Messages

1

PoKeys / Re: odd Pokey issue...

« on: April 26, 2015, 11:56:40 AM »

Matevž, where is the "Let PoKeys handle MPG jogging" option? I can't find it in the PoKey config screen in Mach.

Regards,
Michael

2

PoKeys / Re: odd Pokey issue...

« on: April 26, 2015, 10:05:09 AM »

Thanks Matevž. I'll give both of those a try.

Cheers,
Michael

3

PoKeys / odd Pokey issue...

« on: April 25, 2015, 09:46:27 PM »

I have installed a Pokeys 56U in an aluminum control panel box and configured it do do a few simple things to start:

1) an MPG
2) a 3 position rotary switch for step increment
3) a 4 position rotary switch for axis select (x, y, z, a)
4) two buttons: feed override up and down
5) three buttons: Start, Stop and Hold

I'll add more later but I wanted to start with these. I've verified that all of the functions 2-5 in the list work properly in Mach with the plugin. The MPG also "works" to jog but does not do step mode jogs. I discovered some oddness that when I jog in MPG mode, then go to CONT mode and use the keyboard and then back to MPG mode, the MPG does not work. I have to hit the eStop Mach button and then clear it and then the MPG mode works again. I also noticed, and this is the very odd thing, that the Mach speed override spontaneously decreases - even if I'm not doing anything, the mill is not running and I am just watching the screen. I haven't been able to correlate this to anything I do with the functions above. But, if I disable the Pokey plugin, this does not happen. I then re-enable the plug in and disabled all of the Pokey functions. In this configuration, the speed override also spontaneously decreases. I've tried plugging the Pokeys into a different USB port but the problem still exists.

Not sure what to do about this. My pokey is mounted in the aluminum box panel. There are some other electronics in there - most noticeably the spindle speed controller (KBM-125) and 2 wall warts for 12 and 24V. I am not running the spindle motor when I observe this issue. Everything is grounded to the aluminum box which is then grounded.

Any suggestions on what to do or what might be going on?

Thanks,
Michael

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Strange axis skew - maybe a Mach machine profile bug?

« on: July 30, 2012, 10:28:16 AM »

Thanks for the explanation Hood. The motor control is a Gecko G540 all-in-one stepper driver BoB. Basically, plug and play.

cheers,
Michael

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: Strange axis skew - maybe a Mach machine profile bug?

« on: July 30, 2012, 10:00:49 AM »

Hood, thanks again!

So, changing backlash comp (turning it on and off) in both the Milie and 540B profiles has no effect. HOWEVER, as you suspected, the pulse width DID have an effect. I set the Millie pw to 15 & 2 and the problem has gone away.

I know I did not touch that setting in the upgrades so I'm not sure how it got reset. But, that's it. It's always the little things right? And it only seemed to affect the Y axis, which is also a bit weird. But it is what it is.

Quick question, the PW field label says 0-5 but when I tried 5, it still skews (although not as badly). Is that just a mislable on the field?

cheers,
Michael

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Strange axis skew - maybe a Mach machine profile bug?

« on: July 30, 2012, 08:57:42 AM »

Thanks Hood, I think we cross posted! I just noticed that the 540B has blc implemented too. I can try those experiments now.

I've been using the Millie profile for months with no problems. I don't believe I touched the pulse width but I did disable backlash comp as part of the upgrade.

If backlash comp were the issue, I would expect to see the skew in all 4 subroutines and especially #3 but I don't. I purposely made the moved distance the same in each for that reason.

But, let me enable blc and try it and also the pulse width.

cheers,
Michael

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: Strange axis skew - maybe a Mach machine profile bug?

« on: July 30, 2012, 08:51:25 AM »

I also ran through a diff of the 2 files. A couple of points.

I thought the mh-540B was pre-enabling backlash comp but apparently backlash was enabled in it.

mh-Millie has a lot of config for spindle and flood control that I had upgraded on my machine and in the process of debugging this issue, disabled in the profile but some of the config is still there.

cheers,
Michael

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: Strange axis skew - maybe a Mach machine profile bug?

