Z Axis Dist/Pulse and X Sweep Engraving

[geotek]

I have replaced the Letro controller in my Redsail M900 with the AWC-608B. I really like the Ethernet capabilities. Two issues remain.

On the M900, the Z movement/pulse is about 0.46um. It appears that the AEC-608 does not allow values below 1um. I can change the micro-step, but there is a limit where the torque is too low for reliable movement.

I probably have something set wrong for engraving. If I am engraving a figure 20mm wide, the X has an excess movement of at least 100mm on each side. This causes the engraving to take alot of extra time. I would expect the excess movement should not be more than 25mm per side.

Any ideas?

[waltfl]

Hi there
the overswing comes from the speed and power settings try lowering the speed because this is usually the reason for the wide overswing.
greetings
walt

I have replaced the Letro controller in my Redsail M900 with the AWC-608B. I really like the Ethernet capabilities. Two issues remain.

On the M900, the Z movement/pulse is about 0.46um. It appears that the AEC-608 does not allow values below 1um. I can change the micro-step, but there is a limit where the torque is too low for reliable movement.

I probably have something set wrong for engraving. If I am engraving a figure 20mm wide, the X has an excess movement of at least 100mm on each side. This causes the engraving to take alot of extra time. I would expect the excess movement should not be more than 25mm per side.

Any ideas?

[twehr]

I have replaced the Letro controller in my Redsail M900 with the AWC-608B. I really like the Ethernet capabilities. Two issues remain.

On the M900, the Z movement/pulse is about 0.46um. It appears that the AEC-608 does not allow values below 1um. I can change the micro-step, but there is a limit where the torque is too low for reliable movement.

I probably have something set wrong for engraving. If I am engraving a figure 20mm wide, the X has an excess movement of at least 100mm on each side. This causes the engraving to take alot of extra time. I would expect the excess movement should not be more than 25mm per side.

Any ideas?

Can you change a gear/pulley so that it gears it down a bit. Then you can increase your pulse width and get the movement you want.

[geotek]

I found my acceleration settings were too low, which caused the large over-sweep.

If I change the gear ratio then adjust the micro-stepping, the step/mm will remain the same. The problem with the Redsail M900 is that the stepper motor driving the Z axis is too small to handle movement faster than 0.5um/step. I have ordered a motor with twice the torque of the existing motor. This should allow me to operate in the >1um/step range and with a good bit more speed.

I wonder if there is any way to disable the soft-limit on the Z-axis. If you turn off the machine, the next time you turn on the machine, the current table height is set to zero, and the table can not be moved (either up or down depending on how the Z-axis is configured).
Using the feature to home the table on start-up is not a good solution. The Z has 260mm of travel. If I put a limit switch at the bottom, it would take several minutes to lower the table and bring it up again. If I installed a limit switch on top, then I might have the rotary attachment crashing the gantry at startup. That would be real bad.
Just up and down please, I don't care about zero.

[Greolt]

I wonder if there is any way to disable the soft-limit on the Z-axis. If you turn off the machine, the next time you turn on the machine, the current table height is set to zero, and the table can not be moved (either up or down depending on how the Z-axis is configured).
Using the feature to home the table on start-up is not a good solution. The Z has 260mm of travel. If I put a limit switch at the bottom, it would take several minutes to lower the table and bring it up again. If I installed a limit switch on top, then I might have the rotary attachment crashing the gantry at startup. That would be real bad.
Just up and down please, I don't care about zero.

It is a common request.

You can use U axis signals for the table. Check "U axis for feeding"

This will allow for unrestricted table movement.

Not ideal, but it does work.

[geotek]

It is a common request.

You can use U axis signals for the table. Check "U axis for feeding"

This will allow for unrestricted table movement.

Not ideal, but it does work.

Thanks, what a great idea.

[Greolt]

It is a common request.

You can use U axis signals for the table. Check "U axis for feeding"

This will allow for unrestricted table movement.

Not ideal, but it does work.

Thanks, what a great idea.

Tim was the one who came up with that workaround. Not me.

[twehr]

It is a common request.

You can use U axis signals for the table. Check "U axis for feeding"

This will allow for unrestricted table movement.

Not ideal, but it does work.

Thanks, what a great idea.

Tim was the one who came up with that workaround. Not me.

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Here is a link to the article that explains how to use the U axis for driving the table.