Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / No pulse frequency - but drivertest is ok

« on: August 17, 2011, 11:05:29 AM »

Really stuck here and looking for some help...

Trying to get past some other issues, we changed from ACPI to standard PC per the XP optimizations. We used to get a steady pulse frequency on the diagnostics page, but now we get something that bounces around in the sub 100 range (2, 38, 15, 80, etc). It will drive the machine, but we are having issues that we don't know if they are related to this, noise, or something else. The first thing we'd like to do is get the pulse frequency issue resolved. When we run the drivertest, it reports that it is 'excellent', but the diagnostics still look bad.

Desperate for some guidance here...

2

General Mach Discussion / driver test ok, but diagnostics shows low pulse frequency

« on: August 14, 2011, 05:35:45 PM »

Still battling the machine here and looking for some insight...

We went back and switched off of ACPI mode per the XP optimizations, but everything has been up and operational previously. No reinstalls or anything, but we ran the drivertest and it says it's excellent. But in Mach3 in the diagnostics page, the pulse frquency keeps coming up with numbers like 3, 18, 30, etc. Before we made the switch it would always read like 25001.

Now, jogging it, or running gcode, it seems to work fine through a full run (well, except for the problem we had before we switched out of acpi). What did we do to Mach3 to make it not see the pulse frequency? How can we make it show it again?

3

General Mach Discussion / Caps on inputs

« on: August 02, 2011, 11:39:28 PM »

I apologize if I overlooked this in searching, but I'm trying to resolve a bit of a noise issue and need some help. I have a C10 with the input pins set to pull down and Mach3 set to Active Low. We had some estop/limit issues a while back and put a .1uF cap on the estop input. But we also put them on the motor inputs as well for X, Y, and Z. Now, on that board, there is +5v next to the input pins e're using (10, 12, 13). We put the caps between the inputs and the +5v right next to it, but is that maybe the wrong way to go on this? Should we instead be putting it between the input and ground? Overall, the machine works okay at the start of a run but after a short bit, starts to drift and get real ugly. We're pretty sure it's interference (got better after eliminating some wireless need it), but can't figure out to clean it up completely.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

4

General Mach Discussion / working in simulation mode

« on: September 02, 2010, 09:07:02 PM »

okay - dumb question about simulation mode...

Watching videos, reading things, etc, I was under the impression that I could pretty much fully simulate a machine, down to the inputs. So I set up my hot keys to act like the home switches - went to diagnostics and watched them light up. Then I started playing with trying to ref home and such. Worked in the video like a champ. But when I press my home 'hot key' - which I watch light up in diagnostics, the reference just keeps going.  As a matter of fact, I even have it tied to the limit switches as well (so all light up, as if the entire axis' limits were tied together), but nothing happens.

Did I misinterpret the way simulation mode works or is there some basic configuration I'm missing?

5

General Mach Discussion / Trying to troubleshoot inputs

« on: August 08, 2010, 03:41:23 PM »

We're still trying to set up a new machine and we've got the outputs working, but now the inputs, particularly getting estop to work, is giving us a headache. Not sure I have all this figured correctly, so let me explain how I'm thinking this needs to be wired with the C10 and a normally closed physical switch for an estop switch.

There are two possible ways to do this, with Mach3 set to look for active low or with active low "off", or active high.

My first thinking is I'll set it to active low, because the default for pin 10 anyway. So, I set estop Mach3 to port 1, pin 10, active low.

Now, I wire +5v through my estop switch AND I set the input pull-up/pull-down resistors to "pull-down" (note I'm not talking about the other set of pull-up/pull-down resistors, this is the set for the input pins and is over near those pins). The thinking here is that when the switch is closed, I am sending 5v to the pin and on through to the computer. But when it opens, I want to make sure my pull-down setting goes the right way and "open" in this case should make sure that pin 10 goes to zero. I'm assuming that the pull-down will flow through and I now should be sending zero to my parallel port and all should be good.

Alternatively, I could set the estop in mach3 to active high instead. But to do this, I wire ground through my switch first. Now, I have to change my input jiumpers topull UP instead, because I want to get 5v when the switch is pressed and we have an open circuit. Now, even if the circuit is somehow dead to from pin 10 out of the C10, the natural state of the pin on the port itself is to be high anyway, so this should make sure that, when the circuit opens, I end up with a positive signal on my pin and should trigger the estop.

Now - the first question - does all of that make sense? Am I following the circuit logic correctly or is there something I've got screwed up?

Second point - none of this seems to be working!!! It doesn't seem to matter what way we configure the board, mach3 just says external estop pressed and we can't do a darned thing. I even thought it was the parallel port on the computer, but I set mach3 at active low and grounded pin 10 on the port itself (simulating what I should be getting from the C10) and it worked like a champ.

Can anyone offer any sage advice on this? If I had any hair, it would all be pulled out by now!

Thanks,
Don