Machsupport Forum

Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: MachBruce on December 19, 2009, 03:58:52 AM

Title: This might be useful to anyone chasing an intermitent fault and stop grey hair!
Post by: MachBruce on December 19, 2009, 03:58:52 AM
Hi all,
 I have just spent a very frustrating month chasing an intermittent Estop/limit problem. (after a machine rewire).  Mach3 would stop at anytime during executing a cut file. I have tried everything known to mankind  to try and fix the fault. Each time it occurred, the diagnostic screen did not indicate that a limit or estop had occurred. But the machine still stopped! Checked wiring, removed all plug in connectors in the limits and estops and soldered the connections, checked Power Supplies, checked shielding, checked vibration of switches, checked earthing, checked usb cable between Smooth Stepper and PC,
changed inputs to Port 2, checked dongle, checked all connections for power and earthing, changed to another PC, checked earthing of dust extraction, checked if i was still sane? whilst configing the new PC I noticed 2 little check boxes in the top right hand corner of the general config screen. "Input signal debounc/noise rejection"  I put  a 2 in each box and voila' the machine didn't stop!!!
I don't no where the noise is coming from but having to wait 80 microseconds for a limit or an estop seems like a fair compromise? 

Hope this might help someone keep some of their hair from turning grey.

Merry Christmas

Bruce
Title: Re: This might be useful to anyone chasing an intermitent fault and stop grey hair!
Post by: softselect on December 19, 2009, 04:08:05 AM
This is a good post for "DID YOU KNOW THIS"
maybe rich can move it there, and while he is there, remove the non relevant post to keep it real
Friedrich
Title: Re: This might be useful to anyone chasing an intermitent fault and stop grey hair!
Post by: Fastest1 on December 19, 2009, 11:02:03 AM
Was that that your first time to read about the debounce settings? That should have been the first thing you tried. I bet it will be next time.
Title: Re: This might be useful to anyone chasing an intermitent fault and stop grey hair!
Post by: MachBruce on December 19, 2009, 02:38:36 PM
Yes it will be the first thing I would try next time.  One of the good things about Mach 3 is it is very flexible and does heaps of stuff that may not be useful to some users. Trying to sift through all the settings and understanding what is relevant is challenging sometimes.

Bruce
Title: Re: This might be useful to anyone chasing an intermitent fault and stop grey hair!
Post by: Greolt on December 19, 2009, 06:03:08 PM
Bruce

I am glad you found a solution to your problem and am sure you will not forget it.

However the other lesson here is to make use of resources like this forum. 

That exact same issue comes up almost every day and looking here would have saved a lot of time and many grey hairs.

Greg
Title: Re: This might be useful to anyone chasing an intermitent fault and stop grey hair!
Post by: softselect on December 20, 2009, 04:10:48 AM
greg
the problem with this forum is its a bugger to find what ur looking for, thats why i think the administrators shoud start a new sticky and call it solutions, remove all the woffle and post the problem with a solution
just a thought ;)
Friedrich
Title: Re: This might be useful to anyone chasing an intermitent fault and stop grey hair!
Post by: dragonfinder1 on December 20, 2009, 07:13:28 PM
I read this forum all the time and this is the first time I've noticed this problem. I had this problem and this thread solved it. I guess I don't understand what I'm reading. I agree this should have been addressed in the setup doc. if it is a common problem.

Dave
Title: Re: This might be useful to anyone chasing an intermitent fault and stop grey hair!
Post by: Greolt on December 20, 2009, 07:54:27 PM
I did a quick search on Debounce and it listed seven pages of threads.  Believe me this comes up all the time.

However electrical noise is a result of a multitude of  possible causes.  All to do with design and implementation of electrical and hardware.

It is not caused by Mach3.  Debounce is a feature to help when other build factors are less than perfect. 

There are many better designed/built machines that do not use or need a debounce setting.

Greg
Title: Re: This might be useful to anyone chasing an intermitent fault and stop grey hair!
Post by: dragonfinder1 on December 20, 2009, 10:19:33 PM
I just did a search on intermittent stop and only came up with one thread, this one. I believe you that this must come up all the time, and you can find an answer to the problem if you know what to search for. All I'm saying is, that if it comes up all the time, then it should be somewhere a newbe, me for instance, should be able to find it. I had absolutely no idea to look for debounce.

I thought then and still do think that it was not a fault of Mach, but my equipment or wiring. It was a pain in the back side, but I lived with it. I had no idea that Mach had a way to overcome my parts or workmanship. I'm glad it does.

Dave
Title: Re: This might be useful to anyone chasing an intermitent fault and stop grey hair!
Post by: Fastest1 on December 20, 2009, 11:35:08 PM
Was that that your first time to read about the debounce settings? That should have been the first thing you tried. I bet it will be next time.
BTW I didnt mean for this to sound as rude as it appears here. I too experienced similar issues and experienced plenty of frustration trying to find out why.
Title: Re: This might be useful to anyone chasing an intermitent fault and stop grey hair!
Post by: MachBruce on December 21, 2009, 06:06:32 AM
I was only trying to help!
Title: Re: This might be useful to anyone chasing an intermitent fault and stop grey hair!
Post by: softselect on December 21, 2009, 09:36:25 AM
greg
sure if you know that ur problem is debounce u can find it, but if you dont you may spend a week reading thru all the posts to find a solution, some treads have pages and pages of woffle and one tends to get lost and not come up with anything.
what i am saying it would be nice to have one tread with all solutions to known issues.
Friedrich
Title: Re: This might be useful to anyone chasing an intermitent fault and stop grey hair!
Post by: Hood on December 21, 2009, 10:31:24 AM
Problem with having a thread with solutions to known problems is it would soon run into many pages and it would be  just as much of a problem as searching the forum if a specific phrase or word was not known..
Normally the best way is to start a thread and describe your problem, it will usually get a quick response and with something like noise issues it will be diagnosed quickly if the symptoms are relayed accurately.

This is just my thinking however so take it as you wish.

Hood

Title: Re: This might be useful to anyone chasing an intermitent fault and stop grey ha
Post by: Tweakie.CNC on December 21, 2009, 01:05:02 PM
Quote
I was only trying to help!

You helped me Bruce - thank you.

Tweakie.