Messages

1

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: April 17, 2016, 11:18:02 AM »

After spending hours & hours trying to resolve my spindle issue, I have decided to leave Mach4 for now and stick with Mach3. If it aint broke don't try fix it as they say.
Thank you Art for your help and patience I wish you well sir.

2

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: April 07, 2016, 02:47:03 PM »

Update - I now have some spindle control but not without issues. I set min & max frequencies in Darwin Diag to 150 & 2000. Darwin output signals pick up on the min frequency and set the output signal Mhz to 150. If I set min to 0 this is picked up too & spindle doesn't work. If I input higher numbers into max Darwin adjusts the Mhz up slightly in output signals, this then dosn't activate the relay correctly and I just get a buzz from my BOB. With my low settings that work my spindle runs smoothly at low revs but doesn't attain maximum speed (I realise I have no calibration at this point) Another clue in the puzzle maybe that unless my spindle rpm slider is in the low position the spindle won't start & I get the buzz once more. Once the slider is down it will start & I can then increase the rpm. I understand your explanation above but the software doesn't let me implement it as you suggest. I don't have any response from spindle commands using MDI but I guess this should come good once I get it working correctly.
Sorry this is becoming a pain.....Eddie

3

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: April 03, 2016, 11:34:10 AM »

Well we are closer but not just there. I took a stab at the frequencies (I don't have a clue) set output pin 8 to 150 MHz in Darwin, toggled the output & the relay clicks in, motor spins slowly as before. Set output 9 to pin 9, called it spindle direction. Went into set frequency spindle, set min to 200, left max at 5000. Now spindle starts using the on screen button, also with an M3 command but still ignoring the S1000 command. Now here's the difference, if the spindle SRO is set high & I try turn on the spindle, I get a buzzing from the BOB, if I move the slider up & down the tone of the buzz changes, I presume because of the frequency change. If I put the slider in a low position the relay clicks in & spindle runs. Can you give me some idea what the frequencies should be ? my spindle has min 200 rpm & a max of 2000. I did notice Darwin adjusts the frequency on its own accord. I tried different frequencies, some high numbers where reduced by Darwin. I don't get any notifications in the error history as to setting frequency. When I run M3 S1000 it says set MDI.

4

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: April 03, 2016, 09:45:17 AM »

Thank you for the quick response, I will go try this now & come back to you.

Thank you...Ed

5

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: April 03, 2016, 09:13:37 AM »

This is my first visit to the forum & I hope I have posted this in the correct place. I have a licensed copy of Mach3 that has performed very well for many years both on my mill and lathe. I now only use Mach for lathe work and recently had a problem that turned out to be mechanical rather than software. During the search for a solution I came across Mach4. I have installed Mach4 Hobby along with Darwin. I have managed to configure my axis motors but I can’t get my spindle to operate. I have spent hours and hours on here trying to discover what I am doing wrong but there is so much contradiction I am at a loss. I think most of the set-up suggestions are for people with smooth steppers? I tried those settings too.
I have the spindle turning on with the on screen button and it will activate with an M3 S1000 command from the MDI screen but the s1000 is ignored & the spindle just turns slowly.
My Mach3 works without issue so I know it’s not my hardware. I have a BOB connected to a spindle board that turns step / direction into a 0-10V signal. I can find the part numbers for these if required.
I am hoping that someone with greater knowledge than I will give me some set-up guidance using the Mach3 spindle settings below (that work) or at least point me in the direction of an “idiots guide”
My Mach3 spindle set up is as follows -
Ports & pins tab – motor outputs, spindle set to –
Step = pin 9,  Direction = Pin 8, Direction is set to low active & Step is high active.
Output signals tab - I have #4 also set to Pin 8, active low (think this is the M3 command in spindle relay control below)
Spindle setup tab – Relay control -
Disable spindle relays (unchecked)
M3 output set to # 4
M4 output set to # 6 (not in use)
In motor tuning (spindle) I have – steps per - 4000, velocity - 33.33, acceleration -  22.5 (Metric units)

One of the confusing things is in Mach4 under spindle is right at the bottom of the page it has a step / direction axis that I set to OB1 (6), then map it. But every time I return to the spindle page this OB1 (6) has defaulted back to none. I did read that this function is not in use yet, is that correct.
Hope you can help, thank you.
Eddie.