Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: farmertwingolf on August 31, 2011, 07:27:35 PM
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I finally got hardware installed and got the servos to tune. Now I can't get mach3 to move the servos. I have the pins set correctly. But dunno what else to check. I have been going to mdi and inputing a g01 command, but nothin. Thanks
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Do the DROs move in Mach when you command a move?
Hood
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Yeah
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Ok then it seems you have at least enabled the axis. Can you attach your xml and I will have a look.
Hood
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Dunno what that is or where to find it. Could be my problem lol
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If you open Mach look at the lower right at the name of the profile then go to your main Mach3 folder and find a file of that name with an xml extension. Copy that to your desktop and change its name to farmertwingolf.xml and then use the additional options button on the reply page to attach.
Hood
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Ok I will definitely do that this evening. I got the pc with a licensed version of mach from a guy that had a 7 x 7 router so it could be set up for his.
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this is the file. thanks again hood
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You are using a pirated Mach licence, that is not the reason you are not getting motion but it is the reason I wont help any more.
Hood
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farmertwingolf,
Buy the license - it's good value for money - Hood's technical support alone is worth many times the license fee. http://www.machsupport.com/purchase.php
Tweakie.
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I agree about the value and hoods advice has been priceless. I bought a small router from craigslist that had the pc. I have sold the router since it wouldn't cut aluminum but kept the pc. It had mach installed already, I did not know it was a pirated version.
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I have no problem with people using pirate Mach, its up to them, where I do have a problem with people who do use a pirate version is when they come here and ask for help. It seems rather cheeky to me to do that, especially as Mach Demo mode is very generous in its features and the low price of a licence anyway if you need the full options.
Now I hear what you are saying about how you came by the licence, I hear that all the time, it may be genuine, may not but I give the benefit of the doubt :)
Hood
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Thank you. At this point I don't know if I'm going to have to buy more hardware, replace hardware, or hire someone to get it running. Once its running I will get the correct version and send new xml
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You will unlikely need more hardware, it is probably you have the wrong pins assigned for the motors or possibly the wrong port address. Also the steps per unit will likely not be right, depends what encoders, any reduction etc for that but think it was set at 2000 per inch so it would likely make your axis move very slow at that setting.
Up to you if you want to use a hacked licence but there are known issues which may bite you in the arse. I would suggest you delete the Mach folder and the driver from device manager and dowload and install the latest Mach and use the demo version, the limitations are few and lots of people quite happily use the demo version.
Hood
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Right now I think I need to disable the schp on both breakout boards. Hoping that fixes it
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Ok. Getting movement now from mach. The axis' are not going the distances that the dro is saying they are in mdi mode. What do I adjust to correct this? Also it seems to travel further in one direction than the other sometimes but still wrong amount. Thanks
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Steps per unit need set to your hardware.
Hood
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farmertwingolf,
Just can't restrain myself from reflecting on the situation. Consider yourself falling into a "grey zone". Let me explain........
The intent of any demo software is to allow a user time to evaluate the software before paying for it, such that post purchasing, they are
confident that what they purchased will satisfy their needs.....thus no regrets. The demo is liberal in what it provides from an evaluation point of view
due to no time restraints on it's use. I believe we provide the best support above and beyond what one could ever find. That support comes from
a graciuos giving community of users.
So hope you have a positive experience during your evaluation and find that Mach is worthy of purchase.
RICH
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Just a little personal reflection on any pirated user having the gall to use me or the community ...........
Where you got your rotten eggs and bacon from is no concern of mine and only request that they be taken to a different restaurant for preparation
as there is no more free seating available nor free coffee to go!
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Well said Rich.
Tweakie.
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Thank you hood for the benefit of the doubt. And your help. Anyone with common sense would not have sent an xml file to anyone if they knew it was pirated. However a few people here have given the reflection that they are without flaws to the point of considering themselves justified in their remarks. Not anything I will loose sleep over. I did download the legal free version yesterday morning with intent of buying the full version. I will not seek help here anymore . Thanks again to hood though.
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farmertwingolf,
Not here to spare with you. My wish is for you to have a positive experience with the community of all the users and enjoy Mach.
I certainly didn't judge your posting in bad light since if that were the case there would be no post to reply back to.
My reflection was not towards you, should not be taken as such, and if so then accept a personal apology from me to you and you only.
RICH
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Thank you rich. I appreciate that and apologize if I had taken it the wrong way. I am still having issues with the settings calculating the steps. Z seems ok but x and y aren't cooperating.
