Messages

1

Galil / MPG not working correctly with galil and mach 3, error code 9 and 46

« on: February 26, 2018, 06:46:15 PM »

Hello all,
   I am having issues trying to get my z axis to jog with a MPG.  The lathe has X, Y, Z axis with the X and Z being controlled by the MPG1, and MPG3, respectively.  MPG1 is tied to Galil X axis auxiliary input, MPG3 is tied to Galil Z axis auxiliary input.  This was working quite well with the galil plugin 4.4.0.0. 

I updated the plugin to 4.6.0.0 because it looks like this plugin has the option to use a 0-10v input signal for spindle control, which is something I'd like to utilize.

After updating, i noticed a couple of errors, error 9 and 46.  I think error 9 mentioned something about variables being off and error 46 mentions axis master/slave issues.  I don't have any axis tied together in the axis slave screen.

After playing around with some settings, i am able to get the x axis to jog with MPG1 and MPG2.  I can also make the Y axis jog with MPG2, but cannot get the z axis to jog with either of the MPG's.  I can get both X and Y to work at the same time as well.  I haven't tried any other settings. 

A couple of other things I noticed after updating the plugin:
1. the ports and pins section was filled out for MPG1 and MPG2.  (i think 1,13,1,15).  I was under the impression ports and pins don't need to be used with the galil plugin, but could be mistaken here.  If they do, i haven't been able to locate a pinout for what they should be.
2. The green check mark to enable the MPG's  in the ports and pins screen doesn't seem to work.  The MPG seems to work fine with or without the checkmark.
3. On the jog tab, there are two buttons, MPG axis and second axis.  I can't click on the second axis button at all.  Well, i can, but it doesn't appear to operate.  But i just realized that if i click on the MPG axis button, it will switch between the x and z axis, and low and behold the z axis will move with the MPG.

Is there anyway i can disable this link between the X and Z axis and get these to each work with their own MPG?

Any help would be much appreciated.  Please let me know if you'd like any additional information.

-Brian

 

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: Need help - Jerky movement with large files - CPU usage maxes out

« on: April 26, 2015, 01:20:27 AM »

First off, I really appreciate the input, thanks much!

I haven't yet tried the video card, but will do so in the morning, if I have one that will fit.

Sorry about not posting the controller specs.  There is so much to list to describe a machine, I just tried to keep it simple at first.

I did a quick google search for "galil buffer... problem,limitation,issue".  Didn't come across much except for this post:

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=11716.0;wap2

looks like he had an issue with extremely small line segment (in the range of .0003").  I noticed that my g-code has some of those as well....

I'm seeing quite a bit of info in the galil user manual when searching for "buffer", and some of the numbers I'm seeing don't look too promising, although I'm clearly by no means an expert on this stuff.  I'll dig into the manual a little more tomorrow.  I'll also take a look at the program making the g-cade and see if I can't get these line segments a little bigger.  I must say, the parts are coming out really smooth, but the time delay from these pauses is pretty substantial.

thanks again for the input.  you guys really gave me some good direction to go in.

-Brian

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Need help - Jerky movement with large files - CPU usage maxes out

« on: April 25, 2015, 10:21:24 PM »

I'm using Ethernet.  The controller is a Gail dmc2183.  I might have an extra video card to try in the machine, I'll try that one I get home to see if it helps.  I appreciate the advice.

Brian

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Need help - Jerky movement with large files - CPU usage maxes out

« on: April 25, 2015, 09:55:50 PM »

It does not, it's a pretty basic machine, I only have Gail tools and mach 3 installed in it.

Thanks

Brian

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: Need help - Jerky movement with large files - CPU usage maxes out

« on: April 25, 2015, 09:11:39 PM »

Unfortunately, I tried that and it did not work.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks

Brian

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Need help - Jerky movement with large files - CPU usage maxes out

« on: April 25, 2015, 08:58:30 PM »

Look ahead was set to 20, changed it to 200, no difference.

