Hi ALL I am new as of TODAY I have been working on converting my old table top manual unit into rull on CNC with speed controlled DC treadmill motors and I will get pics up soon. The DC motors and Cart speed controllers working great as of last week. Now after scoring an BlackBox motion controller I am ready to hook it up to the stepper motors. Hi there The question I have is...... I have a very High quality power supply that is an adjustable 32v unit. I have adjusted it down to the bottom of its range and it will only go down to 27.7 v and even under a 2A load its quality I guess keeps it at 27.7v and it is capable of current up to 16A. I will have 4 steppers on it when done so I really want to use it. Will it work on the BB, I do not want to even plug it in till I am sure? I look forward to Using Help and hopefully providing some myself. Thanks Mark
Its only been tested on 24v long term. So whether you do or don't will have to be up to your own judgement.
Well I plugged it in and no smoke leaked out... However the fan did not ever come on. does it run any time the power is on? that I can sort out if it is dead. can I upgrade the other parts to allow the voltage to be increased? 32v would be better for the power to the motors. Is the Black Box motion controller capable of using external drivers or is that just like saying put some other controller on the project? Thanks Mark
Yes, always on. Check that the blades can spin freely, and also check that the fan is plugged in correctly (+/- polarity): See step 10 of docs:blackbox:assemblyinstructions [OpenBuilds Documentation] Again, not something we'd recommend, and entirely up to you. Warranty will be void of course Modern stepper drivers use intelligent chopper algorithms for fast rise times. That old myth of "higher voltage is better" comes from the old single-step and unipolar days. Our motors have 3v coils. 24v already gives you an 8x headroom (; No, its designed to make the hobby easier, modular and plug anbd play - external drivers are a pain, EMI on signal wires, extra wiring, etc, not beginner friendly.
todays update All is working as it should. The fan was plugged in on only one pin so since I did not build it I then looked it over very thoroughly. All else was correct. I did some checking into the PS I had and got it to dial in at 23.9v and connected it up and powered it on. In the meantime I ordered a 24v Meanwell power supply to eliminate the problem. I hope to make things move under power tomorrow. Mark
OK I Have the Black Box working now and the motors running really great and within .001 on a 100mm travel THSNKS Now I am setting up the end stops and as I can tell I am not alone in my troubles!!!!!!!!!! Q1 I have the bed setup as this... the X movement toward the chuck is - and the end stop is at the max - movement next to the chuck. The Y bed movement toward the operator is at the - and the end stop is at the max - point. I am not finished with the mount for the motor on the Z but I will set the max - in the full UP and that will be max -. IS THIS CORRECT? Q2 Does the Black Box need the end stop switches wired like I see on line with the filter caps and resistors? and how are the paired switches mounted. see gnea/grbl Thanks Mark
what about the axis directions. all the info seems to talk as though there only using gantry type builds I am using a table top type Lathe/Mill. The pic is something like it. it needs to home in the table position of closest to the lathe chuck and closest to the control handles/ I think it would be the same as the Print head at the back right side. the problem all the Grbl notes call it in the form of top, bottom, left, right. also do I need to setup a Grbl file for the Lathe and one for the Mill so I do not need to have the Mill spindle not Home when using the Lathe Thanks for the E stop info.. Mark
axis directions are 'tool motion'. gantry type is pretty obvious. moving table mill is a little less so, X positive movement puts the tool on the right of the table, so table moves left Y positive is tool to the rear of the table, so table moves forward.
And Z is always through the axis of the spindle. On a lathe, that means your +Z is the same direction as your mill's +X, but the table (now a carriage) will move right because it's the part holding the tool. +X is the same; it's the same direction as your mill's +Y, but the table (now a cross slide) will move away from you because it's holding the tool. So in terms of wiring: 1) Mill X = Lathe Z 2) Mill Y = Lathe X 3) Mill Z Mill Z would never be lathe Y, because it's not attached to the table- you'd need a separate table-mounted column for that but there's no reason for a lathe Y on this machine anyway. In terms of programming, I'm not sure what the answer is. Maybe to try and find a CAM/post solution that spits out G-code in X-Y coordinates for the lathe. Personally I think the easiest option that maintains best practices is some way of (manually or automatically, maybe with a bunch-o'-poles, double-throw switch) switching stp/dir signals between drivers that changes over spindle controls at the same time. Then you can't get into bad coordinate system habits. But if you have a BlackBox, I don't think you can do that, so I'm not sure.
Well I have MORE to be thankful for today. Thanks Rob you have explained it VERY CLEARLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I now have several ideas to work on while I hide from the Party we are having in defiance of the NO PARTY TODAY rules. LOL Not really I live alone with my projects Happy Thanksgiving to ALL
I am going to concentrate on the LATHE part for now. I have the Z axis working by plugging the former X motor into the Z motor port on the BBC the end stop is also plugged into the Z end stop port. it travels and will home at the full - Z spot when I push the Home Button. The X axis travels but shows up backwards in the 3D view. I think this is why it just stops and freezes when it touches the end stop. on what reads as the full - but is actually full +. I am planning on using the 2 end stop setup allowing me to set the HOME where it needs to be but I would think I need the rea out to report correctly. Q1 How can I change the 3D view to report correctly? Q2 How can I set it up to not need the 3rd axis so it will home correctly? Q3 Is there an interface for BBC that is setup for a standard metal lathe. It is not correct that one must see all the mill setup when using a lathe.
well if you ask the questions and No one can answer them thin I guess you have reached the top of the knowledge chain...............
you would have to delve deeply into the GUI code you have to compile GRBL with custom options compiling config no
OK thanks I guess I will need to do something else more correct for the lathe. I will move this controller to another project. Thanks Mark
