Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: MattJ on October 19, 2012, 03:50:33 PM
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I have been using my machine for several years now without fail. Then I am jogging wy y axis and it quits moving and starts making a horrible noise.
Also notice e-stop quits working. Diagnostic screen has a green light at pin 5. I have an xtra plt port, so i switch to that, same problem.
Switched cables, same problem. Swapped cable to x axis and y hot keys move motor and vise versa, so driver and motors ok.
I re-installed Mach, same problem. If anybody has any ideas, please let me know, I am at a loss. I have attached my xml.
Thanks, Matt
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What cables did you swap? Did the motor that was not working then work fine?
Hood
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Yes.
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Sorry, I just hooked the z axis cable to the y pot of the gecko 540 and got the same
problem with the z motor. does this mean i have fried my gecko?
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Ok but what cables did you swap? Drive to motor? Drive to Breakout board?
Hood
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Oh Ok so its a gecko G540, yes does sound like the issue is a dead drive. Do you use the 4th axis? If not swap the drive from that to the one that doesnt work and se.
Hood
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I am using a gecko 540 and I swapped the cable from the z motor to the y output on the gecko. FAIL
But if I hook cable from y motor to z output on gecko, I can drive y motor with z hot keys.
I hope this makes sense!
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I do use the 4th axis but, thats a great idea for testing.
I'l be back in 5!
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THANK YOU!
Yes, swapping it to the 4th axis worked. Although my e-stop syill does not work.
All other limit switches work fine???
Any thoughts on that
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Ok you have not really confirmed anything other than the motor is ok, what you really need to do is physically swap the drives around. I have never had a G540 but I think its relatively easy to do.
Regarding the E-Stop you need to check the switch itself and the wiring is good, if it is then it could be the G540 motherboard that is the problem or it could be your Mach config.
Hood
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I check the switch and it is fine. Wiring checks out ok.
I have been using this config for several years so I think its ok.
I'm guessing this leaves the gecko, which is very disapointing considering it does not
have that many hours on it overall.
Thank You Very Much! I do not contribute alot to the forum. Thankfully, you do!
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If you disconnect the parallel port cable does Mach E-Stop?
Hood
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Oh you will have to disable the Limits in Mach before you try that or it will E-Stop on limits.
Hood
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I got ahead of you. I disconnected the parallel and it locked everything.
Froze up the whole computer! Shut down computer. rebooted, open Mach and it freezes
up before it opens. I hate computers!!! I hope my laptop didn't hear that!
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Strange, sounds like you may have computer issues tha are causing this. If you dont start Mach is the computer ok? Can you look in the BIOS to see what the voltages and temp is
Hood
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OK, I just disabled all limits switches and the e-stop, then pulled the parallel cable and it did
trigger an external e stop requested. What does this tell me?
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With the E-Stop disabled as well? And it still faulted Mach? Wonder why that is, Mach shouldnt know the cable has been pulled if all have been disabled.
What I was actually wanting you to do was leave the E-Stop enabled for that test but sounds like it wouldnt work for some reason.
I will have another look at your xml and see if I can understand why it is faulting Mach with all E-Stop and limits disabled.
Hood
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Sorry for my disappearance, got notice Fri. evening that a tornado was heading for my house.
Rush home for nothing. Anyway back at shop today and retested as per your instructions. You are correct, e-stop was still active and it did
fault when I unplugged the parallel cable.
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Also, i can start Mach, reset and come out fault, then hit estop and it locks up computer.
Can't even do a control/alt/delete. Have to hold power button in for 5 sec.????
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Mach seems to be crashing and the driver is till running. What specs are your computer?
Hood
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Windows XP version 2002
Service Pack 3
Pentium 4
2.00 GHz
512 MB Ram
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That should be fine.
Not really sure whats going on but seems like there may be a computer issue, can you look in the Bios and see if the voltages and temp looks ok?
Hood
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I'll try, not sure how to do that, i'm about as computer literate as a rock.
I may sign off, my computer guy says he can test the gecko 540 if i drop it at his house.
I'm in sort of a time crunch and the closest replacement gecko i can find is in IL.
Thats a 3 day ship to me.
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When you start the computer you normally repeatedly press a key, it is often the Del key but varies depending on make. That will allow you into the Bios setup pages and usually there is one that you can monittor the various voltages and temperatures.
Hopefully your guy will either confirm the G540 is the issue or possibly be able to find a fault in your computer.
Hood
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Thanks!, I think we narrowed it down to the g540. Pins 6 & 7 on the y axis shorted. My computer guy is saying that a mosfet trans. failed due to
overheating. He says for cooling that the trans. need to contact the case and some of them do not . He thinks some heat sink grease between the transistors
and the case would help. My enclosure has a fan, buy I was looking at Homanns 540 cooler. I'm guessing I had less than 60 hrs on this 540, I can't afford to keep
replacing it at this rate.
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I just read my last post. This is not a reflection on Gecko. This is ME not providing enough cooling.
Thank you Hood for all of your time and effort in helping me! It is greatly appreciated!
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Well suppose its good news in a way, you know what the problem is and what the cause is so hopefully you can stop it happening to a new one.
Get in contact with Gecko, they usually are very good with things like this and if they dont repair it for free I am sure you will get a good deal.
Hood
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Yes, I did call them looking for a distributor close by. I was not even going to mention my problem other than needing a new driver.
When I explained what had happened they were eager for me to return mine even after I explained that I did not believe this to be
an issue on there part. Its nice to know there are still some companies like this left. They could not have been nicer to deal with.
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Yes they have always had a first class reputation on things like that.
Hope you get things straightened soon.
Hood