Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: norsk2277 on January 23, 2013, 09:01:18 AM
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Hello! im working with a machine, to get it to work with mach3 but i have some problems! the axis are not moving at all and this CNC machine is very old! 20 years old! do you know what the problem are? i see some resistance in the potometers so that tells that the stepmotor is working. the main problem is that nothing moves on the CNC machine! Using the old pararel port cable on windows 7 machine
Machine spes
Made by Spesproduct AS Norwegian company
the CNC name is MI2000
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Do you have any documentation on it?
How did it originally conect to its controller?
How are you connecting now?
Can you take some pictures of the drives etc and attach them.
Hood
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Is your Windows 7 computer 64 or 32 bit? Parallel port won't work on 64 bit.
John
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Do you have any documentation on it?
How did it originally conect to its controller?
How are you connecting now?
Can you take some pictures of the drives etc and attach them.
Hood
I dont have any docs for it, dont even have the old software for it. What should i take pictures of? the CNC machine?
Is your Windows 7 computer 64 or 32 bit? Parallel port won't work on 64 bit.
John
32bit
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Take pics of the hardware (drives, breakout board etc) see if you can get makers name and model numbers from them.
Hood
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Take pics of the hardware (drives, breakout board etc) see if you can get makers name and model numbers from them.
Hood
Sorry for so late reply but i dont get motor to work! gone upload the pictures when i come home from school
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No name! do you see what this is? it looks like it is homebuilt with 3 controllers
(http://gyazo.com/c2aadbb029bf03f311642de27d7f1073.png?1362579200)
Here is the wire to all 3 step motors
(http://gyazo.com/154cde59b31e2067f97fdafd8208b24d.png?1362579265)
(http://gyazo.com/cb12ef3a6a572cbce4a3cd3300908669.png?1362579224)
Here is bellow the heatsink
(http://gyazo.com/0739ac890d3a89dda009ea1d05058f9c.png?1362579330)
Here is the parelport connecting
(http://gyazo.com/5503ef4366515c9133d760107e47480f.png?1362579361)
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anyone can help me out? i did the test drive on mach and it says "exelent" but i cant move any axis because theres so many pins or something?
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Could you possibly post a picture of the circuit board which your LPT parallel port cable connects to on the machine ?
Tweakie.
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Yes! gone upload pictures when i come home. What are you looking for? :)
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It's a long shot, but it may give some clue as to the communication protocol and possibly identifying the pins for the step / direction setup.
I have spent some time, as I suppose you have, searching the net for information on this machine but found nothing of any help at all.
Tweakie.
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Here is the pictures
The orange input connection is for the step motors
I think this is the card for all 3 motors
(http://gyazo.com/fbda8038052d63cbabdc67b90ae512b8.png?1362675627)
And this is where the parrel port is connected to
(http://gyazo.com/c4ec7846082570f2eded0fad1eb5028b.png?1362675679)
the small card with the red thing is where the parrel port goes to first i think
(http://gyazo.com/da42d92618f1b97ecdd6fd441e470200.png?1362675732)
And here is where the parrel port is connected! the card, this picture is behind
(http://gyazo.com/e6178836b4d87fda87c0130731dd1b6b.png?1362675801)
The card with the red cap
(http://gyazo.com/8da39ca3db3ea7ee3a71750b4a0b60ce.png?1362675868)
(http://gyazo.com/87edb35961c1a0131925d741f69df9c3.png?1362676340)
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Maby you can know what this is? if you dont, try to draw all this and see then? Here is a video of the cards!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpXn4k-rvEw&feature=youtu.be
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It is possible givin the age that the machine has a serial interface NOT an LPT.
(;-)TP
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The machine have LPT i think, but it is IDE cable for the machine
btw, what is seriela interface?
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If you see on picture number 4, you see that the parrel port goes to another card and that is the picture number 5
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how many conductors(wires) is in the Wire that you think is an LPT connection?
(;-) TP
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Thanks for posting the pictures, they help a lot.
We have established (via PM) that the e-stop is not latched in the stop position and that the stepper motors lock when the machine is switched on. This means that you will only have to find the step and direction pins to get the axes moving – there should be no drive enable signals to worry about.
The first thing you will need to check is the parallel port on your PC.
As a general rule older equipment (such as your CNC machine) uses the 5 Volt TTL standard and more modern equipment (perhaps your PC) can use the 3.3 Volt TTL standard.
