Messages

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Recommendations on BEST Breakout Board by General Mach3 Users !

« on: September 16, 2015, 06:53:02 AM »

Just thought Id drop in and say I got my pmdx board yesterday got it in and got the x and a axis working right off the bat. Im really liking this board so far. It has a lot of additional features that the other boards do not have. Ill probably be adding the pwm spindle board. I think their model is the pmdx 107 as well as a smooth stepper board. The documentation is well written and thorough as well.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Recommendations on BEST Breakout Board by General Mach3 Users !

« on: September 11, 2015, 08:24:29 AM »

To hell with the longs motor bob. I replaced and upgraded it with pmdx's 126 bob. I want to thank everyone that posted to this topic which helped me find pmdx. I have the manual printed out already, I just ordered the board and can't wait for it to arrive. Any tips or pointers, possibly wiring diagrams from successful setups? Thanks again everyone.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Recommendations on BEST Breakout Board by General Mach3 Users !

« on: September 03, 2015, 03:33:37 PM »

Oh OK I think I get the difference now. So pretty much anything other than a parallel port board is considered a motion controller because they need to use plugins. So the pmdx 126 board is a breakout board only. But if I also add the smooth stepper card that would make it a motion controller then? Thanks for the input I never thought about this difference. I just knew some had plugins and some didnt.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Recommendations on BEST Breakout Board by General Mach3 Users !

« on: September 03, 2015, 12:11:19 PM »

What do you mean? I wouldn't be able to hook these up to my drivers and run?

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Recommendations on BEST Breakout Board by General Mach3 Users !

« on: September 03, 2015, 11:01:18 AM »

I'm currently looking for a breakout board as well. I bought a kit from longs motor and the Bob arrived defective, and I decided to upgrade instead of go after the warranty. I've seen the zhc mach motion boards. But after reading this thread, a couple of you guys mentioned pmdx and their 126 board, which I'm looking into. I was also considering this board:
http://m.ebay.com/itm/CNC-200KHz-6-Axis-USB-Mach3-Card-Controller-Breakout-Interface-Board-Aluminum-/261719017210?nav=SEARCH

But, I think I'm going to end up with the pmdx. First there here in the USA. And Second it looks like they have good documentation on the product, which longs totally lacks. And lastly it has good reviews.

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Initial setup help

« on: August 31, 2015, 10:42:38 AM »

Thanks for the recommendations I'll check them out. And my board is the cheap parallel port 6 axis board that comes with the longs motor kits.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Initial setup help

« on: August 27, 2015, 05:50:04 PM »

Does anyone have a parallel port pin diagram of which signals are which. I think my breakout board might be defective but I have no way of testing it without knowing which pins do what. Or is it as simple as taking the ports and pins settings and lining them right up with the pin numbers on the parallel port? If it is I think I'm going to go with the 4 axis Bob from xhc I think it was called mach motion or something. It's got to be better then this one I got from longs motors. Their documentation is just complete garbage. You should see the wiring diagram that they distribute with it. I guess you get what you pay for though.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Initial setup help

« on: August 27, 2015, 05:55:25 AM »

Hey thanks for the suggestion, I don't think that's it my steppers are pretty loud I can her them when they move. Also, I reversed the motors and got the same results. I'll double check my sets crews on the gears though. Thanks again for the suggestion.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Initial setup help

« on: August 26, 2015, 06:25:24 PM »

Here is a little more info...
I just switched the driver and everything to the y axis and tried to slave the axis to the y and the same thing is happening. It's like I am not getting any direction signals. I even tried unchecking active low on both setups but nothing changes. So I am unable to get any axis to slave and I am also not getting direction signals.

10

General Mach Discussion / Initial setup help

« on: August 26, 2015, 06:14:25 PM »

Hello, I was wondering if anyone could spot what I'm doing wrong here. I can't for the life of me figure this out. I have done everything I could think of. I'm hooking the motors up, more specifically trying to slave the a axis to the x axis. The x axis will move in one direction only. The a axis won't do anything. They're both enabled etc. I will upload my xml file in hopes that someone can see my error.