Messages

3511

General Mach Discussion / Re: Some starting advice for two steppers on one axis

« on: February 27, 2016, 01:26:02 AM »

Although the CWD556 does indeed allow two motors to be driven from one output you must bear in mind that it does not allow for synchronising the two motor’s exact position as, for example, in gantry squaring.

Tweakie.

3512

General Mach Discussion / Re: Some starting advice for two steppers on one axis

« on: February 26, 2016, 04:15:33 AM »

So by "Slaving" the two.. Do you mean simply wiring the two motors into the X axis output, and the two motors into Y axis output?
If so, Will that not split the voltage supply to each?  Or cause problems with current draw? 

It is not a good idea to just connect two motors together - each motor should have it's own driver (set-up as an axis) and then be 'slaved' as Jeff has described.

Tweakie.

3513

General Mach Discussion / Re: usb or ethernet controller for Mach 3 & 4?

« on: February 26, 2016, 01:40:37 AM »

The Warp9, Ethernet Smooth Stepper will operate with both Mach3 and Mach4 http://warp9td.com/

Tweakie.

3514

General Mach Discussion / Re: X and A

« on: February 25, 2016, 04:57:10 AM »

It's not a good idea to use a Y lead with stepper motors - one driver for each motor is best.

If you can gain access to the unused parallel port pins then there is no reason why you cannot just add another single axis driver.

Tweakie.

3515

General Mach Discussion / Re: change from demo to license

« on: February 25, 2016, 02:09:34 AM »

The license file you purchased " Mach1Lic.dat " should be copied into your Mach3 folder. On restart Mach3 should then display that it is licensed...

Tweakie.

3516

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: The Arc Command

« on: February 23, 2016, 11:58:18 AM »

BTW - Am I right in thinking 90.1 and 91.1 are a purely Mach3 thing?

They are both used in LinuxCNC as well.

Tweakie.

3517

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: The Arc Command

« on: February 23, 2016, 11:19:33 AM »

Excellent work Rick, thanks for sharing.

Tweakie.

3518

Modbus / Re: Arduino Modbus, Complete, Documented and free

« on: February 23, 2016, 02:06:21 AM »

The problem I have is when spindle starts, comunication  is broken, perhaps there is some interference.

I think the electrical noise issue with the spindle should be resolved first.

Tweakie.

3519

General Mach Discussion / Re: Stepper motor acting funny

« on: February 23, 2016, 02:02:22 AM »

Hi Beni,

I think you have given this it's best shot.

From your first picture the driver test results indicate that your PC (fine with your existing controller) will not work successfully with Mach3. If you can obtain another PC, with parallel port (or with PCI slot to fit a parallel port card), to try then this may be the way forward.

Your Step2600 controller uses 1/2 step microstepping which may never give truly smooth movement, at least not as smooth as 1/8th microstepping so at some time in the future you may also wish to consider a new controller.

Tweakie.

3520

General Mach Discussion / Re: Stepper motor acting funny

« on: February 22, 2016, 12:24:39 PM »

Hi Beni,

I am assuming that your stepper motor controller uses 'microstepping'. At this stage your settings are unknown but it is common to have 1/8th microstepping so set your x and y axes 'steps per unit' (in motor tuning) to 532.8 (66.6 x8). This should make movement less jerky so that you can then use the axis calibration feature (Settings page) to get the correct 'steps per unit' for each axis of your machine.

If necessary, increase the Velocity settings for the x and y axes (in motor tuning) to get a reasonable speed of movement (this can be fine tuned later).

Tweakie.