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5321

General Mach Discussion / Re: Damaging Geckodrives G540

« on: August 28, 2011, 10:51:23 AM »

Quote

Another thing that can damage stepper drives is turning the stepper motor by hand without unplugging it from the control first.

Jeff,

Does this apply to all stepper motor drives or just the G540 ??

Tweakie.

5322

General Mach Discussion / Re: Damaging Geckodrives G540

« on: August 28, 2011, 04:13:38 AM »

Another thing that can damage the drive is disconnecting a stepper whilst it is being driven so you may also want to check for bad or intermittent connection between the Gecko and your motors (plugs, solder connections etc).

Tweakie.

5323

General Mach Discussion / Re: SIGNALS REALLY MIXED UP??? Please help

« on: August 26, 2011, 05:20:34 AM »

Assuming that Hood does not find any fault with your .xml configuration...........

As Sage has said - check the voltage from your power supply with a multimeter, both stationary and with the machine axis moving. The voltage should remain constant without any significant voltage drop when any or all axis are moved. If this test is OK............

As you have changed the parallel port lead and as you have changed computers without making any difference plus all the other things you have tried and the fact that the X axis works OK suggests to me that the fault is with the Gecko G540.
I know you have had it checked (twice) but...........
For example, was the G540 tested using 3.3V logic switching ??
Would it be possible for you to try another G540 ??

Tweakie.

5324

General Mach Discussion / Re: Macros And Buttons - Strangeness Abounds....

« on: August 26, 2011, 04:44:00 AM »

Thanks Ian.

(The big advantage of the E code was that it would switch the selected output pin concurrent with the start (or end) of axis movement).

Tweakie.

5325

General Mach Discussion / Re: Macros And Buttons - Strangeness Abounds....

« on: August 26, 2011, 02:54:03 AM »

Quote

Similarly, the output control I suspect was Art's "special" way of activating a laser WHILST motion was in "constant velocity" - an E code if I remember correctly. Yuk!

Ian,

Just because you don't want to use it does not mean it is Yuk!.

I was really happy with the operation of the combination E1P0 / E1P1 until a Mach revision screwed it all up.

Tweakie.

5326

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 2 computer crashes or freeze........

« on: August 25, 2011, 08:11:47 AM »

Could it be that your new computer has 'on-board' graphics and this is hogging the processor time ??

Try disabling the toolpath display (diagnostics window) and see if this makes any difference.

Tweakie.

5327