Hi,
long time lurker first time poster.
my friends and I worked a bit on the CNC, we now have X and Y more or less working. the Z axis has a problem though, and any help with it would be appreciated. It's probably (hopefully?) some kind of a mismatch between the motor drive electronics and the software that's supposed to be used to configure it. here is a detailed description, if you manage to dig up some info it would be great:

We have brushless servo motors with encoders on each axis. each has a matching drive (controller module).
X, Y have 400W motors, Samsung model CSM-04BB2ANT3. the drive module is CSDJ Plus series, specifically model CSDJ-04BX2. These, as said before, so far work well.

the Z axis, on the other hand, has a 200W motor that also has a built-in brake, Samsung model CSM-02BB1ABT3. the drive module is CSDJ series (not CSDJ-Plus! that's important and probably the problem, see below). Specifically it's model CSDJ-02BX1. it looks like the "BX2' suffix means the 'plus' version and 'BX1' means the older, non-plus version.

we use a software called Smartjog, it's the software that was designed specifically to configure this type of drive modules. You can set all the drive module's parameters (there are at least 100 of those), such as various closed-loop control parameters, I/O pin configuration and various features tuning. note that this Smartjog is not actually supposed to be needed during regular CNC opration, just for tuning (which is unfortunately essential before anything works).

the problem symptom: the Z drive module refuses to work, reporting an "E36 - encoder type mismatch" fault. This happens even when it's connected to the X motor that was previously shown to work (with its own drive), through the same cabling that worked. the same fault happens even when *nothing* is connected to the drive module, just mains power and the serial communications to the PC!

we think one of two things is the reason. the most likely (and most optimistic) cause is that this version of Smartjog (version 4.0.0.4) does not work with the older CSDJ (not "CSDJ-Plus") drives. This is likely because when you create a new project in Smartjog you select the drive series, and there's only the "Plus" option (and other, non related series). so, this hypothesis would mean that there's no real hardware problem, just a PC software that doesn't know how to talk to the older drive. if that's the cause, we'll need either an older version smartJog, or (regretfully) to buy a new, Plus series servo drive (200$ or so).

the other possible cause is a damaged drive module, which means again buying a new one.

can you help us in someway and shade some light on the subject?

what we think that will help:

- finding a version of Smartjog older than 4.0.0.4, with the hope that it supports our older drive module. we didn't see it after a bit of googling, but maybe you can do better... there seems to be several companies involved here and I'm not sure of their business relationships (probably some acquisitions were involved): the motors and drives say "samsung", but when you google these models you find references to Rockwell automation, RS automation, and OEMax.

- finding an alternative software that can configure these drives. I'm not sure that's likely since this appears to be proprietary software written specifically for configuring these drives, but maybe someone hacked the protocol or used some unknown API... i'm sure you guys will know better.

- looking for info about this specific error (E36, encoder type mismatch) - maybe the software works fine and there is something we missed in configuring it? the encoder type is set to exactly the same one that worked in X and Y.

- any other ideas would be welcome...

thanks!
Guy.