IPGregory - QueenAnt Pro V2 Build Thread

[IPGregory]

Repost of the update post from last week to close out the build part of the thread.

Had some time over the holidays to wrap up a few things.

Worked out the process of tiling in Fusion using the fixture board, some boundaries and moving the WCS in CAM. Worked out pretty well. This is the top, bottom and then the door for the control enclosure finishing up.



Right of passage?


Control Enclosure now has installed sides, top and bottom in place. Cooling fans installed. Slight change to the board layout and moved some of the PSUs around a bit to make room for a larger 12v PSU for the cooling systems due to a change in plan and an addition.


The 'addition'.. Closed loop cooling setup for the spindle made out of some spare PC Watercooling parts. Running the pump and the additional fan on this would have been too much for the old 12v PSU that was just intended for the cooling fans.


Bench (or floor in this case) testing is really useful for showing up unexpected problems sometimes. This leaking fitting would have been a PITA if I only found out about it when this was mounted to the machine.


Now I have a proper spindle cooling system I can finally retire this!


But now the CNC PC is back in the machine envelope and needs to move again.


Should be OK here (for now anyway).


With the cooling done, I can finish up the enclosure with the door and inset windows.


Add some proper clamps for the dust hose.


Time to make some drawers so the machine can stop looking like a tool bench.



Thats pretty much it. I still need to find or build a mist system and wire up the outlet for it and the dust extraction that will be switched through the Acorn Outputs. Otherwise, it's pretty much done and ready to use for projects. With the build essentially done, I won't regularly update this thread now unless there is a specific part/system I upgrade/add or I have an issue I need help with like the Drive tuning and coupler issues above. Hopefully this helps somebody else who is on a similar journey to me.

Thanks as always,
Ian

[IPGregory]

Anybody have any thoughts, suggestions on my motor/drive tuning issue above? Should I just go ahead and run the autotune in the SW even though the manual says not to? Any setting on the drives I should change? Once I have them 'tuned', what is the best way to determine my machines effective max axis speeds?

[cnckeith]

Anybody have any thoughts, suggestions on my motor/drive tuning issue above? Should I just go ahead and run the autotune in the SW even though the manual says not to? Any setting on the drives I should change? Once I have them 'tuned', what is the best way to determine my machines effective max axis speeds?

what SW autotune are you referring to?

[cnckeith]

Anybody have any thoughts, suggestions on my motor/drive tuning issue above? Should I just go ahead and run the autotune in the SW even though the manual says not to? Any setting on the drives I should change? Once I have them 'tuned', what is the best way to determine my machines effective max axis speeds?

effective axis speeds are determined by trail. write simple g code program to move in diagonal across the entire machine, keep increasing the Feedrate (in the g code program! keep feedrate override at 100%) until something fails. then back off 20 % and that is a good starting place.

now when you start cutting there are cutting forces on the machine so you may end up finding another uppper limit while cutting if the axis motors are undersized or geared improperly.

[IPGregory]

what SW autotune are you referring to?

F5 in the PID menu?

I am trying to resolve the occasional bang and jolt from an axis movement. I laid it out in a post above with a copy of my last report and my drives manual, etc. but the TLDR is I occasional have a bang when jogging an axis or more infrequently it turns up when running a program even at low speeds. As near as I can tell from trying to research it is its linked to the acel/decel setup or something similar.

What I can't seem to get to the bottom of is how to 'tune' the settings, either on the drive or in the SW to eradicate it.

I don't want to start pushing the machine to see where its limits are until I can resolve this issue as its pretty sever when it happens. Severe enough to either throw a drive error or apparently slip the couplers on the shafts and put the machine out of position between the actual and the SW.

See the 2nd post down on the last page for the rest of the info.

[cnckeith]

what SW autotune are you referring to?

F5 in the PID menu?

I am trying to resolve the occasional bang and jolt from an axis movement. I laid it out in a post above with a copy of my last report and my drives manual, etc. but the TLDR is I occasional have a bang when jogging an axis or more infrequently it turns up when running a program even at low speeds. As near as I can tell from trying to research it is its linked to the acel/decel setup or something similar.

What I can't seem to get to the bottom of is how to 'tune' the settings, either on the drive or in the SW to eradicate it.

I don't want to start pushing the machine to see where its limits are until I can resolve this issue as its pretty sever when it happens. Severe enough to either throw a drive error or apparently slip the couplers on the shafts and put the machine out of position between the actual and the SW.

See the 2nd post down on the last page for the rest of the info.

Acorn and AcornSix are open loop motion controllers. PID tuning is for Closed Loop CNC Controllers.

All "PID tuning" of axis motors for Acorn and AcornSix is down with the Axis motor drive. Motor drives like Clearpath, Yaskawa, Delta have there own tuning software as they are closing the loop not CNC12. some closed loop steppers have tuning software as well.

open loop steppers are 'tuned' by getting the voltage and amperage and winding wiring right (matching the motor to the drive voltage and amperage). Open loop motor "tuning' that can be done in CNC12 is setting the acceleration and deceleration, max rate and deadstart and delta v max.

banging can be caused by several things not just motor tuning.

[cnckeith]

and always post a fresh report.zip so we can see your latest settings

[IPGregory]

Thx Keith. I posted a report above, but I am attaching it here as well.

I am running closed loop steppers, but I think you're telling me that to the Acorn they are open loop as it only issues the steps and doesn't read them back? It only knows of an issue if the drive throws an error because of a steps mismatch that the drive picks up?

Open loop motor "tuning' that can be done in CNC12 is setting the acceleration and deceleration, max rate and deadstart and delta v max.

banging can be caused by several things not just motor tuning.

The above tuning you mention is what I think I need to do, but I am not sure how.

What other things can cause banging so I can check for them? It only happens infrequently on a jog and more infrequently in a program. It doesn't seem to be feedrate based as its happened on low-speed programs and not on much faster ones. When it happens it's on a start (Jog) or a direction change (program).

My motors do not have the typical option to log in to them and tune them. They only have switch settings. I have attached a copy of the drive manual again as well for reference. Link to the Mfg. page for the motor/drive kit I have is - https://www.omc-stepperonline.com/ts-se ... cl57t-s30a

I am running 4 x Motors on 2 x 36v/350w/110v Meanwell PSUs. 2 motors per PSU. The drives are set to 3200 Microsteps (Sw 1-4 = off, off, on, on). Switches 5, 6 and 7 are all off and Switch 8 is on. All drives set the same. The rotary switch is on position 8. I had it on position 6 initially as middle of the range and the problem was worse. Position 8 has made it infrequent, but not removed it.

[cnckeith]

and post a copy of the offending g code program that you are experiencing the banging in.. when and where is it occurring?

[IPGregory]

This is a program that had significant banging on the top corners with my rotary switch set to 6 initially. Slowing down the feedrate with the override while it was running helped and changing the rotary switch on my drives to position 8 from position 6 and turning on dip switch #8 helped as well. I have only noticed the problem since with the new drive settings maybe one or 2 times briefly at certain points in other programs, but I didn't note which ones I am afraid. It does still happen more often on a jog or a G0 MDI command. It happens on both my X and Y, but I don't recall it happening on my Z.

This is a pic of what the program was doing. The banging occurred on the 4 top corners.