China CNC 6040 - Setup, Testing & Review

[GeoffS]

Have you checked out the Mach 3 forums?
Quite a few hits there for WIn7 and PCIe parallel ports.

Before investing a USB based controller (such as the Smootherstepper), it might be worth while making up a simple test jig to provide the necessary STEP and DIR signals to the controller. That will eliminate the PC as a problem.

[Fred27]

I can't watch the video at work, but will have a look when I get home as I have a similar TB6560 board controlling my little Proxxon MF70 mill.

I find a good setup for Mach3 is an old Dell PC (because they usually have a parallel port built it) running XP 32-bit. You can normally find a cheap second hand one from the era where XP 32-bit was the standard preinstalled OS.

[snoopy]

Here are pictures from inside: http://imgur.com/a/Y9dVU

PC is brand new 2 core Intel Celeron G1610, 4G ram, no antivirus just win 7 and mach 3. LPT port card is this one: AXAGO PCEA-P1.

I'm quite desperate, I think I will look for alternate driver, maybe something for USB with internal gcode interpreter ( Any suggestions ? )... I needed to do some cutting and got a science project instead

That controller board looks identical to mine and my one works but that doesn't mean there is not a problem with yours.

Also does Mach3 work with win 7 because I thought it only works on win XP ?

Also is your parallel port set to ECP in the BIOS ?

regards

It should, I went by this page: http://www.cncrouterparts.com/mach3-cnc-control-software-p-165.html

Regarding the BIOS setting, I don't know but will check today. Although I don't know if it will be there as the parallel port is PCI-e card, I will check...

The only difference with your setup and mine is that my VFD controller is a seperate external box and I can turn it off completely from the mains. Can you do this with yours so you can isolate that as a source of interference ?

Also i believe there is a program in the mach 3 directory which can check your PC for its performance at different frequency rates. I can't remember what it is called but it is worth running to make sure it is not a software issue.

regards

[vladoportos]

Also does Mach3 work with win 7 because I thought it only works on win XP ?

Certainly Win 7 64bit appears to cause problems with the parallel port driver. I abandoned Mach3 in less than a day iirc, the older PC I was using was much happier under LinuxCNC.

Now, LinuxCNC is an option and I've found it very reliable - 16 hour runs without a hiccup - but it's not quite as user friendly as Mach3. I think there is a bootable DVD version available so no need to install anything on the PC. Let me check this out...
 

Edit:
http://www.linuxcnc.org/index.php/english/download/21?task=view

Live CD, just download, burn the image - possibly to USB flash - and boot. If nothing else you should be able to manually step the motors to confirm any Windows+Mach3 issues before splashing any cash.

Thanks I will download and try it. I'm not worried much about linux as I'm linux administrator by trade

Its windows 7 32 bit that is running it now.

I can turn on and off the spindle separately from motors, also water pump have its own switch.

[vladoportos]

Interesting development, I tried the linuxcnc, well the setup wizard so far, and got the motor moving in better manner however there are some parameters that I don't know. I'm using this so far:



which seems to work, it still makes a strange noise from time to time... but what should be the Leadscrew pitch value or Driver Microsteping ?  Only think I know is Motor steps per rev. from manual is 320...

Velocity and acceleration is how fast it can go that can be tuned out

Any ideas ?

Also I noticed one thing, from time to time the controller stop responding, in windows I had to disable and enable ltp port and it start working again, in linux reboot... :-/

[ecat]

Didn't notice this before but that 320 steps per revolution looks wrong!

From your ebay link there is a close up of the stepper motor label that clearly shows 1.8 and the degrees sign. 1.8Deg per step is industry standard and gives 200 full steps per revolution.

Full steps = number of steps with microstepping set to 0 or none.

Your microstep setting is set by little switches on the controller board, a typical value would indeed be 4.

I cannot remember if the LinuxCnC 'Motor steps per revolution' should be set to the native full step value (200 in your case) or the Full step value multiplied by the Microstep count (200 * 4 = 800 in your case). Try both.

If all is well maybe Mach3 will play ball too

The Leadscrew pitch of the 1605 screws on your machine is 05mm. if I remember the naming convention correctly.

