Build Thread: Ramsay CNC Plasma Question

[centroid467]

Hi, you ask "Did you disable the Servo Enable input on the drive's SigIn1 pin? That should be Pn052".
Do you mean pin6 on your diagram? Where's pin 052?
You also ask "Are the drive's digital inputs powered?"
Going to pin 3 in the db25 for CN2 is 24v for all servos, which are all now grounded.
Also, should Com be connected to ground at the power supply?

Yes, pin 6 on the diagram. Drive parameter #52 (Pn52 as written in the manual) controls the function assigned to that pin. You could temporarily turn off the Drive Enable function or set the input to be active when open to help simplify the process of getting motion.

CN2 pin 2 is the pull up for the step/dir inputs. You'll also need to run 24VDC to CN2 pin 9 and 24VDC supply common to CN2 pin 10 for the digital I/O on CN2 pins 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 21, 23, and 24.

COM should be connected to ground on the Acorn's power supply. We used to ship it without the COM and ground jumper but we found that connecting COM to ground got rid of most grounding issues that customers were experiencing.

[OceanFab]

ok, lost me there.
You say, "You'll also need to run 24VDC to CN2 pin 9 and 24VDC supply common to CN2 pin 10 for the digital I/O on CN2 pins 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 21, 23, and 24."
I've connected pin 9/10 to 24vdc, but I've been thinking we were getting serial i/o through the direction line, which I guess means it's just the direction. Where do I pick up the digital I/O for CN2 pins 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 21, 23, and 24?
Any chance of a db25 breakout board wiring diagram with all-in wires, ready to fly? I've put a new photo up of our db25 break out boards with z-axis my current focus.
Also, any chance you could explain how to "temporarily turn off the Drive Enable function"?

[centroid467]

ok, lost me there.
You say, "You'll also need to run 24VDC to CN2 pin 9 and 24VDC supply common to CN2 pin 10 for the digital I/O on CN2 pins 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 21, 23, and 24."
I've connected pin 9/10 to 24vdc, but I've been thinking we were getting serial i/o through the direction line, which I guess means it's just the direction. Where do I pick up the digital I/O for CN2 pins 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 21, 23, and 24?
Any chance of a db25 breakout board wiring diagram with all-in wires, ready to fly? I've put a new photo up of our db25 break out boards with z-axis my current focus.
Also, any chance you could explain how to "temporarily turn off the Drive Enable function"?

Step and direction signals are not serial communications as we think of them and not bidirectional. Consider the step signal just a simple pulse train where the drive moves the motor a predetermined distance for each pulse received. Direction is toggling the direction that the motor will move. No other information is encoded in those signals and no other information should be.

Servo drives typically have a number of programmable inputs and outputs for communicating other information. The default settings for each pin are in the table in Chapter 2.3.1 of the drive manual.


Did you follow the instructions in the "Starter Setting" document in the Google Drive folder you shared? If so, then you do not have to worry about the Servo Enable signal (on SigIn1 / CN2 pin 6) since drive parameter number 3 controls whether or not that signal is used. The only issue I can see with that quick start sheet is that they do not tell you to set parameter number 1 (Pn001 in the manual) to the correct value for the motor. Pn001 should be set to 9 for your 90ST-M04025 motors. Those instructions should be all but guaranteed to get it moving from the Acorn.

The instructions for setting parameter values are in Chapter 3.5 of the drive manual.

[OceanFab]

Thanks.
I did now follow the instructions in the "Starter Setting" document. I have set pin 9 to 24v and pin 10 to Com, which is grounded.
But I do not have the 90ST-M04025 motor moving from the Acorn.
I did not connect the brake, which the z-motor has.
But I get no motion or noise at all from the motor.
Any other advice?

[centroid467]

Thanks.
I did now follow the instructions in the "Starter Setting" document. I have set pin 9 to 24v and pin 10 to Com, which is grounded.
But I do not have the 90ST-M04025 motor moving from the Acorn.
I did not connect the brake, which the z-motor has.
But I get no motion or noise at all from the motor.
Any other advice?

