Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 Gecko G540 Drive Spindle RPM won't display please help!

« on: January 18, 2013, 10:12:10 AM »

OK saw the answer to another post from Peter on spindle calibration and set it up as he suggested

Thanks to all that helped out,

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 Gecko G540 Drive Spindle RPM won't display please help!

« on: January 17, 2013, 02:37:10 PM »

Ok,

Thanks to all for your help, I ended up buying a switch from Soigeneris and it works pefectly now. I get the rpm display and turn the spindle on and off. Now I have one last issue if anyonoe could help out I would appreciate it. How do you calibrate thye spindle rpm to what you actually punch ie m3 s750 only is say 150 rpm how to I tune in the rpm. I understand how to get the display tuned in but the actual speed I'm having an issue with.

Again thanks in advance

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 Gecko G540 Drive Spindle RPM won't display please help!

« on: December 27, 2012, 08:11:57 PM »

Ok So i had a Baumer Electric CFAM 18N1600 prox switch which had NPN capability NO and dialed it in so I could see the light on the switch going on and off. Now I still don't get the rpm to display. My gues is its wired incorrectly or the pins are noted incorrectly.

I have the plus and minus wires going directly to the 24v power supply that I am using to power the cooling fan. I have the output wire going to pin number 1 on the gecko drive. Now when I use the Fluke on it with the switch made it shows 12V and when its not made it shows a small voltage like .6 volts.  

Do I have to daisy chain all the grounds to the gecko drive I saw that somewhere? Currently I only have the 48v + and - power going to the gecko?

then I have the index input set to port 1 pin 10 . Now I am assuming since the wire is set to pos 1 on the gecko and that correlates to db25 pin 10 that would be the pin number please correct me if I am wrong

Do I also have to set input 1 to port 1 pin 10 as well? I've tried both they didn't seem to work.

Argh so frustrating I really thought this part would be a peice of cake compared to the rest but it has really got me pulling my hair out I was hoping to learning the rest of the program by now and I am reading and rereading the setup manual looking for something I've missed

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 Gecko G540 Drive Spindle RPM won't display please help!

« on: December 27, 2012, 06:33:05 PM »

Thank You Jeff for the quick response I looked at the spec on this sensor and it doesn't say NPN I have a different sensor that says it is NPN so I may have to try to get to work

Thanks Again

5

General Mach Discussion / Mach 3 Gecko G540 Drive Spindle RPM won't display please help!

« on: December 27, 2012, 02:53:48 PM »

OK I'm new to the forum but I bought a gecko G540 drive and  license to mach3 and set it up on a 7x14 lathe. I was able to get all axis moving and the spindle turning via PWM BUT I can't get the actual rpm to display. I am using a 4" disc attached to the end of the spindle with a 1/2" slot cut in it. I am reading it with a Sharp GP1A75E photointerupter I got from work free! I wired it up and when it is on the slot the output wire reads like 5 volts dc and when it is on the disc it reads .007 VDC. I have run the input + wire over to the gecko pin1 and the ground to pin 12 and I've tried every thing I can find to get any rpm disiplay on the spindle readout.

Does this photointurrupter sound compatible to use in this application?

Does my wiring sound right?

what port pin combination do I need to set to get this working?

Please help this is my last hurdle to actually getting the lathe running.

Thanks everyone for your time in advance,

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: HELP!!! Wired my drivers can't get my motors to turn

« on: January 15, 2009, 09:00:32 PM »

Doing a little searching I found out the wire I have is a null cross db25 belkin wire, -  I just found a pass thru db25 m/m wire on ebay. Let's hope that's it.

Sixgun

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: HELP!!! Wired my drivers can't get my motors to turn

« on: January 15, 2009, 07:41:27 PM »

Alright I might be getting somewhere I got a cable from a friend male to male extension and I only get resistance thru pin 25? all other pins read open. This isn't correct right??? If not correcct where can I buy the correct cable. 

Sixgun

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: HELP!!! Wired my drivers can't get my motors to turn

« on: January 15, 2009, 07:33:07 PM »

Sam,

Rechecked my breakout board and I don't have an enable on it - do I need one??. I was referencing the enable on my stepper drive BUT i just reread the info on the stepper drive and it says that the enable is normally closed meaning it will enable control to the motors UNLESS wired so I don't think that's it. I'm going to check my cable pin by pin for continuity next. is there some way to read voltage at the cable when trying to control the motors from MACH3??

9

General Mach Discussion / Re: HELP!!! Wired my drivers can't get my motors to turn

« on: January 15, 2009, 06:31:32 PM »

Sam

OK I kinda thought maybe this was the problem but I wasn't sure,  so if I understand you correctly if I run enable - to ground ?  and run 5v to enable + on my stepper drives, this will allow mach 3 to communicate with my motors. I only want to be sure cause I went through the Mach manual and my stepper drive info sheet after reading your post and I couldn't really see where it spelled it out. But some of the terms in the manuals I don't really understand.

And THANK YOU in advance for your help and patience.

Thanks,

Sixgun

10

General Mach Discussion / HELP!!! Wired my drivers can't get my motors to turn

« on: January 14, 2009, 08:53:56 PM »

OK

hardware:
automation direct power supplies, motor drivers, motors, motor cables
cnc4pc breakout board

Wired drives and motors and tested using the test dip switch and the motors turned in both directions - switched back to run
stepper driver set to 1/2 step

P4 IBM 2 gig computer.

hooked up via lpt port

ran thru video tutorials up to motor tuning and this is where I realized I had a problem - motors wouldn't turn with arrow keys checked my motor pin out and wiring. LPT port is on board existing lpt port set to default 384 eps mode no interupts

motor shaft locked up tight.

Is there a way to test??

I wire up the step- and direction - to the breakout board -  enable is not wired is this the problem?? if so where does this go??

Any and all help appreciated

Sixgun