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alex11

4-button servo controller instructions

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Hello,

I just installed a direct drive servo motor on my Artisan 618, and I'm having trouble figuring out the menu system. The unit has 4 buttons, and I've only been able to find setup instructions for 2 button units. I've emailed the manufacturer, to no avail. I tried running the Chinese instructions through an online translator, but it didn't give useful results. I'm close to hiring a translator to translate the Chinese instructions, but there's no saying that the original instructions are even very comprehensive to begin with!

From my experience with 2-button units, it seems like most manufacturers and models have roughly the same user interface and menus. So even info about a different 4-button model might prove useful. However, I haven't been able to find much.

If anyone can provide information about what each menu might do, or any relevant documentation, or even a settings menu flowchart, I would very much appreciate it!

Thanks

 

Here's the control panel when it's idle. The left-most digit can be changed by pressing the left-most button; it has values [0-4], which represent different needle stop positions. The two right digits are a "spinner" animation.

idle_screen.jpg.e9fe703a7128ecf86934287eb63bfb75.jpg

 

Holding down the "SET" button brings me to this screen. The right-most digit can be incremented by pressing the "+" button; it has values [0-9,A], which I think each represents a different setting. I think that then pressing the "M" button cycles through potential values for that setting.

settings_menu.jpg.6c9627b96fd34a827b5713103c3c43c3.jpg

Edited by alex11

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Artisan should provide you with a set of English instructions for the motor.  If they do not, let everyone on this board know!  That is poor customer service.

glenn

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19 hours ago, shoepatcher said:

Artisan should provide you with a set of English instructions for the motor.  If they do not, let everyone on this board know!  That is poor customer service.

glenn

Sorry for the confusion -- the machine itself is from Artisan, but I'm replacing the servo motor they supplied with a direct drive, needle-positioning aftermarket motor. 

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33 minutes ago, alex11 said:

Sorry for the confusion -- the machine itself is from Artisan, but I'm replacing the servo motor they supplied with a direct drive, needle-positioning aftermarket motor. 

Who makes the new motor?

 

Looks like first button is "needle up" / "needle down" when positioning is enabled.

Second button is motor rotation, and also serves to adjust parameters. (probably doubles as minus button?)

Plus is....plus?

Set is set.

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1 minute ago, R8R said:

Who makes the new motor?

 

Looks like first button is "needle up" / "needle down" when positioning is enabled.

Second button is motor rotation, and also serves to adjust parameters. (probably doubles as minus button?)

Plus is....plus?

Set is set.

The new motor is made by Yuma (http://www.yumamotor.com/EnIndex.Asp).

I'm more interested in what the 10 settings menus are -- values [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A] after holding down the SET button.

I imagine that other 4-button servo motors from other manufacturers probably have very similar interfaces, so I'm hoping someone can provide instructions for any 4-button servo motor.

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Thanks for the info, JJN. Unfortunately I wasn't able to apply anything in those documents to my machine. I did end up having the Chinese documentation translated into English, but it was not helpful (it may even be for a different machine entirely!).

Here's what I've figured out so far. Hopefully someone can fill in the gaps, and maybe this will even be helpful to someone else in the future.

  • Left-most button (with the 3 arrows on it): Press repeatedly to cycle through the stop positions (values 1-4). It seems that 1 and 3 are the same position, and 2 and 4 are the same position. I can use this to have the machine return to a needle-up or needle-down position after releasing the pedal.
  • [M] button: Press repeatedly to cycle through startup speeds (values 1-7: 1 means start slowly; 7 means start quickly). Since I'm using the machine at very low speeds, using value 1 seems to be best. Using value 7 with a low max speed will result in overshooting the speed at first.
  • [+] button: Press to change max speed (values 200-4000 rpm). After pressing this key once, use both the [+] and [SET] buttons to adjust the RPM value up and down.
  • [SET] button: Press and hold to enter settings menu. Once in settings menu, press the [+] button to cycle through the available settings (values S.0-S.9,S.A on the right-most side of the display). Then press [SET] button to select a setting for modification (some settings seem to be disabled; maybe they are used in other machines with more features?) Then use the [+] and [SET] keys to modify the value of the chosen setting. Press the pedal to save the value, or wait 10sec.
    • S.0 - Disabled
    • S.1 - Values L.0-L.9 -- no idea what this does.
    • S.2 - Toggle between "P" and "E" (motor direction: forward and reverse)
    • S.3 - Disabled
    • S.4 - Disabled
    • S.5 - Values 1-5 -- no idea what this does.
    • S.6 - Disabled
    • S.7 - Disabled
    • S.8 - Disabled
    • S.9 - Disabled
    • S.A - Displays "P.F", but you can't change the value of setting.

 

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I found, much to my annoyance, that many of the options/settings on my two-button servo were disabled. No idea why.

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13 hours ago, dikman said:

I found, much to my annoyance, that many of the options/settings on my two-button servo were disabled. No idea why.

I bet all these cheap manufacturers use very similar code on the microcontrollers that run their products. Within one manufacturer, I can definitely see them developing one controller solution and sharing it among all their servo products, disabling features for some products. With how Shenzhen marketplaces work, I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of cheap manufacturers use literally the same pre-programmed microcontrollers!

One neat feature of this new servo I got is that it returns to needle-down position when you release the pedal, and going heel-down on the pedal will move the machine to needle-up position. Additionally, there's a button on the integrated LED light module which when clicked will perform 1 stitch. That could turn out to be very useful!

I'm still trying to figure out what these settings do. My guess is that one of them might be "braking level" or "braking power", but I haven't been able to notice any difference in behavior.

