Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: Tree on July 28, 2013, 04:33:33 PM
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Hi guys, I really hope you can help me I'm in a bit of a daze getting started with Mach 3. I gota dc-k40 laser a year or two back and upgraded to a light object dsp controller a few months ago. I wanted to give the old laser to my cousin who was really keen to get into lasering, but the original software and ahrdware conbo was horrible and actually stopped working altogether, so I stumbled on mach3.
I'm having a little trouble with it though. I'm sure its really easy if you know what you're doing, and once its sorted I know I'll be kicking myself. I can't seem to get it to output any signals at all. We've had the oscillator and a parallel cable checker connected and no matter what we do, there doesn't seem to be any output whatsoever. We've even tried it on another computer in case the port was dead, but no luck.
I'm just wondering if there's an idiots guide or something out there, or even an example setup cos I'm really tearing my hair out.
I know there's no profile for a laser, but I know at least two people who've been using mach3 very successfully for controlling the laser, never mind how well Tweekie's done with it.
I'd really like to get this going for him, I know he's champing at the bit to get started, I just can't figure it out. So any advice would be very warmly received.
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There are videos and the manuals to show how to set Mach up but they will not give you exact port and pin numbers for you to enter as that is all dependant on your hardware. Hopefully you will get a clue though and if the original software had a manual it may hold some clues as well.
Hood
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Hi Tree,
Welcome to the forum.
If I understand correctly, you are getting no output signals from the parallel port ?
What Windows OS are you using ?
Tweakie.
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hi, thanks for the quick replies, but I apologise for not getting back to you sooner, works been hectic this week. Hey Tweakie, its Twosoc from the op forum, (for some reason it wouldn't let me register that username).
thanks Hood, the manual was my first port of call, but it didn't seem to cover my situation. I'm not too sure what you mean by original software though.
Tweakie, yeah its not giving me any output from the ports at all, measured on both a cable checker breakout board and and oscilloscope. I'm using windows xp.
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I was meaning the original software your machine ran, maybe I misunderstood but seemed it worked from something other than Mach originally.
Hood
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Ah right I see, yeah it ran on a horrible piece of equipment called moshiboard. Its been ripped out and replaced. The problem doesn't seem to be with the machine, rather I think its something I've missed in the setup of mach 3, I just can't figure out what it could be.
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Ok but are you using the machine as it was before, ie the same hardware or have you upgraded hardware as well as upgrading to Mach?
If you are using the same hardware then you will need to know the pinouts that the original used for things so that you can then set them up in Mach to the same pins.
What may help is if you attach your xml as any obvious problems may be easy for me or others to spot.
The problem will be however that we can not say whether such things as pin numbers are correct.
Hood
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Hi Tim,
To run Mach3 successfully whilst using the parallel port you need to be using a PC (laptops seldom work well).
If you download and run Parmon http://www.geekhideout.com/parmon.shtml this will identify your parallel port address and allow you to test the port for output and input.
Tweakie.