Topics

1

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Spindle and Mist setup

« on: August 22, 2018, 03:05:51 PM »

Hi, from a previous post I had problems with setting up a 2nd Parrallel port which I sorted but have a minor issue which hopefully someone may help.

I installed the second Parallel Card again with Port address 0xe880
 Output Signal

Output Pin #1 Enabled Port #2 Pin #17

When I Check / Uncheck Active Low relay operates correctly.

Mist Settings
Port 1 address 0x378

Output Pin #3 Enabled Port #1 Pin #17

When Check/Uncheck Active Low relay operates

Fine so far.

If I then go into Diagnostics click Spindle Toggle both relays operate
Click Mist Toggle just mist relay operates

Similarly
If I select in MIDI ,
M3 Both relays operate
M4 Just the spindle relay
M5 Both off
M7 Mist relay operates
M8 None
M9 Mist Off

Also in Spindle setup in Ports and Pins I have spindle control checked and PWM, Relay Control on pin 1 for CW and CCW and mist on 3 and Flood 4, not sure what these pins mean

Update, If I uncheck "Use Spindle Motor Output " the relays are fine but I need spindle motor for PWM control.

So how is it that both relays operate with an M3 or Spindle Toggle, or should they.

Grateful for advise.
Regards John

2

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Setting up mist control problems

« on: August 21, 2018, 08:32:26 AM »

Hi, I am trying to set up a mist control from Mach3, My first breakout board uses pins 2 - 9 for Axis Pul/Dir X,Y,Z and A, P14 as Enable, P1 as PWM P17 to turn spindle on, So installed a second Parallel card so can use Pin #17 for relay to turn a 12volt supply, I have jumper inserted on board.

I cant make any sense out of the control using M7, M8, M9 has no control, but sometimes when computer on 12volts appears as the relay seems to activate..

The only thing I am not happy with is the port address for Port #2 is EC00 - EC07 so entered EC00 in port address in Mach3 which seems to change to 0xec00, has Port #1 has 0x378 and the common address for port #2 is 0x278 I am wondering if this is my problem
but not sure how to change.

I would be most grateful for any help

Regards John

3

General Mach Discussion / Milling an Area on wood bed to get flat surface

« on: May 01, 2018, 11:42:20 AM »

I find that my MDF bed plate has about 10 to 20 thou error over surface and I want to mill PCB tracks onto a 1.6mm FR4 copper board which are normally only .007 thou deep so I want someway of milling in Mach3 an area for board to fit, I thought of using Fusion360 and sketch a flat surface of the size i need and then extrude to so 0.01" and then offset "Z" axis so I just cut a 0.025 thou area in this bed, Unless there is another way would appreciate any help

Regards John

4

General Mach Discussion / Control Panel

« on: March 21, 2018, 08:26:36 AM »

I would like to build a seperate set of buttons seperate from the keyboard on a Control Panel to operate some of the functions of mach3 i.e Jogging X,Y,Z move E-Stop( I know this goes on Breakout board) etc but not sure how to interface with PC using Win7, is there anyone that has built such a panel.

Any info I would be grateful.

Regards John

5

General Mach Discussion / First Run on CNC machine

« on: December 31, 2017, 11:03:36 AM »

Finally got my CNC machine running cutting, I have only got a 400watt spindle motor and using a 2 flute 6mm cutter running a Face profile G-Code program 4inch X 4 inch using Mach3, the motor didn't like the 1200mm/min feed which g_code was set too, so slowed down to 150mm/Min with a 1mm depth of cut a bit of vibration but think a 2 flute is not enough4 would be better and also motor as I suspected is no where near powerful enough.

I also want to cut Aluminium and was looking at a larger spindle motor with an ER20 collett so I can go up to 13mm max shank, the only one I can see is a 2.2kw motor, about £300 on ebay.

Can someone advise me best way to go on Motors.

