Motors not running

[hradford5]

I am trying to get my setup working for the 1st time, but my motors are not turning.
I have a Pico universal stepper controller, 2 gecko 201x drives & 2 gecko 23NEMA motors.
I'm pretty sure I've setup Mach3 correctly, but although the screen DRO shows jog movement, my motors are not turning.
Where should I start looking to fix this?

[Hood]

Could be many things but most likely you do not have the correct port address, the correct port number assigned for the axis or maybe a hardware issue such as drives not enabled.
 Hood

[hradford5]

    Does anyone use the Pico universal stepper controller?
    I originally was going to try & set this machine up with the Linux EMC2 software & that's why I bought this board. But I was unable to get the software to load & the support forum for it is not much help, so I decided instead to go with the Mach3 software on Windows XP.
    I thought I would be able to use this board, but now that I'm looking around the web, every reference to the Pico product line is associated with EMC2, so it looks like I'm going to have to buy another board
    Can y'all recommend a stepper controller board that will allow for home & limit switches, e-stop & some SSRs?

[Hood]

Not familiar with the board you mention, sounds like its a controller in its own right that connects via USB or LAN or something other than parallel port?

You could just connect direct to the parallel port by hacking a cable or safer if you are not sure is get a breakout board with some isolation.

If you want to go with an external controller then there is the SmoothStepper about $150 also a few others KFlop around $300, Centipede around $600 DSPMC $1000 and Galil which is probably $2000 plus.

I use the SmoothSteppers on my machines, works well for me and has 2 parallel ports worth of I/O plus 6 extra inputs.
Hood

[skunkworks]

The pico system hardware works only with emc.  I uses epp protocal to comunicate with the board - not step and direction like a normal 'break out board'

You say the forum was 'the support forum for it is not much help'? did you post any more than these two?  I am sure with a bit of elbow grease the issues could be figured out.
http://www.linuxcnc.org/component/option,com_kunena/Itemid,20/func,view/id,9735/catid,9/
http://www.linuxcnc.org/component/option,com_kunena/Itemid,20/func,view/catid,38/id,9728/lang,english/#9728

JonE (pico systems) will bend over backwards to help.

sam

    Does anyone use the Pico universal stepper controller?
    I originally was going to try & set this machine up with the Linux EMC2 software & that's why I bought this board. But I was unable to get the software to load & the support forum for it is not much help, so I decided instead to go with the Mach3 software on Windows XP.
    I thought I would be able to use this board, but now that I'm looking around the web, every reference to the Pico product line is associated with EMC2, so it looks like I'm going to have to buy another board
    Can y'all recommend a stepper controller board that will allow for home & limit switches, e-stop & some SSRs?

[skunkworks]

BTW - in this post

http://www.linuxcnc.org/component/option,com_kunena/Itemid,20/func,view/catid,9/id,9734/lang,english/#9735

The guy who replyed (jmelson) is the guy who made the pico board.

it will output step pulses up to 300k.

sam

[hradford5]

    Sam, I didn't mean to imply that Jon was not helpful. My problem was with installing the software using the EMC2 live CD, I searched the forum quite a bit & didn't find any solutions that helped me install the Live CD on the system I was using. I believe there is something about my system in particular that is incompatible with the EMC2 kernel (It's a Samba 854GV with a 2.4Ghz P4 processor, I bought it because it was $42).
    The forum itself seems fine to me, it just didn't solve my issue.
    As for Jon Elson, I think he's one of the most helpful strangers I've ever had the luck to bump into! I contacted him by phone & he suggested that I send him my system & he would find a way to get the software working on my it. That's what I call helpful! By that time though, I had already loaded & become somewhat familiar with the Mach3 system & rather then start over I've decided to stick with it.
    I think I'm going to set my next project up with the EMC2, so it hasn't been a waste.

[skunkworks]

Thank you.  That is my experience also.   

sam

    Sam, I didn't mean to imply that Jon was not helpful. My problem was with installing the software using the EMC2 live CD, I searched the forum quite a bit & didn't find any solutions that helped me install the Live CD on the system I was using. I believe there is something about my system in particular that is incompatible with the EMC2 kernel (It's a Samba 854GV with a 2.4Ghz P4 processor, I bought it because it was $42).
    The forum itself seems fine to me, it just didn't solve my issue.
    As for Jon Elson, I think he's one of the most helpful strangers I've ever had the luck to bump into! I contacted him by phone & he suggested that I send him my system & he would find a way to get the software working on my it. That's what I call helpful! By that time though, I had already loaded & become somewhat familiar with the Mach3 system & rather then start over I've decided to stick with it.
    I think I'm going to set my next project up with the EMC2, so it hasn't been a waste.