Clearpath HLFB connection to relay

[pescadoman]

Here is a pic.. Relay green, drives green..... Acorn drive fault, Clearpaths never enabled.. no fault is jumped, NO to 5, v to ground, 8 is jumped because I don't have an e-stop, 24v to bottom left of Acorn board, slave axis jumpers removed, all axis set to soft, Acorn enable set to soft.

[pescadoman]

First, I'd like to thank everyone here for being so helpful. I thought the videos would be helpful, but I'm still stuck. After 2 more unsuccessful tries calling Arturo on the phone, I've given up for now. I took his board out, wired up everything individually, and now everything works like it should. It's much more involved and messier than his board, which is why I purchased his in the first place, but it works.

Arturo did find time to send me an email a little while ago. It provided a link to his website and showed one of Max's videos, which Max already provided me. Maybe I'm more upset with myself with not being able to figure this out than I am with Arturo, but he did promise telephone help and won't even pick up.

I'll give it a few days before I toss both boards in a box and ship them back.

[martyscncgarage]

It would be good for someone to do a step by step video on connecting it, and setting up the Acorn software. Dry erase board or easel paper and sharpie....I'm pretty good at ferreting these things out, but just don't have a Clearpath motor and cables....someone step up and do it step by step and show it running.....both hardware AND software. Sounds like it's needed....maybe Max did that already in what he shared...thanks for the effort Max!

[arturod]

Pescadoman,
I am sorry you had trouble getting a hold of me. Please understand our ticket system is our primary means of support: https://www.cnc4pc.com/contact/
I was also worried that you had not replied to our messages and today I got your message stating that you had posted your problem on this forum, so today I signed up for this forum and I believe I should get the notifications. Marty had sent me a message on this, but I was having trouble signing in.
I tried looking back into this posting and was not able to exactly understand what the issue you are having is as this posting is too long. In any case, I recall on our phone conversation the issue you had was associated with enabling the drives, so I will try to give you the basics on this.
For troubleshooting purposes, I would suggest you just set it up for now as the Step by Step Instructions on our website, where we enable the board using the enable signal from any of the servos. So may sure you configure the enable signals on the drives with the appropriate active high/low status. It would be ideal that you test it with the REPORT.ZIP file we have on the website.
Make sure you set the jumper to ACORN Enable ON and that you have a jumper on the NO_FAULT terminal. This should enable the board on the presence of the enable signal of any of the axes and you should get the green LED.
Yesterday we posted a video with instructions which may help:

I also want to thank Max for the video he made which I think shows very clearly how it works:
Let me know how it goes.
Arturo Duncan
https://cnc4pc.com

[martyscncgarage]

Thanks Arturo for joining and chiming in here on the forum
Marty

[martyscncgarage]

I just sat down and watched both videos...

I have a question for MAX now that you have your system setup for bench testing.
You show pressing CYCLE START to enable all drives and set home.
HOWEVER, BEFORE you press cycle start, can you JOG one Axis at a time? Typical application, BEFORE a user sets HOME, he has to jog the axis to the position he wants home to be at. So By default (and you can watch your enable LED's on Acorn) Acorn allows you to jog an individual axis BEFORE pressing cycle start. By doing ONE axis at a time BEFORE pressing Cycle start, CNC12 enables ONLY the axis commanded. SO, it is possible for you to Jog X (the enable LED will change state) then jog Y, (its LED will change state) and then jog Z (finally Its LED will change state)
THEN you can press cycle start.

IF C86ACCP will not enable one axis at a time and or allow moving one axis at at time without pressing cycle start to set home. I think that should be fixed. Since once you press cycle start, that becomes your home position and Acorn will obey the soft limits.

Please test this and do a video on it. I am curious as to how CNC4PC's board will behave.

Marty

[maxmeaker]

Hmmm, I don't think I have tried to jog them before setting home. I'll try that out and post a video of the results. Should be able to do that sometime this weekend.

Max

[martyscncgarage]

Hmmm, I don't think I have tried to jog them before setting home. I'll try that out and post a video of the results. Should be able to do that sometime this weekend.

Max

Sounds good. You see, some folks may not have limit switches and what they do is jog the axis where they want home to be (SIMPLE HOME) Then press cycle start. That point becomes the home position and the soft limits apply.

[pescadoman]

Arturo. I've done everything like you are suggesting, which is why I wanted to speak to you. Above your post you will see the settings I tried...well, I've actually tried quite a bit to get it to work but this was the final configuration before I ripped the c8 board out of the Acorn. I've got everything working as it should without your board and will mail both boards back in the same box.

[arturod]

Pescadoman,
Please send me your phone number and I will call you.
You need to send me feedback on the issue and the comments I send you in order to help you. Please reply to the ticket and we will give you a hand with this.