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General Mach Discussion / Re: New to Mach 3 Parallel Port help
« on: November 09, 2015, 10:49:25 AM »
Hi Martin,
Welcome to the forum.
The original parallel port's were to the 5 volt TTL standard but the newer ports are to the 3.3 volt TTL standard. Some controllers will only operate from a 5 volt parallel port and if you are unlucky enough to have one of those then the best solution is to fit a new PCI parallel port card (which is known to output the 5 volt TTL) to your PC. A 5 volt parallel port card is probably best obtained from one of the reputable CNC suppliers as they can verify the output voltage before purchase.
The movement problem you describe may be related to having incorrect pins (Config. / Ports & Pins / Motor Outputs) set for the Y and Z axis and possibly incorrect Step Low Active configuration for these axes.
Hope this helps,
Tweakie.
Welcome to the forum.
The original parallel port's were to the 5 volt TTL standard but the newer ports are to the 3.3 volt TTL standard. Some controllers will only operate from a 5 volt parallel port and if you are unlucky enough to have one of those then the best solution is to fit a new PCI parallel port card (which is known to output the 5 volt TTL) to your PC. A 5 volt parallel port card is probably best obtained from one of the reputable CNC suppliers as they can verify the output voltage before purchase.
The movement problem you describe may be related to having incorrect pins (Config. / Ports & Pins / Motor Outputs) set for the Y and Z axis and possibly incorrect Step Low Active configuration for these axes.
Hope this helps,
Tweakie.