Stepper motor noise question SOLVED

Not a good option. It’s not shielded.

The community has notes on wiring at: https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/Parts#Wiring and you should be able to get something suitable by the foot at your local home center or hardware store.

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I don’t understand your reference to shielding. The original cable is 4 conductors in a grey jacket, no shielding I can see. I’d guess the black wire is the ground/“shield” wire referred to in the Wiki? Certainly the leads from the steppers with the Molex connectors are not shielded.

When I think of shielded wire I think TV coax.

This is what I’ll be using, just waiting for 2 more colors.

While I wait for new wiring I’ve cut out the soldered connections and re-soldered. Still have a non motivated but singing X stepper motor. :rage: NUTS!

EDIT: I just swapped X and Y connectors, now the Y motor is singing and not moving. Seems like a board problem to me.

Oh. I didn’t realize that the wiring extensions we’re using don’t have shielding — I came across the shielded wire linked from the wiki and assumed that that was what was being used.

They make a shielded version. Can’t find link again on my phone. Will update link later. The idea is that they are rated for constant flexing. On the order of millions of cycles. I don’t think Home Depot had anything like that.

@Griff Sounds like you might have had a driver go on you. Ugh… frustrating!
I wish they’d make the drivers replaceable. Maybe an opportunity to upgrade to discreet drivers, bigger motors and a beefier PSU?

@neilferreri. Sounds interesting but haven’t a clue as to how to go about that sort of complex upgrade.
Pretty spendy I bet.

I can get a new C3D board for 135.

I hear CNC xPro v4 is a nice board for $149. Has onboard steppers plus breakout for external stepper drivers later on.

But anything other than the C3D controller isn’t going to be completely plug’n play.

I knew I wanted to eventually upgrade, so when I blew my board was hard to justify getting the C3D board when I wanted to get something down the road anyhow. It will cost more, a little or a lot depending on the road you go, and getting back up and running will take some time too.

I ended up using this for 9 foot extensions on all my stepper and switch cables: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071DFJR8P/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Reasonably priced, and a length that didn’t require storing a whole spool… Shielded wire does tend to be quite a bit more expensive than unshielded, and a lot more stiff.

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Researching this option. I’m considering powering it from the same 24 volt power supply I use for my brushless Makita. Bad idea?

What the hell…trigger pulled on @DanStory and @mikep suggestions.

Guess I’ll start noodling how to remote the controller, power supply etc.

Does that open builds board have more power, 2.5 amps?

Also have you seen Super Gerbil? Three axis for $140 and upgradeable to 5! Looks like the 4th axis box, $225, is needed for 4amp drivers. But a 4th!

https://awesome.tech/new-products-mini-gerbil-and-super-gerbil/

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Nope, same. Super Gerbil looks sweet, great for a Super User such as yourself! The expandabilty is pretty cool, just drop in 2 additional drivers.

Wouldn’t say it’s a bad idea, as long as the power supply is rated high enough (preferably 10-20% above) to cover the combined amperage. Only worry would be the spike power draw and noise the router could produce on the line.

When I swapped boards, I just used the original S3 power supply (cut, spliced, and stripped) but that would be a point of no return :slight_smile:. At first anyway, did eventually swap the PS to a Mean Well

See solution first post edit.

Were you able to cancel your xPro order @Griff?

Nope, didn’t try. I’ll eventually install it, urgency is less now.

Got a few things percolating through the old grey matter, see what we come up with.

I too have had some noise on my A axis motor. The funny thing is, that with no power to the control box, I can hand turn it. and the red light shows up on the A stepper drive controller board. If I turn it slow, it barely makes chatter noise, but if it is turned faster, it has a louder chatter. However, if I un plug the stepper motor, and then turn it, it spins easily and without noise.

Turning the motor by hand causes it to act as a generator, resulting in the lights, and the chatter as impulses are generated by the current being sent to the stepper driver.

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that makes sense. I did that because when I was running the axis, it had chatter, but now im thinking it may have been because my velocity was turned up too much in motor tuning. I turned down the velocity and am fixing to go try it. hope this works.

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