Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: Patrick74 on April 21, 2017, 04:00:41 AM
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Hello,
I would like to replace the PC for my CNC with an AMD Athlon64 3800+ instead of 2400+
But I encounter some issues during the milling. So, I ran the "Compatibility Test Diagnostics" and the result is an unstable pulse rate. "Pulsing too Slow" or "Pulsing too Fast".
I already tried to format the PC and re-install windows XP 32bits and Mach3 043.066 with many different BIOS parameters . Same result, I don't know what is the problem.
Please could you help me?
Thank you
Patrick
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Hi,
just to confirm... you are using a 32 bit operating system?
If so have a look at the section of the forum for running Mach on Vista, some of the tricks and techniques maybe will
help you as well.
Note also that some PCs just don't run a parallel port well no matter how much you tweak them. This was part of the impetus
for various manufacturers to develop external motion control boards. An external motion control board means that the PC no
longer has to support the parallel port and with some PCs its the only way they could run Mach usefully.
Craig
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Hi Patrick,
Some have reported problems with using Mach3 version .066 and their preferred version is now .062. This version can be downloaded from here: ftp://anonymous:guest@ftp.machsupport.com/Mach3/Mach3Version3.043.062.exe (ftp://anonymous:guest@ftp.machsupport.com/Mach3/Mach3Version3.043.062.exe)
Tweakie.
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OK Thank you for your reply.
Yes I'm on Windows XP 32bits. I tried the memoryoverride.reg file -> same result
May I to try something else? It's not easy to find tricks among all post...
I'll try version .066 thank you
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Same result with version .066
I think the best solution is to invest on a Smoothstepper.
What is better USB or RJ45?
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What is better USB or RJ45?
the RJ45 (Ethernet) is now the preferred version.
Tweakie.
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...and Mach3 will work with a Smoothstepper even if the pulse are floating or unstable?
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Just my opinion...
There are other manufacturers motion controllers you should also consider but I am perhaps biased because I have been using a SmoothStepper with Mach3 (and Mach4) for many years now without issue. Warp9 have an active forum for discussion and resolution of any users problems encountered and their customer support is excellent.
Motion controllers, such as the ESS, generate their own pulse stream so do not rely on the PC - the result is much improved and smoother machine motion.
Tweakie.
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Hi,
I go with Tweakie on this one, like him I have an Ethernet connected Smoothstepper and luv it! It has both Mach3 and Mach4
plugins so if you want to try Mach4 just download the plugin and have at it!. No cost involved.
The UC100, in fact the entire UCnnn range have a great reputation and many thousands of Mach3 users. To my knowledge they
don't have a Mach4 plugin and all their devices are USB connected only.
PMDX have a number of boards all USB connected and at least two which have Mach3 and Mach4 plugins. The head honcho at PMDX
is a regular contributor on the forum and an absolute whiz at anything Mach. PMDX customer support is legend.
A more recent player in the 'value external motion controller' market is PoKeys. They have both USB and Ethernet connected examples
some with both Mach3 and Mach4 plugins.
CSlabs, Vital Systems, Dynamotion and Galill all make great controllers but are more angled to the pro market and are a lot more expensive
but all VERY good. Have a look and drool!
There are still more manufacturers, a lot of Chinese suppliers, and they crop up in the forum quite a bit, usually because buyers are struggling
to get them to work and/or the manufacturer don't back them up. I may be guilty here of painting all such manufacturers with a 'black brush'
when there are some who are really trying to do the right thing. Too many people have paid up their bucks to these outfits mainly because
they're cheap only to find they end up with rubbish. If you buy 'real cheap' don't be surprised if it turns out you're disappointed.
Craig
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Craig, just to clarify we "CNCdrive/UC********* devices" have a Mach4 plugin for our UC100 controller, it's available for download on our website.
And we also have ethernet controllers (UC300ETH and UC400ETH), but still working on the Mach4 plugin for these, they yet have Mach3 plugin only.
http://cncdrive.com/UC300ETH.html
http://cncdrive.com/UC400ETH.html
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Hi Dubble,
kool! I didn't know that, is it a recent development? Frankly any manufacturer who doesn't bother to bring out a Mach4 plugin
for their controller is going to go out of business.
I'm sure all your existing customers are going to be delighted to have the option of trying Mach4.
Craig
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OK I think Warp9 is interesting. UC300ETH or UC400ETH are they driving the spindle as well?
Why to have 2 or 3 parallel port?
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Hi,
I'm not familiar with the UC*** products but sure as eggs you can control a spindle with them, wouldn't be much of
a controller otherwise.
