Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: noyloj on November 29, 2009, 11:25:11 AM
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I am new to the world of CNC and have limited tech know how. I have a modern PC without parallel port and have installed a single port parallel PCI card because that seems to be what is required for most controllers. How do I get Mach 3 to function with this hardware?
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Look in device manager and find the PCI port then look at its resouces tab. The first 4 digits is the address and you need to enter that into Port 1 in Mach.
Hood
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Thanks Hood
Okay in resources I have:-
I/O range DC00 - DC07
I/O range D880 - D887
Memory Range F9FFF000 - F9FFFFFF
Memory Range F9FFE000 - F9FFEFFF
Which first four digits do I need to put into Mach? :)
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DC00 is what you want.
Hood
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Okay thanks so much!
Then I go config, ports and pins, Port#1 Port Address Box
and enter DC00?
Yes?
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Yes, thats correct..
Hood
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Ta
Okay that done how can I see if Mach is talking to my controller? ie whats the easy safe way to test? :)
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set up an input, example in ports and pins set X limit up to Port 1 pin 12 then once saved short a piece of wire from Pin 12 on the PP to a ground pin on the PP. You should see the LED for X limit change state on the diagnostics page.
Hood
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Hmmm.. which is a ground pin?
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18 to 25
Hood
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Okay I'm looking at the inputs section on ports and pins but I dont see X limit only x ++, x --, x home?
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Any will do.
Hood
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I have checked box for enable x home, port 1, pin 12, do i have to check active low or emulated?
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You can check active low if you wish, that will mean the LED on the diagnostics will light when you short, if you leave it active high then it will go out when you short. Make sure you have it enabled but there is no need for the emulation.
Hood
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okay when i dont check active low i cannot reset until i togle to active low (the program offers to do this for me). However I dont seem to get any response shorting out pin 12 to pin 25?
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You dont need to worry about the reset, the LED should react even when Mach is in reset.
Hood
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okay no joy with pin 12, however i have enabled the inputs to port 1 and can seem to switch leds on and off...
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even though i haven't assigned any pin numbers?!
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Dont see how that could be possible, can you attach a screenshot of what you have set and tell me which pins you are shorting to switch the LED.
Hood
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Duh sorry this is all very new to me.. How do I take snapshot of screen and attach?
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Best way is to download the free version of ScreenHunter, if you do a google you should find it. You can then use the additional options to attach the picture to the post.
Hood
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Have captured image but cant figure out how to attach it. It offers me the option of attaching to email however.
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Use the full reply page, you will see the additional options button. Click that and then use the Choose button to browse your drive to where you have the image stored and then choose it.
Hood
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Has This worked? I can try and take better shots if you need more info.
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Thanks a lot for all your help this evening! I know it must take a lot of patience dealing with us noobs. :)
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Ok it is not these LEDs that I was meaning but if they change state then that means Mach is seeing the port so all is good :)
What I was meaning was when you set the X Home up you should have seen the M1 Home LED change state.
Hood
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Hood
Yes I got that M1 led to light up now too.
Ok now is there a standard way to assign the pins in Mach three for a controller?
Thanks jolyon
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1 to 9, 14, 16 and 17 are outputs
10 to 13 and 15 are inputs
You can use whatever you wish within these constraints UNLESS your breakout board has some predefined pins that must be used for a certain function, most don't have that however.
Hood
Edit
Just as an added bit of info, the above only relates to Port 1, if you have a second port you can opt to have pins 2-9 as inputs in addition to the normal inputs.
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Okay rewind...
I had hoped that the leds I got to work directly corresponded to the parallel port pins that I was shorting.
No such luck.
I think that the address in Device manager under PCI ECP parallel port (LPT 3) is for the PCI card maybe?
If this is the case then how can I find the proper parallel port address?
On the plus side I think I found which pins will ultimately correspond to the controller functions such as x dir x step etc.
Thanks Jolyon
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If you are using the PCI port then that is the address you want, don't get confused because it says LPT3, Mach doesn't care what windows calls it, all Mach wants to know is the address of the port you have the hardware connected to.
Ok so what is happening now that you seem to think it is not working correctly? See if you can change the port to EPP rather than ECP as I think I had issue with ECP a long time ago when I used the parallel port.
Hood
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Heya Hood
Ok I tried running a g code program (roadrunner) and watched from the diagnostic screen as it scrolled thru.
Nothing on leds?
Should I not see something coming on and off?
Also tried plugging parallel connection into micro mill controller and nothing.
Ok I don't actually know machine works but..
Whats EPP ECP how do I switch too?
Thanks Jolyon
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Ok you wont see the state change unless you physically change it (by shorting etc).