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Try Mach's axis calbration feature which is located above Reset on the Settings (Alt-6) screen. My experience is with steppers so will leave the tuning
of your servos to those who use servos since I have a stepper system.
RICH
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Could be you have electronic gearing set in the Dugong if the calcs are not coming out to what you expect. The steps per utility that Rich mentions should get you close but personally I prefer calculating things as the utility will only be as accurate as your measuring where calculating will be as accurate as your hardware.
Hood
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I used the mach3 settings and got the machine to move .025 when commanded using a dial indicator. I'm having two problems, its traveling too far when commanded to move in mdi mode. And when I use the virtual jog buttons it travels smooth in one direction and slow and jerky in the other. Same settings for each direction I assume.
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Can you attach your new xml and I will see if there is an issue. Jogging should be the same both ways, could possibly be you have the Step active Hi/lo setting the wrong way for your drives.
Hood
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I turned the step pulse to 5 and the dir pulse to 3 in motor tuning and it seems to have straightened it out.
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I changed the active high/low setting and now the axis' move with the step and dir settings at zero. It goes consistent in one direction then when I change directions it goes off about .010 then goes correct if I continue that direction. A backlash issue maybe. The machine didn't have backlash issues with the anilam controller. I decided maybe I need to use servo tuning software to maybe fine tune it, but now using servoconfig3 software the servo idles so bad its shaking the machine. Nothing is being consistent.
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Backlash enabled?
Hood
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No
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And if you put the Step active setting back to what you had previously do you still get this?
Hood
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Do you mean the high/low setting or the step pulse in the motor tuning?
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both
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I believe my high/low settings are correct because I am able to get motion with step pulse at zero now. But I have tried the step and direction pulse on different settings. Seems to be consistent in getting off when changing directions.
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Do the DROs show this out of position?
Attach your xml and I will have a look.
Hood
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i noticed it was still on the wrong version. i went in and renamed the free version i had downloaded and think i set the pins, ports, inputs, and outputs the same as the wrong version, but getting no motion again. i am close to pulling all my hair out. here is the new xml that i am getting no motion from. thank goodness you have a lot of patience.
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My patience ran out, must have been the long trip down the Clyde in the banana boat ;)
Hood
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Oh. How did that xml look?
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You can find whatever xml was working for you by going to the xmlsbackups directory of where Mach
is installed. You'll find a copy of the old xml file there.
RICH
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The old xml file was the pirate one. I have motion again with trial version. Still not moving the same in one direction as the other. I am trying to set Y axis first. It will move long in one direction and short in the other. If I get one direction calibrated the other direction has been off around .010
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The machine didn't have backlash issues with the anilam controller
Did you test to see how much backlash you have? You do have backlash it's just a matter of how much.
RICH
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The anilam just didn't have issues with the backlash. I'm sure it was corrected electronically. I turned backlash on and tried adjusting the numerals in the Y axis but didn't seem to correct the issue. Frustrating to be so close and not be able to make parts. The help here has been great.
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You need to measure the backlash. That is done by moving in one direction and then moving in the other to see how much lost motion there is.
I use use steppers and thus rather servo tuning stupid so I leave that to those with experience on it.
RICH
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Will that be the value I put in for the backlash value once backlash is enabled? And if I move .200 each direction and get a .010 difference, would it be that number or how far off per inch that would come out to be?
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It would be the distance / .010". You moved one direction say .2", actualy you should move twice in the first direction just to make sure that all play is taken out.
When you move the opposite direction your off by say .010" and that is due no linear axis movement. The motor will be tuning but the axis movement is just taking up
the slack in the system.
You can also just move in one direction and then jog in say .001" increments the other way and you will see that it took 10 jogs @.001" to get movement.
There are some controllers that required the backlash be set in pulses but that is not the case in Mach.
My 50-50-50 rule which you may want to consider.
50% - The max velocity is 50% of where your steppers will start to skip
50% - Set the shuttle Wheel setting in configuration to .0050 to .050 ( .5 too slow )
50% - Backlash speed
Not sure how the above works for servos.
RICH
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Ok. Thanks rich. When I go from + to - it goes the correct distance. But when I go - then + it is off. I'm not sure how to compensate for only one direction. Another thing I have noticed is that I don't see where mach is reading my encoders. They plug into the dugong drive so I don't see where I would assign the pins.
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Backlash only provides compensation on change of direction.
No experience with the drives you have but there a numerous folks in here that are. There also are numerous posts about using them so try a search.
RICH
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Ok thanks again rich.