[santiniuk]

Can someone pass me a shoehorn.....

I'll squeeze it in if it kills me !


Note :- No camera trickery like the underhanded method 10bulls uses has been done to these images Therefore they look boring

I needs some flux remover and the opto's now.

[10bulls]

Thats some pretty neat wiring santini...Boy are you gonna laugh when I rats nest mine! Fun soldering those top traces underneath the connectors of the opto board wasn't it ?

OK. One small problem...it doesn't work!
Just had a bit of a play on some breadboard and reading the 6N139 datasheet,
I'm pretty sure there is a missing resistor ~470R which should go between
pin 6 and pin 8 of all the optos.

Ya see Alan...If you'd been drinking Fosters the lack of alcohol and taste would
not have distracted you from double checking your schematic

[santiniuk]

Amazing !

I received my opto's tonight and mine doesn't work either

I'm using a laptop and did not have time to do detailed analysis,

Chin up 10bulls, tomorrow should sort it....

Cheers

[randyf1965]

I just tried my PicStep boards...

Problems with the interface board connected the stepper vibrates, if I power down and disconnect it from the interface board (NON opto) it doesn't vibrate

If I disconnect the parallel port from the interface board it vibrates

Any troubleshooting data on this board?

[Garfield2]

Thats some pretty neat wiring santini...Boy are you gonna laugh when I rats nest mine! Fun soldering those top traces underneath the connectors of the opto board wasn't it ?

OK. One small problem...it doesn't work!
Just had a bit of a play on some breadboard and reading the 6N139 datasheet,
I'm pretty sure there is a missing resistor ~470R which should go between
pin 6 and pin 8 of all the optos.

Ya see Alan...If you'd been drinking Fosters the lack of alcohol and taste would
not have distracted you from double checking your schematic

Weird there are conflicting reports as to whether the resistor is needed between pin 7 and ground. On my test breadboard I didn't need the resistor at all, hence why I didn't put it in the diagram. Maybe there are different tolerances in the parts. Does any one have a CRO and can look at the output of one of the opto's on pin 6? I'd be interested in seeing your findings.

I'll have a futher poke around here and get back to you all.

Also try popping out one of the optos and put a wire link the the IC socket between pin 6 and pin 8 and then swap it to pin 6 and pin 5, the LED's and the outputs should step/change direction. If this is working correctly than it's just purely a misconfiguration of the opto-isolators and should be easily remedied.


Cheers,
Alan.

< Mental note > don't release anything before you test it yourself< / >

[da21]

10bulls yes i would agree with you on that one

Dave

[Garfield2]

I just tried my PicStep boards...

Problems with the interface board connected the stepper vibrates, if I power down and disconnect it from the interface board (NON opto) it doesn't vibrate

If I disconnect the parallel port from the interface board it vibrates

Any troubleshooting data on this board?

Sounds like a fault/short in your interface board. Grab a multi-meter and beep-out all the ports and pins and verify there are no shorts.

Also verify you've put the 10 pin inter-connects between the PICSteps and the interface board the right way around. If they're back-to-front you may be reversing the 5V supply causing all sorts of issues to the PICs on the driver boards.

The PICStep boards need 5V and their drive power to properly power up. Try just supplying 5V to the 10 pin IDC header and see if the problem still exists. If it does it's a problem with your driver board/PIC programming. Just suppling the driver voltage will only power up the LMDs, and without the drivers attached to the interface board they won't have their needed 5V supply.

Cheers,
Alan.

[10bulls]

Weird there are conflicting reports as to whether the resistor is needed between pin 7 and ground....

It's not the 10K from pin 7 to ground. I tried that first. Its a resistor between 6 and 8.

Like this...(Works Now!)

[Garfield2]

It's not the 10K from pin 7 to ground. I tried that first. Its a resistor between 6 and 8.

Like this...(Works Now!)

Yup my fault.. I did leave the resistor out..

Sorry! I'll update the design now.

Here is the needed resistor values depending on your 74xx14.

http://www.fromorbit.com/6N139.jpg


Looks really nice 10bulls, well done on the board. Also thanks for the help fixing the problem. I'm glad I'm going to get my interface boards made professionally with plated-holes so I don't have to worry about soldering under parts! SORRY!

Alan.

[10bulls]

Now worries! Apart from that its all very sweet! No more blowing up Mr busy pin for me!
Thanks Alan

BTW...Did you make me solder in 2 extra inverter chips, 2 nand gates and some nice tantulums....Just so Santini can have bloody Christmas Lights!!?!? Just ignore him next time OK ?!

[Garfield2]

Now worries! Apart from that its all very sweet! No more blowing up Mr busy pin for me!
Thanks Alan

Excellent, glad it's functioning the way I had originally intended!

