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Third party software and hardware support forums. => CS-Lab => Topic started by: HM78 on July 16, 2017, 05:16:10 PM

Title: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: HM78 on July 16, 2017, 05:16:10 PM
My problem is with the motor tuning. I physically jog the machine 100mm and the DRO in Mach4 will show 160mm for example. Normally this could easily be corrected by adjusting the "counts per unit" under motor tuning in Mach4, but unfortunately that has no effect! Any value entered in "Counts per unit" is completely ignored. I have been running my machine with a pokeys57cnc controller until now and have never had this problem before. CS-Labs support has been useless at best. What seems to be the problem here?
Title: Re: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: Chaoticone on July 17, 2017, 09:40:36 AM
I have never seen this problem myself.

Are you shutting down Mach and cycling power to the CS-Labs controller after making adjustments to the steps per?

More interesting, I would like to know why the steps per are not the same if running CS-Labs or Pokeys? Steps per are dictated by hardware, not the controller.
Title: Re: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: HM78 on July 17, 2017, 11:13:14 PM
No I haven't  been doing the cycling after making adjustments. I wasn't aware that that was required. Originally when I was setting up the CSMIO in mach I did enter all the same values I had with the pokeyes, but it didn't work correctly.  The machine would physically move 1.6 times farther than it was supposed to.
Title: Re: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: Chaoticone on July 18, 2017, 09:34:43 AM
Originally when I was setting up the CSMIO in mach I did enter all the same values I had with the pokeyes, but it didn't work correctly.  The machine would physically move 1.6 times farther than it was supposed to.

That's not right then. The question now is, which one was set correctly? How did you determine the steps per originally? Show me the math.
Title: Re: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: danholley on July 18, 2017, 07:31:09 PM
Hi Guys,

I'm having the same problem except I'm moving 2.5 times more than I should be! I have just started fiddling about with Mach4 & CNC in general. What I have done so far is connect Mach 4 to a CSMIO/IP-M to a Z axis lifter so I have something physical to put a tape measure against. Some rough measurements 1.8 deg/step, lifter moves approx 7mm per full revolution and driver is set to 2000 steps/rev .... 2000/7 = ~285 steps per unit(mm)?

No matter what I set the counts per unit to in Mach, the physical machine will move 2.5 (exactly) times further than the readout in Mach. i.e if I tell mach to move 50mm the machine moves 125mm, tell it to move 20mm the machine moves 50mm. Cannot get my head around it!



Any help greatly received.


Cheers
Dan
Title: Re: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: HM78 on July 19, 2017, 12:14:32 PM
Leadscrew = 4mm/rotation, driver set to 6400 ppr with 1.8 deg stepper. 6400/4= 1600 steps/1mm
Title: Re: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: HM78 on July 20, 2017, 02:17:17 PM
Originally when I was setting up the CSMIO in mach I did enter all the same values I had with the pokeyes, but it didn't work correctly.  The machine would physically move 1.6 times farther than it was supposed to.

That's not right then. The question now is, which one was set correctly? How did you determine the steps per originally? Show me the math.

When you say "thats not right",  do you mean that not cycling the power is what I,m doing wrong?
Title: Re: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: Chaoticone on July 20, 2017, 05:49:34 PM
I would definitely cycle power after any changes that do not seem to be making a difference. But what I meant was, if the steps per were right with pokeys then the same steps per settings should still be right (and your math looks correct assuming there is no other gearing involved) no matter what controller you use. Maybe the step pulse duration isn't long enough for the drives to see all of them? Have you checked the math on that? Can you change the micro steps on the drives? Might try lowering the count if you can. Are your machine setup units and units mode right for the testing your doing? Think maybe you have a EMI (noise) problem? Post a picture of your CSLabs and the area it lives in. Why did you change from pokeys to CS-Labs if the pokeys was working well?
Title: Re: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: HM78 on July 20, 2017, 11:14:04 PM
Yes I agree,  and entering the same values as in pokeys was the very first thing I did. Csmio pulse duration is %50, not sure if or how that can be changed. It might be a while before i get a chance to take a picture of the cabinet, but i did consider emi and so tried everything with the unit removed from the cabinet and bare essentials powered up. I went away from pokeys because the csmio was easier to interface with 24v servo drivers etc. Pokeys did work well with the non industrial grade stuff, and their tech support and customer service is awesome! CS labs has been useless and frustrating to deal with.
Title: Re: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: Chaoticone on July 22, 2017, 03:34:48 PM
Quote
Csmio pulse duration is %50

Ok, when you do the math, how long are they on for and what duration do the drives require?

