Topics

1

SmoothStepper USB / USB to Ethernet adapter for ESS Smoothstepper?

« on: December 02, 2014, 01:58:43 PM »

Would an USB to Ethernet adapter work? Many new laptops don't have built-in ethernet ports, so I'm wondering if a USB to ethernet adapter would work. This still manages to avoid the grounding, noise issues right? Otherwise I could use a USB smoothstepper, but it has a reputation of being less reliable.

Thanks!

2

General Mach Discussion / Problem: Losing position if more than one axis wired up to breakout board

« on: April 11, 2012, 03:37:36 PM »

Hi all,


My system:
I'm using Smoothstepper USB to a breakout board with step/direction servo drives. The machine is using ballscrews and linear bearings, no backlash compensation, very little friction/sticking in axis movement.

The problem:
I've been struggling with a mysterious loss of position with my machine. It is extremely bad such that I'll run some G-code for 20 seconds then send it back home, only to find it off of zero by an inch. It seems to only happen mostly to one axis, although sometimes I can readily see both X and Y positions off. Also, if I feed rate override to a lower speed (like 10%), it seems to exacerbate the problem, or at least make it more obvious. It's strange because I can run a lot of code at high speed (feedrate override 200%) and be off by less than if I ran the same code at a low speed (feedrate override 10%).

My troubleshooting:
I've swapped drives, swapped signal cables, fiddled with Mach3 settings, all without a good result. I think I may be on to something, though. Last night I tried disconnecting all the signal cables (enable, step, direction, GND) from every axis except one. With only one axis wired up, it seems that the problem goes away. However, once I connect another axis to the breakout board, the problem resurfaces. It doesn't matter if the drive is disabled in Mach, just the fact that the other axis is wired to the breakout board seems to induce the position loss.

Any ideas of the cause?

Many thanks!

3

SmoothStepper USB / Smoothstepper config problems with known, good Parallel Port XML

« on: November 10, 2009, 04:30:16 AM »

Hi all,

This forum seems pretty quiet...

I've been trying to set up my Smoothstepper. My software is all up to date. I'm using Mach3 R3.042.032 (released Nov9), smoothstepper USBDriver2.04.16.zip and Plug-in Beta2_v015ogx2.m3p (released Nov7). I have a good XML file that works perfectly with the parallel port. However, when I try the same XML with Smoothstepper, my X and Z drives to not enable while my Y drive enables but does not move. Any idea where to start with the troubleshooting?

Thanks!

4

General Mach Discussion / Z-axis motor tuning problem - resets to 0 automatically (Smoothstepper)

« on: November 08, 2009, 02:11:30 AM »

Hi,

I have a new installation of Mach3 (lastest version R3.042.031) and my Motor Tuning for Z-axis resets to 0 as soon as I touch the slider bar or input a number. The X and Y axes work fine but the Z axis starts at the default value of 120 mm/min Velocity and 4 mm/sec^2 Acceleration, then as soon as I touch the slider the blue line on the graph disappears and no matter what I do - input a value or adjust the sliders - the blue line never returns to the graph and the Velocity and Acceleration values stay at 0. Any idea what's wrong? As it is I can't tune the Z-axis.

Thanks!!

Edit: Problem occurs only with Smoothstepper, not with Printer Driver.