I just bought what I believe to be a MK I Phlatprinter with MK II X- and Y-axis steppers and 3 upgraded individual controller boards. I've got Mach3 running using someone else's xml config file for a MK I, but the X- and Y-axis are briefly halting every 1.5 seconds or so and getting hotter than I'm guessing they should be.

I've searched all over the site for a guide on configuring Mach 3 to work with a Phlatprinter without success. Does anyone know where I can find such a guide? And what is the process I should use for calibration once the correct settings are in place?

Thanks so much for your help!

 

If your steppers are getting hot and halting, I believe the problem is with your controller boards. They're possibly sending too much voltage. I don't think it's possible for Mach to be the problem in this case.
One other possibility is that the steppers are not wired correctly, and you have the polarity wired backwards for one of the poles of each of those 2 steppers.
So - What is the model number of the steppers you have installed, so we can find the correct wiring diagram for you?
AND, What is the make / model of the controller cards you have?
Where did you buy that PP? Didn't the previous owner have any of the build data?

There's a large discussion about setting up a PP MK1 at http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=923747 by our friend Crash.

There is a whole slug of build logs from some of the first MK1's here: viewforum.php?f=106

And here's a pretty detailed and concise step-by-step for configuring the system to work. viewtopic.php?f=106&t=113#p473

 

Thanks for your quick reply! I'm still reading through the links you posted, but in the mean time here's my setup:

All 3 axis have their own separate and self-contained controller: Microstep driver CW230

Z axis has what I believe is the original stepper motor, which I can't identify but it looks exactly like the other MK I steppers in the photos.

X and Y axis are newer steppers, the 57BYGH405A. Google returned a datasheet saying they have a 1.8 deg. step angle and they run at 3.6v and 3.0 amps.

All 3 controllers are set at a 1/8 microstep. The Z-axis is set at 1.2 amps, and the x- and y-axis are set at 3 amps.

Oh, and after lowering the inches per minute setting, the halting seemed to go away, but every time I print a circle it comes out squashed and crooked in the same exact way.

Thanks again for your help. I've been reading and dreaming about CNC for months now, and watching it finally come together is amazing!

 

It sounds like you need to calibrate the x and y axis in Mach.

Mark and Trish have a great video on Mach 3 setup. They might have it available for purchase.

Tim

 

Scottimus, any progress?
In the top right corner of MACH there is a button "Calibrate Printer Axis". Select the axis first, and place a sheet of foam in there, as if you were going to cut it, and carefully measure or mark the starting position of the foam (like, lined up with the groove on the top of the cutter table). Your router (Dremel) does not need to be running for this. Make sure your cutter is not raised up into the material. Then type a number "decimal only" , like 10.000 and enter that. Your PP will move the sheet then stop and ask you how far it actually moved. Check it with a ruler and measure accurately. The closer you are with the measurement the better, because it will make a difference the farther it travels. Then type what it actually traveled "decimal only" and MACH will calculate and change the steps-per-inch number automatically. The longer the number the better,but start out smaller and work up. If you have a large enough piece of foam or balsa, tell it to move 24.00 or 30.00 inches and make the same accurate measurements and entries.
After X is calibrated, "SAVE" the settings before doing the next axis. THEY DO NOT SAVE AUTOMATICALLY.
Then do the same for the Y axis.
When you calibrate your Z axis, remember to enter the distance as a NEGATIVE number, like "-2.000", because raising the cutter is traveling in the negative Z direction. btw, remember to remove the sheet of foam or balsa to calibrate the Z axis.

 

Y axis too.

 

Thanks for the helpful replies! I'll give the calibration a try following these directions, but I think there are other problems going on as well.

First off, my y-axis threaded rod was kinda bent! After fixing that, which involved taking out the y-axis motor, I played around with the y-axis hotkeys a little, and I don't think the motor is running correctly. Even when it's not attached to anything at all, it sounds 'choppy' and instead of halting intermittently like I thought, it appears to be moving faster for a quarter second or so, and it doesn't feel or sound choppy during those short bursts.

So now I'm wondering, are my motors and/or controllers wired wrong? Or is my old Dell laptop too slow to keep up and send the pulses correctly? Does Mach3 have a way to step the motor forward one step at a time? That would tell me if the wires are correct, right?

Thanks again!

 

You just answered the question, Laptops do not have enough voltage to properly run the driver board without a smoothstepper.

