Need some help troubleshooting

[JayWal]

Hi, im looking for some help figuring out why I cant get movement from my table.

I have no CNC experience and to get my feet wet I did CNC router to plasma conversion for my little home shop. After a lot of research I did get new drivers and BOB ordered and installed, and I was able to get basic movement of the table. Jogging it around manually via Mach3. That last about 15 minutes and everything went dead, no movement at all.

I was using the 5v output port of the BOB to supply 5v to the drivers (purple wire below). After everything died I noticed I was no longer getting 5v out of that port (P13) I read since then that it's not recommend to use that port for that purpose, is it possible I may have blown something in the BOB?

Like I said earlier I have zero experience with CNC, would very much appreciate some help getting this thing moving.

So, BoB is power via USB (5.1VDC measured with multimeter to make sure) and a separate 24v power supply. Red and white wires bottom right.

Drivers powered 36v via separate power supply.

[JayWal]

I'm guessing I'll need a separate 5V power supply then. What amperage would I need to supply the 5V to 4 stepper drivers?

[WyoGreen]

Yea, your BOB will not be able to supply enough power to supply your stepper drivers. More than likely you blew either a fuse or your BOB.

You'll need a switching power supply large enough to supply the voltage and current that your 4 stepper drivers require. That information should be in the documentation that came with your drivers.

Steve

[acourtjester]

In you picture you have a transformer in the lower right that is power for the drivers and you have a green light on them too, so that part looks good. Now do you have the USB cable plugged into the BOB and the Computer, looks like that blue led is saying it is and that is the 5 volts to drive the BOB. on the bottom of the BOB there is an pin labeled +5 volts and another marked GND I would check that to see if you have 5 volts there. You should not have hooked the purple wire from the +5 volts to the GRD second pin in for the right. these BOB boards use 2 separate circuits and separate power for them, the 12 to 32 volts is for the relays and if you have a variable speed router as a speed regulator(which you don't need for plasma). Wyo may be correct with blowing the BOB, try removing the purple wire.

[JayWal]

Hmm ok so I don't need that 24v power supply at all then.

I'm definetly getting 5v input from the USB cable, but now reading 0 volts on those 2 pins on the bottom. And the limit switch pin which was reading 5v originally. Guess that's what I get for buying a $39 board.

The purple wire was plugged into 5V out pin..2nd from the left..GND 3rd from left.

I didnt get any literature with the drivers, but got the manual online. This is all it says about the power requirements. So buy the looks of it, if I open the drivers and set the resistors correctly I should be able to use that 24vDC supply I had needlessly wired onto the BOB to power the signal side of the drivers?

Screenshot_20200229-175733_Drive.jpg

When I say I was getting movement for a while, It was pretty erratic. When I'd jog the axis they'd run normally, then randomly all the motors would start turning till I pressed another jog button, and they'd stop and just the axis I was jogging would move.

[JayWal]

Re read the manual, made a few changes but still no movement.

Manual says to take 5v from the Common 5V port, theres 2 of them above the step and dir port and they do output 5V each. So I wired x and z drivers to 1, (purple wire) and the 2 x motors to the second. (White wire, was too lazy to get more purple). Still no dice.

[acourtjester]

First I need to clarify I now see the purple wire did not attach from the +5 to the GRD, but passed under the BOB, sorry.
Now there is no reason to open the driver and change anything, the signals to the driver for control are +5 and (the +5 GRD terminal). No additional resistors needed as the 5 volts is fine for these signals. The change you made to have the (common Male and public port) going to the drivers should be moved back the the +5 output on the BOB. As it seems this BOB uses the Pul - and Dir - as the return to the BOB.
Now check to see that in Mach under config (see attached image) that no boxes are check as shown in the image. And under the Motor outputs you have the correct pins for that BOB for dir and step for each motor, and they are enabled.

check box.jpg

[JayWal]

I've played with the Mach3 settings a lot, checking/unchecking step low, etc, doublechecking the step/dir pins. And I was able to get movement earlier, till it all went dead.

I moved the two 5v wires (purple/white) to the Common Male 5V in the top right corner because the 5V/GND in the bottom left corner is now no longer giving me 5 volts, its reading 0.001 now. Hence the reason I thought maybe the board croaked.

[acourtjester]

Sorry to hear that but things like this teach you things, not that you want them at the beginning. It did appear you had the motor signals and power hooked up correct at the start to the drivers, leave the 12/24 volt supply off until you get the table motors moving. You may only need it for the torch trigger relay (one on the BOB). The home limit switches use pins 10, 11,12, 13,and 15 with returns to GRD.

