retro fit Laguna/RichAuto

All things related to the Centroid Acorn CNC Controller

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dweber
Posts: 55
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Re: retro fit Laguna/RichAuto

Post by dweber »

I found if I put the x axis wires on y axis terminal on the db25 breakout board the x axis motors respond to the signal. Tells me y signal is there y axis stepper motors are not moving.
So then why does y axis move in response to the VCP commands?
Dave
Gary Campbell
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Re: retro fit Laguna/RichAuto

Post by Gary Campbell »

Any chance you are connected to the H5-6 screw terminals rather than the recommended DB25?
GCnC Control
CNC Control & Retrofits
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ShawnM
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Re: retro fit Laguna/RichAuto

Post by ShawnM »

Gary Campbell wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 8:46 pm Any chance you are connected to the H5-6 screw terminals rather than the recommended DB25?
He does have the drives wired to the DB25 connector Gary. It's an odd issue for sure. After graphing the part he presses cycle start and the Z moves up to Z zero and then the X and Y axis move to the start point of the shape he's trying to cut. Then after that there is no movement in the Y axis until the job is complete. It only moves the X axis. I had him pull the connector for the VFD FWD relay so the VFD would not start to check for noise because I thought it was certainly a noise issue. This is a Laguna CNC router but as you may know it's a Chinese import rebranded as a Laguna. Nothing in the control cabinet is shielded and the unshielded drive wires leave the Acorn, go through some DIN rail terminal blocks (for whatever reason) and then to the drives. So not only are they spliced in the middle at the terminal blocks, they are not shielded. I do not know if the spindle is shielded either. I forgot to ask. I suggested he swap out all the signal wires for shielded cables on the drives, Acorn analog out to the VFD and the VFD cable itself. This would eliminate that as the culprit.

What makes it odd is that he can jog the machine in all axis (including Y) while the spindle is on and under manual control spinning at 24k. This works fine but when he loads the program there's no Y movement.

I loaded his exact cut file on my machine and it ran perfectly so there's no issue with the file, just his machine.
Gary Campbell
Posts: 2164
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Re: retro fit Laguna/RichAuto

Post by Gary Campbell »

Shawn...
Thanks for the clarification. FYI to the OP, when I upgrade Chinese machines to US made controllers, I simply replace "everything with a wire connected to it". Most DIY guys don't want to hear that, but as Marty says: "Buy once, cry once"

Life is too short to spend months chasing down problems with cheap components.
GCnC Control
CNC Control & Retrofits
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tblough
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Re: retro fit Laguna/RichAuto

Post by tblough »

Try programming a frame routine using Intercon and see if you get the same results.
Cheers,

Tom
Confidence is the feeling you have before you fully understand the situation.
I have CDO. It's like OCD, but the letters are where they should be.
dweber
Posts: 55
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Re: retro fit Laguna/RichAuto

Post by dweber »

I have things working and the problem solved.

It was kind of a rookie mistake.
Here is a comment that was made to me that I misunderstood.
Did you buy a DB25 breakout board for the Acorn? These drives are 5v and will wire up to the DB25 on the Acorn. Along with that when I got my db25 breakout board a diagram showed out put 1,14,16 and 17 were 5V out puts. So I wired the 5v driver wires to the db25 breakout board. I know the schematics show wiring the 5v to the power supply but I thought the current information was more up to date than the schematics. I had one schematics for VFD, a different one for stepper drives and a third for parallel NO limit switches. so who says there couldn't be a forth for the db25 breakout board. (came with the db25 board) This is just my train of thought for what I did.
I wired the 5v for the drives to db25 breakout board to terminal 14,16and 17. Unknow to me was terminal 17 turns off 5v power when a a cutting program is started which happened to be my Y axis. I supplied continuous 5v power to Y axis and all is good. Thank you for everyone's support and suggestions, but in the back of my mind I always thought it was a power supply problem so I kept testing power every where. I should have followed the acorn schematics and not what I thought I was hearing or reading.
During my adventure I discovered cnc12 free is not large enough to use on my programs (3D wood carving) and will have to buy pro series. I am a little disappointed not for the reason of having to buy the pro but because the gentlemen I talked to at centroid told me I didn't need it until I bought the probe. I did explain to him what I used the router for and file sizes. I followed his recommended advice and would have bought the pro if that was what he suggested. Oh well, I'm just happy my machine is working and I will start more complicated cuts.
The box I cut measured within .001 or less in all directions.
Dave
ShawnM
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Re: retro fit Laguna/RichAuto

Post by ShawnM »

dweber wrote: Sun Apr 25, 2021 1:58 pm I have things working and the problem solved.

