Cnc 4 axis problem

[workinforwood]

I bought this machine from China a few months back. It's actually been working great until last week. Although I like the machine, the 4 axis is junk, always has been. It will cut a part perfect but if you break a bit and raise machine, change bit then do a restart it will lose so much steps going back to zero zero zero that the part is destroyed. But as long as there's no interruptions all is good so could get by with it for now.
But...then on Friday about 9 days ago, a part I was cutting was all mangled up. I noticed the 4 axis making a weird noise. It was clicking while turning. When I removed the stepper motor, plugged it back in, I noticed it isn't rotating. When I press Y, the stepper just shutters. So I assume motor went bad. I order a new motor from China and express shipping because I need this fixed quick. I install new motor, plug it into machine, all excited, I press Y button, damn thing shutters! I fiddle with the rotary, everything seems fine, pull motor back off, press y, the motor shutters.
So there must be a problem before the motor. The control board is shot?

After buying new motor I also bought a new 4 axis, a better one that when it arrives I was just planning to plug it in and adjust my Mach settings. The new one I bought is 50:1 ration hyperdrive or something like that, much better than this 6:1 gear belt drive set up. Now I guess it will need a new control board?

Any suggestions on what's going on?

 

[workinforwood]

Here's a pic of the 3040 column cnc and the new 4 axis I am going to upgrade to

 

[workinforwood]

New axis on order

 

[low_48]

Try resetting the stepper motor speed. Too high of speed will give you a stutter.

 

[workinforwood]

Seems like that actually works but opposite.

Supposed to be something like 26.666. 350. 100

On my big machine it's quite opposite, steps are like 1000, speed 300 and accelerate 23.5

Using the other machines numbers it actually spins but not great.

Just playing with numbers, I cranked on it, like 2500 steps, 1500 speed and 50 accelerate. That actually makes the motor crank pretty quick! But now that I am getting it to actually spin, there's still moments where it shutters or stalls a split sec. It should spin free both directions non stop without any delays. It's driving me nuts! The original settings worked great for months, nothing changed.

 

[low_48]

Check all electrical connections. Chinese machines are known for cold solder joints, poor crimping, and bad grounding. Check all connectios on pins in connectors as well.

 

[workinforwood]

I checked them with my hammer, looks pretty loose back there atm!!

 

[workinforwood]

But seriously, I did some reading online, talked to a tech guy, it's almost guaranteed the controller board has an issue. I am looking at the bright side of things...there's some options on this machine that drive me nuts and this is an opportunity to gut it out and build it right with American made electronics. I should have just bought this machine as a skeleton to begin with, it's a great structure base with poor electronics and strange user interface. I don't like how you must manually turn on the spindle. I don't like the remote control that I don't even use, I don't like fiddling with opening the jaws on the 4 axis with tommy bars when it should use a chuck key. I ordered new electronics that will streamline it and run faster motors, and it was even very expensive!

 

[Harley2001]

Jeff here's a guy that can check your board and fix it his name is Pete Brush phone #
207-370-5890 he is in Maine he check out mine hope this helps

 

[workinforwood]

Thanks Harley but I have successfully rebuilt it all myself!! I really like this machine as far as structure goes, it's just the electronics that are antiquated. I would recommend buying it if your looking for a 3-5 axis machine, it's available in many places and on eBay you can buy just the structure with no electronics, it is known as an HY 3040.

It took me 8 hrs to do the mods, but it was my first time wiring a machine, I had to research several schematics for different parts and took my time double checking everything several times over. I think it's a good educational experience to do the repairs or mods yourself with very little help, which allows you to have a much better understanding of how things work.

After I gutted the old parts, there was a small board in the back mounted to an L shaped aluminum bracket. I tried cutting the parallel port larger in the side of the machine and using that bracket to mount the new bob (break out board). It didn't leave enough room for the driver boxes to fit. But i did still redrill the bracket and tapped it by hand to fit the 4 brass spacer screws that were also already in the machine from another board. I mounted the board sideways so you plug in through the back now instead of the side.
I cut an aluminum plate and bolted the 4 drivers like a tower, drilled the case for mounting. Basically I figured out all the new mounting first before wiring it. It must be then wired up outside the machine before mounted inside...of course test it first!

I also added a ground for the power supply, and rewired the spindle so it still uses the speed control on the side of the machine BUT Mach 3 is able to turn it on and off.

I have a new better quality 4th axis coming, no point wiring the old one in so I just have the wires dangling out the side for now until it arrives.

Here's pictures, back of machine stuffed with the new parts.
All the new electronics are made in the USA, purchased from buildyourcnc.com, total cost after shipping and buying wires etc from hardware store, $450. Even without the machine running a program I can see quite an improvement in speed and smoothness while manually jogging it.

 

[workinforwood]

This is from the front on my home made workstation