. You can see from the attached photos that I did nothing to minimize noise. The wires are not shielded and they are almost a rat's nest. I did that on purpose to see what would happen in a typical test bench setup. All four motors turn perfectly. I have them set to 800 steps per revolution and the revolutions per inch to 1 so that giving a G-code command to move an axis 1-inch rotates the shaft 1 time.

Acorn v4
DM542 stepper drivers
Centroid supplied powersupply
48VDC stepper power supply

Acorn H2 and H3
Blue to PUL- on DM542 driver
White to DIR- on DM542 driver

+5VDC to PUL+ and DIR+
Blue from Acorn Step to PUL-
White from Acorn Direction DIR-

[frijoli]

I'm guessing he's not coming back. Really would like to have seen this resolved.

[ShawnM]

I'm guessing he's not coming back. Really would like to have seen this resolved.

Me too but he certainly should have approached the forum differently rather than coming on spouting off his resume and blaming the product for his issues when there were clearly other issues at hand. Coming on and asking for help, tips and suggestions is usually followed by mountains of info. If one can't simply respect those who try to help and ask for more info/pics to better help that person then all bets are off.

[martyscncgarage]

I rewired one of my test bench Acorns this morning changing the wiring from the DB25 connector to the H2-H3 connectors and using 5VDC from the Centroid supplied power supply as the source voltage for the signals on H2-H3. You can see from the attached photos that I did nothing to minimize noise. The wires are not shielded and they are almost a rat's nest. I did that on purpose to see what would happen in a typical test bench setup. All four motors turn perfectly. I have them set to 800 steps per revolution and the revolutions per inch to 1 so that giving a G-code command to move an axis 1-inch rotates the shaft 1 time.

Acorn v4
DM542 stepper drivers
Centroid supplied powersupply
48VDC stepper power supply

1.jpg
Acorn H2 and H3
Blue to PUL- on DM542 driver
White to DIR- on DM542 driver
2.jpg
+5VDC to PUL+ and DIR+
Blue from Acorn Step to PUL-
White from Acorn Direction DIR-

3.jpg

Mike, appreciate the effort you put into demonstrating that setup.
Marty

[Toysrfun]

Well I got it running great and no longer a angry old man. Took the steppers off and used ac servos and it machines very nice and in fact it plows through aluminum dry better than my m400 bed mill. I will be sticking with servos they are obviously less finicky and clearly perform better. Cut circles were within .001 and I know there is .001 of backlash on the x axis that I will correct later in the week when I machine another mount and bearing plate. Im just happy at this point that there is no more screwing around with it. Every time it ends with servos for me just bolt on and go. especially when I have limited time to be building. Something to be said about that. I ordered ac servos for my lathe project and plan to get rid of all these steppers and not look back. Thanks for the input even though nothing suggested/advised had helped.

[martyscncgarage]

Well I got it running great and no longer a angry old man. Took the steppers off and used ac servos and it machines very nice and in fact it plows through aluminum dry better than my m400 bed mill. I will be sticking with servos they are obviously less finicky and clearly perform better. Cut circles were within .001 and I know there is .001 of backlash on the x axis that I will correct later in the week when I machine another mount and bearing plate. Im just happy at this point that there is no more screwing around with it. Every time it ends with servos for me just bolt on and go. especially when I have limited time to be building. Something to be said about that. I ordered ac servos for my lathe project and plan to get rid of all these steppers and not look back. Thanks for the input even though nothing suggested/advised had helped.

You posted the same wiring picture you did earlier. I don't see the new drives and motors, nor did you ever post an overall picture of your control cabinet?

I can tell you this, the same step and direction signals that Acorn generates, drive Servo drives and stepper drives exactly the same way. IF what you are saying is true, that your AC servos are working perfectly, then the problem seems to have been with how you have been wiring the stepper drives and configuring them.

You took your frustrations of a poorly functioning system out on Centroid and Acorn instead of where they should have been, the wiring, hardware you chose and its proper setup. Using the schematics properly, taking suggestions from users who have had good success. Along those lines, you can not discount how much support you were given by the users to try and help resolve the problem. Which you didn't seem to take. You gave at least me the impression, that you felt everything you did on your part was correct, without even trying the suggestions people were trying to give you, at least you never showed that you did try them.

In any case, I personally am glad you had success with Acorn and your new servo drives and motors, and that Acorn is functioning as it was designed.

Marty

[ZZBOB]

AMEN BROTHER......
Good call Marty....
ZZBOB...