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Mach4 General Discussion / Unreliable jogging - New machine Mach 4 Demo, CNC4PC C82, ESS, Clearpath

« on: June 28, 2023, 06:43:29 AM »

Ok well the machine is not new, but rather an old Bridgeport Boss 5 CNC.  I had this machine running with steppers and Mach 3 years ago.  Then I decided to upgrade it,  long story that you are not interested in.  Got side tracked by life and a couple of years went by and now I'm starting over, so it's a new conversion and nearly everything has changed except the old iron.  I'm using Mach 4 demo, CNC4PC C82 break out board, Ethernet smooth stepper, ClearPath Integrated Servo Motors (CPM-SDSK-3421S-RLS).  I got 3 axises jogging, but it's acting a bit weird.  Sometimes I command it to jog and it does not move even though the DRO indicates a move.  Most of the time it does jog, but sometimes it seems my jog command doesn't move the axis.  This happens on all 3 axises.  Any ideas?  I'm not even sure where to start looking, is this a Mach issue, Clearpath issue?  My feeling it's a setting or configuration I need to make in Mach for the clearpath motors.  Any suggestions?  Thanks!!

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General Mach Discussion / Mouse Sluggish while spindle is running

« on: June 01, 2011, 10:11:10 AM »

I've been using Mach3 for about 1 year now on an old Bridgeport BOSS5 converted to Gecko's & Mach 3.  I currently run a PMDX126 & a PMDX 107 to control the spindle speed with a VFD.  Everything works great, it's just that when the spindle is running the mouse is slow to respond.  It appears to me that the computer is so busy controlling pulse width frequencies for the VFD and/or the Charge pump that there is little processing power left for anything else.  Is this as simple as I need a faster PC or something?  My machine is a Athlon 64 3000+,  1.8 Ghz single core.  Would a multi core processor solve this?  Or is this perhaps a setting or configuration issue?  I run Windows 7 32 bit.  It's not that big of a problem, just occasionally I want to quickly set a feed rate override quickly and the mouse isn't moving for a second or two.  Once the mouse starts moving it seems move around OK with no effect on the machining.  I think my biggest concern is that if this PC is running on the edge of it's capability someday soon I'll be over the edge and I better upgrade before this happens.  If I need to upgrade my motherboard how fast should I go?  At what point are you just wasting money buying too fast of a processor that will never be utilized? 

Anyone going to the CNC workshop in Ann Arbor? Perhaps I'll see you there.

Thanks