I just won enough for a gecko540 so any info on what else to buy would be great i am going to upgrade the power supply as well. Also i have a deepgroove machine and with the xylotex controller (not his homebrew version) and im unsure of the motor specs. so if anyone has any information as to a recommended power supply and motor wirring information as well. I know i have to wire the motors different as to how they are wired now (series or parallel). Also i was thinking while im at it i would like to convert to a dc motor with pwm control (anyone seen any good deals?).

Way to go Len.....

Wish I was able to help you. I bought mine Ready to Run from Camtronics

If someone can help you out I will make this thread a Sticky for others to use....

here is Gecko's Support page....

http://www.geckodrive.com/support.aspx?q=10003

Len,

Is there a nameplate on the back of your motor? There should be a serial number located on there that should give some clue to the specs of the motor. Do you have any datasheets associated with these motors, or are you completely sans documentation?

Marcus Freimanis

[quote]Also i was thinking while im at it i would like to convert to a dc motor with pwm control.[quote]


Will you be controlling it through Mach 3?

Dave

If its the 280 oz. motors here are some specs from DG1's site

Holding torque
280 oz

Shaft diameter
.25

Voltage
3.3v

Current
2.8A

Nema
23

Body size
57mm w X 76 mm L

Wires
8 wire bipolar

Steps
200 steps per revolution

Hope this helps

I bought one of the Deepgroove setups and once it was put together it runs nicely with Mach3. Here is a link to pictures of how the Gecko 540 is setup in the controller box....not really like the diagram above and it works great.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showpost.php?p=557458&postcount=20

if my motors are 2.8 amp a piece and i have 4 axis what would be the total amps of the power supply needed?


and what about voltage is a 48v supply too much?

oh and yes i would like to use the control the spindle spped from mach , i was just wondering if anyone has seen any deals on the motors.

also i looked at the specs on dg1's site but i wasnt sure how accurate the information was.


also camtronics has a setup on ebay now with g540
3 - 280 oz steppers but the power supply is only 24v (does this mean it would be under powered? All the prebuit g540 setups seem to only include 24v supplys.


also i noticed in the pics of the deepgroove1 G540 box it has a 24v power supply and a board with just two capacitors on it (couldnt see anythin else on it.)

pics of dg1 box here.


Deepgroove1 box Pictures Click Here.


I noticed the camtronics package Does not appear to have the capacitors. Is that due to them already being in the power supply they are using? It does have something in the middle but they look like relays to my which im guessing is for spindle and coolant.

Camtronics box Pictures here.


also brian this post after i complete the process may be a good stickyy as it seems many people buy the dg1 setup only to convert it to a geckodrive g540 at a later time.

I must say I must have been one of the lucky ones when i ordered a setup from dg1, i got one with a xylotec driver in it and not his homebrew board people are complaining about.

I have good results with the xylotec but i figured i have another small cnc project the xylotec will be perfect for so i figured why not upgrade the taig.

Also does anyone have a link for a board to control the speed of a dc spindle motor compatible with the g540's speed controller?


I noticed in the wiring diagram of the gecko controller you posted there is a resistor hooked up, Is this necessary when using a g540? And if so does it come with it?

I hate to ask a lot of questions, but i like to be thorough so by the time i order everything and it arrives i dont get surprises. It drives me crazy when i order everthing except that last little thing needed to complete the project.

Len...my Camtronics box has a 24 volt supply I believe and I get up to 40 ipm with my 3 axis setup.....never skips a beat and is Super smooth and quiet......here is what mine looks like inside

I believe Gecko recommends the 48 volt supply though, should Fly with that

I went this route because I didn't know how to build my own

I realize its not that easy to do a how to post on a 540 build but we will see how it goes






here is a spec sheet for the 540

Len, if I were you, I would do a lot of reading in this area of the CNC Zone on the Gecko drives. It is very informative.

http://cnczone.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=31


As for the power supply, I believe Marriss himself (Gecko Guru) recommends a 48 volt power supply.

