Laser Cutter Upgrade

[Knight]

Hi Everyone,
Recently I started to disassemble my 2001 vintage commercial 100 Watt laser cutter due to a software fault that could not be fixed.
I ordered new electronics from Sinjoe in China and finally they arrived yesterday. Who would have known that they would arrive with no information at all as to how to connect everything together. I had earlier received a wiring diagram from Sinjoe, but it shows the AWC608 connected to Steppers. I am waiting for them to redraw it now to suit my configuration although I can't say how long that might take.

Since I joined this Forum, I have come to realize that I could have sourced all of the parts I needed from LightObject and, from what I read here, would have received a much better result concerning the information I am now looking for.

Sorry, Marco, but sometimes these things happen. I have had to live with the results of premature decisions in the past and no doubt, I will again in the future.

I did a lengthy search of the internet and found some probably useful documents, but unfortunately, they will only be useful to someone with a much higher level of electronics experience than I have.
Now I have every thing I need but with very little idea about putting it together. So, is there someone able to offer any help with the following components.

AWC708C Plus Controller.
HBS57 Easy Servo Drive and associated Easy Servo Motor.
RECI P14 LCD integrated Intelligent Protection Co2 Laser Power Supply.

I also have the necessary power supply (NES-350-36 ,with 36V ,9.7A and 350W.) for both Drives and for the AWC708C Controller (NES-75-24 ,with 24V ,3.2A and 75W).

I was told a long time ago, never be afraid to ask for help. So, here I am, asking for help.
Yes, I have also experienced the result of not asking when I should have.

I have the necessary cables to connect the Motors to the Drives. Unfortunately that is about all I would be sure of.

My Laser uses Optical Limit and Home switches so I will hope to retain them. They have 4 pins with 1 & 2 wired together and operate on 5 to 24V. It also had Servo motors, but all the internet found on them was a couple of adverts where they were for sale.

Here are a couple of photos of the new parts mentioned above and one of my Laser Cutter

Thanks to all in advance.

Regards,
Albert

[Knight]

An Update:

The absence of replies / suggestions from Forum members has surprised me a little. Perhaps I am the only one trying to install these particular drives and motors.
Very disappointing that the company one purchases from can not provide any real information regarding the connection of these parts. Perhaps they think we are all experts.

Anyway, I have been doing further research into my problem and this is where I am now at.

I have made the more obvious connections ie. power supplies to the Controller & Drives. Drives are also almost fully connected to the motors. I say almost connected because there are still a couple of connections I am a little unsure of.

So far, I have power to the Controller as well as the Motors and Drives. When I apply 240V, the Controller fires up and the motors can't be turned by hand. They are just sitting on the bench, so I am expecting that they would not be able to turn without the correct signal from the controller.

The drive connections appear very similar to these at http://www.leadshine.com/UploadFile/Down/M542d.pdf
The above link shows a Leadshine Drive, M542. This statement is at the head of the text.
"The M542 is an economical micro stepping driver based on patented technology of Leadshine. It is suitable for driving 2 phase and 4 phase hybrid stepping motors".

Some of the connections on the M542 Drive are the same as the connections on my HBS57.

They are:
PUL+
PUL-
DIR+
DIR-
ENA+
ENA-

I also found in that same document that these connections (see thumbnail) were wired to the AWC608 Controller as follows. My AWC708c Plus is an upgrade of the AWC 608.

My drive also has connections to the motor shown as U, V, & W. These are connected to the motor via a supplied cable.
In addition, there is a supplied cable with DB15 connections.

It seems that the designation HSB57 on my drives may have been substituted for the Leadshine's ESD-508.

My Drives are the same as the ES-M32320, one of the ESD-508 models.

With the M542 and my HBS57 both being capable of running Hybrid Motors, it seems reasonable that the wiring would be the same.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I really would appreciate some help on this before the blue smoke appears.

Thanks in advance,
Albert

[Techgraphix]

For the PUL, DIR and ENA connections: these are the same for both.
The HBS57 should first be programmed. With a RS232-kabel between the HBS57 and the RS232-connector on your computer (older computer have them still) and the appropriate software (Leadshines Protuner vor HBSdrives), you can install the driver.
In case the RS232-cable is not provided with your drive, you have to make one yourself (or borrow mine)
I put the software in my dropbox so you don't have to search for the right version:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lstylrzdj0ud5 ... 7.zip?dl=0

You will also find some usefull info in this Zip..

