Centroid Community CNC Support Forum

Ok. Did you disassemble the control? I am assuming the stepper motors connected to the board with the three plastic 4 pin molex connectors?
It will offer a clue as to how to connect the stepper coil pairs to your geckodrives. The Geckodrive has a button to test that you have the motor wired correctly.

I bought the Gecko 214 drives because it's so flexible and I thought it would let me upgrade the motors if these ones aren't good enough. Should I have ordered different drives?

Yes, I disassembled the board and I also believe the stepper motors connected to the board with the three plastic 4 pin connectors.

ericbowman wrote: ↑Fri Nov 05, 2021 3:57 pm I bought the Gecko 214 drives because it's so flexible and I thought it would let me upgrade the motors if these ones aren't good enough. Should I have ordered different drives?

Go with what you have. But closed loop motors and drives are getting more popular because there isn't the worry about loosing steps.

Nice machine They are great re-control projects attached is a Gerber 408 that I just finished for a customer and it is running and making great parts everyday .

Bill of materials:

Acorn with pro router
YakoTec servos and drives
New Control Cabinet
New high speed spindle with Delta VFD
Wireless MPG
Wireless Tool Setter
New Home Switches.

Are the YakoTec servos and drives open loop or closed loop?

The only way a servo will work with Acorn is if it is closed loop with the drive.

I'm with Keith... 600-900 ozin closed loop steppers or small servos. Since all the electronics are 20+ years old, my recommendation is to simply replace everything with a wire attached to it. And don't forget to replace the wires!

I must not understand what closed vs open loop is. I thought a closed loop servo motor was one that sent position information back to the driver, and an open loop system is one where the driver simply gives step and direction.

ericbowman wrote: ↑Sat Nov 06, 2021 7:53 pm I must not understand what closed vs open loop is. I thought a closed loop servo motor was one that sent position information back to the driver, and an open loop system is one where the driver simply gives step and direction.

10,000' overview"

Open Loop, Control does not get feedback from an encoder
Closed Loop, Control gets feedback from an encoder
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HYBRID Closed Loop, step/dir signals are sent to a hybrid stepper drive OR A Servo drive that accepts step and direction signals, the motor has an encoder and the encoder is connected to the drive.

Drive sees the pulses from the controller, commands the motor to move, encoder on the motor tells the drive whether or not it is in position, if its lagging drive pushes it harder, if the motor can't get to position, the drive sees this and faults. The control stops, motion stops, many times you can recover the part.
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OPEN loop stepper system, drive receives step and direction pulses, commands the motor to move, drive has no idea if the motor moved as it was commanded. IF the motor is pushed to hard, it can loose steps, maybe even stall. Most systems will continue on cutting the part and not fault out. If the motor misses steps and continues on doing the job, your part may have stair step artifacts that you probably can't recover from

Search YouTube for Open Loop vs Closed Loop, you will find some videos
Here is one