Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: fishkiller on January 28, 2013, 11:27:30 AM
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hey everyone. i started building my own cnc a couple years ago. I had a friend that understood the software,but had to move and now cant reach him for support. i downloaded mach3 trial version onto my computer a while back. Had the motors running, but couldn't get any real speed out of it. literally about 5 inches a minute. T he DRO's wouldn't calibrate. I would move it an inch and the DRO would be at huge numbers. No pattern.
So, if all else fails, go to the beginning. I thought maybe I had a corrupt or old mach3 download. I loaded it onto a disk to put on the cnc computer. The computer for the machine doesnt have internet access. So, saved the mach3 to a disk two years ago, hence the reason i thought it may be old. Saved a "fresh" download of mach3 and uninstalled other one and installed this one.
Now i cant get any movement from the machine at all.
Please help. Any positive feedback and suggestions would be a godsend....
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It sounds like you may have lost your profile settings in the uninstall. Did you save a copy of your xml by chance?
Brett
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well,i finally got it. The first time i loaded it, it was using the communications port. This time it is using the lpt port. had to uncheck an automatic settings box and put that port address. and it worked. DRO's seem to be working also. Although i haven't checked with the dial indicator yet. Speed doesnt seem to have changed either. But actual movement is a step forward.
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another question.
I have movement of my motors...good. Now I am trying to calibrate them.
I have my drivers set at 8 steps per revolution. Ten revolutions per inch. This seems to be the fastest I can get the motors to go without stopping. If I set it for more steps then it is creepy slow. No matter what I set the motors at.
My gantry slides really easy,so I know its not binding.But I cant get any real speed out of it.
What is the normal setting for the d.i.p. switches on the driver?
When I go to calibrate the axis in settings, it changes my settings in motor tuning. Then when I do a second calibration, the motor tuning is wrong and wont move the motors.
I am still in demo mode. I would like to get this setup before I purchase.
This is where I was at when I reloaded the mach3 demo software. Gets frustrating.
Also, on the artsoft video, it had a drivertest.exe to see that the driver was running right. I cant get this to run either. Is this my problem?
I downloaded the install and configure document,loaded the software like it said. Rebooted.
Is there a driver I need to download?
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This should help you figure out what your steps per should be set at. http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,12512.msg81001.html#msg81001
Hopefuly that link will help you decide how to set your dip switches as well.
You should see a file, Drivertest.exe. in your mach 3 root folder. It would have came with the download. You double click on it and it should run the driver test showing you the results.
Brett
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alright. got the drivertest to work. thanks.
Using the formula to figure the steps per inch, i come up with 20000. 1.8 degree motors x 360 dgrees= 200. xthe dipswitch setting at 10=2000. x 1 to 1 ratio.x 10 revolutions per inch.
when i calibrate the axis, it bumps me up to 158000.
what am i missing?
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by the way, thanks chaoticone. you have been the most supportive