Leadshine CS-D508 Axis Motors Only Humming/Oscillating under Mach4 & CSMIO-IP-M (v3 Firmware)

[Hemi1966]

Hi everyone,
I am currently retrofitting an old Optimum BF20 milling machine with a modern control cabinet. The system consists of a CS-Lab CSMIO-IP-M (v3 firmware) motion controller running under Mach4 (Mach4Mill).
For all three axes (X, Y, and Z), I am using Leadshine CS-D508 Closed-Loop stepper drives paired with Mecheltron 60BYGH250D-09R_enc1000 Closed-Loop stepper motors (4.2A, 3.1V, featuring an integrated 1000 CPR / 4000 PPR encoder).
I am facing a very frustrating issue across all three axes. The drives power up perfectly and lock into a solid green status LED (no fault codes, no encoder error blinks). However, when I try to jog any of the axes from the Mach4 touchscreen, the mechanical axes do not move at all, but the motors start to produce a slight high-pitched humming/buzzing sound (oscillation).
Here is what I have checked and verified so far:

1. Software/DRO: When I press the virtual JOG buttons (Continuous mode), the DRO coordinates on the Mach4 screen roll and update perfectly for X, Y, and Z, so Mach4 is calculating the paths correctly.
2. Drive Enable: The drives are globally enabled via the CSMIO outputs (the motors go into a hard holding torque when Mach4 is Enabled).
3. Control Cabinet Wiring: The 5V differential Step/Dir signals are wired carefully between the CSMIO 26-pin upper connector and the Leadshine pulse inputs. The 24V I/O power loop for the CSMIO output transistor bank (Pins 13 and 26) is properly connected to the cabinet's power supply.
4. Humming behavior: The high-pitched humming inside the motors does not start or stop immediately when a JOG button is pressed. The motors hum constantly when enabled, but when I press the JOG buttons, the tone/pitch of the hum changes slightly or dampens, but no kinetic rotation happens.
5. Phase changes: I have verified the encoder wiring based on the official Leadshine pinout (EB+, EB-, EA+, EA-, VCC, EGND). I have also tried swapping the encoder phases as well as the motor power coil leads (A+/A- and B+/B-) in multiple variations to ensure there is no phase matching conflict. The drives boot cleanly with a solid green light, but mechanical stall persists.
6. Mach4 Tuning: I have dropped the Velocity to a very low test speed (300–500 units/min) and loosened the Acceleration to 20–50 in the Motor tuning table, but it did not help.
7. Signal Negation: I have tried toggling Step Signal Negation in the CSMIO plugin configuration for all motors.

Since the motor tone reacts to the Mach4 jog commands, it proves that the digital pulses are physically reaching the Leadshine drives' internal optocouplers. However, the motors just vibrate internally instead of spinning.
Since these Mecheltron motors feature an integrated 1000-line encoder (4000 pulses per revolution under quadrature), could this issue be related to a microstepping dip switch sequence mismatch on the CS-D508 drives that causes the position loop to stall? (Currently, dip switches 1–5 are ON, 6 is ON, and 7–8 are OFF, matching the 4000 PPR setting). Or could it be a step pulse width/timing conflict matching the CSMIO v3 fixed clock rate?
Has anyone encountered this specific humming/stalling issue when running Leadshine Closed-Loop drives with 1000-line encoders under a CSMIO-IP-M controller? Any advice on how to troubleshoot this tuning or timing issue would be highly appreciated!
Best regards,
Ari

 

[Alan]

Hey welcome! That's a solid setup you're putting together. The humming without movement usually points to either phase wiring getting crossed or the CSMIO needing different pulse/direction timing for those particular drives, though it could also be a current limit issue if the firmware defaults aren't playing nice with your motor specs.

Have you checked if swapping just one axis to test helps narrow down whether it's a global config problem or something specific to how each motor is wired?

 

[Hemi1966]

I got the X axis working, but even though I connect the Y and Z axes in exactly the same way, they refuse to move (or jerk a fraction of a degree) I have cross connected the Y and Z motors to working X-driver with no luck.
I have the Leadshine Stepper Drive Tuning Cable in transit, maybe it reveal something.