Brakes are typically released when 24VDC is applied so that should be the next thing to try. In my experience, you would hear some indication that the motor is trying to move though. Does the drive show any error codes when you try to move it?

[OceanFab]

There are no error codes, just a "0" reading on the panel and no noises. I have attached the latest report.
Attached the brake, which works with 24v to the red and gnd to the black. Can here it clicking, but still not motor motion.

[OceanFab]

I tried to hook up the X and Y axis to try to get those operational, but both have a blinking error code AL-09, which is an encoder error.
Tried to set Fn-003 as per manual, but the clear function returns Err, and on restart does not change.
So I've got nothing to move. Any suggestions on a systematic debugging method?
Switching the Z-driver to the Y-driver produced a "0" on the Y-driver and an AL-09 on the Z-driver, which means the drivers are OK, just not working.
Had not used the motors before.

[centroid467]

I tried to hook up the X and Y axis to try to get those operational, but both have a blinking error code AL-09, which is an encoder error.
Tried to set Fn-003 as per manual, but the clear function returns Err, and on restart does not change.
So I've got nothing to move. Any suggestions on a systematic debugging method?
Switching the Z-driver to the Y-driver produced a "0" on the Y-driver and an AL-09 on the Z-driver, which means the drivers are OK, just not working.
Had not used the motors before.

The default monitor mode setting is 0, which displays velocity. So, seeing 0 on the display makes sense if the things aren't moving and there is no fault code.

AL-09 seems to imply that the encoder connection is wrong or missing. I'd verify that the wiring is correct and that 5V power is found at the correct pins on the motor end of the cable. Try using the Z encoder cable on the X or Y drives and see if the fault code goes away.

If the fault goes away then I would try manually rotating the shaft and seeing if the drive's display shows any velocity. If nothing shows up on the monitoring display, I would change monitor mode to display the various encoder and position counts (dn19 or dn23 may show the encoder counting). You may need to disable the drive to do this (I.E. temporarily change pn003 back to default).

If you get some indication that the encoder is working, set pn003 back to 1 to enable the drive and try commanding motion from the Acorn for that axis.

[OceanFab]

So currently the Z-axis driver is displaying 0, so 0 velocity, but how do I get the Z motor to turn?
X and Y are displaying the AL-09, and when I switch the Z-encoder line to Y it shows 0, too.
The encoder cables were factory supplied. I put an extension on the end, but that was factory completed, too. So there is no way that the connections have been altered, and the cables are 4m long, much less than the 20m they said would deteriorate the signal.

[centroid467]

So currently the Z-axis driver is displaying 0, so 0 velocity, but how do I get the Z motor to turn?
X and Y are displaying the AL-09, and when I switch the Z-encoder line to Y it shows 0, too.
The encoder cables were factory supplied. I put an extension on the end, but that was factory completed, too. So there is no way that the connections have been altered, and the cables are 4m long, much less than the 20m they said would deteriorate the signal.

This tells you it is more than likely that the Z encoder cable is working correctly. To turn the motors, you need to grab the shaft and rotate it by hand with the drive powered but disabled. I would test this on one without a brake so X or Y.

I don't know what could be wrong with the cables even if they were supplied with the motors and drives. Checking them is a troubleshooting step trying to isolate the source of the problems. Keep moving to the simplest possible configuration - don't start with the brake motor and do one at a time. Getting one working will help with figuring out the others.

Put the good encoder cable on the X or Y drive and motor to clear AL-09 and try to jog it from the drive's front panel after re-enabling the drive. If it moves from the front panel but not from the step and direction inputs then either the wiring is wrong, the Acorn is set to output on the DB25 when it should be set to use the screw terminals, or the drive configuration is wrong. The wiring looks correct to me and the drive configuration should be correct from the quick start sheet. Your Acorn is set to use the screw terminal open collector outputs so that is not likely to be the issue.

Do you have an oscilloscope available? If not, then you should at least be able to observe the step and direction signals from the Acorn with a voltmeter. You should see near 24 volts or near 0 volts on the direction line and a voltage somewhere in between those on the step line while commanding moves from the Acorn.