EPP and ECP are Enhanced Parallel Port and Enhanced Capability Port, sometimes you can change in the device manager, other times you have to set jumpers on the card itself and other times you can't change it at all.
Sounds like however you may not be having problems with the port at all, if you have a volt meter you can easily check to see if you are getting outputs. If you set the X axis to Step pin 2 and Dir port 3 you can then put a voltmeter between Pin 3 and a Gnd pin and jog one way then the next, you should see the voltage swing between 5V and 0V depending on the direction you jog.
Hood
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hood dumb question no 65
How do i jog?
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ok got it arrow keys..
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but no output on voltmeter..
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also box says PCI card I have 'supports SPP, EPP, ECP'
although instuctions give no clue as to how to switch!
Thanks Jolyon
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Have you definitely got the X axis enabled and set to pin2 and 3 and also the one that I always miss, set the port to 1 for both Step and Dir?
Next make sure you are counting the port pins correctly, the Mach manual shows a diagram of the port on the back of a computer.
Hood
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yes x enabled yes x pin 2 and 3 yes ports for step and dir configured as port 1
Don't have mach manual but i'm looking at female connector (ie one without pins)
orientated 30 that 13 pins are on top row and twelve beneath
pin 3 is 3rd from right on top row
pin 25 is bottom left bottom row
is that correct?
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Hood mis type sorry! should read:- orientated so that 13 pins on top row and twelve beneath
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Yes that's all correct, not sure what to suggest next other than if its a dual port have a look in device manager and see if there is another address, if there is set it as Port 1 in Mach and see.
But if the pins are changing state when you short the inputs then it does seem to be working, can you confirm that that is the case?
Hood
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You could also verify the address by going to Start, All Programmes, Accessories, System Tools, System Information. Once there go to Components then down to Ports and finally Parallel.
Hood
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they are lighting up the amber leds for M1 M2 and M3
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If they are lighting when you short then the Inputs are working and you definitely have the correct address set.
If you want to attach your xml I will have a glance through it to see if I can find a problem ther.
Hood
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looked where you said in components ports parallel and nothing there!
By the way what is an xml? sorry!
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the xml is your profiles settings. If you are using the standard Mach3Mill profile that is the xml you want, ie Mach3Mill.xml. You will find it in the main Mach 3 folder on your drive. If you made a custom profile then the xml will have the name of that custom profile.
You will need to copy and rename the xml for the forum to accept it, renaming to noyloj.xml should do the trick :)
Hood
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Cant find MACH3Mill.xml
Can find MACHXML but it looks like a RAR file maybe
can also find xml backups.. Any good?
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No, backups are a pain to look at, you may not be seeing the file extensions as windows hides them by default for known extensions. To disable that you can go to Tools menu when in a folder in windows, then down to folder options . When that window pops up go to view and then down and take the check mark out of Hide known file extensions. Save and then refresh the Mach3 folder and you should now see the file extensions.
Hood
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Man I am so dumb how do I get Tools menu when in folder? (I'm running vista)
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Ah ok, well dont have a clue I am afraid, dont like Vista so have never messed with it.
You should still see the xml but it will just be called Mach3Mill with no file extension.
Hood
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Have you installed the patch for Vista?
Hood
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yeah many many! Praise Microsoft!
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Found xml thingy!
Will try to attach
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not sure this is my custom profile..
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Ok will have a look in a few mins but just in case you misunderstood regards the patch, it is on the Mach downloads page and is needed I think for using Mach under Vista.
Hood
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If that was the xml you had loaded when testing the Dir pin for voltage it is Pin 6 you need to test.
Hood
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Also, have you got an E-Stop switch fitted? if not then you will either need to short pin 13 to Gnd or change the active state of the E-Stop in ports and Pins, Inputs. If you dont do that then you will not be able to get Mach out of Reset and thus wont be able to jog.
Hood
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No i've looked that must be the one for the non custom profile (which has pin 6 enabled). I'll try and find the correct one and attach tomorrow. I've gotta get some sleep now.. brain hurts.
No. Thats not it I auto toggled all pins preventing reset.
Thanks again Jolyon
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also Mach definately jogging, numbers go up and down! Goodnight and cheers:)
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Have you run the driver test?
Hood
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Heya Hood
Driver test?
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Okay found Driver test thingy green bar went mid way to target 'system excellent'
That sounds okay?
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Dont know what can be wrong then.
Hood
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No worries I think I have a few ideas..
Thanks for all your help.
All this is part of the learnig curve at the moment very steep!
But I already Know 100% more about Mach and this forum and attachments than I did at the start of our discourse...
Of course this amounts to probably less than 1% of what I need to know but hey its's a start and I'm a fast learner.
Take it easy Jolyon