[JayWal]

So if I did hook it up correctly why would it blow? I never hooked up polarity wrong, never over current, I took the board out today, went over it with a magnifying glass, didnt see anything blown out, no burn marks absolutely nothing wrong visually...

[acourtjester]

In the industry it is called infant mortality, something the blows very soon after power up. This is why suppliers say 24 hr burn in done, to help eliminate these failures. Question you have 2 black wire going to the +5 volt terminal, is that for a separate +5 volt supply? If so by having that and also plugging in the USB cable there could have been a issue. Not saying that is ture but you should only use one or the other. I would use the USB only as you are also using the Parallel port, both have the same GRD supplied by the PC.
IC chips are very sensitive and can be affected by unstable power, noise, to much power draw threw the circuit.
That BOB is like many that uses 2 separate power sources for 2 separate circuits, one powered by +5 volt and the other with 12/24 volts. Keep the 2 circuits separate by not mixing the GRD, it is annoying to buy a produce and not get a manual explaining things.

[acourtjester]

This may have caused the problem, only use a connection that is labeled output for power, pin 13 is for limit/home switches not power output.

I was using the 5v output port of the BOB to supply 5v to the drivers (purple wire below). After everything died I noticed I was no longer getting 5v out of that port (P13) I read since then that it's not recommend to use that port for that purpose, is it possible I may have blown something in the BOB?

[JayWal]

The 2 black wires were from a separate 5V supply, yes. But I only added that AFTER I stopped getting any response from the motors and then noticed I wasn't getting 5v there anymore.

I only ever used P13 for my limits, never to supply the drivers. P13 was originally putting out 5V also, but it also was reading 0V after the motors stopped responding.

It definitely is frustrating not getting any manuals along with the board. Is there a site you can recommend to get parts from? I got these parts from Automationtechnologies.com and the service and support has been terrible.

[acourtjester]

Well getting manuals is sometimes not happening with many, even if you get some paperwork it may not have much of the info needed. I buy mostly from eBay for the tables I built. Two I did use the electronics packages from CandCNC and they did supply good info and support. The others took some sniffing on the web to find info, or blogs, most of the time you just get an image of the BOB with pin info like you posted above. I stopped using Parallel port BOBs and have switched to USB type because the PC with parallel ports have gone away. Many DIY types here have gone to Linux I'm to lazy to learn a new setup (I will hear about that, but at 76 I don't care ).
I have used this BOB on a router table, but it require an external relay for Plasma and an optional 12 volt PS.
https://buildyourcnc.com/item/electroni ... -USB-Board

[JayWal]

So I got a Pokeys 57CNC board and cable kit, installed it,and upgraded to Mach4. But still having the exact same problems. The onscreen DRO in Mach4 shows movement, as does the Pokeys Pulse Engine Diagnostics tool. But no movement out of the motors at all.

In the picture I only have 1 axis connected, I want to troubleshooting that before wiring the rest. and no power on so no power LEDs are lit.

I am feeding the drivers from an undersized power supply for now. Its 24v but only 1.25 amps. That should still be ok for getting basic movement, no? I will upsize it once I get some of these issues sorted out.

I'd much appreciate any help!

[acourtjester]

Pull the green plugs out of the other drivers, just to be sure they are not draining some power from the supply. 1.25 amps is not a lot of power.

[JayWal]

Hooked up a better supply, 28vDC 3amp. Still no dice, DROs are moving in Mach4 but no movement from the motors. Running out of ideas what to try next. Some people say Ethernet is more troublefree than USB so I guess I might as well try that.

[weldguy]

Hooked up a better supply, 28vDC 3amp. Still no dice, DROs are moving in Mach4 but no movement from the motors. Running out of ideas what to try next. Some people say Ethernet is more troublefree than USB so I guess I might as well try that.

With the power off you should be able turn your stepper motor shafts by hand, when you turn the power on are you still able to turn the shafts by hand or are they locked up? Just wondering if your even getting power to your drive motors.

[JayWal]

No I can push the gantry around by hand with no power on. As soon as I power up the drivers they lock up hard

[nick7251]

Did you get this figured out? I am looking at getting the PoKeys board and wanted to know what you think.

[acourtjester]

there are videos on YouTube showing info on installations of this board short one first then the longer one.
here is the manual for it. https://www.poscope.com/wp-content/uplo ... manual.pdf

[tommylight]

In the picture where only the Y axis is wired to PoKeys, you have only two wires going into the drive inputs, that will not work, you have to connect GND OR +5V to those inputs also for it to work. Notice the OR, not both.