Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: Capt Meatballs on February 20, 2015, 04:47:10 PM
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I've been running the latest Mach3 release (R3.043.066) on Windows 7, with a UC100 USB to parallel controller, and a G540 (version eight), and I'm having an issue with a runaway axis (or two). I've had this happen to me infrequently in the past, maybe once every few months or so, but now it's happening every single time.
In the first video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjEN8x9O1Hg&feature=youtu.be (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjEN8x9O1Hg&feature=youtu.be) you'll see a runaway X axis. I later reinstalled Mach3, and it appeared to have fixed things. Until it started again, this time about an hour into a CNC lathe setting up session, causing a Z axis runaway. I captured that in a second video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0cOSSliELU&feature=youtu.be (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0cOSSliELU&feature=youtu.be).
The Gecko tech support said that their board could not be the one causing the issue, because it just reacts to the input signals. I tend to agree since the UC100 screen shows an active "Run" LED every time there's a runaway. The strange thing is that Mach3 DROs show no movement while the axis is running away, like it had nothing to do with it. Perhaps the UC100 is the issue. I have emailed them but so far no answer.
Has anyone ever run into this problem before?
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By the way I also tried wrapping the UC100 in aluminum foil trying to eliminate interferences, but the problem persisted.
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I would say it certainly looks like the UC100 is the culprit rather than Mach. Reasons being the ones you pointed out such as the run command on the UC100 diagnostics and no DRO movement in Mach. I do not know for certain if the UC100 works in a similar fashion to other external controllers but likely it does. What they do is accept commands from Mach then process them and execute the motion, they also send info back to Mach to update the DROs. So because the motion is happening but the DROs dont update then it would suggest it is the UC100 that is the culprit.
If you want to attach your xml I can have a look through it to see if I can find an issue however that is probably not very likely.
Hood
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I tend to concur with your assessment, though I cannot be sure. I've attached my XML for you to take a look.
Ciao
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I wonder, can you disable backlash and see if it still happens? I am wondering if there is something in the UC100 that is getting confused with the backlash as you have that set for Z only and possibly you had backlash set for X on the mill?
Hood
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Try testing without using the ?Box Controller and see if it does it ( disable the plug-in also).
Is that a Microsoft X Box Controller?
Just curious....,
RICH
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I removed every plugin except the one for the UC100... same thing. Yes, it is a genuine Microsoft controller, it has been working great for over 1 year.
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I wonder, can you disable backlash and see if it still happens? I am wondering if there is something in the UC100 that is getting confused with the backlash as you have that set for Z only and possibly you had backlash set for X on the mill?
Hood
I'll be damned! I disabled the backlash compensation and it seems to work ok. I ran the Z axis up and down 50 times with no apparent issues.
That's great Hood, you're "da Man"!
Now, what does this mean? Do I have some strange issue still? Is backlash compensation broken? Is there anything I can do to use backlash comp, and not have those issues?
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I would say it is a problem with the UC100, backlash is done in it rather than Mach.
Hood
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I would say it is a problem with the UC100, backlash is done in it rather than Mach.
Hood
Very interesting.
I have finally gotten in touch with the CNCdrive guys in Hungary, and have passed it along to them, together with the videos. I might find out more on Monday, or Tuesday. If there are some info that might be useful to all, I'll certainly post them.
Thanks for your help, Hood.
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Hopefully they will be able to find the problem, especially as they should now know where to look.
Hood
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Well, I haven't heard from CNCdrive again. Meanwhile I have run into the same problem twice with the backlash disabled.
Disabling the backlash makes things better, but apparently it is not the full cure. One thing I want to mention is that I never experienced the axes runaway while the code is running. In other words, the runaway only happens while jogging one of the axis using the keyboard or XBox controller.
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Try using V0.62... 0.66 has problems.
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Not so good, still think it is an issue with the controller though, otherwise I would think Mach would be showing the motion.
Hood
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Try using V0.62... 0.66 has problems.
What are the type of problems you talk about? And where do you get a pervious version of Mach3?
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Not so good, still think it is an issue with the controller though, otherwise I would think Mach would be showing the motion.
I still tend to agree with you Hood, and 'm still hoping the CNCdrive team will come up with a fix for this, but despite my emails with data for them to consider, I haven't heard back from them.
It seems like this might take sometime to fix, however I wish they'd communicate a bit more. I'd like to know whether to wait for them, or give up on a pretty good product and go buy something else. At this point I'm unable to tell wether they are still working on it, or they have decided it's not their unit's fault, and abandoned the quest for a fix.
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There was, if I recall, a similar issue with some external controllers.
I found that the CS-Lab controllers would runaway when doing a certain combination of jogging, maybe Shift Jog. I think possibly also the SmoothStepper suffered.
I know I reported the issue to CS-Lab and they sorted it within a day or so, think the SmoothStepper also got sorted.
I don't think it was exactly the same issue as you have as it was definitely a combination of keys when jogging that caused the issue. I very rarely use a keyboard to jog, just use the MPG, so only found it when I was testing after someone else reported the issue.
Regarding 066, there were issues with homing when using non standard methods, also some people had issues with tool changes, so it seemed it was macro issues.
In turn there are also issues with the wear offsets and a few other things.
I do not recall any jogging issues though.
You will find older versions on the ftp site, link below.
ftp://machsupport.com/Mach/ (ftp://machsupport.com/Mach/)
Hood
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Thanks for the background info Hood.
Things have quieted down long enough on the "runaway axes front", that I have been actually able to get some work done.
I think I'll work on my patience skills, and give the CNCdrive guys time to work on the issue. If it gets to the point that I get stuck again, I might have to jump ship at last, though It would be a shame, I like the UC100 a lot.
Marco