The Warp9 ESS I am familiar with. It has '3 parallel ports' as output. It means that all the input/output pins have been grouped
together to behave like a parallel ports so familiar to us who've used Mach3. It also means that all those breakout boards that we used
when we used a parallel port can be used as buffers/amplifiers for the ESS board. There is no real reason that all the pins, 40 or so, couldn't
just be arranged in a line but Warp9 decided to make it easier for those who had used Machs parallel ports for years.
The PoKeys boards are more like that, ie all the IO pins in a line rather than grouped together...works just the same tho. The ESS and Warp9
show their long standing commitment and affiliation with Mach...
Craig
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The PoKeys57E board is interesting with the price. But I should make some cables modifications, and figure out how it work and reflect how to connect all pin... ???
Is it compatible with my driver spindle (step/dir, pwm, on/off), with my old PC?
I think the documentation/specification are not very clear... ie: "3-axis 25 kHz or 8-axis 125 kHz Pulse engine" ??? Warp9: "Up to 4 MHz" with 6 motors and spindle.
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Frankly any manufacturer who doesn't bother to bring out a Mach4 plugin
for their controller is going to go out of business.
CNC Drive does have their own very good control software, which is in direct competition with Mach3/Mach4. They wouldn't be going out of business without a Mach4 plugin, but it opens up a different market for them.
The Warp9 ESS I am familiar with. It has '3 parallel ports' as output. It means that all the input/output pins have been grouped
together to behave like a parallel ports so familiar to us who've used Mach3. It also means that all those breakout boards that we used
when we used a parallel port can be used as buffers/amplifiers for the ESS board. There is no real reason that all the pins, 40 or so, couldn't
just be arranged in a line but Warp9 decided to make it easier for those who had used Machs parallel ports for years.
There are breakout boards made specifically for the ESS, which bring out all of the pins for all 3 ports. An excellent one is the MB2 from CNC Room.
http://www.cncroom.com/break-out-board/smooth-stepper
It has lots of great features, including analog spindle control.
And, you can also use it with the UC300ETH from CNC Drive. Here's a pic of my UC300ETH mounted to an MB2 breakout board.
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Hi,
reading spec sheets can be confusing and is easy to misinterpret things. All of the boards I've mentioned have strengths and
weaknesses but also have thousands of satisfied customers. If any of their products didn't work we would know already.
Even a board with a particular weakness is still likely to be entirely adequate for most purposes.
The potential pulse rate is an example.
If you recall Mach3s native kernel speed is 25kHz, ie 25000 pulses per second. A two phase stepper with 8 microsteps per fullstep,
ie 1600 steps per revolution will spin at 15.625 revs per second or 937.5 rpm when driven by 25000 pulses per second, probably
adequate for our purposes. The same stepper operated with 64 microsteps per fullstep will spin at 117 rpm. The only way to make it
go any faster is to supply more pulses per second or reduce the resolution.
Commonly available servos have 10,000 count per rev encoders. To spin a servo at its max speed, 5000 rpm say, without resorting to
electronic gearing requires a pulse stream of 833kHz! An ordinary parallel port is WAY,WAY too slow, in fact most of the controllers you're
looking at will struggle to keep up.
The question you need to ask is 'do I want/need medium-high resolution servos/encoders/stepper drives?'. If you do the you're going to be
looking at pretty high spec equipment. Most hobby level equipment doesn't require that level of resolution/speed and/or a suitable compromise
can be reached and yet still deliver great results.
Craig
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Craig,
We have the Mach4 plugin for the UC100 about 3-4months now and we have ethernet controllers about 1.5 years or so.
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Hi,
thinking a little more about the decisions/choices you might make.....My previous post suggests that unless you have a pressing need
for speed or resolution just about any of the boards will work, I mean they're all faster than Mach3 PP.
What may be worth considering is analogue IO. Most boards will either on their own or in co-operation with the BOB produce an analogue
voltage from a PWM signal, just the thing for speed control of a VFD for instance. I note that the PoKeys 57E has an A to D built in and so
can produce a digital signal from an external voltage and transmit the digital value back to the PC over TCP/IP. Is that clever or what!
PoKeys boards have their origins in data collection/transmission and it comes naturally to them. Most of the other boards, at least in the cheap
end of the market, can't match it.
I have migrated to Mach4 and I will retain my ESS as my active motion controller but am planning to add a 57E as an IO board, but best of
both worlds and enuf IO to shake a stick at!
Craig