Centroid Acorn, Stepperonline DM542T's, NEMA 23's, need help please

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innovative-mods
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Centroid Acorn, Stepperonline DM542T's, NEMA 23's, need help please

Post by innovative-mods »

Hi fella's,

I have scoured the net and the Centroid forums trying to find answers but as of late have came up empty. As the title states I have the Acorn controller with DM542T's for my stepper drivers. I have a 3-axis router that utilizes NEMA 23 steppers. I am coming from a NVEM controller that was a total nightmare. Although, I can say my machine did run and worked really well but kept disconnecting from the host PC in the middle of a job which is a common issue with the NVEM. I wanted a nice stable controller and I had been looking at the Acorn for a few weeks. Long story short, I have changed any and every setting I can find in the wizard and also watched every Video and searched every single way I can for info but I cannot get the steppers to move. I have the board connected to my PC and I can move the DRO's but no motor output. I tried every wiring scheme from the outputs on the acorn to the stepper drivers I can possibly use to no avail. I found one post on here where a user had the same problem as I'm having and mentioned remapping the DB25 to the screw terminals. So I tried that. Nothing. I tried every config for the Leadshine still nothing. I started thinking maybe my drivers were bad somehow so I reconnected my old controller back to one driver and stepper and it still works perfect. Does anyone have any pointers as to what I can try? I have spent the better part of today making changes and power cycling the acorn and then starting the CNC12 software. Still nada. I did read @cnckeith advise the same user I read about having my issue to buy a DB25 BOB. I'm kinda confused on that though. Isn't the drop down in the wizard to remap the DB25 connections to the screw terminals supposed to alleviate having to buy a BOB? Thanks for any info in advance
gerald martin
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Re: Centroid Acorn, Stepperonline DM542T's, NEMA 23's, need help please

Post by gerald martin »

Welcome to the forum.

The pros here will soon weigh in - but I believe you will want the output from the DB25 connector - and remapping those outputs in the software only chances the terminals they use on the DB25, not the open collector screw connectors on the side. Likely a DB25 breakout board like you will find referenced here on the forum will make this much easier to achieve for you.

You made the right choice in motion control. This forum will be helpful in getting you up and going!

Gerald Martin
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Re: Centroid Acorn, Stepperonline DM542T's, NEMA 23's, need help please

Post by innovative-mods »

gerald martin wrote: Sat Jan 26, 2019 8:52 pm Welcome to the forum.

The pros here will soon weigh in - but I believe you will want the output from the DB25 connector - and remapping those outputs in the software only chances the terminals they use on the DB25, not the open collector screw connectors on the side. Likely a DB25 breakout board like you will find referenced here on the forum will make this much easier to achieve for you.

You made the right choice in motion control. This forum will be helpful in getting you up and going!

Gerald Martin
Thanks for the reply Gerald.

I do appreciate it. I made a BOB for the DB25 while I was waiting for a reply. I still do not get any movement from the steppers. My drivers are always holding when they have power connected and my motors are warm so I know they are connected fine from the driver to the stepper. Although I didn't change anything from the drivers out so it stands to reason nothing would be wrong as they were working fine before I removed my old controller. I'm to my wits end. I have done every possible config I can find online and in the forums. I have built several CNC machines and never had this problem before. I really want to love the board. I have seen nothing but good things about this controller but at this point I am about to throw in the towel. I'm sure if I owned an Gecko G540 I'd have been making chips by now. But, alas, I don't nor do I really want to spend more on something I don't feel I need. It's just frustrating to spend an entire day trying to get something so simple as a stepper to move and nothing has helped.
gerald martin
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Re: Centroid Acorn, Stepperonline DM542T's, NEMA 23's, need help please

Post by gerald martin »

One thing you can do, while waiting for the real pros to arrive: Take pictures. Pictures of the centroid wizard setup screens, lots of pictures of the Acorn board and your DB25 breakout showing how wires are connected, etc.

Very high probability = the Acorn is fine and your drivers and motors are fine. Give the pros here a chance to help. Marty, Gary, etc will be here to help you...but only you can take those pictures and post them.