It was kind of a rookie mistake.
Here is a comment that was made to me that I misunderstood.
Did you buy a DB25 breakout board for the Acorn? These drives are 5v and will wire up to the DB25 on the Acorn. Along with that when I got my db25 breakout board a diagram showed out put 1,14,16 and 17 were 5V out puts. So I wired the 5v driver wires to the db25 breakout board. I know the schematics show wiring the 5v to the power supply but I thought the current information was more up to date than the schematics. I had one schematics for VFD, a different one for stepper drives and a third for parallel NO limit switches. so who says there couldn't be a forth for the db25 breakout board. (came with the db25 board) This is just my train of thought for what I did.
I wired the 5v for the drives to db25 breakout board to terminal 14,16and 17. Unknow to me was terminal 17 turns off 5v power when a a cutting program is started which happened to be my Y axis. I supplied continuous 5v power to Y axis and all is good. Thank you for everyone's support and suggestions, but in the back of my mind I always thought it was a power supply problem so I kept testing power every where. I should have followed the acorn schematics and not what I thought I was hearing or reading.
During my adventure I discovered cnc12 free is not large enough to use on my programs (3D wood carving) and will have to buy pro series. I am a little disappointed not for the reason of having to buy the pro but because the gentlemen I talked to at centroid told me I didn't need it until I bought the probe. I did explain to him what I used the router for and file sizes. I followed his recommended advice and would have bought the pro if that was what he suggested. Oh well, I'm just happy my machine is working and I will start more complicated cuts.
The box I cut measured within .001 or less in all directions.
Dave
So glad you sorted everything out Dave. Next time I post that stepper drives wire to the DB25 break out board I'll be sure to follow that up with "the 5v lines from the drive go to the Acorn power supply". :mrgreen: Oh, and to toss out any instructions or diagrams that come with the break out board. Pins 14, 16 and 17 on the DB connector are outputs on the Acorn and not 5 volts and this is illustrated on the diagrams.

This is why the forum asks for pictures because we cant see what you are looking at. If you change any wiring posting pics will help us see what you did. Also following the Acorn diagrams is key which you now have figured out. The latest updated Acorn schematics were published here on this forum by cnckeith in January I think so that's pretty current. Mind you not everyone was updated but they are current.

This bigger issue for the "newbies" getting started is all the old and outdated videos on YouTube. It's great that Centroid is always innovating and updating their products but a video that is a few years old will not apply anymore. There are many videos (from centroid and others) that do nothing but confuse people because they contain old and irrelevant info and I know Centroid is working on newer videos.

I'll help you get your coolant pump wired through the Acorn and edit your PP to turn it off an on for you automatically. Let us know when you are up and running and your thought on the Acorn over the old school Laguna controller.
dweber
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Re: retro fit Laguna/RichAuto

Post by dweber »

Just when I thought I was out of the woods. I installed my pro lic. After trying a few simple cuts and all was good, I thought it was time to try a 3d cut. https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZmHfbq9349jKVxU17
Everything started well but about 1minute 20 seconds into the cut it quick running here is a picture of the screen. https://photos.app.goo.gl/7pZihP3YwxKyGmCd6
So I restarted the program and this is what I saw the NeXT time it stopped https://photos.app.goo.gl/Kdpv3cPSHeEBVhAf8
The gantry was 8" away from the limit switch.
The cutting is following perfect but keeps shutting down. I checked my settings and did try a third time and it shut down again after 1:23 minutes.
Dave
dweber
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Re: retro fit Laguna/RichAuto

Post by dweber »

sorry, the first time was this picture https://photos.app.goo.gl/aMBB6gdQgTbExeqt5
tblough
Posts: 3072
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100327
102696
103432
7804732B977B-0624192192
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Re: retro fit Laguna/RichAuto

Post by tblough »

Either noise or vibration is causing false triggers on the limit switch.
Cheers,

Tom
Confidence is the feeling you have before you fully understand the situation.
I have CDO. It's like OCD, but the letters are where they should be.
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