Newbie Setting Up His G540

[phil m]

Hey all,

I bought Peter Homann's kit located here:
http://homanndesigns.com/store/index...products_id=90

and I wired the box according to his schematic over here:
http://www.homanndesigns.com/EN010_V8.pdf

The only difference between my box and the schemtic is that I completely dropped the auxiliary relay output feature and I haven't yet wired the chiller or the two DB9 outputs.

I downloaded the manuals and the initial setup giude from geckodrive.com and I'm having problems figuring out whats going on here.

- I adjusted my printer port to EPP
-I set the charge pump in Mach 3 to enable
-I loaded the xml file to mach 3

Mach3 is asking me for "external estop requested", when I click on the Estop, the red fault light goes off. No green light appear though. Is this normal? Is there something wrong? Mach 3 doesn' t seem to see that I clicked my Estop, the request demand stays onscreen.

The next step after that is to make sure the green light is on and to connect the motors... where's my green light??

Similar Threads:

• do you know if the g540 uses the gecko setting?
• Need Help!- Setting up X and Y G540/Mach3
• Setting up G540 with mach 3
• Setting up the G540

[jalessi]

Did you wire a switch between terminal 10 and 12 "ground"?

[phil m]

No

I'm not sure what that does exactly. Am I supposed to put the wire between the two for a few seconds then take it off and wire the box according to the schematic or something?

(Do I have to turn the power on with the wire between pin 10 and 12?)

[port_huon]

The circuit diagram I have shows a normally closed e-stop switch between pins 10 and 12.
The notes state that a connection must be made between these 2 pins for the G540 to come out of fault mode.

[zeeway]

A normally closed E-stop switch is usually wired between pins 10 and 12, or more easily done between pin 10 and the ground on your power supply (not the neutral). Either wiriing to pin 12 or the power supply ground equates to the same thing because pin 12 is where the ground from your power supply is hooked up, right?

Okay, so if your E-stop is normally closed, and it has not been depressed (activated), it is making a connection from pin 10 to ground, telling the Gecko that it is okay to proceed. If the Gecko is happy, a green light will light up on the Gecko.

Oftentimes, I will start up my system with the E-stop activated and then release it to get the system ready.

Now, if you have not acquired an e-stop yet, just wire a jumper between pin 10 and 12; or pin 10 and the ground on your power supply; and leave it there. Start up the Gecko and the jumper will fool it into thinking it is seeing an unactivated E-stop. Clear?

[phil m]

Thanks for the reply guys. So if you look at the schematic I provided in my first post, does that mean there's an error on it? The Estop is not wired from pins 10 to 12 at all?

or does the enable switch do the same thing?

If I look at pins 10 and 12 on that schematic, pin 10 connects to an on/off switch then finishes at -VDC and pin 12 goes to -VDC too. Is there something I should change?

Please bear with me I don't know much about electronics, I can solder according to schematics though, have done that plenty of times.

[zeeway]

Okay, first a disclaimer - I'm not an electronics expert either. But I believe on the wiring diagram you posted, the "enable" switch is the same as an e-stop switch. Once you have closed this switch the system is "enabled", which is the same thing as having a normally closed e-stop. When you open the enable switch or activate the e-stop, the system cannot operate.

If you wire this as shown on your diagram, that is, from pin 10 on the gecko to the ground pin on your power supply, you have done the same thing as provide a jumper from pins 10 to 12 on the gecko. So if you wire that enable switch as shown, you do NOT need an additional jumper from pin 10 to 12. You will however, need to close the enable switch to enable the system to operate.

And one more thing - in addition to all this you still need a connection from gecko pin 12 to your power supply ground. That is why some writeups talk about an e-stop from 10 to 12, and others go from 10 to the power supply ground... Pin 12 on the gecko and the power supply ground are at the same voltage. So you can wire an enable (or e-stop) switch either to gecko pin 12 or to the power supply ground - for same effect. I found it easier to wire to the power supply ground because there was an open terminal (screw with no wire already there) so I could wire there more easily.

[phil m]

Cool but that switch finishes in the -VDC section not the AC/FG section (mains ground) should I physically move that wire to the ground section or is the schematic good in the first place?

[zeeway]

It may be the same, but that is beyond me. I wired mine to the -VDC terminal on the power supply (see additional comments I added above).

[phil m]

ok, I tried to rewire but that didn't work, so wired back according to schematic and at least the red light lights up. I fired up Mach 3 and get this when I lod the XML file

Sun - 07:57:01 ---Program Startup
Sun - 07:57:07 ---
Sun - 07:57:19 ---Command too longLine 0
Sun - 07:57:25 ---External EStop Requested.

Is "too longline 0" an error message maybe??

I click the enable switch but it doesn't seem to work, I don't get any other messages, I also tried to click the Estop too, also didn't work, I'm kinda stumped here

EDIT: I should pobably state that the red light turns off when I click the estop but when I switch the enable switch nothing happens, it stays red. I still haven't seen any green lights at this point.

[phomann]

Hey all,


- I adjusted my printer port to EPP
-I set the charge pump in Mach 3 to enable
-I loaded the xml file to mach 3

You also need to go into the Mach3 general configuration and check the "ChargePump in EStop" checkbox.

If you don't do this you will get a race condition.

Cheers,

Peter.