Gerald
Gary Campbell
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Re: Centroid Acorn, Stepperonline DM542T's, NEMA 23's, need help please

Post by Gary Campbell »

Those drives will require step and direction connection to the DB25 connector and you may need to set parameter 968 to 12 (100,000 pulse rate) There are a number of recent posts regarding this.


And by the way: viewtopic.php?f=60&t=1043
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Re: Centroid Acorn, Stepperonline DM542T's, NEMA 23's, need help please

Post by Commotion »

As suggested above change the parameter to 100kHz. I never had to do this on my old version 2 acorn but the version 3 I have had to do that when running the db25 connection to get the leadshine dc servos to work. Have u got the home switches connected up? That’s the other thing that trips me up when switching from bench testing to machine connected. I have to change from NC to NO to bench test then when I connect everything up the servos won’t more or will only move in one direction. Flick it back to NC and away she goes.

Keep at it, I have almost 2 machines connected up and running now and I have had a few hair pulling moments but 100% of the time it’s been some setting or connection error on my part. The have used my mill a few times now to machine parts and love the interface and the stability of it. Centroid have done a brilliant job on bringing this level of professional equipment to the hobby market.
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Re: Centroid Acorn, Stepperonline DM542T's, NEMA 23's, need help please

Post by innovative-mods »

**UPDATE**

So I messed with this thing for a few more hours after posting this last night and eventually got the one stepper/driver I had hooked up through a bob I made to move the axis in one direction only. I know when this happens its usually a bad connection so I checked and everything looked good. Did a continuity test and it came back good. So, I was on a new mission now. I got fed up and went to bed. Came back out to the shop this morning and within an hour had it all working. I ended up using the screw terminals off H2 and H3. I decided to try remapping the signals through the wizard to the screw terminals again one last time and wa la! I have movement on all axis now. Here is my wiring if anyone is using my particular stepper drivers and connecting to the Acorn controller

My components are as follows; Acorn controller, StepperOnline DM542T stepper drivers, 600 oz/in NEMA 23 stepper motors (4 wire), Haunyang 2.2KW VFD and watercooled ER20 80mm spindle. Coolant is ran through a 120mm radiator with a 120mm fan dumping back into a 250x80mm glass reservior (stays really cool :D )

PUL- on Stepper driver to ST1 on Acorn (this is for one driver. If you're using more than one driver just use the same PUL- and DIR- on each driver and connect them to ST2 and DR2, ST3 and DR3, and so on)
DIR- on Stepper Driver to DR1 on Acorn

PUL+ apply 5v from DC PSU (I just ran a wire from the 5v terminal on the Acorn PSU back to the driver)
Make 2 jumpers and connect these from PUL+ to DIR+ and then from DIR+ to EN+ on the stepper driver
Then if you're using multiple stepper drivers just use a jumper to carry 5v from one driver to the next and so forth

This is working great for me. I have already ran several jobs and its smooth as butter. Once I figured out my issue everything else went fast and I had no problems at all.

I just wanted to thank those who offered help. I rarely ask for help so when I do I have to be banging my head off the wall.:lol:

So Thanks guys. I do appreciate it,

Todd
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Re: Centroid Acorn, Stepperonline DM542T's, NEMA 23's, need help please

Post by cnckeith »

Todd,
hello. thanks for reporting back with the info so others can gain from it.
post a link to photos of the machines we'd all like to see! -k
Need support? READ THIS POST first. http://centroidcncforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=1043
All Acorn Documentation is located here: viewtopic.php?f=60&t=3397
Answers to common questions: viewforum.php?f=63
and here viewforum.php?f=61
Gear we use but don't sell. https://www.centroidcnc.com/centroid_di ... _gear.html
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Re: Centroid Acorn, Stepperonline DM542T's, NEMA 23's, need help please

Post by tntgroup »

So do you have a final wiring diagram you could share? I have the DM542T drivers and trying to figure out the wiring.
ShawnM
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Re: Centroid Acorn, Stepperonline DM542T's, NEMA 23's, need help please

Post by ShawnM »

Simply follow diagram S14976 rev 4 and they will work. These drives should be wired to the DB25 like nearly all other stepper drives.

All docs and diagrams can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=60&t=3397
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