Thread: G540Kit + VFD Build help needed

Right well, got UVW wired. Forgot to check the pins it was wired to before I cut off the connector, so I'll have to wing it and see which was it runs when i try it out.

I was going to wire up the DB9 BOB's last night, but realised I'd have to pull off the cable guides to bring them upstairs, so they will have to be soldered in place down in the shed.

Guess I'll have to move on to cutting up the enclosure. Just hope I can get the marking out right, as there's no real room for errors. Birthday girl's day today though, taking her to lunch, so everything waits a bit longer.

So I'm down in the shed, trying to solder the DB9 bobs to the stepper wires. The stepper wires are joined to the current socket as follows

1 brown, 2 yellow, 3 blue, 4 green.

Where the cable plugs into the steppers, brown goes to red, yellow goes to blue, blue goes to black and green goes to green. The g540 wiring diagram shows red, blue, black & green wires for the steppers, which matches my steppers, so I assume I'm safe transposing the cable colors as listed above?

put a multimeter and find the pairs , make sure you have A+ A- , B+ B- , as pairs , if the colours still sorta match up , it should be good , you just have to work out witch wire is + and witch is Neg

a google of the motor number , 23HS8430 , came up with this http://www.elv-downloads.de/Assets/P...4412%20_DS.pdf witch says
Black is A+ ,
green is A- ,
red is B+
blue is B-
EDIT
a google of the stepper driver "G540" came up with this PDF ( linked from CNCZONE )http://www.homanndesigns.com/pdfs/EN010_V8.pdf , 1/2 way down the page on the left is the motor wireing ,

so
stepper green = A- , pin 9 on axis out
black = A+ , pin 8
blue = B- , pin 7
red = B+ , pin 6

Thanks. I'm using these http://www.homanndesigns.com/pdfs/GC-02R1.pdf so am not wiring up the pins directly. They're a bit fiddly as you have to make sure you don't bridge the connectors, which are very close together. I folded the wire around seach hole to solder, but they a very close to one another, so I hope there's no shorts. It's also a very tight fit into the shell as well.

I think I got the first one done OK. I did a continuity test and it all looks good, although I'll have to double check I didn't swap the + and - sides around on each one.

Funny thing is, I thought I soldered up, matching the G540 instructions, but when I started my conductivity test, I realised I was matching against the Y stepper instead of the X, which was the cable I wired up. When I looked at the correct stepper, the cable colours seem to be reversed!! So, with visions of having to redo it all, I did the continuity test anyway, to see if at least I had a solid connection, and somehow, still not sure how, everything seemed to be wired up correctly? All i can think is I was soldering up the DB9 end upside down to what I thought, or I'm looking at something all wrong.

What's the consequences of

A) Wiring the + and - wires back to front?
B) Wiring the two halves of the steppers back to front?

As a follow up, here's some pictures showing the three stepper connections & their wiring. The X-axis is reversed compared to the others, yes?

Also, my soldering efforts on the first DB9, if anyone cares to comment how I can improve on the result, so I don't mess them all up? My wires strippers had an issue with the 16 gauge being too big and 18 seemed to be too small as I saw fire come out when I used that.

Also, the metal clamp behind the assembled DB9 shell. What is the purpose of that? Is it supposed to be connected to something else, or is it there to try and give some support to the back of the shell somehow?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by BoomerangInfo

Thanks. I'm using these http://www.homanndesigns.com/pdfs/GC-02R1.pdf so am not wiring up the pins directly. They're a bit fiddly as you have to make sure you don't bridge the connectors, which are very close together. I folded the wire around seach hole to solder, but they a very close to one another, so I hope there's no shorts. It's also a very tight fit into the shell as well.

there is a small flux ball between 2 of the contact pads ( black dot ) just give it a wipe with some thing pointy , scratching the fibre glass board between the contacts is fine ,
try to get the wire insulation closer to the board , dont fold the wire over ,
strip the wire ,twist the wire end ( with pliers , not fingers , fingers can leave oil that is harder to solder ) solder plate the wire first , poke it through the board , leaving the wire straight ,
bend the wire at the insulation part so the wire and board sit flat on the table ( up side down )
with the wire "pre" soldered , it should be quick to solder , so less melting of the insulation on the wire , then trim off the excess wire sticking up with some "nippers" , watch out where the off cut ends up , murphy will make it land on a PC's mother board ,or some other place where it is not needed
work from the left if your right handed , so the soldering iron doesn't touch wires all ready in
dont move the wire as the solder is cooling , small cracks can happen if moving while cooling
if after 3-5 seconds of heat ,and you haven't completed the join take the heat off , wait 15 seconds and go again , dont leave the soldering iron on the pad too long
wet the soldering iron tip first with solder just before soldering the wire , it helps get the heat in there faster , but not too much , the flux inside the solder cleans the join and lets the solder flow , so dont add all the solder to the iron , just wet the tip down so it touches the wire better

Originally Posted by BoomerangInfo

I think I got the first one done OK. I did a continuity test and it all looks good, although I'll have to double check I didn't swap the + and - sides around on each one.

looks good from photos , with the colour changes at the plug

Originally Posted by BoomerangInfo

Funny thing is, I thought I soldered up, matching the G540 instructions, but when I started my conductivity test, I realised I was matching against the Y stepper instead of the X, which was the cable I wired up. When I looked at the correct stepper, the cable colours seem to be reversed!! So, with visions of having to redo it all, I did the continuity test anyway, to see if at least I had a solid connection, and somehow, still not sure how, everything seemed to be wired up correctly? All i can think is I was soldering up the DB9 end upside down to what I thought, or I'm looking at something all wrong.

lol , looking at the female plug and a wiring diagram of the male plug ???/ , an axis error can be sorted in the mach3 software ," just swap X,Y pin outs" settings around . lol . or just swap the plugs around ???