So, one full rotation of 360Deg requires 200 steps of 1.8Deg (multiply as necessary for the microsteps (think of them as sub steps) ) which results in 5mm linear movement of the attached bearing.

Velocity and Acceleration you can take from previous posts in this thread or experiment to find values the machine is happy with. If either is set too high the motors will miss steps or maybe the machine will shake itself to bits.

[vladoportos]

Thanks ecat, yes it seems to work better... however its loosing connection to controller and I have to reboot the pc ( same is happening in win and linux ), I have ordered new board with integrated cpu but it have parallel port integrated, I want to rule out the pci-e parallel card...

[vladoportos]

Hello all, me again. I have found the issue !  it was the PCI-e parallel port card that was causing it, for further reference try to avoid "AXAGO PCEA-P1".  I basically bought new PC for 200Eur this time with this configuration:

MB: GIGABYTE E350N with integrated CPU and most important integrated parallel port on MB
RAM: 4GB
Cheap SDD 32G as harddrive

I did some test with linuxcnc config wizard, and man ! what a different sound to the motors, smooth not trying to shake it self apart, even the measurement travel distance is matching ! I can't spell out how happy I am 

Not sure if I'm going to use Mach3 though, that linux cnc looked much less intimidating

You were all so supportive, thanks !

[ajb]

The label seems to indicate a real Mean Well, although the input ratings are not the same as the data sheet (3.2A/1.6A in photo vs 2.6A/1.3A in data sheet).

Hmm that could be the clue because it is only a 145 watt supply.

It is probably a fake or copy with crappy quality control. I note that on ebay the genuine Mean Well supplies were always much more expensive than the run of the mill clones. However the supply is running reliably now and hope it doesn't give me any further trouble but I bet you others may have similar issues.

regards

Definitely a fake.  I've never seen an enclosed Meanwell supply that had green mask on the top of the PCB or one of those CE stickers, and the G1 series including the S-145 was discontinued in 2009--so even if it were a genuine Meanwell, it'd be around 5 years old.  The S-145 is replaced by the NES-150.

http://www.meanwell.com/news/eg1.htm

[velimir]

The blue box between the computer and cnc machine, does it have any affect on the capacity of the machine in the way it works.
And also what could cause the machine to skip or jump while it is working and mess up my work. Is it the code or the mach 3 setting?

[snoopy]

The blue box between the computer and cnc machine, does it have any affect on the capacity of the machine in the way it works.
And also what could cause the machine to skip or jump while it is working and mess up my work. Is it the code or the mach 3 setting?

If it doesn't have opto isolators then you could have problems with noise from your PC. Also I found that earthing the frame of the CNC table using the safety earth stopped chattering noise in the stepper motors.

regards

[metalphreak]

For what it's worth, I kept getting periodic interruptions and missteps when using Linux CNC on the PC i'm using. Mach3 under Windows had no issues, so it was more than likely a linux driver issue.

[Sabre]

A bit of help please. I am setting up my new 6040z-S65J Christmas gift today, but am having some issues.  I can get the motor to spin, (found out by trial and error) but can not get any of the X,Y or Z to move. I have everything plugged in per the labels on the cables and figure if something was plugged in wrong, I would at least get some movement.
I can get everything to move easily using the stepper knobs, so I doubt they are bound up. I have checked the connections and all seem snug. 
Missing something simple I am sure, but this is my first time setting one of these up and figured I would ask before charging forward. 
No manual provided. Just one folded page with some basic info and photos.
Software disk appears to be a copy of Mach3, not original. No instructions, just hit the exe and let her load up
Any help figuring this our would be greatly appreciated. Photo of controller and motor attached. All 3 motors are the same.
Thanks in advance

[David_AVD]

Sounds like you'll have to work out how to setup mach3 software.

[andtfoot]

If the stepper motors are still easy to move when you have everything connected and powered up, then they probably aren't getting power.

Is there a high pitch squeal from the motors when sitting idle? Is there any difference between when the e-stop switch on the controller is off or on?
Did the disk come with any .xml files as well?

[Sabre]

Hello All,

  Not a good morning so far here in Texas. I removed the software and reinstalled the newest version of Mach 3. Followed the information provided page by page and still not getting the unit to work from keyboard.