From a fresh start of your PC and with no software running use a multi-meter to check each of the PC parallel port pins with relation to pins 18 to 25 which are GND (with luck you will find one that it TTL(high). If it measures approx. 5 Volts then everything is OK but if it measures approx 3.3 Volts then, in my opinion, you will need to use another PC or fit a new parallel port card to your PC which has 5 Volt outputs.
The CNC machine’s step and direction pins could be any combination of pins 1 to 9, 14,16,17.
Probably the most common usage is X axis 2,3 – Y axis 4,5 – Z axis 6,7 but your machine could be any combination and it is a laborious process to find the correct combination however, with patience it is doable.
Tweakie.
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Terry,
It is my thinking that the bank of opto-couplers (on the small board) would not be necessary if this CNC machine was serial controlled. ;)
Tweakie.
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Thanks for posting the pictures, they help a lot.
We have established (via PM) that the e-stop is not latched in the stop position and that the stepper motors lock when the machine is switched on. This means that you will only have to find the step and direction pins to get the axes moving – there should be no drive enable signals to worry about.
The first thing you will need to check is the parallel port on your PC.
As a general rule older equipment (such as your CNC machine) uses the 5 Volt TTL standard and more modern equipment (perhaps your PC) can use the 3.3 Volt TTL standard.
From a fresh start of your PC and with no software running use a multi-meter to check each of the PC parallel port pins with relation to pins 18 to 25 which are GND (with luck you will find one that it TTL(high). If it measures approx. 5 Volts then everything is OK but if it measures approx 3.3 Volts then, in my opinion, you will need to use another PC or fit a new parallel port card to your PC which has 5 Volt outputs.
The CNC machine’s step and direction pins could be any combination of pins 1 to 9, 14,16,17.
Probably the most common usage is X axis 2,3 – Y axis 4,5 – Z axis 6,7 but your machine could be any combination and it is a laborious process to find the correct combination however, with patience it is doable.
Tweakie.
Thanks :)
So i should take the multipeter and turn on my pc and take the measure voltage on the pc's parrel port connectiion?
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So i should take the multimeter and turn on my pc and take the measure voltage on the pc's parallel port connectiion?
Yes. ;)
Tweakie.
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I cheked the pins voltage on the pc and it says 4.74v. But if i take the pararell port on the machine and take pin 11 on 12 the spindle motor begin but if i do the esact same thing in mach then nothing moves so i think that i did something wrong when i installed mach
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Hi guys! i have still problems! cant get it to work! What i can see are if i disconnect the pararel port from the computer the CNC says one "click" noise and then you cant move any axis by hand, if i connect the pararel port into the computer it make a "click" noise and then i can move all 3 axis by hand. any help guys? I can also see that the computers stearing port is ECP-Writeport (LPT1) is that correct? or the other port that are called comunication port (COM1)
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Sounds like you may have an ‘Enable’ signal after all.
Assuming that the pin assignments on your LPT cable are ‘standard printer port’ then with the machine connected to your PC and Mach3 running change the ‘active state’ (hi / low), one at a time (and click Apply / OK after every change), for each output (1-9,14,16,17) to determine which pin and what state (hi / low) causes your motors to ‘lock’.
Tweakie.
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In the port settings it says
"Never use interupted" Should that stay on?
and the "Enable search for older plug and play devices" should that stay on?
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Sorry Norsk, I did not explain it well - my mistake. :-[
I was referring to changing the active states within Mach3 (Config / Ports & Pins).
Tweakie.
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Sounds like you may have an ‘Enable’ signal after all.
Assuming that the pin assignments on your LPT cable are ‘standard printer port’ then with the machine connected to your PC and Mach3 running change the ‘active state’ (hi / low), one at a time (and click Apply / OK after every change), for each output (1-9,14,16,17) to determine which pin and what state (hi / low) causes your motors to ‘lock’.
Tweakie.
Okay so i gone take one of the steper motor and try from from pin 1-9? or
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Not sure if I can explain my thinking but I will give it a try…
1) Your stepper motors should ‘lock’ when your complete system is connected and powered up.
2) You have said:- ‘What I can see are if I disconnect the parallel port from the computer the CNC says one "click" noise and then you cant move any axis by hand, if I connect the parallel port into the computer it make a "click" noise and then I can move all 3 axis by hand.’
3) My opinion is that you need to find which (LPT) wire is disabling the machine and then set your Mach3 configuration so that particular wire is either ‘Active Hi’ or ‘Active Low’ so that your motors ‘lock’ when the machine is connected to your PC and powered up.
Hope this helps.
Tweakie.