Topics

1

SmoothStepper USB / ESS with C11G R9 wiring

« on: October 09, 2020, 11:04:41 AM »

Hi, I have an ESS and the C11G R9 breakout board. I have joined the Warp9 board but they don't seem to be too active over there or even let me post my questions. So, I have a 4' by 8' CNC router that I am converting to ESS with Mach3, through the C11G BOB. the C11G instructions PDF is vague to the point of being awful. Same goes for the graphic of the hookups. Copied from the PDF:

6.0 VARIABLE SPEED CONTROL
This function lets you control your spindle with PWM signal. It converts the PWM signal
into an analog (0-10VDC).
This function can also be used on many DC motor controllers by replacing the
potentiometer that controls the speed.
Requirements:
It requires a power supply external +12VDC@ 30mA for the analog output
WARNING: To keep the output signals optoisolated, these must not have
common ground or connections to current with other circuits you are using.
You will require a voltmeter to fine tune your system.
Wiring:
Before connecting anything, please be sure to read your VFD’s manual and make sure
you understand all the safety issues.

This tells me almost nothing as to what ports to use, but mostly that it suggests to use the onboard mechanical relays to control the VFD. This makes no sense to me. I need to hook up the forward and reverse, how would that work from a relay, am I supposed to use up two of the relays for this? Also it is vague about power requirements, there are two places for 5VDC, is one of these a supply or do I supply 5V to that point?

2

General Mach Discussion / New PC, Mach3 not communicating

« on: March 21, 2020, 03:00:44 PM »

Hi, long time since I was last here, shows how reliable this software and systems are. Mach3 lathe, been running great for the last 14 years, the PC finally died, so I got another, reloaded windows XP on the same disk as repair, happy because all my files and settings came back, yay. I go to run Mach3 turn and I think the new PC is not sending anything to the parallel port. Any ideas?

3

General Mach Discussion / Stepper running rough

« on: May 13, 2011, 10:54:36 PM »

Hi, my 13 by 40 Mach controlled lathe has an issue with it's X axis motor. It sounded like a bearing was going out on it or the ballscrew. It has a 1:2 drive belt up to the cross slide, so I removed the belt and rotated the screw by hand. It felt good. The motor also felt normal. I ran the motor by itself with the belt off and at higher speeds it sounded rough. I wondered if the stepper had lost a segment or something, don't know if they can do that. I had a new spare motor so I swapped it, and it was the same. Seems like it's missing steps with the rough sound, sort of intermittent, but I'm not sure. I had changed nothing before this, have just run the snot out of the thing the last few months. It also sounds rough at slow speeds, even with the belt drive off, so it's not loaded. I tried lowering the max speed, it did nothing, and why would it when the motor sounds abnormal at slower speeds anyway. Possible for a Gecko drive to go bad? Have 201's I believe or something like that, have great cooling on them.
   DaveA.

4

General Mach Discussion / Stepper size and max speed

« on: March 21, 2011, 02:01:43 PM »

So after I upgraded my CNC lathe to the latest Mach release, forgot which one it was, there was something different about how it puts out its pulses, and I had to lower the max rapid speed to keep it from stalling. I used to have 55"/min rapid on the Z axis, now all I can get away with is 35"/min. SO, I was thinking of going to a larger stepper motor on the Z axis. It has a NEMA34 640oz/in now, I could easily go to the longer 1200 or so one. I know, more voltage is the answer but I am stuck with the 42 volt system I have now. Question is, will the larger torque stepper give me more speed on the same 42 volt supply? Thanks to all.
                                        DaveA.

5

General Mach Discussion / Reprap 3D printing machines

« on: March 06, 2011, 11:49:16 AM »

Have been looking at the Reprap 3D printers. Really a 3 axis CNC with a 4th axis to drive the print head stepper, this advances the plastic filament material. Anyone consider adding some code to Mach to run one of those machines?

6

General Mach Discussion / Keygrabber improvements

« on: January 27, 2011, 02:21:44 PM »

I have started using Keygrabber on my lathe recently. It is really good for use with a remote numerical keypad on the door for jogging, I added buttons for rapid and incremental jogging. But Keygrabber seems to have stuff that needs working on to make it mesh with Mach better. Could keygrabber be totally intergrated into Mach somehow, right now I have to start it seperately and then it can be finicky. The program will move off to the lower toolbar on XP, but I am not really sure if it is still running, you have to click on it, then it won't come up again. I tried making it start on Windows startup but it still needs attention to work right. It wont let Windows shut down if it is still running either. All in all, a really wonderful addition to Mach, but I think it still needs work to be great.

7

General Mach Discussion / Keygrabber tips?

« on: January 06, 2011, 11:27:28 PM »

Mostly have my lathe working well now, and Keygrabber seems to work in this new version of Mach as well. I have a numeric keypad up on the enclosure door of the lathe and use it for jogging up to the stock and setting Z zero etc. So, I used keygrabber and changed the "/" to a shift button so I now have rapid there instead of having to go back to the main keyboard for rapids. Question, do you always have to start Keygrabber up to make it function in Mach, or is there something I can do to make it always work without starting Keygrabber each time?
Thanks, DaveA.

8

General Mach Discussion / Allen Bradley 8400 to Mach

« on: December 13, 2010, 09:22:16 PM »

I bought a used Lagun mill with an Allen Bradley 8400 control. I haven't actually gotten the thing yet but am wondering if the control is no good, will Mach work with the drives it might have? Will know more about it on Thursday. Thanks.

9

General Mach Discussion / Upgrade from 1.84 on lathe

« on: December 13, 2010, 07:18:00 PM »

Well I finally did the upgrade from 1.84 turn to 3.042. I backed up my XML and ran the instal file, and then rebooted. After I started it up again and got the silverblue screen set installed I tried to home the machine. When I power up the system and then click the E stop screen button off the lathe makes the fimilar noise of the steppers going into power and holding so I know that there is something right. All the tools and things were still there, all looks good. My problem is that the steppers don't actually move. The readouts show they are but I have no movement. I am not honestly sure of what ports and pins should be what, it's been years since I did anything real as far as maintainence to the thing, and because the steppers go into hold I think I have stuff right there, but no movement. I have attached my XML so anyone can loook and maybe let me know what's wrong? thanks.

10

General Mach Discussion / Major/ minor arcs in turn

« on: May 29, 2009, 12:11:09 AM »

It was suggested to override a feed speed problem in Turn that you use the R value instead of using I and K arc centers. I like the R value because it is faster to hand code, as I do that a lot. However, with the R value I don't seem to be able to control the arc Major or minor and seem to always end up with the major arcs. I looked through it all and I bet I'm missing something simple, but how do you force Mach Turn to differentiate between major and minor arcs? Thanks.
             DaveA.