Machsupport Forum

Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: alkassell on October 21, 2013, 12:48:03 PM

Title: Feed freezes
Post by: alkassell on October 21, 2013, 12:48:03 PM
I've got a problem with my CNC / Mach freezing, and can't find any posts for this exact problem:

 I have been running some longer programs (89,000+ lines...), and at random times, the mill will freeze in place. Mach stays frozen on one line in the display, but the PC isn't frozen. I can click on various buttons on Mach. Clicking on 'Cycle Start' has no affect, but clicking 'Hold' turns the highlight off on "Cycle Start". If I hit "Cycle Start" after "Hold", it will not light up again. If I hit "Stop", it stops as it should. I hit "Cycle Start" one time, after I had hit "Stop", and it did start up again, but as the spindle had stopped, it promptly broke my carbide endmill (oh joy... ). This has happened 3 times on the same program, but at different points. I have restarted the computer after each incident, as well as the Galil card. I saw in another post that someone had issues with having a flash drive plugged in ( that's how I transfer my files to the mill ), so I tried transferring the code to a folder on the PC, and running it from there with the flash drive unplugged - same result. I've had this kind of problem before, but only very intermittently - probably just didn't rear it's ugly head in shorter files as often, so I could get through them after one re-start.

Here's my setup in brief - I can give more detail if necessary :

Dell PC with a Pentium 4 processor, 3 Ghz, 1 G ram, running XP SP3, dedicated for use with the mill - no internet connection, no music playing, etc. I have not uninstalled anything, so there may be unnecessary background windows stuff running - I'm a relative novice, so not sure what to look for, but happy do ditch anything that might help.

BOSS 9 bridgeport upgraded to a Galil motion control card, connected via ethernet crossover cable.

Mach 3 ver R3.043.066

I am way behind with my project, so any help / ideas / thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, Alex

Title: Re: Feed freezes
Post by: Hood on October 21, 2013, 01:29:48 PM
Sounds like the plugin is hanging for some reason, probably best to ask on the Galil section and maybe Steve will have an idea.
Hood
Title: Re: Feed freezes
Post by: alkassell on October 21, 2013, 01:50:48 PM
Thanks Hood, I will ask there.

Alex