Dave

@blmartech:

Just setting up a G540 myself.
I believe the first diagram in this thread isn't the G540. The G540 doesn't have any 'current set resistor' to go on it directly. Although there are current set resistors to go on each of the stepper motor connectors. I have put mine on the inside of the 9pin D-type (DB9) connectors. I am limiting the current to approx. 2 amps, and so am using 2x 3900 ohm resistors in parallel (to up the power rating). The resistance is roughly 2000 Ohms, therefore limiting the current to 2 Amps. I soldered them to pins 1 and 5 inside the connectors.

Nope, the resistors don't come with the G540. There is probably a lot of variation depending on what current you want to drive your motors. You have to find out what current you need, then choose the resistors accordingly.

by the way gecko has an overrun of a g540 for $225 they only had 50 so order quick.

here is the post on cnc zone. the female connectors are a little shorter than normal but who cares i have a whole box of them in the shop.

http://cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72628


just put "overstock special" in the notes.... when ordering.

Or wait until Friday to see if you win one here!

Are the specs listed for that motor for a series or parallel wiring configuration? The G540 only uses four wires, so I need to know which is the listed configuration. Also, is there any way to find the inductance on the motor?

If you know the inductance I can tell you which power supply to use very easily. All you need to do is take the square root of the inductance and multiply by 32 to get the optimal power supply voltage; anything under that will get less performance than is possible and anything above that will create unnecessary heating.

A power supply is not a terribly complicated thing to make yourself. All you need is a bridge rectifier, transformer, and a filter capacitor. I would recommend looking at Antek for transformers, and remember that the transformer voltage is still AC so you must figure out the RMS voltage. This is going to 1.414 times the voltage listed on the transformer. You hook the transformer up to a bridge rectifier which is just four diodes hooked up in a diamond configuration to turn the AC into a DC voltage. You run that into a filter capacitor to filter out noise and provide a cleaner signal to your drive, and you have a working power supply.

The formula for figuring out the filter cap value is below:

(80,000 * I) / V = C

For a 48VDC power supply at 15A it would be as follows:

(80,000 * 15) / 48 = 25,000

The answer you get for C will be in millihenries. Keep in mind that because capacitors are dependent on physical size that the larger the number the bigger the capacitor will be.

Marcus Freimanis

Thanks for coming here and providing us with the info Marcus.

Dave

One slight correction to what Marcus wrote, just a typo mind you, the inductance is given in mH, not H (no multiplier needed) . It confused me for a second when I read it so I thought I would just make not of it. The formula for optimal power supply voltage is:

32 * √mH Inductance = Supply Voltage

im going to have to read up some more i guess. im hearing two diferent things unless im misunderstanding.

by what marcus is saying i should build a linear power supply and on the other hand im hearing a switching supply is better.

A switching power supply will work just fine but is generally more prone to breaking; an unregulated power supply is very easy to make and very simple. Because a switching power supply is electronic it has more components; more components means there are more places for something to fail.

If you have a switching power supply then by all means use it. I prefer to keep things simple and go with a straight unregulated supply.

Just as an FYI about regulated vs. unregulated: If you have a choice, we recommend using unregulated. When you decelerate quickly your motor becomes an alternator which in turn sends current back to the drive. The drive passes this current back to the power supply because it has no idea what to do with it; if the power supply is unregulated then it is just absorbed into the filter capacitor. However, if the power supply is a regulated supply it senses this as back EMF and shuts down, possibly ruining your work. The chances of this happening on a small table or mill is slim to none, but still something that gives people goosebumps. :-)

Marcus Freimanis

The power supply that I got in my Deepgroove box is actually a 36V pwoer supply that I hope to upgrade to a 48V in the near future.

ok i have my choice on power supply I think im waiting to see if it is available its not on the price list.


I am thinking about the PS-5N47 at AnTek.


It is a 47v 11 amp power supply.

Is this too much as I have 3 2.8 amp motors and a 1.75a on the a axis.

using the formula i come up with

2.8 * 3 + 1.75 = 10.15 then 10.15 * .67 = 6.8005

According to this I only need to use a 7 amp supply.

I never like to have the bare min. so i was going with the 11a supply.

My motors are 4 wire so that should be straight forward.

now here's where im having a little issue.

