X axis moving in Wrong Direction

[ian_comishin]

I replaced my V3.40 with a V3.54 PRT Board today and I treated myself to all new waco cables as well. Upon reconnecting everything my Z and Y seem to be functioning fine but my X2 car only moves east while pushing the west arrow, the X1 car does nothing.

This is not a case of cross plugging the wires.

Do I need to upgrade my software to suit the board or is something else going on?

[marshawk]

Hi Ian,

If you haven't already, run the "load46" program. Next, check the dip switches on the board to ensure that they are set correctly. Finally, you may need to swap the black and green wires on one of the motor connectors to get it to go the right way. Opposite motors have to turn oppositely. For the car that does not move, check and double-check the continuity throught the cables. If that looks good, swap cables on the control board ports to see if the symptoms change. MAKE SURE that you check the continuity FIRST!! If there is something wrong with the cable and it ruined a good port, it may ruin another one. Just because the cable is new, it doesn't mean that the cable is good.

Try that and let us know the results.

Cheers,

Chip

[ian_comishin]

You were right about the green and black wires. I had four y cables sent to me so they hadn't been properly clipped for the x2 car, I've got to say though, it seem to me that that it is a bit bizarre that it is not the driver that sets the motion as opposed to crossing wires.

[marshawk]

That's a question for Ted, Gordon or Frank. After looking at the schematics for the processor and the drivers, it seems to me that a reverse output is possible, but it would require reprogramming the controller. There could be a switch attached to the control board to do this (I don't think the dip switches can perform this function) but it is simple enough to change the two wires. When looking at functionality VS. cost, the wire changing method is pretty attractive.

The biggest problem I have with the whole thing is trying to hang on to those little wago tools...

[ted]

Hi Chip and Ian,

As Chip notes, it is very easy to set the direction of a PRT motor (not PRTalpha) by changing two wires at the connector (reversing Black & Green). Since this is something that only needs to be done once, and then only if it is wrong, I don't think we ever saw a need to add the complexity to the board of having additional direction switches. However, if you are using a current version of the ShopBot software, you can switch the direction of any axis in the software by just changing the sign of the Unit value.

-Ted