- Mechanical
- Steel
STLCutter 2 - Day 9
Today should've been the day it moved under its own steam - but it didn't happen...
I wired up the parallel port interface to the motor drivers.
I also wired the motor drivers to a 110V supply - although it's not designed for continuous use (I'll get a continuous one later on, if this one doesn't perform). It has a 25% duty cycle at its maximum supply (3.3 KVA), but as I'm using less than 1KVA, it should be better.
And I wired the motors themselves to the chocolate blocks I fitted yesterday.
I then turned on the 110V supply - green lights on the back of each of the stepper controllers!
And also the motors had been locked into position, so they're being powered.
I then got the PC out, made a long 4-way extension, plugged in the monitor, keyboard and mouse, and pressed the power button.
Nothing happened.
So I took the PC apart, tried switching the PC on by shorting the links on the motherboard, unplugged the drives and generally messed around with it to get it working.
Still nothing.
It seemed like the PSU wasn't working, but it could also be the motherboard. Since I didn't have any replacement parts in the workshop, I called it a day and went home significantly earlier than anticipated.
When I got home, I tried a different PSU, and that worked fine. The problem is that I don't have a case that would take that PSU.
I did have another case, but the PSU that came with it doesn't have the necessary ATX +12V supply, nor a SATA supply lead. It's a small case, and the PSU is designed for it, so I can't swap it out. I found a SATA power adapter, and I cut the +12V supply lead off the non-working PSU, and fitted it to the new supply - although it'll need to be soldered tomorrow when I get back to the workshop.
So, tomorrow it'll be make or break time...