Showroom Blame73's 2DOF Seat Mover

@p00ky

past that bit now too haha, up to output testing not playing ball on sim tools, got it to move on smc3 nicely

More good news Your on a role.
So thought I might just show you my settings in simtools, maybe that will help you out.

So the first and most important is the connection settings......

I have 3 motors , 2dof and traction-loss but this wikll work if you only have 2 motors. The only thing you would need to change is the com port so it's the same as your arduino.

Then theres the individual dofs and axis.


This should only be used as a guide as you would want to tune your machine yourself. The only thing to note is the third axis which has been set to extra1 which is normally used for traction loss.

I haven't included my axis limits settings as again that is something that would be particular to your machine.

Hopefully that helps.

@p00ky

another total noob mistake, didnt realise what smc3 utility was trying to do grrr it wasnt working properly....turns out i had the driver in pin 3 instead of pin2 ffs..... works like a charm, will start my thread tomorrow and pop a video or something up of hopefully all three tracking the target in smc3


thank you both for putting up with me!

Deep down we are all n00bs my friend But thats great news. Shall look forward to your build thread.

I bet most of us couldn't even solder a wire before starting our own rigs...
Enjoy your motion rig!

@Blame73 @p00ky

hey guys what pins for motor 3?



EDIT

ahh and motor 2 lol its not behaving output light is solid on before being switched on

ive got 4,10,a1 for motor 2

is there a way to check the pins in the code?


EDIT Found the pins in the code

Motor 1
dir 2
pwm 9
pot a0

motor 2
dir 4
pwm 10
pot a1

Motor 3
dir 6
pwm 11
pot a2

All your pins seem correct so would need more info in order to troubleshoot.

EDIT
I just plugged my rig in & the md30c driver is active as soon as you give it power, It doesn't care if simtools output testing is enabled or not. Simtools should be telling it to be central as soon as you start the app. You should have a green led that tells you you have power and then there are 2 red led's marked ds1 &ds2 respectively which tell you which direction the motor is being powered in. If the pot is central then you might see some flickering from 1 or both but they should only be on if the motor is turning in a particular direction.

Thanks @p00ky i got it sorted, foiled again by sticking wires in the wrong bloody holes hahahha, cant follow my own damn directions,

ps: Check over at my thread for a video coming shortly

Hi @Blame73 .. I just started building my rig and I also use the same cytron driver md30c and I use your modified smc3 code (thanks for that). I have 1 question.. do u use battery for your setup? I have 24v 500w motor with 24v 700w psu.. I just want to make sure if battery is necessary for my setup since cytron recommend to use battery to handle regenerative current. if possible I want to avoid to use battery to save some space and wondering if there is any other option instead of using battery.

seems like @p00ky and @Rav3n87 also using cytron for their setup.. do u guys also using battery?

thanks

Hey there, I can't really answer for Blame73 although we have spoken about it briefly in the past. I use both an md30c and the double driver mdds30 with a battery and a PSU.

The manual for the mdds30 states

"MUST BE IN PARALLEL WITH A BATTERY WITH SAME VOLTAGE.

NOTE If a power supply that cannot sink current is being used (example: bench top and AC to DC switching power supply), the input voltage will rise when the driver is regenerating (motor is slowing down, or being pushed by external force). Thus, it is important to connect a battery with same voltage in parallel with the power supply to absorb the current generated by the motor. Else, the input voltage might rise to a level where SmartDriveDuo-30 can’t handle and it will be destroyed permanently or the power supply trigger protection mode"

Where as the manual for the md30c states

"We recommend to use battery as power source to MD30C.
NOTE:

If Switching Power Supply is being used as power source for MD30C, we recommend parallel it with same voltage battery. This is to absorb the re-gen power from motor. DC brushed motor will become generator when it is slow down and rotate by external force.
"

The wording is quite different between the 2 which makes it a little hard to interpret. Because I use the mdds30, I went with a battery.

Sorry, I know that's not exactly helpful :/ I'm pretty sure Blame runs 3 individual md30c's & may well have a better answer for you.

Hey @amer, I'm using (well... right now the rig is still to get moved to the new house) a battery in parallel.
I'm using 12V motors, so I'm using a 12v motorcycle battery, that's not big and does what it has to.

Cheers

thanks @Blame73 @p00ky .. so looks like it is better for me to use battery as well..since my motor is 24v,so i think i might need 2 12v batteries connected in series to make it 24v..

last question,for now i have 2 unit of 24v motor and since I am using separate PSU for each motor, should I also be using separate battery for each motor as well? or can I connect only 1 battery in parallel with 2 PSUs and then from the battery I connect to both Md30c? And also do u guys using diode between the PSU and battery?

sorry if my question doesn't make any sense since I dont have much knowledge in electrical things..

Thanks

Where to find this product link? I'm searching for it from long time

I don't know if using them in parallel in order to get 24v and then going to both motors could be bad, sorry I can't help you with that.
Right now I'm not using diodes

I bought them on the bay, I don't have a link to a seller

Thanks @Blame73 .. much appreciated

Hello I have a couple of cytron md20a driver from other project will they work with smc3 if so which mode?
Thanks in advance

Hey,
I'm using the MD30C with an SMC version I had to modify, you can find it here: https://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/blame73s-2dof-seat-mover.6029/page-22#post-198335
Try if it works with the MD20A too, good luck!

Hello all,

I'm sorry to revive an old post, but I think it does fit here?
I am experimenting with a Cytron MDDS30 for my 6DOF platform to replace the dreaded IBT-2 drivers I keep killing.
I have installed the modified SMC3 sketch by Blame73, set the dip switches and its wired exactly as p00ky has his set up.
I have played around with the SMC3 settings. (deadzone needs to be large in order to get the initial stop input)

It works as intended if I "center" my two actuators that I have connected to it. (mid travel shown in SMC3)
But if it has drooped down, as it does when the power is off, and I fire up the PC which powers up the Arduinos.
Then I get the two double flash red LED's on the Cytron indicating it doesn't see the stop input from the Arduino and will not turn on when I send 24v to the motor input side.

I am no programmer so I am wondering if there is a setting in the modified SMC3 sketch that can be adjusted to give this "stop" input for initial startup no matter where the actuator is in its range of motion?

I hope this all makes sense.
If not, please ask me any questions if you have some thoughts.
Thank you to everyone who has worked on using this driver ahead of me!

Hey there, sorry to hear your having issues. I am not the coder and I may not be able to help on that side of things but I do know of what you speak.... I think.

So on my rig I use a couple of old wheel chair motors. They have worm gears but not enough to stop them from collapsing under the rigs weight. When the rig is off I prop the front up on a block thats the right height to keep it level. More often than not when I turn my rig on I wont get any output from the driver until I've recentered the motors stroke. I do this by lifting the front of the rig by hand & normally the drivers kick right in. I've never really worried about it as the solution is so simple on my setup. Depending on how your rig is designed, it may not be so easy. You probably shouldn't try and rotate the motor directly at the shaft by hand as when the motors kick in they can be less than suttle & I wouldn't want it to rip off your arms

Are you able to lift the front of your rig by hand? (without sticking your hands anywhere they really shouldn't be. I lift my frame from under the pedals).

Perhaps Blame73 has a more sophisticated solution?

Thank you for the quick response!
That is exactly like what I am dealing with.
It would not be very easy to lift my platform into position to start the drivers.

I could possibly make “hard stands” to be able to
hold it in place while powering up, and I had considered that. But I was hoping there would be another way to go around the “safety” built into the Cytron driver to allow it to power up with the actuator in any position as the IBT-2’s do.

thank you again for the suggestions!