Hi Folks, Over the past few months I have managed to put together an Ox CNC, using direction from Mark Carew's detailed build on the Openbuilds website; I couldn't quite afford the controller boards offered by Openbuilds, so settled on a TB6560 CNC 3.5A 4 Axis Stepper Motor Driver, driving Openbuilds own Nema 23/17 steppers. With everything in place, I downloaded the Mach3 software that came with the Controller; but when I went to connect all the wiring, the frustrations began to mount: What wire/color goes where? what are pins? what numbers are matching? The more I tried to cover every suggestion, the more I became confused and frustrated-- now I am reaching out to you!!! I know you can help.
Can you give us a link to your controller board? And which wires are you referring to...? Stepper wires? End stops? E-shutoff? Parallel port? Power supply? Also you should understand that wire colors are not always standard so you need to think through this by connection type/item being connected, not by wire color.
Hi Rick 2.0 Thank you for your prompt response. First of all, this is a totally new adventure for me: like entering a whole new domain of unchartered waters in computer software, electronic theory and understanding: a whole new language to try and absorb and learn with its own multiple dialects and nuances that mean (practically) nothing to me; but I am willing to learn -with baby steps- to engage in the process. As a visual learner, colors are important to me, method is vital: stage one, stage two...laid out in the simplest of terms that I can understand. Though I may still struggle to get "it", the bigger challenge, I think, is on the Teacher to simplify it. Again, Thank You! for taking the time to involve yourself in my journey through the nether-world of CNC discovery and creativity. Yours Sincerely! Joe Wynne ps. I do have some pictures to share with the Community; please tell me how you see them.
I don't know that model of controller so someone else is going to need to jump in here for that but I can at least get you started. On the power supply (assuming you are using a standard power cord and North American power) black goes to L and white goes to N. As for the stepper wires, you need to find the matched pairs. (Note: until you get the wiring set up and get through the initial motor testing, you really shouldn't have the belts in place. You really don't want the carriage taking off on you.) To identify the matched pairs, consult the diagram that came with the motors. If no diagram was provided and one can't be found online, try crossing the wires. Start by crossing the red wire with one of the others and checking to see if the stepper is more difficult to turn. If so, attach these two to the corresponding axis spot on the controller in the A-A position and the others to the B-B position. If not, cross the red wire with another until you find a match. After you've set up the first axis, the remaining axes will be similar, but depending on your board you may need to reverse the B-B wires on one of the Y axis inputs to get it to spin in the opposite direction. And that's as far as I can take you. If you dig around the forum a bit, there's probably a diagram somewhere...
Hi Rick 2.00 Hi Rick, Thanks for the feedback-- particularly the dismantling of the belts! I don't have a motor diagram, but I have been able to isolate and pair up the wires using your suggestion to cross them; it's the A-A B-B that begins to confuse me: I have seen them as A+A- and wondering which one is which; I did hook up the wires in matching pairs as red/green yellow/blue without any movement from the motors using the jog buttons on the Mach3 software. This is part of the process I can't seem to get beyond.
plus and minus doesn't matter all that much.. the motor will just go the wrong way, you can sort that out later (swap any two wires).. is the controller providing any holding current? when powered up the motors should become locked with the holding current.. Did you setup mach3 telling it how many steps per inch or mm your machine is? lots of settings to do before anything will move, depending on the default values.
Hi Veteran Gary, Thanks for the heads up on the pluses and minuses; I really don't know if the controller is providing any holding current: some led's come on and there is some whirring sometimes from (a) motor and/or the controller itself; as for the motors locking-- I only noticed that once with the X axis. I tried to follow the tutorial set up from the Mach3 site without much of anything; so I'm starting from scratch: with the controller I have, I'm just hoping someone can walk me through it: that's my level of understanding all this stuff.
