I’ve got an electronics problem. I have the controller set up and configured. It requires me to connect to a bob, which I have (ST-V3): powered with 10v using USB plug for power only. The motors are wired into the drivers, and when the PSU is powered, they are sufficiently energized. I wired the pulse & direction Connector ports for the X, Y & Z axes to pul - & Dir - on my drivers, but the motors won’t rotate when I issue a command. I can’t figure out the problem. I’ve had similar problems wiring external drivers on 3D printers, so I may not be completely wiring everything up correctly. I tried switching to pul + & dir + (which had no effect) in addition to connecting the corresponding (5v out, from the BOB to the driver’s EN + connector (which had no effect). Any ideas?
Hooking up stepper motors can be perplexing sometimes. Not only do you have to have every wire going the right place but you also have to satisfy driving timings too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmUVo0xVAqE
What drivers and a pic of the BOB. There are a few different versions of that board.
When connecting stepper drivers that have optoisolators, the
pul+, dir+ and enable+ are all connected together to +5 volts
The pul- connects to the controller BOB step output
Dir- and en- connects to direction and enable respectively.
What controller software and PC are you connecting to the BOB? It may be configuration issue on the controller software and not your wiring that is the problem.
Have you tried disabling the endstops? Usually when i have problems with things not moving it has something to do with the endstops. Or the lag there of. They can trigger a alarm state on powerup, wich freezes the entire system.
@Jim_Fong sorry for the late reply, & thanks for the input. Here’s a photo of the connections. I connected it the way I saw from another YouTube video. I think I may have connected it the way you said as I saw something like that in an image on the net. missing/deleted image from Google+
It doesn’t have to be hooked up to Enable? I still haven’t exactly figured out what each port is for, and if or why to use it. This BOB has a 5v output for each axis, others only seem to have one. Some have a common port, others don’t. Some will have Enable ports that aren’t used…so confusing. And, I can’t figure out when or why to invert the logic on a PIN.
@George_Allen ENable lines can sometimes be important to assert. You should get a cheap oscilloscope. It takes a lot of guess work out of the equation. Then you can see if you are even getting a step signal. If you’re good at building kits I picked up a Chinese scope kit for about $15. I didn’t think it was too hard to put together. I got it when it was on sale it is normally $22 Mine seems to work up to about 250 kHz Which should be enough to see a step signal. I don’t think parallel ports go much past 150 kHz? So even a cheap toy like this one should do the trick https://www.banggood.com/Orignal-JYE-Tech-DS0150-15001K-DSO-SHELL-DIY-Digital-Oscilloscope-Kit-With-Housing-p-1093865.html?cur_warehouse=USA
@George_Allen the DM542t instructions say the enable can be left unconnected since normal operation, the drive is enabled “ON” by default. Since you say the motors shafts are energized in your original post, then this correct. If the drive was disabled, you can manually turn the stepper shaft.
@Jim_Fong Do you happen to have a photo of one of your gecko drivers attached to a heatsink and a fan? I will mount my electronics this week and I’m trying to figure out the best & most cost effective way to do that. I saw some parts on amazon that I could purchase or I also have a scavenged heatsink from an old pc.
The only one I can find on my phone right now. Before I drilled and tapped the holes. The heatsink was from large car amplifier that I salvaged. 3 stepper drivers and one servo for the Z axis pictured in the background.
I just have a 4” fan placed next to the heatsink blowing across the fins. It really doesn’t get very warm. missing/deleted image from Google+
@George_Allen the heatsink is what I had laying around. If you are running only a couple amps through the drivers, you don’t need much cooling. They do get hot when you push them at 7amps. I think I have the geckos set at 3amps.
I just posted an example of the one I found on Amazon. Let me know if you think it should suffice. I assume you think it would since you said they don’t get that hot.