For the RS232 cable: if you have to make one yourself, use a ordinary telephonecable with a 4-pole RJ10 connector on one side and make a DB9 female connector on the other side.
RJ10 pin 1 = Not Connected (white wire)
RJ10 pin 2 > DB9 pin 2 (red wire)
RJ10 Pin 3 > DB9 pin 5 (green wire)
RJ10 pin 4 > DB9 pin 3 (yellow wire)
DB9 pin 1 > DB9 pin 7 AND 8
DB9 pin 4 > DB9 pin 6

Kees

[Knight]

Hi Kees,
Thanks for the reply. I was starting to think that perhaps all the Members out there could read but not write.

I do have the RS232 cable for the drives but I have not got there yet. I have to finish up the wiring first. I tend to take things slower than most so that I do it right the first time.

I am trying to lay the components out and connect first before full installation. At my age, it is easier to do the fiddly work on a bench, then install when everything works. After it all works, then comes the final installation and setting up. I have learned not to be in a hurry with electronics.

I am also having the new Motor mounts made. My laser originally had servos fitted, although I could not use them again due to a lack of information about them. The servos have a mounting somewhere in between Nema17 and Nema23. The new motors are Nema23.

Again, thanks for your help. I will be back again soon with wiring up the new Laser power supply. It seems to have more connections than the AWC708 has, so I will be needing help there as well. Of course, 2 of the wires are obvious.

Regards,
Albert

[Techgraphix]

I was starting to think that perhaps all the Members out there could read but not write.

Albert, at your age, you are a in a bit of a hurry:
Your message has the timestamp: Wed Aug 05, 2015 12:09 am
i reacted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 1:59 pm, which is within 14 hours!! (think of all the timezones worldwide..)

And not everyone has experience with the HBS57 drives.. they are more expensive than normal steppers/drives.. I use them in my router since a year.

Good thing to connect them on your workbench first and get them running, before you attach them to your machine..

Kees

[Knight]

Hi Kees,
You are right, of course. Thank you for reminding me. My apologies to anyone who might have been offended by my post. I will try to be in less of a hurry in the future.
They say that one learns something every day.

Thank you for taking the time to offer assistance. I was not aware that not many people would be using these Hybrid motors and drives.

From your photo of the DIR, PUL & ENA connections, where would the ENA connect to on the AWC708? It does not have a connection for ENA. Is it left not connected or perhaps connected somewhere else on the 708?

Again, thanks for your help.

Regards,
Albert

[Techgraphix]

ENA: When not connected the drive is enabled (that's with most Leadshine drives).. Disableing the drive is not usual with Lasers, so you don't have to connect it anywhere.

Kees

[Knight]

Hi Kees,
When I looked for the tuning cable I said that I had, I realized that I did not have it at all, so I set about making one.

This is what I found. The socket on the drive is an RJ12, therefore with 6 pins. The RJ10 plug is smaller and would be loose in the RJ12 socket. I made up the cable using the RJ12 cable (6 wires) by simply using the colours you mentioned. Of course it did not work.

The RJ12 plug has 6 wires and, from left to right with the plug in the driver socket, the colours are as follows:
White
Black
Red
Green
Yellow and
Blue

Without thinking about it too much, I simply connected Red, Green and Yellow as mentioned. No success.

If I assume that pin 1 is White, then I have connected pins 3,4 and 5 instead of 2,3 and 4.

I am now thinking that I should remake the cable using Black, Red & Green.

What do you think.

My next problem is, when I do get the drive connected, how to tune it? I looked through the Tuning Manual and there seems to be so many areas that could be altered. Since you have these drives running, could you give me some idea of tuning?

Sorry to land all of these questions on you but you are the only contact I have at this point.
Do you need to know any particular details about my laser?