[phil m]

I got a separate message from Peter Homann, the problem was the charge pump switch that was on the on position, I moved it to off and I now get my green light

[phomann]

A normally closed E-stop switch is usually wired between pins 10 and 12, or more easily done between pin 10 and the ground on your power supply (not the neutral). Either wiriing to pin 12 or the power supply ground equates to the same thing because pin 12 is where the ground from your power supply is hooked up, right?

I try to persuade people from wiring an Estop between pin 10 and pin 12. Pin 10 is really just an enable input. As I have shown in the schematic.

http://www.homanndesigns.com/EN010_V8.pdf

It is better practice to have the EStop switch remove power from the Motion drivers (G540).

As the machines controlled by the G540 are usually small, such as a sherline or Taig, you can getaway with connecting the Estop to pin 10 of the G540.

But in my opinion it is not a good practice.

Cheers,

Peter.

[phomann]

Okay, first a disclaimer - I'm not an electronics expert either. But I believe on the wiring diagram you posted, the "enable" switch is the same as an e-stop switch. Once you have closed this switch the system is "enabled", which is the same thing as having a normally closed e-stop. When you open the enable switch or activate the e-stop, the system cannot operate.

Not at all. To assume an EStop and enable functions are the same is quite dangerous. The enable switch in the diagram, allows to to manually adjust the axes if requited.

The Estop removes power from the G540 and rgw spindle relays, etc.

Cheers,

Peter.

[phomann]

Cool but that switch finishes in the -VDC section not the AC/FG section (mains ground) should I physically move that wire to the ground section or is the schematic good in the first place?

The schematic is correct.

Cheers,


Peter.

[Mariss Freimanis]

phil m,

So is the G540 spinning motors yet?:-)

I don't mean to step on Peter Homann's toes here because there may be some things in his system I don't understand. If it's OK with Peter, go into your PC's BIOS and change the parallel port from "standard" to "EPP" and take a look at the Mach3 configuration file from our website (www.geckodrive.com). That should enable the charge pump and unlock the VFD output and other I/O features on the G540.

Mariss

[phomann]

phil m,

So is the G540 spinning motors yet?:-)

I don't mean to step on Peter Homann's toes here because there may be some things in his system I don't understand. If it's OK with Peter, go into your PC's BIOS and change the parallel port from "standard" to "EPP" and take a look at the Mach3 configuration file from our website (www.geckodrive.com). That should enable the charge pump and unlock the VFD output and other I/O features on the G540.

Mariss

Mariss,

That's OK, I've got my steel capped boots on.

As I understand it, Unless you have the "ChargePump on in EStop" checkbox checked you end up with a race condition.

Mach3 won't generate a chargepump unless the G540 removes the Fault input on pin 15.
The G540 won't removes the Fault input on pin 15 unless there is a charge pump.

Also know as a Mexican Standoff. I could be wrong, but this is my experience, and I've solved it with the checkbox.

Cheers,


Peter.

[phil m]

phil m,

So is the G540 spinning motors yet?:-)

It does!!!
Gotta finish the table and hook it all up now

I don't mean to step on Peter Homann's toes here because there may be some things in his system I don't understand. If it's OK with Peter, go into your PC's BIOS and change the parallel port from "standard" to "EPP" and take a look at the Mach3 configuration file from our website (www.geckodrive.com). That should enable the charge pump and unlock the VFD output and other I/O features on the G540.

Mariss

I essentially did everything the way your Initial setup guide says. The only problem I had was that I needed to switch the charge pump on OFF. I tried setting it p in Mach 3 as Peter mentioned on an earlier post but that didn't work out so I'm back to all settings as explained in your pdf's and the charge pump on OFF.

Is there a reason I should need that charge pump on ON? (what does it do anyway?)

[Pandinus]

The charge pump is another safety measure, It only allows the system to do anything if the pump signal is present.
Let's say you are changing a bit and didn't actually switch the machine off to do it (router or spindle,) its just the spindle start relay that is off. Now let's sat Windows crashes(it never does though, right :P ) as the pc reboots, the parallel port pins go into a gray zone and may pulse on or of for a few milliseconds. At this point the charge pump signal is gone so you "shouldn't" lose a finger to a spindle start relay firing off.
This is assuming the rest of your system is wired correctly and the appropriate relays are wired normally off. I have seen relays wired normally on and a signal to stop the flesh mangling parts was used.... It's just not smart, a broken wire can fire up the machine. It's best to wire so that things only work under the right conditions rather than only stopping under the right conditions.
I had a bad electrical burn on my wrist and almost broken arm because a previous employer had a machine that would complete a cycle if an input was triggered even when the console was switched from start to stop. When I think about it there were a few safety problems with that machine.

As noted above Mach3 can be set to send out a charge pump continuously while running. I'd do that If I were you.

[zeeway]

I personally learn a lot by reading these posts and by reading the manuals for our products.

The manual for the Gecko 540 is shown at:
http://www.geckodrive.com/upload/G54...3%20MANUAL.pdf

...and it clearly shows an e-stop wired between pin 10 of the gecko 540 and the ground of the power supply. So either this is in error or some of the previous comments are in error.

If this is not a recommended practice, I would hope the experts on this board and Gecko would get together and agree, and change the Gecko 540 manual as appropriate...so novices like me can learn the right way.

By the way, phoman, I think that gecko chiller is brilliant...