 

I had a similar issue with my Y axis. I ended up putting a flex coupling in to replace the tubing connecting the motor to the threaded rod. Here is a link to one like I got. I didn't buy from this seller, but looks the same as mine.
http://cgi.ebay.com/CNC-01-Stepper-Motor-Flexible-Coupling-Coupler-6-35x8mm-/170523642721?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27b4004b61

Tim

 

I guess I should have mentioned that in the first place! I had no idea there was a difference. Thanks for your help everyone! I'll post the outcome after I pull my old desktop PC out of storage.

 

Scottimus, there is a file in the root directory of MACH, called "Drivertest.exe". Run that and you'll get a visual rep. of the condition and speed of your parallel port. If you compare the results between your laptop and your desktop, there will be a huge difference!
BTW, I run my PP 1.5 with a Dell D800 Laptop, but it runs on USB through my SmoothStepper, because I have no space for a desktop and monitor in my garage. When I set that up, a TON of problems went away.

 

OK, so I pulled my desktop out of storage only to realize that it didn't have a parallel port! After getting a PCI parallel port card I got it working and the motors run a lot smoother, but it still sounds like they run smoother sometimes than others.

The really strange (and frustrating) thing is that if the motors are told to spin too quickly, they make noise, but don't move at all! I saw this behavior when I was trying to cut out a 3 inch diameter circle and the y-axis stopped moving altogether for the nearly-vertical parts on the left and right side of the circle. It also didn't move at all when I tried the calibration wizard, and I'm guessing that it was because of the high speed as well. I have x and y axis motors set to only go at 20 inches per minute, which doesn't seem that fast.

Any ideas?

Thanks again for all your help so far everyone!

 

20 IPM is a good starting speed for the original MK1. Once you get everything broken in and more perfectly aligned, 30 IPM was around the limit for the unmodified MK1, as I recall. That was the largest reason I modified mine to a belt-drive on the Y-axis.
btw, the X-axis will run a lot faster naturally, but you should slow it down to the Y-axis limit to keep the feed rates for X and Y the same, to make things easier for the controller card and to keep round things, round.
Put some Lithium grease on the thread drive (WD-40 will work fairly well) and that will help.
25000 hertz (your parallel port frequency) (divided by) 1600 steps per rev (divided by) 20 revs per inch (times) 60 seconds per minute EQUALS 46.875 IPM, theoretical (frictionless, loss-less, zero-wobble) limit of speed in the Y-axis with the 1/4-20 threaded drive.

 

More information: I thought my steppers were bipolar with only 4 wires, but after cutting off some heat-shrink tubing, I found that they are 6-wire unipolar motors, and the black and white wires aren't attached to anything! That can't be right, can it?

 

Yes, by leaving the black and white wires unconnected (and insulated from each other) the motor can be wired bipolar. I'll find a similar schematic and link it here.
(ahhh - here: http://www.easy-cnc.com/manuals.html and get the manual for the 3-axis board. Download it and go to page 3 where it shows steppers wired like yours (and mine and all the Vexta motors on all the PP s made so far.) )

btw Scott, where do you live? There is a map of other PP owners, and if one of them is nearby, you might be able to get some "hands-on, eyes-on" help. No promises, but your "neighbor" might have the time and inclination to help. (Offering donuts or afresh beverage might help.)
Here's a Tinyurl to the PhlatMap: http://tinyurl.com/292xn6f

 

Well I haven't been able to do much lately due to a self-destructing hard drive. I'm trying out EMC2 now just to see if I get better results. I'll post how it turns out once the PC is up and running again.

 

I would bet the controlling software was never the problem, so Mach3 or EMC2 should produce the same results.
Scott, people here have offered you one-on-one help to get your machine running. You need to go back and re-read the entire thread to find and contact those folks. OR, let us know where you live, so somebody local to you can help.

 

Success at last!!

EMC2 did the trick. Maybe Mach3 just wasn't configured properly, but everything works beautifully using EMC2, and I like the way the program feels better than Mach3.

Thank you all so much for your help! I've never posted a question in a forum before, and I am blown away by how helpful you have all been.

For those of you that are curious, I had 2 problems:

1. My y-axis was cutting out above a certain speed. Reducing the microstepping didn't make a difference, so I'm assuming I was exceeding the maximum speed for my motor.

2. No matter what I tried, the motors just didn't run well in Mach3. They sounded almost like they has sand in them and they would occasionally jump to a different speed for a fraction of a second. For whatever reason, everything runs perfectly smooth in EMC2.

Now I am happily cutting foam and thinking about all the wonderful possibilites.

Thanks again to each of you for all your help!!!