Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: mattrulz123 on August 07, 2008, 04:11:11 AM
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Hello just another newby here with a few problems.
i have built a tiny 3 axis mill for a trial machine to see what i could get from pc controllers. i have it running from my pc with another breed of controller and it seems ok but i cant get a single step out of mach3. i have a full version, licenced, and am using a xylotex 4 axis driver board. i have the pin outs set the same as the other config. and am using the same port and cables. is there something i may has missed in the setup? i have uninstalled and reinstalled 3 times thinking that i muffed that up somehow but am having no luck. any suggestions?
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Could be lots of things but first thing, do the DROs count up/down when you jog with the arrow keys? If not then make sure you have the motor enabled in ports and Pins.
If you do then make sure the Jog Control button is active, ie it shows green around it.
If the DROs do move but axis dont then make sure you have the correct port set for both step and direction pins for each axis.
If none of that helps come back and we can try further things.
Hood
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Hi Hood
thanks for the help
i have tried what you have suggested but unfortunately with no results. The DRO's do not move when jogged and the green lights are on on the
jog control. I also have no pin activity at all in the diagnostic screen, but im not sure what type of setup that is for ie mod bus control or the like. not sure if that pin display is used for printer port drivers. have noticed that the port name in my other controller is o&H378 where in this it only allows for o&378 .. dont know if this is a problem or not. if you have anything else i can try i would be very grateful
thanks
matt
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Sounds like you do not have the axis enabled in Ports and Pins. If the axis is enabled and the Jog Control is on you will see the DRO count as you Jog no matter what settings you have for the port address etc. Oh and yes 378 is the correct address :)
Please copy and rename the xml for the profile you are using, ie if the standard profile it will be Mach3Mill.xml. You will need to copy it to the desktop and rename it to mattrulz123.xml for the forum to accept it, you will find it in the Mach3 folder.
Hood
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Hi Hood
i have the axis's enabled in the ports and pins page and there is no response from the DRO's , does this mean that the driver is not working?
i dont know if i can post the xml file as you want as the computer im on now is a mac and the one im using for the machine is down in the shed. i will give it a go anyway but cant promise anything, mac's are funny about what they let you copy onto them.
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Just tried it here and it looks fine, have you tried going to the MDI page and typing in a G0 move? Just wondering if its a problem with your keyboard.
Dont think it would make any difference whether the driver was installed or not as the DRO should still count as you jog. You can run the drives test to see if the driver is working correctly, shut Mach down and go to your Mach3 folder and double clcik Drivertest.exe. You should see a fairly clean line.
Hood
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yeah ive tried the MDI moves, same thing. i have done the driver test and it does nothing. there is no line coming up at all. i left it running for about 2 minutes then stopped it. does it take longer than that to work? the other controller software i have is k-cam which has a similar port pin display that shows the pinouts working fine with that controller if that helps at all. anything else i can try?
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Driver test should come up almost right away, it will say Initialising then a countdown then it should say taking over in 2 seconds then the line should start. Did you reboot the first time you installed Machh?
Have a look in device manager and see if the Pulse Engine is there, if not install Mach over the top of itself again. If you didnt reboot after the frst install then remove Mach and reboot then install again and reboot. You can save the settings you have now by copying the xml file for the profile you use then once you have reinstalled Mach you can paste the xml back into the Mach3 folder.
Hood
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yes i did reboot straight after installation but i will try reinstalling it on top of itself... tomorrow. will let you know what happens. where are you from, must be oz or nz as you seem to keep about the same hors a i do .. in brisbane australia.
