Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Tool hight measuring after tool change - macro ?

« on: January 30, 2012, 01:59:12 AM »

Hi there. Nice explanation, thats much clearer. Thanks.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Tool hight measuring after tool change - macro ?

« on: January 29, 2012, 07:48:17 AM »

Hi there thanks for the reply. I had some time today to have a good play with it and now I've got it figured out. I agree with what your saying. I don't think I'm going to be doing much mass production work on my mill as its only a hobby of mine. I think I will apply the KISS formula....Keep It Simple Stupid!

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Tool hight measuring after tool change - macro ?

« on: January 28, 2012, 09:28:24 PM »

Hi guys, just been trying to understand how the Big Tex's macro works. Could someone please explain what the 'Initial Zero Setup' button does and also the 'Tool Change Zero Setup' button. I was watching Ger21's video which helps a lot but I don't get why you need a fixed and movable touch plate. Surely all you need is a movable touch plate over the top of you material work surface to zero your tool.

In the video, when Ger21 hits the 'Initial Zero Setup' button it zeros the tool to the work surface and also the fixed touch plate which I don't get.

Sorry for the stupid questions!!

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Motor Problem

« on: November 14, 2011, 06:59:53 PM »

Hi the current set resistor I used was a 3.3k ohm resistor. My motors are rated to 3A per phase. According to the G540 gecko drive instructions you multiply the 3A by 1000. So I am using a slightly larger resistor which might cause a slight reduction in motor performance, but at the moment I am just happy to see some progress.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Motor Problem

« on: November 13, 2011, 07:41:06 PM »

Hi to anyone that was following this thread. To conclude, I bought a G540 Geckodrive from Ebay for approximately $270 AUD delivered. Besides it taking almost three weeks to arrive, (USPS seem pretty useless!) the G540 has worked like a charm. I followed the setup guide on the Gecko website. I wish I had bought this drive in the first place.

One thing I have noticed is my motors get quite warm/hot. I believe this is because of my 24VDC power supply. But a short term solution I have found is to keep your e-stop tripped. Firstly its safer. And secondly, although your motors aren't moving they have 'holding torque' which essentially means the motors are still 'working' and will heat up if left. If you just hit the e-stop you will hear the motors stop their high pitched noise. Thirdly, if your mill is in the garage, don't use it when the weather is really hot.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Motor Problem

« on: October 17, 2011, 07:17:30 AM »

Yes this is what I will most probably do. Everyone seems happy with their Gecko drives!

Thanks for your help!

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Motor Problem

« on: October 17, 2011, 06:50:06 AM »

Thanks for that info.

You say that some parallel port cards you can change the output voltage? I guess thats not possible if the port is built into the motherboard?

Not sure about what you mean by:

Did you try the motors with the BOB removed?

The motors won't move if the BOB isn't plugged in I think I'm missing what your saying....

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: Motor Problem

« on: October 17, 2011, 02:58:24 AM »

Just tried moving my computer closer to the BOB and used the shorter parallel cable with RICH's xml. file. Nothing new; motor is locked stiff no movement. I've tried jogging in the motor tuning window and I've tried jogging by pressing 'tab' and using the jogging window.

I'm running out of ideas damn it!

9

General Mach Discussion / Re: Motor Problem

« on: October 17, 2011, 02:21:57 AM »

Yeah the last straw that was what I was thinking. The voltage coming out of the back of the computer parallel port is 3.375V the exact same as whats coming out of the parallel port cable. But of course voltage drop only occurs when you have current flowing so I can't really compare the two.

I'll try a couple more things next but I have some questions.

So is 5V or 3.3V the standard for Hi signals on the parallel port?
So a geckodrive G540 doesn't work with 3.3V?

10

General Mach Discussion / Re: Motor Problem

« on: October 17, 2011, 01:24:13 AM »

Hi, so I've measured what you guys have been saying and I'm getting approximately 0V for a Lo Signal and 3.3V for a Hi signal.

Tweakie when you say

If the max voltage you get is 3.3Volts then you may have a problem with that BoB.

I'm taking that to mean the BOB is not compatible with the computer? Because this was all working 12 months ago.

Do you guys think it could be to do with the length of the parallel port cable? When I had it set up 12 months previously the parallel port cable was only 1 metre long. The cable I'm now using would be approximately 5 metres. Is it possible voltage drop is the problem. I guess I could check the actual voltage coming out of the parallel port on the computer (its just a pain to get to )

I'll have another look. cheers.