Thanks again.
Regards,
Albert

[Techgraphix]

Hi,
I just checkt it: Indeed the HBS-drive has a 6-pole RJ connector.. As I used an old phonecable for it which only has 4 connectionstrips I thought it was a RJ10 but it seems to be a RJ10 with RJ12 sizes..
So only the contact 2,3,4 and 5 are used in this connector.
The numbering should be read as follows:
Hold the plug up with the wire down, and the contacts facing towards you.
From left to right you should read 1,2,3,4,5 and 6
Check if the colors correspond with the following table:
1 White,
2 Black
3 Red
4 Green
5 Yellow
6 Blue

Make the following connections with the DB9 female plug:
RJ12 pin 3 > DB9 pin 2 (red wire = TxD)
RJ12 Pin 4 > DB9 pin 5 (green wire = GND)
RJ12 pin 5 > DB9 pin 3 (yellow wire = RxD)

On the DB9 plug make the following connections:
DB9 pin 1 > DB9 pin 7 AND 8 ( RTS - CTS)
DB9 pin 4 > DB9 pin 6 (DTR - DSR)

In case you still cannot connect to the drive, make a loopback-plug and test your PC's RS232 connection with a loopback-test first (if you google "rs232 loopback test" you will find how) It can be you have to set things right in the BIOS etc..

OK, if you have connection with the drive you can read the settings from it..
By default the values should be good enough but there are a few things in the table that need some attention: Position Error Limit: if your motor starts to run fast it will follow somewhat later due to acceleration-limits. If you want to move too fast it will arrive at the endpoint but with a certain dwell: the distance in "steps" between where it should be and where it actually is, is the position error. this may not exceed the level you enter there else the drive will go in alarm and you have to powerdown the drive in order to reset. (I have a value of 1000 on my router)
Pulse/circle will give you the resolution . think of it as microstepping
Fault-output: if you link all the drives in series with your emergency stop, the whole machine will stop when there is an error.
Rather than normal steppers, this system will give you an error when there is an obstruction or a collision: when it has to loose steps it will stop so, under normal circumstances, you will never loose a step
All others can be used for finetuning, see what it does for you..

Kees

[Knight]

Good Morning All,
An update to my Laser restoration.
First, for those who don't know, I have a 100 Watt commercial 100Watt laser, made in Taiwan in 2001, by the Laser Life Company. When I purchased it a couple of months ago, it had been idle for about 4-5 years due to the death of the owner.

I found it necessary to upgrade it because of a dedicated software problem.

With a very big thank you to Techgraphix, I have now almost completed the restoration. I have added a P14 LPSU, AWC708c Plus, Easy Servo drives and 2nm motors along with the necessary power supplies. The Tuning Cable for my Easy Servo Drives is on its way from the U.S. I tried to make one, failed, so decided to buy it. Much easier.

At this point, I have been able to get my machine up and running, LPSU not yet connected for safety. Each Axis is moving, with fine adjustments yet to be made. I can control each Axis from the Controller and from LaserCad. The machine is doing Air cuts quite successfully.

I am at the point now where I need to connect the Limit and Home switches. This is where I have become bogged down.

My switches are all Optoisolators from Omron. The diagram below shows 4 wires on each switch, however, pins 1 & 2 are connected so there are only 3 wires for each.

Each of the have 3 wires to connect and can operate between 5 & 24V. There is a pair of switches on the left hand end of the Gantry,Y Axis, with a single switch at the right hand end. There is another pair of switches on the (machine) front end of the Right hand X Axis rail and another single switch at the opposite end of that rail.
I am assuming that the Limit switches will be at the extreme end of the Axis and the Home switch will be the other one of the pair. Please correct me if I am wrong. These are the original, with each switch separately wired. I want to keep the original wiring, combining the wiring where necessary. However, I need to be sure of which switches to combine.

Trying to do as much as I can by myself, I went searching for an installation manual for the AWC708 and found it listed here. http://www.sztrocen.com/download.asp
However, try as I might, I have not been able to go further than that point. I cannot access the downloads at all. My browser simply times out every time. Has anyone got the 708 Installation manual.

So far, I have not seen a wiring diagram that shows the wiring for the Home switches on the AWC708. Can anyone assist me with the wiring details for the 2 Home switches.

Kees, any thoughts here?

The other small dilemma that is confronting me is this. My machine is 1300mm X 900mm. My experience with CNC routers taught me that the Gantry axis is normally the Y axis. When I stand in front of my machine, with the 1300mm going from left to right, the gantry is also from left to right.

When it comes to LaserCad, the X and Y buttons show the X axis being left to right and the Y axis being front to back. While this does not really present me with any operating problems, it does tend to add confusion when I start looking at connecting the Home and Limit switches.

Thanks in advance for any and all assistance.

