Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Question about parallel port/PARMON

« on: November 17, 2010, 12:55:02 PM »

I'm setting up a new machine based on the "build your own" book. I have MAch3 installed and set up correctly (I think).  I have 3 axis with the dir/pul set up on pins  2,3      4,5    6,7 respectively.  I'm having trouble getting the motors to spin and have been doing alot of troubleshooting.  My specific question here is what should PARMON look like when it is set up correctly?  Currently mine shows all green (lo) except pin 12 red (high) when i first boot up MAch3.  when i start hitting the  jog keys 2,4,6 go to red and stay that way and 3,5,7 change back and forth with the jogging. all this time pin 12 stays red.  Is this what it should look like?


Also, does anyone know if using a 6v supply that puts out 8v fry a breakout board?

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: another noob with setup problems

« on: November 15, 2010, 10:31:10 AM »

one other thing.  I bought motor drivers from the book website that look identical to  Keling KL-4030 but are labeled slightly different. I assumed the order of connections was the same but maybe I should ask.  The keling has connections labeled ENA-,ENA+, Dir-, Dir+, Pul-, Pul+ but the driver I got is labeled (I'm going from memory here but something like) Rest-, Rest+, CL-, CL+, CW-, CW+.   

3

General Mach Discussion / another noob with setup problems

« on: November 15, 2010, 10:25:24 AM »

I'm another noob pulling my hair out!  I just finished building a cnc based on the book "build your own CNC machine" by patrick hood-daniel.  I have followed the instructions what I feel as exactly. I even got my electronics from his website.  Basically I got everything together and wired up, all the board lights went on, the motors energized but I cannot get MAch3 to make anything move.  I've read most of the topics rerlating to this kind of issue but i have more questions.

On the motor output screen the book says to enable x,y,z and assign them pins 2,3  4,5   6,7 but says nothing about drlowactive, steplowactive, step port or dir port.  When I did it this way I got no activity throuph the parallel port using parmon.  The picture in the book shows neither lowactive activated but shows "1" in all the port spots. I read one troubleshooting guide based on the parmon program and it says to activate steplowactive.  By trying different combinations of these setting I have finally at least got parmon to show pins 3,5,7 changing to red using the jog keys.

what i have currently is:

x    enable    2    3      x      x      1     1
y    enable     4    5      x     x      1     1
z    enable     6     7     x      x     1      1

what exactly should this screen look like???

also when things are working correctly what should parmon look like?  with mach3 booted up I have green pins except for one red on pin 12, and when i hit all the jog keys i can get 3,5,7 to toggle on and off.

i checked the cable and it appears good.  with it toggleing like described above the motors do nothing.

the first 6v tranformer i used was showing 8V so i switched to one that shows 5.2V. can this be a problem??

i puit a voltmeter across the 5v power input on the board and each connection marked 2,3,4,5,6,7 and they all read 5V.

i do not have an estop mounted yet and have tried every combination of settings on the input screen.

Any ideas. I've now tried so many combinations I'm lost.