Mach 3 and Toshiba TB6560 Breakthrough!!!!

[willliiee]

Hello and a big thanks for all the help and ideas ive gotten from this forum the last few weeks.  This is my first post so bear with me.  I would like to share what i consider a major breakthrough in motor tuning within Mach 3 for my system (homemade 3 axis router) controlled by the growing in sales and maybe popularity, Toshiba TB6560 chip board sold on ebay....   
I was having a horrible time with the motor tuning issues, tried everything, blah blah....    then i came across an excerpt from the Mach 3 manual saying something like ~ "the steps per unit control is NOT intended to be a tuning mechanism, if your calculated values do not work, youve done something wrong."  Now i had been trying to tune in 1/8 microstepping mode on my board (or so i thought) but the steps per unit was needing to be set atleast TWICE AS HIGH as my calculated values ~ very frustraing!!!   As a last shot i tried switching to 1/16 microstepping mode just for kicks and much to my surprise, the steps per unit value came in EXACTLY as i had calculated for 1/8 step micro!!!!   
Therefore, i am trying to say, i think the chinese boards have the DIP switch positions for 1/8 & 1/16 micro BACKWARDS!!!!!
Anyone else having the same troubles i had, please take a few minutes and give it a try & please post back as i would like to pass this on to the ebay seller i got the board from because, unlike some on ebay, this seller is very good and seems to care deeply about his customers....     
Thanks much to all, Bill

[Hood]

Glad you found the issue, I had a similar kind of thing with the stepper drives I used on one project, the dip switches to choose between Ste/Dir and CW/CCW modes were backwards.
Hood

[hawk3000]

I think you are on to something. I have the same board. I thought I was too amatuer or crazy but- my x and y axis are switched. Maybe there is a quality control prblem with these boards.

[willliiee]

Thanks for commenting, I have gotten to the point where i know products like the geckos, etc...  are far superior, but way out of my budget, so this is the best practical alternative that i can figure.   So, we combine our efforts and make the chinese junk work for us!   hahahaa