« on: July 30, 2012, 08:06:16 AM »

Thanks Hood.

mh-540B  is the old file that works
mh-Millie is the current file that skews on Y

cheers,
Michael

9

General Mach Discussion / Strange axis skew - maybe a Mach machine profile bug?

« on: July 29, 2012, 08:15:24 PM »

My X2 minimill has been running like a champ for a couple of years cutting 1000s of parts for my fly fishing reel kits. A few weeks ago, I decided to to do some upgrades and repack the ball nuts with oversize bearings to remove some backlash. I had enabled backlash comp last year (.002" on X and .003" on Y) to help a bit.

Long story short, after the upgrades and bearing repack I had a problem where the Y axis would slowly skew over the course of a run. I tried several programs that I had used 100s of times and they all failed to varying degrees. I checked all the mechanicals, backlash, make sure backlash comp had been disabled, etc. For several weeks I have been out of commission. I can not hear missed steps when running. I slowed my rapids down from my normal 125IPM to 75IPM and accel from 25 to 5. Still no change. I even ordered and installed a much bigger stepper on Y and the problem persisted.

Today, I went back to basics. I first wrote a little gcode program to exercise the mill. Here it is:

Code: [Select]

M98 P01 L50 (call subroutine 1)
G0X0Y0
G4P4
M98 P02 L50 (call subroutine 2)
G0X0Y0
G4P4
M98 P03 L50 (call subroutine 3)
G0X0Y0
G4P4
M98 P04 L50 (call subroutine 4)
G0X0Y0

M30

O01 (subroutine "01")
(simple short distance movement on Y)
G0Y0
G0Y.1
M99 (return)

O02 (subroutine "02)
(small rectangle on X & Y)
G0Y0
G0X.1
G0Y-.2
G0X0
M99 (return)

O03 (subroutine "03")
(diagonal movement on X & Y)
G0Y.1X.2
G0x0y0
M99 (return)

O04 (subroutine "04")
(small triangle on X &Y)
G0Y.1
G0X.2
G0X0Y0
M99 (return)

%
When I run this, only subroutine 4 introduces the skew along Y. The others do not. In 50 calls, the Y skews about 1/8" (eyeballed). I then switched my X & Y stepper cables to see what I might learn. Now the skew shifts to the X axis and in the same magnitude. If I run 100 cycles, the skew is about 1/4", 150, 3/8" etc - so its cumulative.

Thinking about the amount of skew: my Y "steps per" are roughly 10,000. So, to skew 1/8" would require 1250 (missed) steps, which would be 25 (missed) steps per call to the triangle path! I do not hear anything indicating missed steps. And, the diagonal and back-forth movements on Y do not result in this skew. I re-ran at 7.5 IPM and the same amount of skew occurs.

Then I realized that my previous .003" backlash comp on Y * 50 cycles = .150" - in the ball park of the eyeballed 1/8" skew. I double checked backlash comp and although the checkbox was unchecked to disable it, the X and Y values were present. So I zeroed them and restarted Mach (actually rebooted the PC too). The skew still occurs.

Then I remembered that I have a saved profile from last year before I enabled backlash comp. I loaded it and ran. No skew! It ran flawlessly. I even ran it 10000 cycles and saw no skew! I then restarted Mach and loaded my current profile and again the skew appeared. Restart with the old profile, no skew.

I suppose the easiest thing will be to rebuild a new profile from scratch but this is nagging at me! Anyone have any ideas or configuration parameters that I can check?

cheers,
Michael

10

General Mach Discussion / Re: Odd spindle speed hesitation problem

« on: July 23, 2012, 08:56:36 AM »

Thanks Peter. Here's more info.

When I disconnect the flood relay and disable it in Mach the spindle still hesitates periodically when "complex" sections of gcode execute - it seems only at the beginning of the line of code for arcs. If I run the spindle manually it is stable during this same code segment.

(the flood motor is a little aquarium pump)

cheers,
Michael