I purchased a CNC Shark used from another gentleman, and as I was poking around inside the control box with the intention of adding limit switches and a Z zero plate, I noticed that the Xylotex stepper driver board is set for half steps. Is there any reason why it does not come set for quarter or eighth steps? At 75k step per second rate from the controller, it might make it run a bit smoother. Is this something that can be tweaked on the Basic Control Panel?
Thanks,
Gleep
Shark stepping size
Moderators: al wolford, sbk, Bob, Kayvon
Re: Shark stepping size
Hi,
It is not something that can be set from the Control Panel. You may want to contact NWA directly and ask the question about changing it on the board.
It is not something that can be set from the Control Panel. You may want to contact NWA directly and ask the question about changing it on the board.
Re: Shark stepping size
Yeah I should be able to change the jumpers on the board, but I think if I do not change the number of step pulses to the board from the control software, I will end up not moving far enough. Please let me know if I am incorrect 
.
Thanks,
Gleep
.Thanks,
Gleep
Re: Shark stepping size
Hi - I don't have the knowledge to answer your last question. Someone else here on the forum might - sorry. I'm happy with my control box and performance as is...
Re: Shark stepping size
Hello Gleep
I have my Xylotex board set to eighth steps and the motors run very smoothly.
I am using Mach 3 however.
Ynd you are correct in that the number of steps per inch changes.
I needed to change my setup file in Mach 3 when I did this.
I would conjecture that this may be set in the firmware of the NCpod and would need to be changed.
Tim should be able to tell you whether this can be done external to the firmware.
Not sure why the half step mode was preferred.
I have my Xylotex board set to eighth steps and the motors run very smoothly.
I am using Mach 3 however.
Ynd you are correct in that the number of steps per inch changes.
I needed to change my setup file in Mach 3 when I did this.
I would conjecture that this may be set in the firmware of the NCpod and would need to be changed.
Tim should be able to tell you whether this can be done external to the firmware.
Not sure why the half step mode was preferred.
Re: Shark stepping size
Out of curiosity, what are your step settings per axis for Mach 3? I am debating bypassing the NCPod and going straight from the computer to the Xylotex driver.
Re: Shark stepping size
I replaced my leadscrews with larger diameter units with 5 turns per inch.
Yours are probably 4 turns per inch, so the numbers will be different.
I believe you would use the formula of (motor steps per revolution x leadscrew revolutions per inch) and the would give you the "steps" that you would enter in Mach3 configuration.
So for a 200 step motor at half stepping and 4 leadscrew revs per inch it would be 400 x 4 = 1600 steps/inch
quarter stepping would be 800 x 4 = 3200 steps / inch.
You might want to try it at half step first, verify your step settings are correct,
then go to quarter stepping and change the xylotex settings and see if you need to go further.
Yours are probably 4 turns per inch, so the numbers will be different.
I believe you would use the formula of (motor steps per revolution x leadscrew revolutions per inch) and the would give you the "steps" that you would enter in Mach3 configuration.
So for a 200 step motor at half stepping and 4 leadscrew revs per inch it would be 400 x 4 = 1600 steps/inch
quarter stepping would be 800 x 4 = 3200 steps / inch.
You might want to try it at half step first, verify your step settings are correct,
then go to quarter stepping and change the xylotex settings and see if you need to go further.