Regards,
Albert

[Techgraphix]

Hi Albert,
I'm not sure if the opto-ports will interface with the AWC..
You may test that first..
I checked the datasheet (http://industrial.omron.com.br/uploads/ ... asheet.pdf)

What you have to check is: what does the output do when the gap is free and what is the output when the gap is closed...
It might be you need to invert that in order to work right with the AWC..
When you use TTL for inverting, you have to limit the voltage to +5V, if you invert with a resistor/transistor it will also work fine up to 24V

In fact you only need 3 of these photosensors:
Say you want the machine to home to the upper left corner. you only need the left sensor on the bridge and the sensor in the left back on the support..

The third you need is for your access-cover/lid/Cap/hatch as an open-protect

The rest can be removed. (kept for spare, whatever)

BTW: the head moves from left to right.. That is what I call X.. The bridge moves from front to back.. That is called Y.. The table moves up and down.. That is Z.
Then, if there is anything like material transport in this machine, then is that called U-axis

Kees

[Knight]

Hi Kees,
Firstly, the optical switches are definitely 5V to 24V.
Before connecting the switch, the Gantry would move toward the Home position when I turned the Controller on as, expected. After connecting the Home switch on the Y axis, and turning the Controller on, the Red light on the switch comes on, what Omron calls "Light On", the Gantry would no longer move toward home. The laser Head would still move toward the Home position however. Turn the Controller off, pull the connector on the switch, turn back on and the Gantry moves as expected.

This tells me that, as you suggested, the setting is wrong in the Firmware. However, while the 708 User Manual says that the limits can be set to Open or Closed, I cannot find Manufacturer Parameter Settings, where the function is. When I press Menu on the Controller, I can see only 10 Menu options. When I Down Arrow through them and reach Item 10, Down Arrow again and the cursor just goes back to 1.

My Controller shows Version 1.15.4.6. Is there a later one? Unless there is a trick to accessing the Manufacturer Parameter Settings, it does not appear to be in my Controller. The User Manual has a strange way of explaining how to access the function, which I just can't seem to work out. The way I read the Manual, Manufacturer Parameter Settings should be the next option after 10 System Version. On my Controller, the next option after 10 is 1.

If Manufacturer Parameter Settings is there, how do I access it.

I have looked on line for a Firmware upgrade. I did find a download link on the Manufacturers website, but my browser times out every time. Not even sure if it is a later version than mine.

Baffled again!!!

Regards,
Albert

[Techgraphix]

When you press STOP and SHIFT on the controller you will enter the manufacturers menu..
In there one of the first is axis-control.
In there you will find all axis (xyzuvw)
When you open x-axis you get a menu.. one of the items is Limitswitch Polarity.. I think it has be positive for your switches..
If you selected the wrong polarity, your head won't move towards the limitswitch in that direction after a reset (as it already is activated ....)

Check this topic for the latest firmware:
viewtopic.php?f=55&t=2564

Kees

[Knight]

Hi Kees,
Again, thanks for your help.

First, I tried again to find the Manufacturers Settings area. Still can't see it anywhere.

What part of the menu should you be in when pressing Stop/Shift? I tried every area and still nothing. What am I doing wrong.

I downloaded the upgrade file from the link you supplied.

I highlight the ug5 file on the USB stick, press enter and the screen says "upgrading" and instantly says "upgrade error".
Is it possible that it could be the wrong upgrade file. because my Controller is the AWC708c Plus. I used this one. Update patch for LO-X7 DSP card Aug 15,2015
Version: 150815L1

Lately I don't seem to having much luck.

BTW. Could you post a photo of the screen I should be in when I press 'Stop/Shift' for the Manufacturers Settings. Perhaps I am trying from the wrong screen.

Thanks.
Regards,
Albert

[Techgraphix]

Hi, I use a LO-X7 which is a kind of AWC708C Light... Not sure if the firmware upgrade is suited for the AWC708C Plus.. (I read that you obtained it from Sinjoe's? contact them..)
BUT the trick to enter the Manufacturers Parameter Settings page is to press STOP first, and while holding it, press SHIFT....
(Pressing SHIFT first WON'T get you in the menu.... that's why I wrote STOP SHIFT and not SHIFT STOP..)
When you pressed STOP SHIFT you get this menu:

MPS1.JPG (101.38 KiB) Viewed 5392 times

Then select the axis you'd like to edit:

MPS2.JPG (87.02 KiB) Viewed 5392 times

And there you will find the limitswitch polarity, as I highlighted it for you..:

MPS3.JPG (104.72 KiB) Viewed 5392 times

Hope this helps..

Kees