Newbie to UCNC and UC400ETH

[X-man]

First of all just to say hello. I have been running a C11 (rev3.1; yes I know) for a few years now when by computer went bananas on me and I was fed up of losing steps and relying on a 15 year old computer and mach3. So I took the opportunity to jump to some a bit more modern and here I am.

Its took me a while to get up and running as I had to modify my box to fit the uc400 and in the process I disturbed some wires and head to start again and check all the wiring. It was crap but it is better now and all the screw connections are tight and properly pushed home (Z axis was a pig to fault and turned out to be a disturbed plug on the driver. So that left me with the spindle to get turning (this is a converted (not by me) Seig X3 or it could be a 2 not sure) and no matter what I did it was defeating me. All 4 axis running and no spindle is a pain.

Anyway to cut a long story short I discovered that the spindle won't turn till you have entered a speed using the MDI box and then it will be run. It has to be done every re-run of the program unlike mach3 so I guess its a bit of a safety feature. Had me puzzled though. I bet there is something in the manual but I have not read it properly yet as I wanted to make sure the kit was running before starting to play.

I just need some info on the steppers now to tune it properly and we are good to go. Guess what the manual (such as it was) has dissapeared and no stickers on the steppers that I can see...

later dudes.

Tony

[Robertspark]

Tony,

Welcome to UCCNC & the forum.

Please start off by having a good read of the very comprehensive manual that is located in the

C:\UCCNC\Documentation

folder

UCCNC_usersmanual.pdf

Unlike mack3 it is updated, added to and corrected at every update to the software, so it can be very useful to have a read to understand what may have changed.

Also, some of the functions are a little different than Mach3 in the way they work, hence a check of your g-code and reading the uccnc manual would be recommended to avoid broken tools etc.

Have you tried to import your XML profile from mach3 in order that all your settings port across?

[Robertspark]

How are you trying to turn the spindle on?

What are you clicking?

Can you provide a screenshot with an arrow?

http://getgreenshot.org/

[Derek]

Are you using a cnc4pc BOB?

[X-man]

How are you trying to turn the spindle on?

What are you clicking?

Can you provide a screenshot with an arrow?

http://getgreenshot.org/

I am turning it on with the button on the standard run screen. I discovered the need to add a Sxxxx command along with an M3 (M3 doesn't work without entering a Sxxxx command as well). Once this has been done once it sticks and the spindle icon on the run screen works fine. I tried a M3 command nothing...I ran a Sxxx command and nothing. I then used M3 S1000 and it sprang into life. Note; I am not running G code yet as I need to tune the motors. If I close the program and reopen it I need to enter a Sxxx command again before the spindle will run.

[X-man]

Are you using a cnc4pc BOB?

Yes and no. I am using a C11 motion controller from cnc4pc as a BOB with a UC400eth as the motion controller. If the C11 board goes up the swannee I will replace it with a standard BOB.

[cncdrive]

There is no 'S' value requirement in the UCCNC for the M3 to work.
The M3 activates whatever the programmed S value is, the value does not matter.
The M3 activates the spindle relay pin which you can configure on the Configuration/Axis setup/Spindle page.
That output is a digital 0/5V output on the motion controller and is mostly used as a start signal for the VFD or a relay switch which gives Voltage to the spindle motor. (Depends on how you control your spindle)

The S command sets the PWM and/or analog output (again depends on the settings) which you can connect to a VFD's analog input and which analog voltage the VFD reads and makes settings dependent rotation of the spindle. Mostly there is a minimum Voltage defined in the VFD with a parameter in the VFD and if the input voltage is above that and if the start digital input signal is active then the VFD starts rotating the spindle.
And there is a max. input voltage which usually kept on 10Volts, but some VFDs have 0-5V range selectable.
The in between voltages gives proportional rotational speed of the spindle. (Again mostly, with most VFDs, with most settings of the VFDs)

So, the question is how you controlling your spindle?
Are you using a VFD? And is it getting the analog voltage/PWM from the UCCNC? In other words you program your spindle speed with the UCCNC with the 'S' word?
If yes, then I think that probably the issue is that your minimum spindle PWM is too low, so with the low S value it does not reach the trigger level with which the VFD starts the spindle,
in other words the output voltage with your settings and the low S value is too low to start the spindle, so you have to program a higher S to let the VFD start your spindle.

The UCCNC has 4 important parameters about the spindle PWM/analog output, which are the
Spindle PWM min. and max. values and the Spindle velocity min. and max. values.
What the UCCNC do with these settings is that it outputs the PWM min value for the min. and lower programmed spindle speed values (programmed S),
and it outputs the max. PWM value for the max. and above programmed spindle speed values.
All inbetween programmed spindle speed values gives a proportional output to the extents you set with the mentioned parameters.

[Derek]

Are you using a cnc4pc BOB?

Yes and no. I am using a C11 motion controller from cnc4pc as a BOB with a UC400eth as the motion controller. If the C11 board goes up the swannee I will replace it with a standard BOB.

If you are using the onboard spindle control then the relays won't activate unless there is a value in the spindle speed. At least thats how it is on my C62

[ger21]

If UCCNC is controlling the spindle speed, then there should always be a spindle speed set when you start UCCNC. My spindle is set to 8000 min, 24,000 max, and it's always at 8000 when I start UCCNC. I can just click the spindle CW button and it starts at 8000.

[X-man]

Hi all, I think the problem may be that in my spindle speed is programmed as 0 to 2000 on both pulleys. I will check later and if so will put a higher speed in for the lower datum.

My spindle is step and dir and TBH I am not sure what controls the spindle except for the 0-10v on the C11 board which IIUC is controlled by the step setting and the speed set in the pulley tab?

I never really got involved in all this until we moved house and then the damn thing stopped working altogether. I understand a whole lot more now though....

Next thing is to try and understand the machine co-ordinate settings as these don't appear to have come across from mach3 which was set up for me in 2008! Am I correct that the machine coordinates are simply the + and - values of each axis so the software knows the limits of the table/movement so always knows where it is? Then set a home position(usually a tool change position?) then set my soft limits from there or maybe the machine co-ordinates. Or do I centralise the spindle on the table and just jog to the limits and set the soft limits on those numbers from the DRO? The hard limit switches I have on the table only lasted about 3 weeks before they failed so I have disconnected them and will rely on soft limits.

Probably some more questions will follow....

Glad I found this board (via Arturo Duncan reselling the uc400eth card and my machine using a C11 board from him but the shipping costs were crazy from the US to the UK).

Tony