Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: New member, some mach 3 setup questions and UC100 intermittent connection issue

« on: February 25, 2021, 07:48:59 AM »

Update:  I bought a Warp9 Tech Design Ethernet Smooth Stepper.  Connection was a breeze due to their awesome installation and setup wizard!! What a nice change from just getting a part in a box and having to figure it all out on your own.

Once I got it up and running, I ran into a hiccup in the first 15-20 inches of manual travel.  I got an "ESS ran out of data" error message, along with a link to the warp9 site where the solution for the problem is.  I reinstalled the driver for my ethernet port, and increased mach 3 priority to "high" and began a 3 hour facing operating on our new one piece HPDE vacuum manifold spoil board we are making.  The CNC completed the entire operating successfully without any errors!!  That is the first time we have had on operation that long run without a controller sync error of some sort.  Hopefully it will continue to work well.  Thanks for the support and suggestions, I'm sure I will be here fairly often with more.   

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: New member, some mach 3 setup questions and UC100 intermittent connection issue

« on: February 06, 2021, 09:04:23 AM »

Thanks for the thorough reply Craig, that all makes sense. I guess a question that comes to mind is, why did setting Mach 3 priority to real time seem to fix the uc100 sync error?  It was happening pretty much like clockwork, then after making that adjustment we performed hours of passes with no issue.

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: New member, some mach 3 setup questions and UC100 intermittent connection issue

« on: February 05, 2021, 09:24:50 AM »

ok cool, will do.  Another interesting finding last night.. I had a UC100 sync error about 10 minutes into the first operation.  I read somewhere about setting mach 3 priority in task manager.  I set it to "real time" and ran for hours without a hiccup.

What is going on there?

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: New member, some mach 3 setup questions and UC100 intermittent connection issue

« on: February 04, 2021, 08:16:46 AM »

Is this the correct cable to go from on of those ETH controllers to the gecko?

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Profile-Parallel-Adapter-Bracket/dp/B009JXK5UE/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=idc26-db25+-+lph+26+pin+to+db25+ribbon+cable&qid=1612444522&sr=8-1

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: New member, some mach 3 setup questions and UC100 intermittent connection issue

« on: February 04, 2021, 06:12:50 AM »

Awesome, thanks for the info. I got the machine coordinates and homing all figured out. It was easy I had just not put any effort towards it before... I was just excited to make stuff!!  I will pick up one of those Ethernet options soon.

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: New member, some mach 3 setup questions and UC100 intermittent connection issue

« on: February 03, 2021, 01:32:49 PM »

I have some general questions, and a specific one related to an issue we are having.

1.  Is there a guide for setting up the machine coordinate system and homing functions?  Currently we have none of that setup, we just zero to somewhere on the stock or part, make sure that location is zero in the CAM software (Fusion 360), and rock and roll.  I'd like to have it setup correctly though, and I do not really know where to start.  The machine has switches for x y and z but they currently do nothing.

2. Is there are best practices document somewhere, and/or a tuning guide for setting all the parameters in mach 3?

for 1. and 2. this two documents would be a good start i think:
https://www.machsupport.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Mach3Mill_Install_Config.pdf
https://www.machsupport.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Mach3Mill_1.84.pdf

Specific question about an issue:

1.  We have an intermittent UC100 connection issue.  It will either have a sync error, or fully lose connection maybe once every other day (every 3-4 machine hours).  I have taken the following steps to reduce the noise seen by the UC100 and USB cable.
     a. double ferrite bead USB cable
     b. VFD for spindle is in a thick steel box
     c. UC100 chassis is grounded to computer chassis
     d. Ensure USB power settings are not putting ports to sleep

Since doing these, the problem happens less frequently, but it still happens and is unacceptable.  It also happened with the laptop we were using. I need a robust solution.  This computer does not have a serial port.  Please advise.

here you write: I Need a robust solution.
the "hard" answer is, throw this USB Thing out and go to a Ethernet connected Controller, but Keep fingers away
of all this chinese chunk.