BTW...Did you make me solder in 2 extra inverter chips, 2 nand gates and some nice tantulums....Just so Santini can have bloody Christmas Lights!!?!? Just ignore him next time OK ?!

Guilty as charged! But you gotta admit they're pretty cool blinking lights. You could drop the 74x00's if you didn't want the LED's and I could make the board smaller if I only used 2 74x14's but I thought the status LED's where a good idea so I just went with it.

Plus I like Santini little aluminium boxes with the LED's in them for each axis, makes the machine look professional like.

Cheers,
Alan.

[10bulls]

Actually they're starting to grow on me..."Flash On! Flash Off! Flash On! Flash Off!"....By george...I think they're trying to tell me something!
"Put your hands in the air and step away from the solder sucker!"

Don't blame you on getting plated through boards made up. I here black is in this season. Aparantly it's the new red....anything but green...that's oh so 90's.

[Garfield2]

Actually they're starting to grow on me..."Flash On! Flash Off! Flash On! Flash Off!"....By george...I think they're trying to tell me something!
"Put your hands in the air and step away from the solder sucker!"

LOL! I want to see some machine with cold-cathodes along their axises that are linked to these status lines. It'll be the "Disco-CNC" machine. Could even hang a small mirror ball from the z-axis.

Don't blame you on getting plated through boards made up. I here black is in this season. Aparantly it's the new red....anything but green...that's oh so 90's.

Oh daaaaaar-ling, I'm probably going to go BLUE! (But I'll probably end up with green because they're a lot cheaper and who cares what the boards look like when they're inside a box.. :P)

Cheers,
Alan.

[JavaDog]

LOL! I want to see some machine with cold-cathodes along their axises that are linked to these status lines.
Cheers,
Alan.

Actually, since my other hobby is case modding - I do plan to pimp out my controller box. But shhh...it's gonna be a surprise!

[xairflyer]

That is some nice work you guys are doing with those boards, it is the one thing in electronics I have yet to do, so I may come back and ask some questions later !

What I want to know is, what is the benifit's of making this board, I note that it is Bipolar motors your using which give more torque, but why not buy a Xyolex board, or is this better or just more fun building your own.
I know the designer is here too which is fantastic the help he is providing you all, I don't really know what the Xyolex board is like, so I am not saying use it or it's better, I just used it as an example of a commercial bipolar board.

[Garfield2]

Actually, since my other hobby is case modding - I do plan to pimp out my controller box. But shhh...it's gonna be a surprise!

Ahh you'll defiantely be wanting the BLUE pcb's then.. Plexi-glass windowed controller box with shiny heatsinks and a blue cold-cathode... Hmmm I can hear the pimp music from here..

Can't wait to see it..

Cheers,
Alan.

[Garfield2]

Bug fixed in the opto-board and it's schematic. Many thanks to 10Bulls and Santini. Opto-Bob () is now V2.01 and a tiny bit longer to fit the extra resistors I left out in (Sorry Santini)

Have a look see here.

Plus check out the updated gallery, I've put some more photos of other peoples works up.

Cheers,
Alan.

[randyf1965]

The PICStep boards need 5V and their drive power to properly power up. Try just supplying 5V to the 10 pin IDC header and see if the problem still exists. If it does it's a problem with your driver board/PIC programming. Just suppling the driver voltage will only power up the LMDs, and without the drivers attached to the interface board they won't have their needed 5V supply.

Cheers,
Alan.

ok I removed the interface board from the circuit.... 1 of the 3 boards I built functions drivers get hot and the stepper hums after I run a circle cut (I know a 1 axis circle!)

I traced out all the leads on the lm18245's the all go where they should... guess I will hook up the 1 working board and jot down all the voltages, resistances, etc on the schematic until I find the problem!

sucks I am 25% on boards so far! 1 driver 2 not working and an interface board that has issues!

well been up all day and most of last night

[Mr.Chips]

Alan,

Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge, skills and plans for use by fellow builders. It’s people like you that keep the sport alive and growing on the CNCZONE.
Hager

[da21]

That is some nice work you guys are doing with those boards, it is the one thing in electronics I have yet to do, so I may come back and ask some questions later !

What I want to know is, what is the benifit's of making this board, I note that it is Bipolar motors your using which give more torque, but why not buy a Xyolex board, or is this better or just more fun building your own.
I know the designer is here too which is fantastic the help he is providing you all, I don't really know what the Xyolex board is like, so I am not saying use it or it's better, I just used it as an example of a commercial bipolar board.

mostly satisfaction and fun , i would not go as far and say it cheaper .

the process of knowing when things go wrong you can ask here and get it fixed without paying huge callout fees and repairs , well at least most of the time

and of course more knowledge
just enough to be dangerous !

Dave