  • S.1 - Values L.0-L.9
  • S.5 - Values 1-5

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My latest servo (overdue delivery but hopefully any day now) has a 4-button control unit. It's a long shot, but I'll try and see if there's any correlation to yours.

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On my servo, the instructions show this in the parameter table:

P-06: 1~9, default 6 "Increase time from 0 to 4500 (spm). Time = 900 / value (ms)"

This is a soft-start adjustment. Which is to say it adds time to how it ramps up from 0 to max rpm. 900 divided by the entered value = milliseconds? So setting it to 9 equals 100 ms. Setting it to 1 equals 900 ms (almost one full second till it reaches full rpm)

I can confirm this is correct. When set at "9" and I floor the pedal, it instantly goes full blast. When set to "1" and I floor it, it ramps up to full blast. Takes slightly less than a second.

 

P-08: 0~5, default 0 "Motor braking intensity. Higher the value greater the intensity. Only effect when P-04 is OFF."

I can confirm this is correct. With the positioner turned off, this function clamps down on the machine's rotation when set to "5". I can floor it and it stops immediately when I take my foot off. When set to "0" it drifts ever so slightly to a stop. I can imagine having this would be helpful if a heavy reducer wheel is installed, those things have some momentum.

BTW - P-04 on my motor is the positioner function, which can also be toggled directly by the needle up/down button.

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My servo arrived unexpectedly this morning (the tracking still showed it in transit "somewhere"!).  I was concentrating working on a trigger in the shed when he came in, gave me a helluva fright!!

Anyhow, for what it's worth these are the "instructions" that came with mine. Looks like I can reverse the motor just by pushing one button (dumb idea!) and turn a LED on /off. I'll have to see what sort of voltage that connector is putting out. They must use gorillas on their production line judging by how tight the mounting screws were!!

 

Servo 1a.jpg

Servo 2a.jpg

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Here is how deluxe confusing mine gets...

servo.jpg

servo2.jpg

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Very interesting. There are definite similarities. Although my instructions stop at 22, I think it continues to step past there so I'll have to do a bit of experimenting. P11, speed lock, has me intrigued (?). This seems to add credence to the idea that many of them may use the same circuit board and just disable the features not needed.

Mine doesn't have any markings to indicate brand so it's presumably just a generic unit supplied to various companies, the build quality, while ok, is definitely not up the the standard of my other servos (made by Lishui).

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Speed lock disables the plus/minus buttons from directly changing the top speed.

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23 hours ago, dikman said:

They must use gorillas on their production line judging by how tight the mounting screws were!!

The 16 year old Chinese girls that put it together would get a giggle out of that! Lol

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Must be something in the water over there then.....

R8R, even though my instructions don't show them, I can cycle through and see the same settings that yours has. The rear connectors are the same, other than the 2-pin on mine is set for an LED. I've got it working but found that to get the slow speed control I want I have to set the max speed low, about 800. Above that it takes off pretty suddenly and doesn't seem to have the slow ramping that my others have. It's rated at 550w (who knows what it actually is) but appears to have plenty of grunt, doesn't have any trouble stitching through 1/2" of veg with #138/size 140 needle.

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Hi, I've been thinking about adding a direct drive Kotor to my singer 491D but I really cannot find a great deal of information on these. My main reasons are better torque and reduced gubbins around the table. Would you be able to offer any advice/feedback on your installation?

Would you recommend the direct drive option over a belted motor or not?

The issue for me is likely that it will be difficult to mount and will requite some fabrication and I've heard they are noisy and have quality control issues.

Edited by JClif88

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A direct drive sounds good but a "normal" servo is perfectly adequate for my needs, simple to fit and can be fitted above or below the table. If it needs to be replaced virtually any servo can be slotted in. It also allows a speed reducer to be fitted, which will give slower speed with increased torque, something you can't do with a direct drive. My servos can also be easily swapped amongst my machines, if needed, something I couldn't do with a DD.

A DD certainly looks neat but adapting one to older machines could be a bit of a pain and from my perspective not worth the trouble. It would be an interesting exercise to try setting one up but I'm happy with my setup(s) so I'm not about to try. For a garment machine they may very well be a great solution but I'm not convinced about their suitability for leatherwork.

Just my thoughts on the subject.

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@alex11 did you ever decipher your settings? I now have the same motor with the settings you described but I've not worked out what they do.

I've also accessed another menu by pressing the Set and + buttons which gives more options but I've still not worked these out either. 

FWIW, I think the PF setting you describe resets the motor settings. Also on the needle position setting, 3 and 4 make the motor rotate a half turn upon pressing back on the pedal. Thus you get a needle up or down control. 

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Incase it's of use to anyone else, I contacted Yuma, and after much pestering managed to get some information regarding the settings on the Direct Drive Servo motors....

As described above there are two menus accessible. The settings that can be tweaked are listed below, from the manufacturer.

P5.1: there is no special meaning here

P5.2: P represents forward rotation of motor, e represents reverse rotation of motor

P5.5: here represents the braking force, and the numbers 1-5 represent the braking force from small to large

P5.8: there is no special meaning here

P5. A: it means to restore the factory settings

C. 1: Here you can set the maximum speed of the motor, every five plus minus, for example, the number 25 represents 2500rpm. When your operator tries to increase the speed, the speed here will not exceed the 2500rpm you set. When you set the speed, you also need to refer to the actual maximum speed of the motor

C. 2: it means to lock the speed of the motor before you run. R.0 means to unlock and r.10 means to lock the speed. When the speed is locked, the operator can't adjust the speed. The motor will run according to the speed you set before

C. 4: it's related to the current. It can adjust the force of the machine. The letters from left to right represent the current from small to large, and the force is also from small to large

 

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