Wiring CW250 driver

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n8awol
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Wiring CW250 driver

Post by n8awol »

HI all just got my acorn in the mail. I'm retrofitting an old 4x8 generic cnc router and I need some serious help. I lack the knowledge to know what exactly to search for. Basically I just need to know how to wire a CW250 driver to the acorn. My knowledge of electronics/wiring is very limited. ANY info or what exact schematic I should copy would be very very very appreciated.
Here's a link to my drivers
https://www.cncsparetools.com/product/C ... outer.html
Thank you all so much for this wonderful community!
Nate
n8awol
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Re: Wiring CW250 driver

Post by n8awol »

I may have answered part of my question or may have it confused. CP=step and CW=direction? So that translates to cp=ST and cw=DIR on the acorn? Attaching some photos for more reference.
Attachments
542A299C-E27E-4A59-A843-878848341589.jpeg
09D7D918-0F90-4DB5-8F48-0128A99D87FE.jpeg
CE2A1BD6-7F68-44C9-8706-1DC9067AEF48.jpeg
6BD0F057-A875-41AE-928C-88B98ABDAA53.jpeg
ShawnM
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Re: Wiring CW250 driver

Post by ShawnM »

Hi Nate and welcome. Would that machine happen to be an “Industrial CNC” brand machine? I pulled those same drives off what appears to be the same machine. I retrofit a 6x12 "Industrial CNC" machine.

Those drives will wire up to the DB25 connector and you can follow the Leadshine wiring diagram S14976. A word of warming, those drives are old and can only have 1/8 micro stepping (1600 steps per rev) and a max step and direction pulse frequency of 75 kHz. The Acorn starts at 100kHz but can be lowered to accommodate this drive.

You’ll need a DB25 breakout board from Amazon, they cost under $10, to wire up those drives to the Acorn. Like this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073R ... 1965d6ae5a

If you have it in your budget I'd suggest you replace these drives with new, modern ones, you’ll be in a much better position.
n8awol
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Re: Wiring CW250 driver

Post by n8awol »

I honestly can’t find any branding on the machine. It came out of a high school teams robotic lab. Worked great I just didn’t want to continue to use Mach 3. I’ll go grab a photo of the motors. It could be in the budget to upgrade. Could I go the gecko route? I’m sure something like this has been covered I apologize, I’m just unsure of the keywords I would need to search. One quick question, I couldn’t just directly wire the positive and negative to the CW+ and CP+? That’s how they had it wired into the cnc4pc control board. If my motors will work with the gecko drive I’ll happily go that route. It seemed that the gecko drive needed the motors to have a db25 (I believe that’s what it’s called, like a serial port connection)
ShawnM
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Re: Wiring CW250 driver

Post by ShawnM »

You wont find any branding on the older machines, did you get any manuals with it? I just know that color, those drives and how you show them mounted in your pics. It's a Chinese made machine that is imported by the company and sold under their name.

I don't know much about Gecko and only wired up a G540 once. That is about the limit of my experience with Gecko. I'm sure there are many on the forum who can help if needed and there are a few wiring diagrams available for their drives. I think you are referring to the G540 and yes the motor cables are wired through a DB9. The G540 will also connect to the Acorn via the DB25 on it. The G540 drive is limited to 3.5 amps I think.

You need to look at your motors and determine a model number and then find the spec sheet for them You'll need specific info from them to help determine if you currently have the optimal power supply for those motors.

Please do not just start hooking up wires until you are confident in what you are doing. Those drives you have are 5v logic drives and they wire to the DB25 on the Acorn via the breakout board I posted a link for below. The Acorn headers are for servo drives and a limited few closed loop stepper drives. You can wire your drives according to the wiring diagram S14976. Your old Mach3 BOB that the drives are wired to is not the same as the Acorn headers. You will not need the CNC4PC board or any other boards in the current system. Just the drives, power supply(s) and motors.
n8awol
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Re: Wiring CW250 driver

Post by n8awol »

Oh I won’t be just hooking up Wiley nilly! Sorry about my ignorance of the difference between servo and stepper motors. Once I determine the model/make of the motors is there a resource I can search to determine the best driver for my specific application/budget? I’ll do a lot more reading on this. Thank you so much for giving me a lot to learn.
ShawnM
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Re: Wiring CW250 driver

Post by ShawnM »

Ok, let’s take some baby steps here and no need to apologize at all. I just didn’t want you to start wiring things up and damage the Acorn or something else. We all started some where and had to learn this stuff just like you are now doing. It’s a fun journey if you like tinkering, some do and some just want to buy a machine that works. :mrgreen:

In my original response I was simply suggesting some upgrades. If you are happy with the current performance that you get from the machine there’s no reason to change anything else. Originally that machine had two 48 volt power supplies in the cabinet. I see some thing different now in your pics. Is there one or two power supplies? I see your VFD and know it’s a Fuling brand. It’ll work just fine also. From the wiring on it I assume it is manually controlled with a keypad mounted on the cabinet, yes?

You could pull out the old BOB and wire in the Acorn to the current system and be off and running. Again, you’ll need the DB25 breakout board that is on Amazon to easily wire up those drives.

Another small hurdle you’ll have to address is that some components on that machine are not grounded properly from the factory. Because of this you’ll have noise in the system that can cause unwanted issues. The VFD and the spindle (ie - the main noise makers) are not grounded at all and it’s a relatively simple fix with a good ground buss bar.

If it currently has some CNC4PC board in it then someone has already been inside messing around. I mentioned already that the power supply in your pic is not the original one. I don’t know if it was matched to the current motors or not.

You could clean up the current wiring, get some new shielded wire for the drive signals, install the Acorn and be off to the races if you want. You’ll just need to decide if you want to do upgrades now or later.
n8awol
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Re: Wiring CW250 driver

Post by n8awol »

After some research Ive decided I might as well upgrade the motor drivers. Any you would recommend? Seems like lead shine is a great way to go? Ill attach my motor schematics here for reference and asking your opinion. It has two PULs power supplies, and you are correct the VFD is a fuling and has the external controls. Ill tackle wiring it up to have it controlled by acorn after I get the other stuff rolling.
MotorDetails.pdf
(163.06 KiB) Downloaded 38 times
n8awol
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Re: Wiring CW250 driver

Post by n8awol »

Also any tips or links to tips on proper grounding id VERY much appreciate! Thanks for being so patient!
n8awol
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Re: Wiring CW250 driver

Post by n8awol »

One more question, well one more right now. You say drive signal wire, do you mean replace the entire wire running from my stepper motors? Or just the wire running from the drivers to the acorn etc? It will effect how much I buy. If you have recommendations for wiring and cable management etc please feel free to shoot me links etc. Thanks so much again, sometimes the hardest part is knowing what to ask.
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