Messages

2121

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Hook up Schematic help

« on: August 12, 2019, 04:35:39 PM »

Hi,
you haven't mentioned the ESS plugin outputs.

Configure/Plugins/ESS Output Signals tab you should assign the pins you have previously set in Pins Config tab to the motor signals.
Can you confirm that?

Craig

2122

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 (4.2.0.4284) Status Bar .... confused (wxLathe.set) ?

« on: August 12, 2019, 02:41:00 PM »

Hi,
that initialization string is part of the profile and is not easily overwritten or changed. This thread is broadly similar:

https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=41351.msg271124#msg271124

Craig

2123

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 ESS Smooth Stepper with Wixhc WHB04B-4 MPG Pendant

« on: August 12, 2019, 02:26:51 PM »

Hi,
pendants like WHB04B-4 do not 'work' with the ESS or any other motion controller directly.

Each pendant will have its own plugin within Mach. When you operate the pendant it sends signals over its USB or
wireless connection to the PC where those signals are interpreted by the plugin. That interpretation is communicated
to Mach which issues movement commands to the motion controller, in your case the ESS, and the motion controller
then moves the machine.

First question....do you have the machine and ESS setup so you can run Gcode programs properly? Until you can get
the machine to run Gcode and/or MDI and use keyboard jogging then a pendant, any pendant, could never work.

Second question.....do you have the XHC plugins for the pendant installed in the plugins folder in Mach? No plugin=no
pendant! XHC are notorious for not supporting their products. I avoid ALL XHC products for that reason.

I have a VistaCNC P1A pendant that I used with Mach3 then later with Mach4, and yes I use the ESS with Mach4.
The critical point is the VistaCNC supply the plugin and update it from time to time. The fact that I use an ESS is
pretty much immaterial to the pendant, it works with Mach (via its plugin), not the motion controller.

Craig

2124

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Hook up Schematic help

« on: August 11, 2019, 07:13:38 PM »

Hi,
couple of issues.

In the original IEEE spec for the db25 parallel port pin 1 was ALWAYS an output. Pins 2-9 could be all outputs
or optionally all inputs.

In the early days of Mach when everyone had one parallel port it was standard to use pins 2-9 as motor outputs.
The circuitry driving pins 2-9 was fast, fast enough to drive stepper drivers whereas pin 1 although still an output
was often much slower. It may well be that the C11 follows that practice in which case your Xstep signal may be too
slow.

I recommend you use pins 2 and 3 for Xstep and Xdir respectively.

Second issue is that the 26 pin IDC ribbon cable can be configured (on the ESS board) for wire 26 to carry 5V from the ESS to
the breakout board. But you are using a 26 pin IDC to db25 cable and therefore there is NO wire 26 to carry that 5V into the C11.
Thus you need a separate supply for the C11. Note that the primary 5V supply for the C11 will have a common 0V connection to
the ESS....your power supplies better not fight. If your existing 5V ESS supply has adequate current capacity you could add two extra wires
to power the C11 as well, there would be no 0V conflict.

Last issue is....'do you have an enable signal to your stepper driver'. Most stepper drivers require an enable signal. Its common practice
to designate one output of the ESS (conventionally pin 1) and use that one output to enable all your drivers and maybe the spindle as well.

I notice that the C11 has a Safety Charge Pump circuit. I(ve never used one. Unless you feel there is a compelling reason to
have one then disable (by jumper selection) the SHC in the C11

2125

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Hook up Schematic help

« on: August 11, 2019, 02:07:01 PM »

Hi,

I take it then that I don't use the drop down menu 'Configure Control' ?

That is correct, 90% of the settings you make will be in the ESS plugin and that will automatically update the
Control plugin so they are consistent.

Motor tuning is one thing which is done exclusively in the Control plugin.

Craig

2126

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Hook up Schematic help

« on: August 11, 2019, 06:48:43 AM »

Hi,
the Pins Config in the ESS plugin tab designates the ESS pins....not the C11 pins.

The ESS pins follow the traditional parallel port numbering, at least port 1.

Thus:
Port 1 Pin 1 =output
Port 1 Pin 2=output  etc.

See the attached pic, it tells you whether an ESS pin is an input or an output.

You can see in my example I assigned port1pin2 as Xstep and port1pin3 as Xdir. Note the ESS plugin allows aliases
like Xstep to help demystify the process.

Pins 10,11 and 13 are all inputs, they are not, nor I expect could ever have been, 'signal lines to drive your motors'....
I suspect they were in fact Home inputs.

Either way you not get away with that rubbish now. Your motor signals are ALL ESS outputs, thus are restricted
(in port 1 at least) to 1-9,14,16 and 17.

This I took from the C11 manual:

• Output pins 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14, 16 and 17.
• Input pins 10, 11, 12, 13 and 15.
• Input and output pins close to ground or +5vdc connections

So the C11 follows exactly the same pin numbering and signal direction (in or out) as the ESS. If you hook a ribbon  to
db25 cable from the ESS port 1 to the db25 input of the C11 then pin2 of the C11 will be Xstep and pin3 will be Xdir.

Craig

2127

Mach4 Toolbox / Re: Versions of the Mach4 Mill manual

« on: August 11, 2019, 12:48:15 AM »

Hi,
the current (8/11/2019) development version is 4284.

The latest stable release is 4162.

The different builds are on the ftp site:

ftp://ftp.machsupport.com/Mach4/DevlopmentVersions/

Craig

2128

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 and latest ESS Driver - threading now works!

« on: August 10, 2019, 07:59:19 PM »

Hi Roger,
Acorn do two other much more advanced models which are feedback capable:

AllIn1DC at $2250
OakCNC at $1600

Quirkily the AllIn1DC is not step/direction capable and therefore cannot drive steppers or AC servos. The CSMIO/A has he same
problem, sure you've got nice analogue outputs its just that you cannot therefore have step/direction.

The OakCNC cannot drive steppers either, according to Acorns feature list but can drive AC servo drives, I suspect the controller
is analogue output only and therefore the AC servo drive solution is based on analogue input rather that step/direction.

The much cheaper Acorn is $300 plus $150 for the entry level software other than the severely limited free software. It looks
to be a capable controller very much of the ESS ilk and approximately the same price as Mach/ESS.

The other two models are way way more expensive but they are genuine feedback capable controllers.

This supports my contention that 'genuine feedback controllers are way more expensive than open loop step/direction controllers'.

Craig

2129

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 and latest ESS Driver - threading now works!

« on: August 10, 2019, 07:39:18 PM »

Hi Roger,
on the Acorn website I came across this in relation to their step/direction controller:

•Spindle encoder input for CSS, Threading and Rigid Tapping

It would suggest that the encoder has A,B and I channels enabled to do rigid tapping. The controller is not PID capable overall,
I suspect it has a partial PID control of the spindle only in similar manner to the ESS.

Craig

2130

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 and latest ESS Driver - threading now works!

« on: August 10, 2019, 07:03:34 PM »

Hi TP,
have been doing some research, PathPilot and CommandCNC are variants of LinuxCNC and are very probably PID capable.

Craig