Stepper Motor Rings/No Movement.

[hawk3000]

I have a homemade cnc router with 3 axis. Breakout board connected to parallel port via 25 pin cables (two cables connected as adaptors). I set ports and pins correctly(I really believe this). When I hit any jog button (+x, -x, +z, etc.) no motor actually turns but I hear it turn. When I hit the +y nothing happens. When I hit the -y in Mach3 it rings constantly until I hit the +y and it shuts off. Sound familiar to anyone?

Jon

[Hood]

Sounds like you may have the motor tuning way off , have yolu calculated the steps per unit correctly? Try setting the Velocity and Acceleration low and work your way up.
Hood

[hawk3000]

Thanks for the insight. I switched out the dual cables for 1 cable and a female/female adaptor to fit my breakout board. I restarted the computer while the the board was powered and plugged into the parallel port. This time the motors stayed locked long enough for me to move the z up and down. I tried switching the ports/pins for the other axis', thinking they were incorrect, and the motors turned off/unlocked. I had no control over z anymore, let alone any other axis. I feel i am getting closer to a solution but could use more insight, please. Thanks!

Jon

[Hood]

What breakout board do you have?
What drives do you use?
Did you build it yourself?
Sounds like you are just needing to configure things correctly in Mach.
Hood

[hawk3000]

I have the TB6560, 3 axis driver board. Desktop pc 512G Ram, using Mach3. Homebuilt CNC, gantry-type router, 400 oz. steppers, full stepping. I was thinking about buying a smooth stepper to plug into USB.

Jon

[Hood]

Do you have a link to documentation for the driver? Also worth checking that your port cable is straight through rather than a crossover.

Hood

[hawk3000]

I figured it out. Sometimes it is a good idea to explore the program yourself rather than relying on the people who sell you the equipment. I asked the seller if I needed to adjust the output signals(which was the problem) and he said "no need to". What I did was turn on some output signals in mach3 and it worked. Thanks for the help!

Jon

[Hood]

Good you got it
Hood