setting up 424 with 133 and 407

[gstevens]

I just got my whole system set up with a 424 smart board attached to a 133 motherboard with g201x gecko drivers connected to three motors (sst43d2121 if that makes a difference). I also have a 407 spindle controller connected to my spindle. I got Mach 4 and all the drivers installed, when I start it up everything thing show that it connects correctly but I can't get any of the motors or the spindle to turn. I've gone through all the settings, several don't make sense to me. Can anyone help with my initial setup? Thanks in advanced.

[12strings]

Start with one thing at a time.  Stepper motors are usually the easiest to get working, so...

How do you have the PMDX-424 step and direction pins configured?  In the PMDX-424 Quick Start guide, section 2.9.4, the table entry for "Motor Config" says that when connecting to a PMDX-133 you need to set the set/dir pin out to whatever is not "normal" (I had to go look this up - "swapped" is what you want).  This is in the SmartBOB Plug-in configuration on the "Motor Config" tab.

Beyond that - do you have holding torque on the motors?  Do you have anything connected to the PMDX-133's motor disable connector?

[gstevens]

Thank you for your reply! I did change the set/dir to swapped and I do not have anything connected to the motor disable connector (as is recommended). I do not believe I have holding torque on the motors but I'm not sure exactly what that is. Still nothing though.

I attached my profile if that helps.

[gstevens]

OK after search around for the model of motor I found these specifications

- Model: SST43D2121
- Degree per Step: 1.8
- Degree Voltage: 4.0 v
- Amperage: 1.2A
- Resistance: 1.3 ohm
- Inductance: 3.6mH
- Holding Torque: 34.1 Ncm
- Number of Leads: 6

so I guess, according to this, a holding torque, still not sure how that effects anything.

[12strings]

In this context, asking if the motors "have holding torque" means with everything powered up and Mach4 "enabled" so it can try to drive the motors, can you turn the motor shaft by hand?  Or is the motor energized and holding the rotor in place?  Of course, if you have the motors mounting in your machine if can be hard to tell.  You might be able to feel the motor case and see if it gets warm, but that is not a reliable indicator.  You may have to unmount one of your motors (but with the electronics still connected) to find out.

What happens in Mach4 when you try to jog the motors?  Does the DRO for that motor change, i.e. does the number change when you jog back and forth?  The "DRO" is the "digital read out" that shows the position of each axis.

If all else fails, you can post your "machine.ini" file (stored as c:\Mach4Hobby\Profiles\YOURPROFILENAME\Machine.ini).

[gstevens]

OK, I see what you mean. Yes, when everything is powered down I can move the motors by hand, as soon as I power up the boards the motors lock in place, even before I start up mach 4. When I start up mach 4 the 424 breakout board goes from red to green showing it's connected. When I jog the motors the numbers change on the DRO but not the motors themselves. I'm including the machine.ini file.

Thanks,
Greg

[12strings]

At a quick glance I didn't see anything in the Machine.ini that looked suspicious.  So I'm gonna grasp at straws here.

When you jog the motors, and the DROs change, do you see the "steps" LED on the PMDX-424 flicker?  I suspect you will, but it would be nice to confirm this.

Do you have the ribbon cable between the PMDX-424 and PMDX-133 plugged in to the PMDX-424 at connector J6 (in the corner of the board near the silkscreen that says "SmartBOB-IsoUSB"), *NOT* the connector down near the AC connector and big black power inverter.

Do you have the ribbon cable plugged in to connector J10 on the PMDX-133?  This is the ribbon header between the 6-pisition screw terminal blocks.

Where did you get the ribbon cable that connects the PMDX-424 to the PMDX-133?  Ideally there should be a "key" on the connectors - a bump in the center of one of the long edges of the connector.  Does your ribbon cable have those on the connectors?  If not, it is possible that you have the ribbon cable plugged in backwards.  If the ribbon cable is gray with a red stripe down one edge, the red stripe is pin 1.  The cable should be plugged in to the PMDX-424 so that the red stripe is next to the "SmartBOB IsoUSB" silkscreen text.  On the PMDX-133 the red stripe should be at the end closest to the "J10" reference designator and white silkscreen block with the serial number written on it.

[gstevens]

I've attached an image of how I have it configured. I don't have the ribbon connected to the 133 motherboard connected to J6, but from what I can tell that's not correct. I tried moving it to J6 but it wouldn't connect when I started up mach 4 (the DS1 LED only stays red) and I can't connect the 407 board to the other connector.
As far as the LED's  DS2 lights up as soon as mach 4 is connected and DS3 lights up when I select enable in mach 4 but doesn't flicker when I'm jogging the motors.

[12strings]

You have the ribbon cable on the wrong connector on the PMDX-424.  You have it on the "input signals" header.  Since you have a PMDX-407 installed, the ribbon cable plugs in to the PMDX-407 (the step/dir signals pass through the 407).  And pin 1 on the ribbon cable (the red stripe) goes towards the 2-pin screw terminal on the 407.

[gstevens]

OK, I really misunderstood that one, thank you for pointing that out.

So I plugged in the 407 then the cable for the 133. I turned everything on and connected the usb cable, then started up mack 4, everything connected and lit up as expected. I then clicked enable and the DS3 LED lights up on the 424 board. I then I clicked to jog the motors and no movement but the 133 started pulsing sending some signal to all 3 motors and the motors were no longer locked in place, I could manually move them. The pulsing won't stop until I cut the power to the 133, and then it would reset itself until I tried jogging the motors again.

[12strings]

You appear to have 6 wires connected to the "motor" connectors on the PMDX-133.  Where do the black and white wires go?  The black wire is on the GND terminal on the PMDX-133, and the white wire is on a terminal with no signal.  See table 2 and figure 4 in section 3.1 of the PMDX-133 manual.

Are you sure you have the 2 phases of the motors wired correctly to the PMDX-133?  From your picture, the orange and brown wires should be one phase, and the red and yellow wires should be the other phase.

Do you have the red stripe on the ribbon cable towards the 2-pin screw terminal on the PMDX-407?

This SHOULDN'T make a difference, but have you tried without the PMDX-407 (i.e. the 133 plugged directly into the 424)?

[gstevens]

There is something I'm confused about which I'm finding probably means I'm doing it wrong. I have 6 coil nema 17 stepper motors. I'm 95% sure after much searching (I'd say 100% but I can't find the official manufactures documentation) that I have the correct A(yellow) A- (red) B(orange) B-(brown) wiring. What I'm not sure is where the center tap wires go, white between A and A- and black between B and B-. Since the 133 had 6 spots for wires I figured the black was ground, but now I'm not so sure. Do I just pull those out, do they go somewhere else, do I have it reversed?

[gstevens]

So I removed the black and white wires and it is now jogging. Still not sure if it should connect somewhere else, but I'll take it as a success for now!

[12strings]

Leave the center tap wires unconnected.  Tape the ends and roll them up, or something.  You only need the +/- from each phase.