Beginners

[GS76]

Hi all,

I have a mechanical engineering background, and hence I am terrified of electronics and blowing them up.

I own a KFlop and KStep for a small 3-axis milling machine, designed for measurement work. It originally came with a Chinese board and Mach3. Say no more.

I have had great success setting up the three stepper motors, and the system works excellently, using KMotion CNC, and I am thrilled.

I am however struggling to set-up the spindle, which for my set-up is a small 540-size DC brushed motor (https://www.jsumo.com/high-power-12v-21 ... e-with-fan) connected to soft-start DC controller (https://www.pololu.com/product/1394).

I want to be able to connect this DC controller within its 0-5V analog voltage interface to the JP33 5, 6 and 7 pins. If I am not mistaken?

I then believe and would take the relay I purchased (https://www.robotics.org.za/MAR0002CR?s ... 20Isolated) and connect this to JP33 1,2, 3 and 4 pins, to "stop" and "start" the motor.

My "beginner questions are as follows:

1. How exactly would I wire up the relay, motor and dc controller together, is there a tutorial or a website I can follow with regards precisely what to do?

2. How is this then configured in KMotion CNC?

Any assistance is much appreciated.

Thank you.

[TomKerekes]

Hi GS76,

I want to be able to connect this DC controller within its 0-5V analog voltage interface to the JP33 5, 6 and 7 pins. If I am not mistaken?

That should work. I believe the Rx pin is the analog input to the DC Controller. If you make a diagram we can check it for you.

1. How exactly would I wire up the relay, motor and dc controller together, is there a tutorial or a website I can follow with regards precisely what to do?

Regarding the relay board: I couldn't find a specification or even a pinout description. I think it is expecting a TTL signal so it may not work with the relay driver outputs on KStep. The relay driver outputs are like switches and wouldn't provide a high/low voltage without adding a pull down resistor. It would probably be simpler to use a 3.3V LVTTL Output from KFLOP such as IO24 and IO25 from KFLOP JP4 Pins 15 and 16. If you make a diagram we can check it for you.

2. How is this then configured in KMotion CNC?

See the Spindle Configuration with User Programs here.

See the example \C Programs\KStep\KMotionCNC\Spindle_S_Kstep.c which will control the KStep Analog Output. Also the CW, CCW, and Off programs in the same directory. These will need to be changed for the IO Bits that you actually use if not the KStep Relay Driver Outputs.

HTH

[GS76]

Thank you Tom.

Could you give me an example of how the diagram should look like?

Thank you.

[TomKerekes]

Could you give me an example of how the diagram should look like?

Here is one showing KStep Analog Connection to a VFD 0-10V input.

Others here.

[GS76]

Thank you for the examples.

If I may ask what software do you use to generate these diagrams/drawings?

[TomKerekes]

I use OrCAD Schematic Capture. There is Free Lite Version which is limited to a few dozen connections and a few dozen parts.

You might Google Wiring Diagram Software.

For something simple with just a few connections like we are asking you for most any drawing program can be used such as Windows Paint or Microsoft Word or even just pencil and paper

[GS76]

Hi Tom,

How are you?

Please see diagram attached.

[GS76]

Hi Tom,

I have just remembered that the motor controller has an 0-5V analog set up. Is KStep working with a 0-10V analog signal?

How can this be handled? Is a voltage regulator needed? To step down the analog signal from KStep to the motor controller?

Or is a resistor needed and which resistor is needed?

Thanks.

[TomKerekes]

Hi GS76,

I have just remembered that the motor controller has an 0-5V analog set up. Is KStep working with a 0-10V analog signal?

How can this be handled? Is a voltage regulator needed? To step down the analog signal from KStep to the motor controller?

Or is a resistor needed and which resistor is needed?

KStep's analog output basically outputs from 0-100% of the voltage that it is provided. So if you supply it (AnalogVcc to AnalogGnd) with 5V then the AnalogOut will vary from 0-5V.

Your connections Rx and 5V are wrong.

Unsure of the connection to "switch" the relay on and off

Those are the relay contacts that would be used to control the 120VAC power to your spindle power supply. You would use NO (normally Open) to COM (Common) so that the Spindle would be off until the Relay is activated.


Remove the connections between your 2 boards. VIN is the Spindle Power Supply it would cause damage if connected to the Relay board or KFLOP. Also you show connections to a Jumper not the input Connector. Note you still haven't provided us with a specification on the Relay board so we need to guess how it actually works. I'd make the following connections:

Relay Board to KFLOP JP4
Vcc --------- VDD5 Pin1
IN1 --------- IO24_3V Pin15
IN2 --------- IO25_3V Pin16
GND --------- GND Pin8



Your Diagram doesn't show your Spindle Power Supply. The Spindle Power Supply should be connected to the Spindle Speed Controller Vin and GND.

HTH

[GS76]

Hi Tom,

Thank you for your feedback.

Apologies, what do you mean the 5V and Rx are wrong, how should they be?

I have the DC power connected through the relay to and then the relay to the motor controller. The spindle uses a 7.5V DC motor supply.

I found further info on the relay. Please see below and pic attachments.

http://yourduino.com/sunshop//index.php ... tail&p=218