Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: Rideredcr on March 27, 2011, 01:08:53 PM
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Hi everyone,
I just installed a Step and Direction Adapter Board from taig tools into a micromill 2000hd/le controller. I installed Mach 3 on to the computer and followed the video tutorial on how to configure it properly. My issue is......I can not get the motors to work. There is no power reaching them. The DRO in Mach 3 is working. I think my problem lies with the port or the port address. I have tested the pins on my printer port at pin numbers 25 and 3, 25 and 5, and 25 and 7. I get 0 voltage all the time, even when I'm jogging. Pins 10-16 have a constant 4.5v.
My port address is set up as 0x378. My question is..... when i open control panel, system, hardware tab, device manager, port, LPT1 and then click on the resources tab there are 3 different addresses in there. The first one says DMA 00. The second says I/O range 378-37F. The third says I/O range 778-77F. Is this where my problem lies?
Any help is appreciated.
I'm not a computer wizard by any means.
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378 will be the one you want, assuming that you are using the port on the motherboard itself. Do you have 3, 5 and 7 set as Dir pins?
Hood
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When you say there is now power reaching your motors, are they locked or free to rotate by hand ?
Tweakie.
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According to the wiring configuration I received from Microproto systems..... Xdir is pin 2 Xstep is pin 3 Ydir is pin 4 Ystep is pin 5 and so on.....
Tweakie the motors spin freely by hand.
There is no power to any pins except pins 10-16 of which they have 4.5v.
The computer was bought from best buy. I have not altered any hardware or software on it. Its straight from the factory.
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Have a look on the diagnostics page and make sure there is a Frequency showing there.
Double check you are looking at the correct pins on the port as its easy to mix up which is pin 1.
Hood
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Pulse frequency is 25344 on average....if that's what you meant. I've been over the pins many times. I just checked again with the same results. Ill have someone double check me when I get a chance.
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Any ideas where I can find a .xml program for this taig mill. mach3taig2000.xml
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Ok well the frequency shows the driver is loaded so thats not the problem. You have jogged the opposite way whilst testing I presume?
Are you testing direct on the port, if not it could be a faulty cable.
Hood
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Not sure what you are meaning regards the xml. If you start the Mach profile you are using you will see the profile name lower right of the main screen, that is the name that your xml will have.
Hood
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I will say I have not tested directly at the port do the fact I cant get the probs in the small holes, but I have tried 3 different cables. As far as the .xml, after reading some other posts, I though there might be a program I could download that would set up all configurations and motor tuning for this mill. Oh and yes I have jogged both directions in X,Y and Z
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The xml is a file that stores your config settings and if yours is a standard machine from a manufacturer that is set up to run Mach then they may supply you with an xml so that you dont have to config things yourself.
Your problem however seems to be port related as if Mach is not communicating with the port then you will never get the machine to run. Can you attach your xml for the profile you are using and I will see if I can find an issue.
Hood
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Profile says Mach3Mill. I do not know how to pull that file up and send it. Sorry
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Ok look in the main Mach3 folder and you will see a file called Mach3Mill.xml copy it to your desktop and rename it to Rideredcr.xml then use the additional options on the reply page to browse to your desktop and choose the renamed xml.
The reason you need to rename is the forum only accepts a file name once and Mach3Mill will definitely have been attached before.
Hood
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ok thats what I thought. I didnt see it before but ill look again. give me a sec
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ok tell me if you can open it
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Ok all looks fine except you have the step pins as 3, 5 and 7 and Dir pins as 2, 4, 6. Measuring voltage at the step pins will likely show a small enough voltage that your meter wont register unless you are on mV range (depends on active state) So recheck on pins 2, 4 and 6 with a Gnd pin.
If that doesnt help then for some reason your port is not being seen by Mach.
Hood
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I haven't changed anything, but now I'm getting 104.5mv when I jog in the + direction. The voltage stays at 104.5 until I jog in the - direction, in which case the voltage goes to 3.5v and holds there until I move in the + direction. Is this normal? By the way thanks for all your help!
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Yes if you are looking at a Dir pin then that would seem about right. You may have issues with the port only putting out 3.5V, some breakout boards can handle the modern low 3.3v ports others cant. If yours cant then getting a PCI parallel port that puts out 5v will sort you out.
Hood
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Ok Im going to try that........but I just tested it again....... and now I'm getting -99mv in the - direction and -250mv in the + direction..........I hope a new board work. Thanks for the help.
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Sorry to keep asking dumb questions but I am trying to establish what you have.
Inside your control box do you have the genuine Microproto controller or is it a Stepmaster board ?
Tweakie.
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It is a Microproto controller. According to the wiring diagram I got with the controller, it has gecko g201 drivers
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Ok I made some forward progress today. I received installation instruction from the guy I bought the mill from. I installed the .xml file that came with the instructions and now the motors hold(they have power), but I still can not get them to jog. I checked my pins again for voltage. All Dir pins have 3.5v and all Step pins have 3.5v. There is no change in voltage on any pin when I jog. Any ideas?
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This is the .xml file for Taig mill
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If you are checking the pins direct at the port and there is no change in voltage (assuming you are testing the correct pins, easy to look at the port the wrong way round) then Mach is not communicating with your port. That either means you have the wrong address or the driver is not working correctly. However as you seem to now be getting the motors holding I presume Mach must be sending a signal out through the port so it must be correct, that is assuming when you press reset the motors are free?
Hood
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It doesn't matter if I hit the reset button or not....the motors always hold now. I noticed when I start Up Mach I get an error message that says: ERROR STARTING AFTER PREP. I click ok, then Mach starts up, but under the status bar it reads: ERROR STARTING ENGINE. Ill play around with the address and see if I get any where
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It doesn't matter if I hit the reset button or not....the motors always hold now. I noticed when I start Up Mach I get an error message that says: ERROR STARTING AFTER PREP. I click ok, then Mach starts up, but under the status bar it reads: ERROR STARTING ENGINE. Ill play around with the address and see if I get any where
It is normal for the steppers to remain held irrespective of the reset state.
I have never seen that error message before so I think that is something that needs urgent investigation and correction.
Tweakie.
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As the motors seem to be holding with the only difference seeming to be a new xml then I assume an enable is being used, not looked at the xml though. If that is the case then I would have thought the motors would be in a free state when the drives were not enabled. I am however more used to servos so that may be different for steppers.
The error sounds like there is no driver installed. Have a look on the diagnostics page and see if there is a frequency showing and also a time in int.
Hood
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I wanna thank you guys for all your help. Everything works fine now. I installed the .xml, I reinstalled Mach, rebooted the computer and now I'm up and running. Thanks again
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Glad to hear you have got it all working OK now :)
Tweakie.