Thanks

Brian

7

General Mach Discussion / Need help - Jerky movement with large files - CPU usage maxes out

« on: April 25, 2015, 05:25:02 PM »

Hi all!
  I'm having some difficulty trying to do some 3D cutting with very small line segments.  The g code that was produced is just shy of 100K lines.  I can start the program, and it runs fine until it hits about the 20K line mark, then I start getting very jerky movement on all 3 axis.  I also notice that when I start getting the jerky movement, mach 3 is using a full 50% of the CPU (dual core machine), and when it's running fine, it only uses 28-45% of the CPU.

Just to test it out, I took a segment of code out of the middle, where I was getting very jerky movement (about the 39K-40K), and saved this as a new file that was only about 1k lines long.  The machine runs fine with this file, and CPU usage is about 30%.

I've tried disabling the tool path preview to save system resources, but this didn't really help at all.  I'm not sure what else to do, except manually edit the G-code into multiple files, which is something I'd really like to not have to do.

computer specs:
HP DC5700 small form factor
Windows 7 32 bit
Intel Pentium 4 (2 CPU's) 3.00GHz
1Gig ram

Is my computer just not up to par?  Any suggestions on how to get a little more performance out of it?

thanks in advance for any suggestions, they are truly appreciated!

-Brian

P.S. G-code file is attached for reference

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: "go to zero" doesn't go to zero and other issues.

« on: July 07, 2012, 06:28:15 PM »

Thanks for looking into this anyway, Hood.  Maybe it's time to upgrade the G100 to something else guess it's about all i have left to change out at the moment.

thanks again,

Brian

9

General Mach Discussion / Re: "go to zero" doesn't go to zero and other issues.

« on: July 07, 2012, 06:02:48 PM »

That's correct, Hood.  I'm using a G100.  The computer has a 1.5Mhz cpu, motors have 1000 line encoders, so i figure ~190Khz per axis, which should be within the computers range, unless i'm over simplifying things here.  Anything else seem off to you?

let me add to the list of issues.  This is actually the most problematic of all the issues i've been experiencing.  The machine constantly faults out on the z axis during "G0" moves, or when going to the retract plane in a drill cycle.  If i replace "G0 Z.5" with "G1 Z.5 F300" (300ipm is the max speed in my settings), then the program will work.  I can't do this in drill cycles unfortunately.

I've adjusted the max speeds and accelerations numurous times going as low as 1/8 of their current values.  This doesn't seem to have any effect on a G0 Z.5 command, it'll still fault.

I used to have a stepper motor on the z axis, and had the same results.  when the stepper faulted out, i could hear that the pulse rate was considerably higher than when it would work.

I'm 99.99% sure this is not a mechanical issue.  Some attempts to fix this include:
1. installed 2 gas springs on the z axis - the z axis would go up when faulting because the springs were stronger than the weight of the head.  This saved bits, but I still couldn't get a program to run without faulting
2. replaced stepper motor with servo motor 1- no change in z axis faulting out "G0 z.xx" moves
3. replaced servo motor 1 with servo motor 2 - no change in z axis faulting out on "G0 z.xx" moves
4. I've tried a total of 4 different drives - same results
5. uninstalled mach3 and reinstalled - no change
6. spent numurous hours playing with settings in mach 3 and g100 config - still can't get rid of the issue.

I'm truly stumped.  Any and all suggestions are much appreciated!

Brian

10

General Mach Discussion / Re: "go to zero" doesn't go to zero and other issues.

« on: July 07, 2012, 12:01:37 PM »

Hood, attached is my XML file for the machine.  I certainly do appreciatte you taking a look at it.  The steps per are 20320.  I'm using directly coupled servo motors w/ 1000 line encoders driving 5.08TPI screws.  I've also attached the G code files mentioned in my first post.

Rich, i should've clarified that my jogging results from the "cribbage board drill" program are perfectly acceptable to me.  I just posted them to show the contrast between the "vice home" program.  A lot of the things you mentioned pertain to the mechanical nature of the machine, which is all very true, but i'd like to focus more on why mach 3 isn't telling the machine to go to the desired position.  Where i get truly baffled is that i can switch back and forth between each of these programs and get the same results as mentioned in my previous post.  This leads me to believe it's not a settings problem, but i'm all ears for any possible solutions.

Thanks again for the replies!

Brian