My Millright Mega V uses a single driver for both Y motors, just connecting both into the same driver. Is this advisable, or should I buy another driver for the second Y motor and have Masso drive them in parallel? Is there any disadvantage to the way Millright does this? It seems to me like it would put a lot more load on that one driver, having to power two motors.
Dual Y motors on one driver
- Thread starter perry
- Start date
Hi Perry
It is not usual for there to be more than 1 stepper motor per drive. I personally wouldn't do it. Stepper motors and drives are complex devices which work best when the motor and drive are a matched pair and I don't believe you will get best from your motors in their current configuration.
I see your machine is rack and pinion drive. Are you not going to use auto squaring on it?
Cheers Peter
It is not usual for there to be more than 1 stepper motor per drive. I personally wouldn't do it. Stepper motors and drives are complex devices which work best when the motor and drive are a matched pair and I don't believe you will get best from your motors in their current configuration.
I see your machine is rack and pinion drive. Are you not going to use auto squaring on it?
Cheers Peter
Yeah, some people have reported issues with the Y axis, but it's unclear at this point if that's related to the shared driver. If I were to add a fourth driver for that other motor, would it matter if it was matched? I ask because it's not exactly clear which drivers Millright is using. There's a custom label on them and I didn't see any model numbers that might indicate which generic driver they're rebranding. Is it a problem if I have three Millright drivers and then a different one for the second Y motor, or should they all be matched? Seems like decent ones are going to run about $50 each, so that's a fair bit more than I was planning to spend if I have to replace all four.
I hadn't really considered auto squaring. I guess I should look into that more. This is the problem with these things - I don't even have it up and running yet and I've already made a dozen mods! I think I might just use it as-is, with the Masso as the controller, and then consider auto-squaring later. For that I'd just need a second Y homing switch, right? If so I'd drill an extra hole in the control box now to make room for that.
Thanks!
I hadn't really considered auto squaring. I guess I should look into that more. This is the problem with these things - I don't even have it up and running yet and I've already made a dozen mods! I think I might just use it as-is, with the Masso as the controller, and then consider auto-squaring later. For that I'd just need a second Y homing switch, right? If so I'd drill an extra hole in the control box now to make room for that.
Thanks!
Hi Perry,
You don't need all the drives on the machine to be the same but I would personally have the Y axis drives the same. I would imagine that the X axis uses the same drive unit as the Y so you could use that and get another drive for the X axis.
What do the drives you have look like?
Are all the stepper motors the same?
I know where you are coming from as sometimes these builds get away on you and the next thing you know you are starting on your 2nd and 3rd machine.
For Auto squaring of the Y axis you will need the 5 axis Masso version and a homing sensor for the B axis.
Cheers Peter
You don't need all the drives on the machine to be the same but I would personally have the Y axis drives the same. I would imagine that the X axis uses the same drive unit as the Y so you could use that and get another drive for the X axis.
What do the drives you have look like?
Are all the stepper motors the same?
I know where you are coming from as sometimes these builds get away on you and the next thing you know you are starting on your 2nd and 3rd machine.
For Auto squaring of the Y axis you will need the 5 axis Masso version and a homing sensor for the B axis.
Cheers Peter
I'm going to be in the office a bit this afternoon to work on the control box so I can take a picture of the drivers. they look like the generic black drivers you find everywhere online, but with heatsinks on them. I haven't removed them from the control box yet, so it's possible there's identifying information on a side that's hidden, but the usual location, where the DIP switch table goes, is a Millright branded label with the DIP switch table on it. The X, Y, and Z motors are all the same NEMA 23s.
I have a spare StepperOnline DM542T, which should be fine as it's 20-50V (my PSU is 48V), and 4.2A (the Millright drivers are 4A/phase) so I could definitely use that for the X motor.
Just curious - why would I need the 5 axis upgrade for this instead of the 4? Does that mean if I ever wanted to add a 4th axis I couldn't because it's being used by the auto-squaring?
I have a spare StepperOnline DM542T, which should be fine as it's 20-50V (my PSU is 48V), and 4.2A (the Millright drivers are 4A/phase) so I could definitely use that for the X motor.
Just curious - why would I need the 5 axis upgrade for this instead of the 4? Does that mean if I ever wanted to add a 4th axis I couldn't because it's being used by the auto-squaring?
breezy
Moderator
Perry.
Check Slave axis documentation it is explained in there!!! MASSO default slaving arrangement is
Regards,
Arie.
Check Slave axis documentation it is explained in there!!! MASSO default slaving arrangement is
Software axis slaving option can be used to slave X axis with A axis or Y axis with B axis. This option allows the user to have two separate homing switches or sensors on axis to be able to align the axis.
Regards,
Arie.
Here's a shot of one of them removed. It's very similar to the DM542T that I have from StepperOnline, though the current table is a little bit different on that one. Otherwise, connectors are in the same position and it looks to be basically the same, physically, though the Millright driver has a chunky heatsink on it that the StepperOnline driver doesn't.
Hi Perry
As you said it looks like and number of generic stepper drives on the market these days. Good idea using Hardware slaving to start with and then update at your leisure.
One thing to be aware of is the driver settings for the Y axis motors will probably be wrong when you connect only 1 motor to it. They may have the current cranked up to feed 2 motors but it will depend on how they have the motors wired. Just something to be aware of.
Hopefully all the steppers are the same on the machine in which case the X axis settings will be what you want to use for each of the Y axis motors when they are driven as individuals.
Cheers Peter
As you said it looks like and number of generic stepper drives on the market these days. Good idea using Hardware slaving to start with and then update at your leisure.
One thing to be aware of is the driver settings for the Y axis motors will probably be wrong when you connect only 1 motor to it. They may have the current cranked up to feed 2 motors but it will depend on how they have the motors wired. Just something to be aware of.
Hopefully all the steppers are the same on the machine in which case the X axis settings will be what you want to use for each of the Y axis motors when they are driven as individuals.
Cheers Peter
Thanks - you're correct that the Y driver had double the current of the X driver, so I matched the two Y drivers to the settings for the X. The motors are the same - you get a box of 4 of them and they're not specified as to which goes on which axis, because they're identical. For the X driver, I used the StepperOnline DM542T, and set the DIPs to something close to the Millright settings. A tiny bit lower, actually, since they're not an exact match. I don't think it's going to be enough of a difference to matter. (something like .14A lower on the DM542T current).
Hoping to get at least one motor up and running today, once I get the drivers connected and the Masso back into the box.
Hoping to get at least one motor up and running today, once I get the drivers connected and the Masso back into the box.