Messages

1

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: Needing help to get set up

« on: March 17, 2013, 09:47:49 AM »

So, after getting PC #2 to come on, yeah it's been sitting for a year lol, we installed Mach3 and ran through the settings and voila! the motors are turning! So now the determination is that the new card we put in our main PC is no good. Going to go ahead and save the settings and move them over to the main PC to double check but we're fairly certain that it won't work. Thank you for your help Brett! Troubleshooting can be a major pain and it certainly makes you rack your brain. Just glad that we had another PC sitting around to work with. We had that one laying around because there was something wrong with it, but we diagnosed it to be the video card and just removed it and used the onboard.

2

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: Needing help to get set up

« on: March 16, 2013, 08:28:37 PM »

Are there any known compatibility issues with any parallel port cards? We are certain that the wiring is correct and that there is nothing wrong with the PC. This leads us to only two things; the card and the cable, both of which are brand new. Going to try to load up an older computer we have laying around and see what happens.

3

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: Needing help to get set up

« on: March 16, 2013, 07:53:44 PM »

The pins are roughly 5v each. I did have a few dead one's (pin 15 for example) not sure if they should have no reading?? When trying to move the motor with the arrow keys there is no change in voltage, is that right?

4

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: Needing help to get set up

« on: March 16, 2013, 06:00:56 PM »

Or is it possible for someone to post a screen shot of a properly functioning diagnostics screen so I know what we are working toward achieving?

5

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: Needing help to get set up

« on: March 16, 2013, 04:56:22 PM »

Yes, we checked the cable yesterday and it is a straight through. It's a brand new cable and parallel port which according to the device manager the port is functioning properly. If I actually owned a parallel printer I would hook it up and test it out but mine is wireless. Tell me something, in Mach3 on the diagnostics screen should all of the pins be lit up green?

6

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: Needing help to get set up

« on: March 16, 2013, 01:28:27 PM »

Ok, the voltage readings from the parallel port are just shy of 5v. The voltages that I gave are from the stepper drive to the motor. Sorry if I am not being very detailed, wiring is not my specialty.

7

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: Needing help to get set up

« on: March 16, 2013, 07:41:44 AM »

Yes. 4.7v from the PC. At B- almost 20v, 17.99 at B+, 1.99 at A+, and 2.02 at A-. I "thought" that I should be getting less at B than A so not sure what is going on.

8

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: Needing help to get set up

« on: March 15, 2013, 09:27:16 PM »

Am running Windows 7 32-bit; yeah I found out all about the 64 bit after the first day of racking my brain lol. The driver test actually worked with the 32-bit stating that it is excellent. Not on the actual pc right now that is connected to the machine so no exact numbers to offer right now. How do you check for signals coming out of the parallel port? I can say that I am getting 8 pins lit up on the diagnostics screen if that helps.

9

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: Needing help to get set up

« on: March 15, 2013, 09:19:25 PM »

Update ... found yet another wiring diagram, this one with actual wording on it and the wires were wrong from the stepper drive to the motor. Wired it up with white stripes on the positives and solids on the negatives (red and blue on A and green and black on B) and now the motor cannot be turned by hand. Still cannot get Mach3 to actually move the motors tho.

10

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: problem getting mach3 to make my motor turn

« on: March 15, 2013, 07:23:46 PM »

Similar problem here as well, really need some help with this. This is now the third day and still no motors turning. We ordered our setup from automation technology and cannot get any decent support. Seems one person answers the phone with a simple "hello" (my guess is that it's the guys personal number) and then barely let us get a word in edgewise to even describe the problem. He insisted that we email the problem to him ... really? Already got him on the phone but I need to email him? After a little bit on the phone with him he is stating that we have our unit wired up properly and that the problem is with Mach3.