Originally Posted by BoomerangInfo

What's the consequences of

A) Wiring the + and - wires back to front?
B) Wiring the two halves of the steppers back to front?

blind wiring up of steppers can have 4 results , as long as you find the "Pairs " first
if A+ ,A- , B+ , B- is correct ,
A- ,A+ . B - B+ , will make the steeper run backwards
A+ , A- , B- B+ , will make the stepper "Hum " and not move at all
A- A+ , B+ B- , will hum as well, as the coils fight each other ,
if you mix up your "pairs " it wont work at all
if your motor "hums " and dosnt move , swap 1 "Pair" around , 50 , 50 chance of getting it right , at worst is will go backwards ( software correction is fine )


EDIT , can you some how join the al-foil wire shield to the centre hole ,would a lot better if you could, even insulating up a stiff peace of wire and shoving it up there , not completely necessaries but better if its shielded ( shield connected to earth ), sorry looked again and the " al foil " appears to be a blob of solder , dont earth the blob of solder , the wire is not shielded

The metal clamp goes inside the shell. It is there to stop pulling the wires out of the DB9 connector.

Originally Posted by rodm

The metal clamp goes inside the shell. It is there to stop pulling the wires out of the DB9 connector.

Oh, that makes more sense Thanks

Well after 3 weeks of not even looking at the machine, I'm trying to get back into it and would love to (but not pinning my hopes on) getting it all done by Christmas.

I have yet to solder the other 3 DB9 connectors, but at the moment I'm looking at cutting up my G540 enclosure to get the bits all mounted. I'm just looking at where to put the relays. I see they have screw slots for mounting through the case, but given there is no reason for them to be showing externally, can I just use double sided tape, or a glue, and glue the flat face of it inside the enclosure?

Also while I'm here, I'll hook up the first relay to the IEC plug supplied, just in case, but the second Auxilliary one I don't think I'll hook for for now. I can just leave off the connections to the G540 if I'm not using the relays for now, and add them later, right?

Thanks. Russell.

Hi,

Assuming that you are mounting the Power supply to the base of the enclosure, why not do the same with the relays? Just use a couple of 3mm bolts and nuts.

Yes, if you don't want to use the 2nd relay, then don't install, or wire it up.

As to the back panel, attached is an image of how I cut it.

Also a few images of how I mount the bits in to the enclosure. I use a mezzanine plate. I mount the 240V stuff on one side, with the other side for low voltage stuff like the SmoothStepper or a 2nd breakout board.

Cheers,

Peter.

Thanks for the pics Peter. Yes I am mounting the PSU to the base, and positioning the components to try and maximize airflow, hence I'm putting the g540 at the far end from the PSU fan.

Mounting the relays to the base might be a good option, I'll have a look if I have small enough bolts.

Is one of your connectors for the VFD connection? I was just going to wire directly to the VFD through a hole drilled in the case. A nice DB9 interface would be good, but I'm short the connectors, and it'd be two more potential fail points soldering them up.

Russell.

Hi Russell,

I used one of these.

GC-04 DB-9 I/O Breakout Board [GC-04] - US$24.90 : Homann Designs!, The preferred CNC Component Supplier

It is already soldered and ready to go.

Cheers,

Peter.

Originally Posted by phomann

Hi Russell,

I used one of these.

GC-04 DB-9 I/O Breakout Board [GC-04] - US$24.90 : Homann Designs!, The preferred CNC Component Supplier

It is already soldered and ready to go.

Oh, is that what that one's for? Bummer. Wish I knew when I ordered the kit.

Originally Posted by phomann

Hi,

Assuming that you are mounting the Power supply to the base of the enclosure, why not do the same with the relays? Just use a couple of 3mm bolts and nuts.

OK looking at it again, with the airhole grid in the baseplate, and because I have the PSU fan directly below the upper air grid, the only place on teh base to mount the relays is on the far side of the PSU next to the front plate, but then you'd have the wires running back and forth over the top or around the end of the PSU, which doesn't seem very satisfactory.

I was also originally going to mount the E-stop through the top of the enclosure instead of through the front, but that has the drawback of making it more difficult to work inside the case if need be, as you can't get it completely out of the way. Also means you can't stack anything on top, but I guess that's a non-no due to the air vents anyway. Still, goves more flexibility in placing the E-stop and it would seem safer to bash down on the top of the button in an emergency, rather than pushing on the side.

What's the opinions on the best place for the E-stop?

Russell.