Guest
Show Posts
1
Third party software and hardware support forums. / Help our Z axis has a mind of its own.....
« on: March 28, 2007, 01:58:51 PM »
Hi, I am new to CNC, so please be gentle with me... 
We purchased a homemade cnc machine, including controller, motors, cnc machine, the works basically, and it works fine with Mach 3 and we are generally pleased with it....... We have since purchased 2 cnc Controller board kits (each has 3 x axis) together with the compatible stepper motors, to put to our own cnc machines, and we are really tearing our hair out with the Mach 3 software (we are assuming it is the Mach 3 software as the manufacturer of the boards thinks that this can be the only reason for the problem)
The problem is, we have attached both kits, (at different times !) to 3 completely different pc's, each running Windows XP, and each running different versions of Mach 3 software, and every time, the Z axis motor is turning of its own accord and we are then unable to zero any co-ordinates.. We are not jogging the Z axis, we are not supplying any g-code for it, and we are not inserting the co-ordinates by hand for it, but every time we want to run the x or Y axis, the blooming z axis wants to do a jig also, first it runs all the way up to 45mm (if we let it), then turns back the other way, then it allows either our X or Y axis to operate as we intended, luckily at this stage we have not attached the motors to their intended lead screws/cnc machine...
We have installed the profile files for the controller into Mach 3, and have even attempted to input our own profile setup for pins etc. (as per the manual that came with the kits) . but we still end up with a wacky Z axis. We cannot return the Z axis to 0, and whatever the z axis decides to stop at, the offset and absolute co-ordinates will not budge from that point onwards... We rebooted the Mach 3 installation as requested, and even undertook to run the specialdriver.bat and parallele.reg files, and disabled/re-enabled the parallel port, in between installation and un-installing Mach 3, to no avail.... we are using desktop pc's as opposed to laptop, as we tried laptop before we realised that they are not powerful enough, so in effect, these 2 boards have actually been attahced to 5 different pc's, and not one of them will run the stepper motors successfully....
The supplier has helped us all he can, we have installed and re-installed his profiles, and have used the same version of Mach 3 that the profiles were originally set up for, and it appears that the boards were tested and working fine before they came to us, but even the manufacturer is also now at a loss, we even purchased a completely seperate stand alone PC with no access to networks, internet etc. etc.. in case it was this causing a problem, but on the new PC we have the same problem...
Has anybody ever come across this before ? Our Z axis is driving itself, and driving me absolutely mad!
Any help will be most welcome......
We purchased a homemade cnc machine, including controller, motors, cnc machine, the works basically, and it works fine with Mach 3 and we are generally pleased with it....... We have since purchased 2 cnc Controller board kits (each has 3 x axis) together with the compatible stepper motors, to put to our own cnc machines, and we are really tearing our hair out with the Mach 3 software (we are assuming it is the Mach 3 software as the manufacturer of the boards thinks that this can be the only reason for the problem)
The problem is, we have attached both kits, (at different times !) to 3 completely different pc's, each running Windows XP, and each running different versions of Mach 3 software, and every time, the Z axis motor is turning of its own accord and we are then unable to zero any co-ordinates.. We are not jogging the Z axis, we are not supplying any g-code for it, and we are not inserting the co-ordinates by hand for it, but every time we want to run the x or Y axis, the blooming z axis wants to do a jig also, first it runs all the way up to 45mm (if we let it), then turns back the other way, then it allows either our X or Y axis to operate as we intended, luckily at this stage we have not attached the motors to their intended lead screws/cnc machine...
We have installed the profile files for the controller into Mach 3, and have even attempted to input our own profile setup for pins etc. (as per the manual that came with the kits) . but we still end up with a wacky Z axis. We cannot return the Z axis to 0, and whatever the z axis decides to stop at, the offset and absolute co-ordinates will not budge from that point onwards... We rebooted the Mach 3 installation as requested, and even undertook to run the specialdriver.bat and parallele.reg files, and disabled/re-enabled the parallel port, in between installation and un-installing Mach 3, to no avail.... we are using desktop pc's as opposed to laptop, as we tried laptop before we realised that they are not powerful enough, so in effect, these 2 boards have actually been attahced to 5 different pc's, and not one of them will run the stepper motors successfully....
The supplier has helped us all he can, we have installed and re-installed his profiles, and have used the same version of Mach 3 that the profiles were originally set up for, and it appears that the boards were tested and working fine before they came to us, but even the manufacturer is also now at a loss, we even purchased a completely seperate stand alone PC with no access to networks, internet etc. etc.. in case it was this causing a problem, but on the new PC we have the same problem...
Has anybody ever come across this before ? Our Z axis is driving itself, and driving me absolutely mad!
Any help will be most welcome......