SCN6 'grindy' motion. Anyway to smooth?

Hi all,

I'm using simtools with FSX and the motion works great with the exception that the movement feels really 'course' or 'grindy'. When I fire up the game engine and the sim initializes going full travel on all axis the actuators are smooth with a nice zzzzzz sound. When in FSX it's more like grrrr-ah grrrr-ah grrrr-ah. I've just been working with the pitch axis and experimenting by increasing the speed and acceleration in the axis config in Game Manager and also increasing everything to max in the FSX Game Manager profile. It has gotten better but still not 'smooth'. It's almost like it moves in larger 'increments' where if it were finer.. it would be more smooth?

I know there are other SCN6 owners here so I was curious if this is something that can be corrected or something that's inherent to the SCN6's and Simtools?

Any suggestions? I will append with screenshots of my settings this evening..

P.S. this happens with the couple of integrations I have installed as well and not specific to FSX per se.

P.P.S. I am only assigning the the 3DOFs that I physically have.. i.e. ROLL to ROLL (axis1) PITCH to PITCH (axis 2) and YAW to YAW (axis 3). I have not used or blended any other DOFs.

TIA!

DaV

Thanks yobuddy.. ! I will as soon as I get home in a few hours.

DaV

My evening got protracted but here are the screenshots of my config including both Deafult & FSX_P3D settings:






Thanks & cheers!

DaV

Thanks yobuddy.. here it is.. 3 SCN6's - roll, pitch and yaw

Can you post actual pictures? I would love to see that in action...a video would be awesome

On it's way.. can I upload vids here or via youtube?

Youtube would be best and then a link posted here. I really look forward to it

Youtube it is..

FSX Motion (Grindy)



Simtools initialization



Cheers!

DaV

I pushed all the sliders to the right for the pitch axis in Game manager and also Game engine for that axis (No. 2). As per noorbeast's suggestion I also incrementally maxed out the Smooth filter. It helped a little but the motion is still 'notchy'.

I think @nclabs is the man for SCN help. From what I have read. Maybe he can advise

I have 2 scn5''s and a scn6 for traction loss. I did have the grindy noise you talked about. I found that I had to isolate all the e-stop''s for each actuator. Each motor now has its own contact on the estop button. (Isolated from each other) when I did this the grinding noise went away.

Hey haroldjames.. thank you for the advise. Unfortunately you've completely lost me Are you referring to doing something in the native scn software? I used this to reassign the id numbers of the actuators. If you could pass along enough to get me rolling I'd be glad to document a 'how-to' guide for other SCN users? With credit given to you as well, of course.

I'll be googling in the meanwhile

Cheers,

DaV

After some googling and looking at the manual, it looks like my rig doesn't have a e-stop button. It has a big quick throw master power switch that I would use if I needed to disengage (power it off) in a hurry.

Also assuming you might be referring to the purple ILK (e-stop wire) but I since I don't have a e-stop button per se, I can only assume that wire isn't being used.

Am I on the right track here?

Update: After looking at the manual;

"Cylinder vibrates;
- Servo Gain is too high Check Gain Reduce Gain – factory default is 6
-Cable gets noise from other equipment Test with other equipment off or isolated Route cable away from noise source and/or Cable to be shielded"

I would have no idea how to check or adjust what the 'servo gain' is. Anyone help..?

Another article:

"As servo drives become more prevalent in industry, they are being applied in a wider range of applications. A common complaint with servos is that they sometimes make an undesired “growling” noise. This problem can be eliminated by reducing the gain on the speed controller."

Again, no clue

Thanks,

DaV

I wonder if everyone who runs SCNs has this same problem or just the 'lucky' ones like you and I? Is this a common issue with SCN5 snd/or 6's?

Yes, the ILK wire. I had put all the purple ilk wires to a single contact on my estop button which caused me that problem. Once I installed a single contact for each actuator the problem went away.

If you are not using the ilk wire then that won't be your problem. That was the only issue I had. My actuators run smooth.

hmmm... interesting. I can rule out simtools sending too much 'gain' to the servos then. I'm up to my knuckles with the Dydiac programming software, where you can change base setting for the actuator, such as stroke, acceleration, etc... but I'm waaay out of my element. No real mention of Servo Gain. I need to figure out how to check and or change the servo gain for each actuator.

Hoping someone brighter than I sees this post

Back to googling