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You are about 12hrs ahead of me in time, I am from Scotland :)
Hood
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;D finally some sucess.
i re-installed it on top of its self and got the same result of nothing working.
i then tried the driver test again and got the same.
then i tried just clicking on the driver files to see where they were in the properties section and couldnt see anything out of order, while rerunning the driver test between each driver file i tried. the driver test kicked into life after i looked at the "specialdriver.exe" file. dont know if that is what brought it to life and i dont really care because i have full movement in all 3 axis's and at a much better rate than i expected. i am getting around 3000mm/min out of x and y 1500 out of z. rather fast when the travel is only 100x60x60. thanks for your help ;D
will talk again soon
matt
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Yes probably was the special driver that cured your problem. Great you are up and running now and hope you have good limits switches if your table is that small and you use these rapids ;D
Hood
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it really doesnt matter yet as the machine is only a toy. i will soon have a new hafco hm45 to play with which will get setup properly.
any suggestions on stepper motors? i have been looking around but cant seem to get any good comparisons. was looking mainly at the one xylotex flog with there kits, 425oz. i havent had alot to do with electronics and am not sure if they are too big or not. the hm-45 have a table of 600x300x300 approx 1500w spindle motor mt3 spindle. is there a rule of thumb for this stuff?
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Not familiar with the mill but from what you describe 425 should be plenty. Just get your steppers from the cheapest place you can find, they will all most likely be made in the same factory in China :)
Hood
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thats about what i thought they are only $50us a piece which is about half the nearest price i could find. want the run encoders too. not have with the open loop system ive got at the moment. have you had a go at making them or would you get off the shelf stuff?
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Encoders will not make it closed loop. Mach is open loop. You can get a board from Ron Rogers that will interface with encoders and if steps are lost it will halt motoion but dont think it will correct on the fly.
Hood
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Oh and US Digital sells nice wee encoders for a decent price.
Hood
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so i guess that the 4 encoder inputs are for manual hand wheel inputs rather than position feedback?
matt
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No the MPG inputs are for handwheels. The encoder inputs are for encoders, they will be displayed within Mach so Mach can be used as a DRO on a manual machine.
Hood
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ah i see now. that sucks a little :)
i will just have to slow it down and hope then. do you know if i will have motor troubles if i only run 12v instead of 24v
matt
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You will only have motor troubles if you overtune your motors. The higher the voltage you can supply the faster your will manage to move. Obviously the drives you are using will dictate the max voltage you can use (also the min) for example Geckos can handle up to 80V so its best to run at that or as close as you can.
Hood
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my board is a xylotex max is 30v i think. if i have problems with 12v i will have to go into the hip pocket again and get a 24v power supply with a few more amps. not a big deal i hope but would be nice to keep the 10a 12v one i already have.
i have been playing around with some small programs to get used to the system and have noticed that g53 doesnt call the machine co-ords but calls an incremental move. if this is true what g-code do you you to return the machine home at the end of a prog. in almost all other experience ive have ive used g54-6 g90x?y?z? to call the part offset at the start of the prog. then to return to home called
g53
g0 x0 y0 z0
ive found that g28 will do the same, is that the mach3 equivilent?
matt
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oh and i almost forgot. lazycam. it say i only have a demo version. do i have to purchase a separate licence for it or will the one i have for mach enable it? if so how? i copied the licence file into the lazycam directory and that didn't seem to work.
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If you already have the 12V then yes it should be fine, just you wont get the benefit that a 30V would give you with regards to speed.
Click on the G Code button at the side of the Reset switch and you will get a html open with a description of the G Codes used in Mach.
Hood
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LazyCAM standard is free with Mach, LazyCAM Pro is additional. Both are still Beta.
Hood
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thanks
had a quick look for a gcode list but obviously didnt look in the right spot. possible a few too many tasty ales
matt
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:)
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should lazycam standard let you generate g-code or is that restricted to pro?
matt
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It should ley you generate code, just some of the features are not working in it, not sure what exactly as I dont use it. Check and make sure Mach is registered properly by going to the Help tab the to About Mach.... In the windo that pops up you should see your name.
Hood
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Hi Matt,
With LazyCam standard, you do not get "pocketing" and "offsets". The rest is the same as Pro as far I've seen so for-
Dave