Have the servo drives been configured and tuned?
Title: Re: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: HM78 on July 25, 2017, 09:55:52 AM
The M542 stepper drivers I'm connecting at the moment can handle pulse frequency between 0 and 300khz. Pulse width not less than  1.5us. I'm not certain what the csmio ips puts out.
Title: Re: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: e.nc on July 25, 2017, 07:25:47 PM
I am experiencing the same issue with the IP-M and Mach4. I am using the latest 3.01 firmware and have tried a number of things to solve the issue with no luck:

1. Downgrading the firmware to the latest non beta version (2.910). This firmware/plug-in seems to be incompatible with the current release of Mach4 as I was unable to connect to the device using this firmware.
2. Restarting the device after making changes to the steps/unit parameter within Mach4. This appears to have no effect.
3. Changing to a developmental release of Mach4Hobby (in this case version 4.2.03418.) This also had no effect.
4. Changing the micro-step resolution of my stepper drives (Leadshine EM806) from 1600 to 400 steps/rev. This had the effect of increasing the distance traveled - presumably by 4x. However, the steps/unit parameter still had no effect.

If I had to guess I would say that the current BETA version of the CSMIO firmware package is bugged. I would be more than happy to use the 2.910 firmware or earlier to fix the issue (as CS-lab themselves recommend) however none of these firmwares seem to work either. I have attempted to contact CS-lab support regarding this issue but have yet to receive a response.
Title: Re: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: Chaoticone on July 26, 2017, 10:13:33 AM
The M542 stepper drivers I'm connecting at the moment can handle pulse frequency between 0 and 300khz. Pulse width not less than  1.5us. I'm not certain what the csmio ips puts out.

Sure you do (assuming the following quote is accurate).

Quote
Csmio pulse duration is %50

So do the math using your steps per and velocity to determine how many pulses a second your asking CSLabs to send. If it is less than the CSMIO/IP-M's maximum freq. do the math to determine if the duration is within the drives requirements.
Title: Re: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: Fledermaus on July 26, 2017, 04:24:08 PM
e.nc

If you need to revert to plugin 2.910, it might be worth winding Mach4 back to version 4.2.3233. I use the IP/A but find that 2.910 is incompatible with newer versions of Mach4 than 3233, so the same may apply to the IP/S.

Allan
Title: Re: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: e.nc on July 26, 2017, 04:44:00 PM
e.nc

If you need to revert to plugin 2.910, it might be worth winding Mach4 back to version 4.2.3233. I use the IP/A but find that 2.910 is incompatible with newer versions of Mach4 than 3233, so the same may apply to the IP/S.

Allan

Thanks for the info Allan, any idea where I could find version 4.2.3233? I can only see versions 3390 or higher on the Mach4 downloads page/FTP server.
Title: Re: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: Chaoticone on July 26, 2017, 05:03:04 PM
Quote
Thanks for the info Allan, any idea where I could find version 4.2.3233? I can only see versions 3390 or higher on the Mach4 downloads page/FTP server.

http://www.pmdx.com/Downloads_Mach4/Mach4_Hobby_Releases/Mach4Hobby%20Installer-4.2.0.3233.exe
Title: Re: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: e.nc on July 26, 2017, 05:16:27 PM
Quote
Thanks for the info Allan, any idea where I could find version 4.2.3233? I can only see versions 3390 or higher on the Mach4 downloads page/FTP server.

http://www.pmdx.com/Downloads_Mach4/Mach4_Hobby_Releases/Mach4Hobby%20Installer-4.2.0.3233.exe

Cheers!
Title: Re: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: e.nc on July 28, 2017, 02:17:08 PM
Just writing to confirm that lowering the firmware to 2.910 with Mach4.3.3233 fixes the issue. Hopefully the CS-Lab guys can patch the new firmware to work with the latest Mach4 release, in the interim I would suggest using this fix.
Title: Re: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: Fledermaus on July 28, 2017, 06:02:25 PM
e.nc

Glad you got it working. I find that this combination generally works well with my CSMIO-IP/A but it can sometimes freese Mach4 during probing cycles. When Mach4 freezes, the probe does not move, so there is no chance of damage to it.

Allan
Title: Re: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: HeadyCS on August 13, 2017, 06:05:42 AM
Hello,

i have same problem. CSMIO IP-M Controller and Mach4. The Firmware v2.910 works only with Mach4 4.2.0.2803. With newer Mach4 versions, i get no connection to the controller. Then i tried the CSMIO v3.01 beta with Mach4 v4.2.0.3390 or v4.2.0.3418 but there is a other problem: when jogging in mm, the distance in mach4 does not coincide with the real. Changes of the steps per unit at Motor settings has no effect. The controller always outputs 1000 steps per mm.
The CSLAB support means it is a bug of Mach4.
Title: Re: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: Fledermaus on August 13, 2017, 07:34:14 AM
Has anyone tried the latest 3.02 release of the CSMIO plugin?

Just interested as I wait impatiently for the IP/A version to appear.

Allan
Title: Re: CSMIO/IPS MACH4 "Counts per unit"/DRO Problem
Post by: HeadyCS on September 09, 2017, 03:42:15 PM
In Mach4 build 3481 is this problem solved.

But i have a new problem at home axes. At first the Z axis drive up to the home switch until the switch is reached. After that nothing happens.

CSMIO IP/M with v 3.02