Im Looking for the correct resistors and here is what i come up with.

Need 3 of theses 2.80KXBK-ND resistors.

The Power Supply I am Using Is 47 volts and the Working Voltage of these are 26.458V is that going to be ok?

also im not have luck finding these in 1.75K ohm at digikey the only ones i found i had to buy 900.

the closest thing i can find is these.

RES 118K OHM 1/4W 1% METAL FILM

this means i will only be sending 1.18 amps to the motor.
I would really like to find ones closer to 1.75k

anyone have any other suggestions?

or is this a good choice ?

Resistors come in standard values. i f you want a specific (oddball) value, you will have to add them together to get different values. Adding them in parallel will decrease the resistance. Adding in series will increase resistance. Here are some standard values that should get you going....

4.7K + 10K + 22K
(connect these in parallel and you will get a hair under 2.8K Ohms)
(also because these are in parallel it will increase the power rating which is good)

2.2K + 10K + 47K
(connect these in parallel also and you will get 1.74K Ohms)

Standard resistors usually come with +/- 5% tolerance. Geckodrive mention 1 to 5% tolerance, so the standard resistors should be fine.

also what about the working voltage

The 'working voltage' is just a specification of the resistor. It is worked out as the square root of (power rating) x (resistance)

=> 0.25W x 2.8K = 26.458V

Just something else to confuse people. I wouldn't worry about that value. In their spec. sheet for that particular resistor, it can handle around 400 - 500V

I am using the standard carbon film type such as

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=4.7KQBK-ND

Although this supplier seems to sell min. quantity of 200 of these.

I would go to some electronics hobby store and get a 'multipack' that would have about 10 resistors of each value such as this

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=42453

The smaller electronics hobby store might even sell them individually and should cost less than $1 for all of them.

Len...

how are you doing on your build....?

sorry for the delay guys,

Im building a new enclosure, i got my g540, and i got all the resistors i needed at radio shack (what a surprise they had them all) I ordered the AnTek p5n47 power supply and am still waiting for it to arrive. I also ordered a 15" elo industrial touchscreen lcd.

I tore down the taig so i can clean it up before i put it in its new home. I plan on taking lots of pictures along the way.

As soon as the rest of the stuff arrives i will post some pictures.

Terrific! make sure to post some of the pics along the way

ok ive hooked everything up double checked everything, pwered up the pc, and nothing, not even a light on the 540. what gives checked voltage got 47.9 dc+ at pin 11 and dc- at pin 12 what gives ? and suggestions?

went back unhooked everything but power and still get nothing, i think i got a bad one

Sorry to hear that Len, Email or Call Gecko...They have Great Support

After emailing gecko (and getting a quick response) I decided to recheck everthing again.

I checked voltage - it was fine.

I then looked at the red pamphlet and double checked that i was hooking it to pins 11 and 12 i then walked to the back of the control box to reconnect it and then it hit me... I was reversing it, I had pins 11 and 12 at the wrong end.

the walk from the front of the machine to the back i was getting it reversed. Even after gecko goes through all the trouble of showing you pictures of how to hook it up.

must be getting senior moments a little early...

I hooked it up (the right way this time) and red lights, hmm maybe it will be ok.

Ill keep you posted..

Don't feel bad Len, I did the same thing when I was hooking up my probe.........

My personal rule of thumb for troubleshooting any problem.

1) Say, 'What the heck did I do wrong.'
2) Triple check everything I did.
3) Sleep on it
4) Start at #1

you got it jeff I had frustration goggles on last night and today it hit me. The amazing thing is i didnt fry it, the thing took being hooked up in total reverse like a champ, I have it working other than what seems to be a bad connection on one of the phases on the z axis and then i hae to re setup all the settings, also i had to switch the charge pump bypass switch to get it working. I thought downloading the xml file from the website would take care of setting it up correctly, from what i understand i need an oscilloscope to test that, anyway I bought a vinyl cutter to do some taig graphics for my enclosure, If I come up with any designs that are worth anything i will sell them to any forum members at my cost of vinyl and shipping. If anyone has any designs ideas let me know cause i would like to cut them this weekend.

