Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle runs in Parallel mode OK but not in ESS ?

« on: March 29, 2013, 03:36:05 AM »

Well its maybe not the same issue, especially if 10A still has it happen but who knows. I also get the pulses stop every now and then just for an instant, that has been going on for a long time and is also present with the USB SS and the other issue is if using spindle override and its sitting steady at a speed all of a sudden I will hear a loud clunk and then it will be ok, again what that is, is the pulses being dropped for a split second.

I have used the CSMIO/IP-S and the CSMIO/IP-A on the last two retrofits I have done and I am really liking them, especially the A, it is however analogue only so unless your axes have analogue capable servo drives then its not an option but the S or even the smaller brother the M both output Step/dir signals.

Wouldnt give up on the ESS yet though, might be worth waiting  to see if Greg can come up with anything
Hood

Hi Hood

Not about to give up on the ESS by a long way  ,  I do like the card and apart from this spindle issue and not seeing any tool info when running a program (Probably another setting I haven`t done) it runs well and was initially quite easy to set up 

Looked at the units you mentioned and they look OK, the small "M" one does appear to be the handiest for the small stepper motor driven machines I have, might try one sometime if/when finances permit, thanks for the info.

Regards
Rob

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle runs in Parallel mode OK but not in ESS ?

« on: March 28, 2013, 04:47:43 PM »

Ok if the spindle speed is as requested then thats fine. I always did things a different way to the way Greg said but I think the end results were the same. Talking about this has jogged my memory
Step/Dir spindle control from the SS and ESS has never been perfect and Greg always said he would have a look but sadly never did as obviously there were other things that affected more people that he worked on instead. Anyway what that brought to mind was I had similar issues in some plugins and went back to 10a plugin. What would happen is the spindle would be running fine but if there was a heavy load on it all of a sudden it would E-Stop, so kind of sounds like it may be a similar thing to your problem. Maybe try the 10a plugin and see if it helps.
Hood

Hi Hood

Hmmm, what you say would make sense of what is happening, and FYI I did try the 10a plugin and that didn`t help, there are a couple more plugins between the 10a and the one I am using, maybe I`ll try those as well   

Based on your thoughts it may be that the higher the spindle runs the more it would sort of emulate a higher load, I`ve only been cutting light on Aluminium castings with small 3mm end mills so very low loads being generated 

If it can`t be fixed then I`ll have to look at using a different motion card for the Mill, I have a small Lathe that would be fine at those rpms so the ESS might be OK for that if I were to look at doing a Mach3 conversion on it, I do have a Galil motion card and I/O unit that I bought for a different project so may go along that road when I have done the current workload   

All very interesting stuff for sure, steep learining curve though 

You got any reccommendations for motion cards ? ? ?

Regards
Rob

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle runs in Parallel mode OK but not in ESS ?

« on: March 28, 2013, 03:48:02 PM »

Been a bit busy today but did get a chance to load it on the lathe that has the ESS on it and indeed the spindle options were set so looks like they only load if an ESS is present rather than just chosen when starting.
 What are you using to control the spindle? I presume your drive is analogue input so you will be using a controller that converts step signals to a voltage. Reason I ask is the numbers in motor tuning seem a bit strange but that is most likely just because of the way the  controller needs set up.

Hood

Spindle drive is Analog 0~10Volt input which is derived from a step/direction to Analog converter from CNC Doctor :-

http://www.cncdoctor.co.uk/b1-vsc-v1_64.html

The board works fine and many different spindle option settings will have the board outputting correctly, the numbers in the XML I posted are just what I was asked to try by Greg, they didn`t make any difference to what I already had, if you have any other numbers to try I will give them a shot  

The machine is set for 4000rpm Max on the Pulleys in Mach, inputting 2000rpm via G code, MDI or simply typing it into the speed dialog in Mach will produce 5 Volts from the board, similarly 3000rpm input will produce 7.5 Volts, any speed input does produce the correct voltage at the output of the converter, the DC Drive unit has been fine tuned to give the correct actual rpm at the spindle relative to the 0~10 Volts input to the drive.

It all works fine except for the dropping out into "E Stop Condition" above 2200rpm  

Regards
Rob

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle runs in Parallel mode OK but not in ESS ?

« on: March 28, 2013, 12:39:47 PM »

Hi Hood

Sorry for the delay, got a bit busy 

See image attached of the ESS Plugin Config Dialog, as you can see the settings are "stuck" 

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle runs in Parallel mode OK but not in ESS ?

« on: March 28, 2013, 06:28:25 AM »

OK, here it is again, Ihave had to rename it as the Forum says there a file of the same name currently exists and wouldn`t let me upload ??

Regards
Rob

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle runs in Parallel mode OK but not in ESS ?

« on: March 28, 2013, 05:09:48 AM »

Thats correct, settings in Mach are ignored. I am wodering why I do not see that you have them set in the xml, could be just I have an older plugin but I still think thats unlikely.
Do they stick for you? ie if you set them and restart Mach then go back into the plugin config are they still set?
Hood

Yes, they are still set in the plugin

Regards
Rob

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle runs in Parallel mode OK but not in ESS ?

« on: March 27, 2013, 08:50:05 PM »

You dont set step/dir in the spindle options in Mach, you do it in the ESS plugin. The Pulse Width on motor tuning page is not used by the ESS, you need to set that in the plugin.
If you do that and it is not sticking then there is definitely a problem.
Hood

The step/dir option is set in the ESS Plugin as is the Pulse Width, if the settings in Mach are ignored by the ESS then it shouldn`t matter what they are set to yes ? ?

I do have them set both the same anyway so there shouldn`t be a problem, as I see it there is no way to not have any spindle settings in Mach unless I disable that by checking the "Relay" checkbox yes ? ?

Regards
Rob

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle runs in Parallel mode OK but not in ESS ?

« on: March 27, 2013, 08:35:36 PM »

Ok just wondering, where are you setting Step/Dir spindle mode and also pulse width?
Hood

Usual Mach3 setup regarding spindle step/dir under "Ports & Pins" plus having to set again both the mode and pulse width in the ESS Plugin, no other settings in the plugin, it is very odd for sure, I ran a program on a small mould today at the 2200rpm for 4 hours 22 minutes, ran faultlessly. When it was finished I changed the spindle speed to 3000rpm and it went to "E Stop condition" in just 26 seconds

I have sent a copy of the XML to Greg for his perusal, just waiting to hear back from him   

Regards
Rob

9

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle runs in Parallel mode OK but not in ESS ?

« on: March 27, 2013, 07:32:45 PM »

You would really have to ask Greg about that but any time I have checked someones xml or looked at my own it reflects the settings they have.
Hood

Hmmm, I have looked at the XML again, not well up on what I should be looking at/for but it does seem to me that the changes are there after all !!

The spindle does look to be in step/direction mode, see attached image, it a screen grab of the file I uploaded that I just opened in IE and it looks right to me

Regards
Rob

10

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle runs in Parallel mode OK but not in ESS ?

« on: March 27, 2013, 05:48:29 PM »

The xml should contain all the settings you have entered, even ESS ones. That is of course as long as you have shut Mach down after making the changes as that is the only time the data actually gets saved to the xml.
Hood

Yes, Mach was shut down and re-opened each and every time I made any changes, done it so many times it is habit now

From your observations and my own testing it looks as though it must be that the ESS Plugin is not writing the changes to the XML properly, I`ll do some more testing of making changes in the ESS Plugin and double check what is or is not being written into the XML, would I be correct in thinking that if it isn`t writing correctly to the XML then it probably isn`t writing to the ESS card properly either

Regards
Rob