 I proved that while the controller is powered OFF I can move the motors easily by hand. When I turn the controller on, it becomes difficult. That being said, I think the power to the motors is working. I can test, ramp up and slow down the spindle from the control box. but not the keyboard. Have tried the settings that came with the unit. Some slightly different settings that a member  provided and another slightly different set that I downloaded via the internet. All have the same results. We have replaced the keyboard, verified the manual e-stop is disengaging and that the software e-stop is turned off, not blinking.

When using the keyboard, the numbers on the screen do not move, though I think that they did using the older version of the software that came with the unit, before I deleted it and downloaded the latest. At least with the latest files, I have move files to work with. I ran the driver test and that worked well.

Just seems like i am missing something simple, but I am at a loss as to what that may be.  Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Sabre]

Well I did say the solution would be simple.  I deleted the MACH3 software and then reinstalled it WITHOUT the cable connected to the controller. Once completed, I rebooted the PC to make sure the settings stuck, then turned off the unit. Plugged in the controller tot he PC and then rebooted. Now i have keyboard control. 

[cncjerry]

I use both Mach3 and LinuxCNC so if you get stuck again send me a PM.  I've had problems with Mach3 for some reason over the past year or so but can't seem to correlate it to a version change.  Every now and then it's like the Mach3 pulse driver (can't remember what it is called, but it is used for timing), goes to sleep.  When it happens (using the jog keys on the keyboard to move the motors) the motors move very slowly, maybe one pulse every 5 seconds.   Rebooting fixes it.

Something else to consider.  If you get random extra pulses or missed steps, check your grounding.  I've had a hell of time with a high speed spindle because of the electrical noise generated back up thru the motor to the power supply.  Using ferrite clamps helped, but what fixed it was either lifting the ground (dangerous) or moving the motor power supply to another outlet on a separate breaker.  The way I tested it was to zero the table, holding dial indicators to the x,y,z and spinning the motor up to speed.  Prior to separating the grounds I could see x and z axis moving.  This depends on the breakout board, drivers, power supply, etc, of course but it was a bear to track down initially.  If you haven't, I would ground your table, power supply frame, etc to a cold water pipe.

I use Mach3 on my two stepper driven mills and lathes and linuxCNC on the larger mill with servos.  I found linuxCNC's constant velocity path engine to be better than Mach3 and more programmable.  Also, if you have any backlash in the system, linuxCNC backlash was far, far better than Mach3, at least the version I use.  The problem with Mach3 was that the backlash take-up was done at high speed sometimes stalling the steppers.  I disabled it because the .002" backlash I had on those machines wasn't worth worrying about.   I since moved to zero backlash nuts on both.  Other than that, not much difference.

Jerry

[Sabre]

Thanks for the Info Jerry. Taking your advice, I have added separate circuits and will work on grounding this weekend. i have water lines 10 feet away, so no issue there.

I have moved past the original concern in a since, but being new to CNC  I now have have another similar one.  I seem to be able to control everything, X,Y and Z from the Mach 3 software, but I cannot get the spindle to turn on, or spin via the Mach 3 software. I can get it to run through using the controller box and small dial which has a built in VFD.  See photo  My question is, how do I get the spindle to work using the MACH3?  I watched a video someone posted and learned how to turn the controller ON and OFF and ideally, switch it to software control. I can do all that, but still no joy when trying to use the MAch3 to turn on the spindle. I feel i am missing something........  ??

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions you all can offer.

[metalphreak]

The VFD spindles usually have RS485 connections for remote control. You'll need to wire up some sort of USB to RS485 adapter into the VFD unit to do that. None of the chinese models that integrate the VFD controller into the box make any allowance for an external connection that I've seen. There might be a start/stop control line that you could hook up to the parallel port? If you go the RS485 route, you can control start/stop/spindle speed etc (anything you can do from control panel basically).

[Dennis0212]

Hello, I come from germany and my English is little.

I have SXCNC 6040z 4axis. I have Mach3 with Spindl connect. You must inside the controller to 10v and GND this on the Whitebox. Then the youtube video for setting the whitebox. And in MACH3 you must output settings and PWM Mode with freq. 810!

You can On / Off and Speed Setting no Direction then this is for EnablePin use. Or you can Jumper EnablePIN and then Direction Relais from Enable PIN.

Dennis