Ok that sounds reasonable.  Can you point me in the direction of the correct ethernet controller (correct supplier, high quality)?  I am assuming you are referring to a UC400ETH?

7

General Mach Discussion / New member, some mach 3 setup questions and UC100 intermittent connection issue

« on: February 03, 2021, 09:28:36 AM »

Hello everyone, my Name is Rob Gore.  I purchased a ZenBot 48"x96" CNC router last year, and it has been up and running for a while.  We are using a gecko g540 4 axis control box and a UC 100 connected to the computer via double ferrite beaded USB cable.  We have used this setup with and older windows 7 laptop and with a windows 10 (64 bit) tower (current setup).

I have some general questions, and a specific one related to an issue we are having.

General questions (please direct me to the correct place in the forum for these)

1.  Is there a guide for setting up the machine coordinate system and homing functions?  Currently we have none of that setup, we just zero to somewhere on the stock or part, make sure that location is zero in the CAM software (Fusion 360), and rock and roll.  I'd like to have it setup correctly though, and I do not really know where to start.  The machine has switches for x y and z but they currently do nothing.

2. Is there are best practices document somewhere, and/or a tuning guide for setting all the parameters in mach 3?

Specific question about an issue:

1.  We have an intermittent UC100 connection issue.  It will either have a sync error, or fully lose connection maybe once every other day (every 3-4 machine hours).  I have taken the following steps to reduce the noise seen by the UC100 and USB cable.
     a. double ferrite bead USB cable
     b. VFD for spindle is in a thick steel box
     c. UC100 chassis is grounded to computer chassis
     d. Ensure USB power settings are not putting ports to sleep

Since doing these, the problem happens less frequently, but it still happens and is unacceptable.  It also happened with the laptop we were using. I need a robust solution.  This computer does not have a serial port.  Please advise.

FWIW, I am a mechanical engineer and have tons of traditional machine shop and fabrication experience (built my own car from scratch), but I am definitely a bit of a noob regarding setting up and running CNC machines.  Any help or advice is appreciated.

8

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!

« on: February 03, 2021, 08:11:53 AM »

Thanks for the info, I have not tried a EMI line filter, I guess that would go between the power source and the VFD?  I will look into it. 

9

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!

« on: February 03, 2021, 06:45:36 AM »

Hello everyone, my Name is Rob Gore.  I purchased a ZenBot 48"x96" CNC router last year, and it has been up and running for a while.  We are using a gecko g540 4 axis control box and a UC 100 connected to the computer via double ferrite beaded USB cable.  We have used this setup with and older windows 7 laptop and with a windows 10 (64 bit) tower (current setup). 

I have some general questions, and a specific one related to an issue we are having.

General questions (please direct me to the correct place in the forum for these)

1.  Is there a guide for setting up the machine coordinate system and homing functions?  Currently we have none of that setup, we just zero to somewhere on the stock or part, make sure that location is zero in the CAM software (Fusion 360), and rock and roll.  I'd like to have it setup correctly though, and I do not really know where to start.  The machine has switches for x y and z but they currently do nothing. 

2. Is there are best practices document somewhere, and/or a tuning guide for setting all the parameters in mach 3?

Specific question about an issue:

1.  We have an intermittent UC100 connection issue.  It will either have a sync error, or fully lose connection maybe once every other day (every 3-4 machine hours).  I have taken the following steps to reduce the noise seen by the UC100 and USB cable.
     a. double ferrite bead USB cable
     b. VFD for spindle is in a thick steel box
     c. UC100 chassis is grounded to computer chassis
     d. Ensure USB power settings are not putting ports to sleep

Since doing these, the problem happens less frequently, but it still happens and is unacceptable.  It also happened with the laptop we were using. I need a robust solution.  This computer does not have a serial port.  Please advise.

FWIW, I am a mechanical engineer and have tons of traditional machine shop and fabrication experience (built my own car from scratch), but I am definitely a bit of a noob regarding setting up and running CNC machines.  Any help or advice is appreciated.