Messages

1

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 - ESS - Charge Pump confusion

« on: December 29, 2015, 02:35:39 AM »

Hi Gerhard,

The solution is coming soon.  The next Mach4 ESS plugin will give you the ability to assign up to three pins to one signal.  This will most often be used for the Charge Pump, since the ESS has three Parallel Ports.  You could have up to 3 independent breakout boards connected to the ESS, and each one could need a Charge Pump signal to enable it.  Mach4 doesn't know anything about Charge Pumps, which is why Steve Murphree removed it.  It is up to the plugin to implement it.  Another use for assigning multiple pins to one signal is to drive different polarities of the same signal.  For example, Output #1 could drive one pin as Active High, and another pin as Active Low.  This will not be used as often, but some people might find a use for it.  And of course another possible use is to make wiring easier if one signal needs to go to multiple destinations.

I've made a lot of changes to the configuration and I'm getting close to having it compile again.

Greg

2

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Ethernet Smooth Stepper.

« on: December 03, 2014, 11:55:27 AM »

Hi Scott.  MPGs are really high on the list.  I need to get the outputs working first.  As soon as that is resolved I will get MPGs added.  And then spindle.

Thanks,

Greg

3

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Ethernet Smooth Stepper.

« on: December 03, 2014, 11:53:43 AM »

I'm really sorry to hear about that happening.  It is the first time I've ever heard of that happening.  I really don't think it is the plugin that did it.  I think it is just coincidence.  It uses the same loading mechanism as Mach3.  The signature is a CRC, and the bootloader is evidently corrupt.  Can you run Mach3?  I'll get this fixed for you.  Please contact me at support@warp9td.com if the problem persists.

Greg

4

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Ethernet Smooth Stepper.

« on: December 03, 2014, 11:19:41 AM »

Thank you both for your kind words!  Your support of the product means a lot to everyone.  I'm really happy to be part of the Mach4 revolution.

Greg

5

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Random Change of Z Axis Direction

« on: July 02, 2014, 11:39:00 PM »

Hi Daniel,

Have you resolved this problem?  What output port and pin are you using?  It probably isn't the motor driver, but the next time it happens you can confirm it has swapped polarity by using your multimeter to measure the voltage on the direction input of the motor driver.  First measure the voltage when it is working properly, and then measure it after it has unexpectedly changed direction.  Be sure to remember which multimeter lead you had on each terminal.  You should probably measure the voltage at the output of the ESS, the output of the BOB, the output of the differential drivers, and the input of the motor driver.  You might not need to use the conversion modules since the ESS can output quadrature (A and B) directly instead of Step & Direction.  The setting for each axis is on the ESS's config page.

You said "I check the ports and pins settings Motor Output the Dir low active".  I assume the Dir had been set to low active and you clicked it twice (once to Active High, and again to Active Low) to make sure it is set properly?  Or was it Active High when you opened up the dialog and it should have been Active Low?

What version of Mach are you using?  And what version of the plugin?

Thanks,

Greg

6

One on one phone support. / Re: New to Mach3 - can't jog machine

« on: March 16, 2013, 07:54:41 PM »

The new driver from FTDI has been published on their website, so I downloaded it and made changes to the INF files to make it work with the SS.  The latest plugin wouldn't run right away, so I figured out what was wrong (the FT_Purge function doesn't appear to be supported) and made a change to the plugin.  Please download the new driver and plugin from the Warp9td.com website.  Here are the links:

http://warp9td.com/files/SmoothStepperUSBDriver2.08.28.zip

http://warp9td.com/files/SmoothStepper_v17fc.zip

With the SmoothStepper connected to the Win8 computer, find the SS in the Device Manager.  Right-click on it and choose to update the driver.  You might need to follow the steps you did the first time in order to get Win8 to allow you to install the new driver.

I plan on getting the SS driver digitally signed so that Windows 8 will allow it to be installed without any trouble.  I certainly don't want to support the method you needed to follow...  Sorry for the hassle.

Greg

7

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Smooth Stepper "External EStop Requested" after "Tool Path Display" Motion !

« on: July 19, 2012, 01:28:14 PM »

Hi Jérôme,

Are you 100% positive you are running the new plugin?  Please delete every other SmoothStepper plugin in the Mach3\PlugIns folder.  Then when you run Mach and it won't be able to find the plugin you were using before, and it will ask you which plugin you want to use.  I am guessing that you had previously checked the box that says "Don't ask me again".  Alternatively you could select the pulldown menu "Function Cfg's", and then "Reset Device Sel..." and it will ask you which plugin you want to use the next time you run Mach.

Greg

8

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Smooth Stepper "External EStop Requested" after "Tool Path Display" Motion !

« on: June 19, 2012, 02:32:51 AM »

Hi Jérôme,

This was fixed in the latest plugins:

USB: http://warp9td.com/files/SmoothStepper_v17f.zip
Ethernet:  http://warp9td.com/files/ESS_v10fb2.zip

I am confident that these plugins will fix the problem, but if it doesn't please let me know.

Thanks,

Greg

9

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Smooth Stepper "External EStop Requested" after "Tool Path Display" Motion !

« on: June 22, 2011, 03:23:59 AM »

Hello all together,

I actually tested Greg's idea and changed the timeout of the watchdog from 0.5 to 3.1 (max possible).

The problem is solved 

I am glad that it is working now!

Greg thank you very much for the detailed help. I only wished the so callled german support would act like you did. 

I am sorry that they were not able to help.  I really don't expect them to know the inner details of the SmoothStepper.  So please don't be hard on them!  In fact, it took me a few days until it hit me what it was.

Greg

10

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Smooth Stepper "External EStop Requested" after "Tool Path Display" Motion !

« on: June 19, 2011, 01:55:05 PM »

Hi Matthias,

I don't know why the plugin would matter.  I will give this some more thought.  With respect to the graphics, I would not necessarily expect a more expensive card to be better.  I will see if Brian knows what it might be.

Regards,

Greg