Regards and Happy New Year

John

6

General Mach Discussion / Mach3 Licence

« on: October 29, 2017, 11:46:29 AM »

H,

I got licence download from Syil Ltd in UK  (Mach1lic(5).dat) , copied and pasted to Mach3 directory but when I open Mach3 its still tells me I got Demo version look on Help to see if my name was on the "About Mach3 Control) but its not what have I done wrong.

Regards John

7

General Mach Discussion / Probe not stopping "Z" axis

« on: October 19, 2017, 11:39:02 AM »

Hi,

I have had a few issues with my new CNC I built mostly getting to run and Limits and Homing etc.

My problem for this thread is the probe does not stop "Z" axis from going down, in Mach3 Diagnostics when the probe is touched the switch is triggering the Digitize Yellow LED but "Z" does not stop only after hitting limit switch does it stop.

My other issue is X and Y axis are going in a negative direction on the DRO and if I try and run say roadrunner from Home position it just hits limit switches.

Regards John

8

General Mach Discussion / First startup motors not running

« on: October 08, 2017, 09:50:20 AM »

Hi, Finally got to startup but no motors running, I have tried all the suggested info from machsupport but no joy, my first thought was the Stepper motor PSU I got from ebay was 24volts 15amps BUT it wasn't after checking realized they sent me a 12volt 30amp OK but should still have worked, the steppers Drivers are TB6600 and BOB is an ECG-Savebase, first thought was BOB PCGND needs connecting to motor PSU GND but then saw schematic showing opto-coupled inside TB6600 so +5V goes to all +ve on TB6600 and connections from BOB Pulse Dir go to -ve of TB6600.
I then put a scope on BOB output connections and jogged X,Y,Z I did have some signals on PULSE output a train of about 10 pulses then a couple of second gap and again then same then a gap of about 10 seconds and again pulses high varied from 5V to about 2v, the signal on DIR went from 0v to 5v when jogging from X Left to X right and same on all others, so should I be able to see a pulsed signal from these PULSE output, my scope connection was from PC 5V connection and one of the output connections.
Checked Jog which is 50%
Parallel pins are 2,3 X axis 3,4 Y axis 5,6 Z axis
Also tried Enable active Low/High which I have on pin 14 no diffference.

Grateful for any help.

Regards John

9

General Mach Discussion / Motor Tuning with 2 motors on X Axis

« on: October 04, 2017, 03:42:42 PM »

Hi, I am about to power up my CNC build and I have 2 motors on the "X" axis which will run 1 CCW and 1 CW how do I setup the motor travel and tuning, I presume I disconnect a motor and do one then set "A" the same values, can anyone advise.

Many thanks John

10

General Mach Discussion / Connection of Mach3 to TB6600 Drivers

« on: September 23, 2017, 07:52:42 AM »

Hi, Thanks for allowing me to join forum, I am new to CNC but experienced in Electronics and Computers, I am building a CNC Machine based on a NYC CNC Project but a bit higher spec Using Mach3 driving a BOB and 4 TB6600 stepper Drivers to 2 x "X" axis, "Y" axis and "Z" axis and a spindle motor working on the PWM port of driver board.
My Stepper motor power source is 24 volts.

The first quiry I have is the Stepper drivers, I am using Nema 17 for X and Y motion but there are 2 settings on TB6600 2/A 400 steps or 2/B 400 steps, which one do I select, also the motor Rating is 1.68amps/Phase so I selected 1.5 amp switch, for the  Z axis I am using Nema 23 which has 1.8deg so 200 steps and set to 3 amp.

My other concern is reading different forums its a little worrying to find Stepper drivers are burning out so is there something I can do to protect this.

Also the BOB has the USB supply from the Computer which is running quite a few things i.e Limit switches, and the PUL+, DIR+ and ENA+ is there enough power being supplied by PC to power all these things as standard USB 2 will only supply 400ma.

Most grateful for any advise
Regards John