Messages

31

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: The Laser Project.

« on: January 10, 2018, 07:40:55 AM »

Thanks Tweaky:

   I wasnt aware software existed that uses the LaserDRW protocol. Nice to know. Also handy to have archived so
K40 users have some options.

Art

32

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: November 17, 2017, 07:44:21 AM »

Hi Guys:

   Sorry I missed this thread till now. Darwin is no longer is development, it basically IS what it IS. It seems to work on
most installations using it, I have very few complaints over time. The Charge pump shoudl work fine, but osme have had to
set a different frequency, I have heard requested 2.5Khz works well on some baords for some reason.


Art

33

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: October 19, 2017, 05:06:53 PM »

Hi:

  The waveform doesnt look bad really, it basically shows a jitter of about 10us happening every few cycles of the driver.
Hard to say what it is, some process thats dependent on interrupts by the look of it. Id try tweaking your tuning, the
steppers should be driving OK with that waveform I think.

Art

34

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: The Laser Project.

« on: August 18, 2017, 08:28:39 AM »

Really? Ill have to try that.. smaller the better...

Art

35

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: The Laser Project.

« on: August 18, 2017, 07:37:38 AM »

Nice work Tweak.  Safety issues aside, its not a bad solution to that problem.  Parts are indeed quite reasonable these days.

Art

36

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: April 25, 2017, 07:06:32 AM »

Looks like it has an enable pin that needs to be hooked up..
 Might wanna ask someone with one if there is some setting that affects the
breakout board.. Im thinking you have a setting bad is all..

Art

37

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: April 24, 2017, 05:13:07 PM »

 I consider this a success. 

   >>That woudl seem to prove your driver is fine..

But what is odd to me now is that when I initiate a step I see a differential in voltage on the input side of the micro step driver, but on the output side of the driver I see no change at all; when initiated by the Mach4 GUI.  I do see DRO change, so Darwin is sending the signal, but I see no evidence on the output side of the micro step driver.  I am leaning towards a replacement on the micro step driver side.

 >> How much change do you see? It coudl be a charge pump setting is killing the ground or something.. Hard to say..but iot sounds like the driver is fine.

On another note however, I am looking at the spindle setup through Darwin.  I'm setting it up on the relay side of the break out board and I am using the DCM and FOR signals from the VFD.  In my breakout board the pin that should be doing the talking to the spindle is pin 16.  So I have all of this setup and enabled in Darwin as well as setup on the Mach settings output tab.  I also have the freq range set on the Darwin Configuration screen for a range 0 to 400 Hz per specification of the spindle and vfd settings.  When I click start I see the DRO go to the minimum setting that I supplied for the signal.  The status bar in the bottom says Signal 5 set to 1; however, the relay fails to close the connection to initiate the spindle from turning on.

   That too coudl be charge pump...

Art


Maybe I should just get rid of all this and take up basketweaving???

38

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: April 21, 2017, 11:17:45 PM »

Not knowing what the vfd is like its hard to say what got crossed in the wiring to short things out..which is what it sounds like..

 However, witha new bb it should go.. I doubt very much you fried the motor drivers.. Id start small myself, test a motor, using a wire from 5 volts, Id touch many times the step pin to simulate a move.. ( Disconnecting wire from breakout board first..). If motor moves, then your OK on the motors.. then you just need to figure out why darwin wont put out..

 If the DRO is moving, then darwin thinks all is ok and is sending out, so maybe the charge pump isnt set right if the board needs one.. Check that with a meter , see if it goes to 5 volts when you hit reset.. those would be the first tests Id do. When you get no motion on a new board, its usually the chrage pump or a setting... and vfd's can have a weird suplies and grounds, so its not unknown for that to blow things up..

Art

39

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: February 27, 2017, 04:38:13 PM »

Hi:

  Hmm, seems to me you can specify in Darwin the direction of the home in the motor config..

Art

40

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: February 27, 2017, 11:37:45 AM »

Its probably Darwin changing it to the S word frequency. In the config you set a min and a max Spindle speed, and Darwin will set
the PWM to the correct % based on the current S word. Make sure the min and max are set properly. Try a higher S word, does the PWM change?
Darwin wont remember that PWM from its config, its assuming it will be set by the Spindle ON command.

Art