SainSmart stepper drivers

[mike_irving]

I have recently received my masso 5 axis controller. I have SainSmart 3.5A TB6560 stepper drivers. These were working fine on my old digital dream 4 axis stand alone controller. With the Masso they only move in the positive direction and seem to be missing a lot of steps as the move really slow and erratically. I have 5 thread per inch ball screws and have the controllers set for 8 micro steps. So that should be .2 per rev. 1600 pulses per revolution. Max feed 15 acceleration 3 travel min 0 max 20 backlash 0 . Do I need digital stepper controllers? I have a Stepperonline DM54T, that I haven t tried yet. I am running 24v to the NEMA 23 steppers they are the big 425oz.in/3Nm ones. I have dual 24V @ 15A two motors on each one.

When I jog thru the pendant the motors are erratic sometimes moving in different amounts (I have a dial indicator set up) the steps are about ten times larger going clock wise on the pendant vs counter clock wise.

Anybody got a idea what is going on?

 

[masso-support]

Hi Mike

Masso supports stepper drive using step and direction which is what your driver is. All modern Stepper drives are digital.

Do you have a link to a manual for your stepper drive board? It seems there are several different types of theses drives when I search for them. Some are single axis and the others are 3 or 4 axis boards.

How have you wired your stepper motor drive?

We need to know if you are connecting it using common ground or are using differential connection? From what I have seen the drives I have come across so far are all common ground but yours could be a different model again.

Cheers

Peter

 

[masso-support]

Hi Mike,

Just wondering if you have had any luck finding a manual for your SainSmart 3.5A TB6560 stepper drivers?

Maybe just a website link showing the actual model you have.

Cheers

Peter

 

[mike_irving]

Peter,

Been busy haven't got a chance to look . But i think my issue may be grounding between the various power supplys. I have the Masso on a 12V and the steppers on a 24V they arn't in the same cabinet or even grounded together, I have some metal enclosures coming later this week that they will all be mounted in together. I am planning on going to higher voltage controllers and power supply later.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0093Y88SK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 is the link to the present ones.

Mike

 

[masso-support]

Hi Mike,

I see you have the single axis unit so you will want to use the same wiring strategy as shown on the page below.

https://www.masso.com.au/masso-documentation/?section=gecko-203v



I think you are right and It sounds like you have a grounding issue with ground probably connected via the Mains earth.

You will find the higher voltage will make those motors you have work much better than they do on 24 volts.

When it comes to connecting the new drives you have you will find the connection will be different.

https://www.masso.com.au/masso-documentation/?section=longs-motors

Cheers

Peter

 

[mike_irving]

Got most stuff connected today and it seems to be working fine. Hooked up homing proximity sensors on X, Y and Z and they are homing.

Now to get the probing going.

Mike

 

[mike_irving]

I upgraded to the Stepperonline DM860T controllers and a 65V/15A non regulated toroidal PS and huge difference! A lot quieter just got it all hooked up so I still have to check the accuracy.

 

[grahambarbourgmail-com]

Quote from MASSO Support on December 19, 2019, 4:25 am

Hi Mike,

I see you have the single axis unit so you will want to use the same wiring strategy as shown on the page below.

https://www.masso.com.au/masso-documentation/?section=gecko-203v



I think you are right and It sounds like you have a grounding issue with ground probably connected via the Mains earth.

You will find the higher voltage will make those motors you have work much better than they do on 24 volts.

When it comes to connecting the new drives you have you will find the connection will be different.

https://www.masso.com.au/masso-documentation/?section=longs-motors

Cheers

Peter

I am afraid I am having a similar problem with these drives, SainSmart TB6560. Your description above

 

[grahambarbourgmail-com]

Quote from MASSO Support on December 19, 2019, 4:25 am

Hi Mike,

I see you have the single axis unit so you will want to use the same wiring strategy as shown on the page below.

https://www.masso.com.au/masso-documentation/?section=gecko-203v



I think you are right and It sounds like you have a grounding issue with ground probably connected via the Mains earth.

You will find the higher voltage will make those motors you have work much better than they do on 24 volts.

When it comes to connecting the new drives you have you will find the connection will be different.

https://www.masso.com.au/masso-documentation/?section=longs-motors

Cheers

Peter

I am afraid I am having a similar problem with these drives, SainSmart TB6560. Your description above with the Gecko does not quite do it for me. It shows that it needs a wire from Masso ground to a common terminal on the board. I do not see a common terminal on the board and wonder how this specific board should be wired to Masso. I hope someone could take the time to just give me a little schematic that would go a long way in solving this issue. Thank you for your time on this matter.

Graham

 

[zombieengineer]

@grahambarbourgmail-com - It helps if you can post a link to the manual.

The TB6560 is a Toshiba stepper motor driver chip (there are multiple vendors who make TB6560 based boards) - what is important is the interface circuitry.

If you do not have a manual please post a clear photo of the board showing the terminals and the associated labels - I should be able to make some educated guesses.