The wife just doesnt understand why i need to buy a vinyl cutter just to add some decals to the machine. Women...just dont understand.

Also Got the touchscreen hooked up and working well It is sweet 15" wide. Im gonna cut out a Floating arm housing for it on my cnc at work tommorow.

I have lots of pictures as soon as i have a minute i will post some. hopefully tommorow.

Glad to hear you have it going .......

Looking forward to the Pics

Ok Guys heres a little update..
I thought i fried the board, but all is well as i can see so far. I had to disable the charge pump in order to get the board to come out of fault (little switch all the way to the left of the wire connections), but i think this is just a setting issue with mach3 (not sure i used the xml file from geckos site which i thought would be pre set up for that, but havnt looked into it yet) I have pictures of the build but left them in my work computer so i will post them after monday...

I still havnt completed the comtrol panel (the open void on the right side of the enclosure) but here are some pictures of what i have done so far.












Just have to make the control panel, route the monitor and keyboard cables into the top of the enclosure, redo the forth axis wire (it wont reach), and a few little things here and there..

pictures of the actual build to come..

When I have Everything finished and all bugs worked out i will give details about performance changes.

Lookin' Good so far love the enclosure I was going to try something like it with a old rollaway tool box. Yours looks sweet !

Great Job!

Marty

Nice Len..... im curious to what kind of IPM you get....Should Fly...

Its really nice not to lose Steps anymore....

Stickers Look good too...

Im making this a Sticky..

Looking good, Len, I look forward to the finished unit.

Thanks for sharing-
Dave

Len here is my XML file if you want to try it

http://www.4shared.com/file/88959278/61098c0e/G540SHOPTASKINDEX.html

Ok I have All my issues worked out for the most part, I have to manually turn my spindle and coolant on for the time being, I have a winford relay board with ttl inputs but it doesnt appear to work with the outputs on the g540 as they go to ground when closed and the board nees a 5vdc+ signal I tried wiring 5vdc+ to the ttl pins on the board and using the g540 to switch the ground but the board shares the ground with circuitry so if i turn on one relay the both turn on, No big deal as I will use the board with my xylotex setup and just order some din mountable relays.

I have a little bit of time so i decided to post some Pictures of the controller build.


Here are the current set resistors I used 3 per motor to achieve the correct resistance for the motors.


" 4.7K + 10K + 22K
(connect these in parallel and you will get a hair under 2.8K Ohms)
(also because these are in parallel it will increase the power rating which is good)

2.2K + 10K + 47K
(connect these in parallel also and you will get 1.74K Ohms) " Thanks goes to davedu




As you can see, I twisted all 3 together (parallel) and then soldered them together.



I then soldered them to pins 1 and 5 on the DB9 connector.



I finished by applying some liquid electric tape.
(not necessary but thats just the way i do things)



This is the start of the controller wiring.



A Little farther along on the controller wiring.



Here Is the New power supply compared next to the deepgroove controller (xylotex based not the homebrew).



Here is the enclosure early in the build, The Drain Pan is made from corian and the wet areas of the enclosure have been finished with spray on rubber.

I still have to build the door and the control panel.

After calibrating and setup I did some motor tunning and realized I now have an issue I never had with the xylotex setup. My computer is only fast enough to run the machine at about 50 ipm, so now I need to Upgrade the motherboard.

But The thing Is like a whole new monster compared to the old setup I cut some sintra at about 40ipm and had to pinch myself it was running great.

I also added wireless and got rid of the wired network card.

Way to go Len.....I knew you would like it

Hey is that the Coolant Pump system from Harbor Freight.....I had one on my 1st mill and it worked like a Charm, but I don't think they carry it anymore...I couldn't find one this time around..

yea Ive had it for about a year, works great, i wish i knew they were going to stop selling them i would have bought another.

Outstanding Work Len!!!!

Man that is a great way to setup a enclosure.

"I will use the board with my xylotex setup and just order some din mountable relays"
I hope you show us this setup I will need to do the same.
Thanks for showing all your work and pictures!


Marty

Looks great! Would definitely like to build an enclosure like that as well.