Messages

6991

General Mach Discussion / Re: PCI parallel port problems

« on: April 04, 2011, 02:46:08 AM »

For some reason I have never managed to get the Port1 pins LED's on the diagnostic screen to work reliably so I use Parmon which you can download from here  http://www.geekhideout.com/parmon.shtml.
The utility allows you to software toggle the state of the output pins for testing purposes (input pins require manual connection to GND to change state).

Hope this helps.

Tweakie.

6992

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 is not talking to Breakout board

« on: April 04, 2011, 02:32:17 AM »

Hi Robert,

The symptoms you describe would indicate that your PC is not communicating with your BoB.

It would be a good idea to actually check your parallel cable using a multimeter to see that that Pin1 goes to Pin1 and Pin2 to Pin2 and so on and that all the pins are connected.
In Device Manager check that your Printer port (LPT) is configured as ECP and that the address is 0378 or the same address as you are entering in Mach.

Tweakie.

6993

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Dixie Duke - A machine in the making.

« on: April 04, 2011, 02:12:53 AM »

Looking good Sam, in fact looks like a real mean machine now.  

Tweakie.

6994

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!

« on: April 03, 2011, 11:11:15 AM »

Hi Robert,

Start a new thread under the General section and I will reply there. This section is really only for introductions.

Tweakie.

6995

General Mach Discussion / Re: DIY oscillating tangential knife cutter.

« on: April 03, 2011, 05:19:40 AM »

Orion,

Welcome to the forum.

Obviously you need to build or buy your hardware, knife etc but Mach supports Tangential Control and it is not too difficult to set it all up. A few have already done this and there is some useful info if you search the forum.
This is one of Robotmar's videos of his setup. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anspATAZZQA

I often cut sign vinyl and have found that a drag knife system works just as well, costs less and is simple to use but it is only suitable for very thin materials (like sign vinyl  )

Tweakie.

6996

General Mach Discussion / Re: $1,000.000 reward for help

« on: April 03, 2011, 04:45:14 AM »

Hi Ray,

Before I say anything I need more details about this reward. 

Tweakie.

6997

FAQs / Re: Steppers stutter or stop when using computer

« on: April 03, 2011, 04:36:04 AM »

There have been other posts where it is not recommended to do anything else with the computer while Mach is running, even moving the mouse can cause problems. I think this is a PC related thing as it is only a few that have this problem.

Tweakie.

6998

FAQs / Re: Steppers stutter or stop when using computer

« on: April 02, 2011, 12:50:48 PM »

Hi Novec,

Welcome to the forum.

A problem which is coming up more and more now is that the newer parallel ports only output 3.3 Volts TTL and many breakout boards have opto-isolators which require the old 5 Volt TTL standard.
If you have a multimeter and can measure between GND (pins 18 to 25) and any axis direction pin, then when jogging the voltage should be either 0 Volts (for one direction) or 5 Volts (in the other direction). If you are getting a reading of only 3.3 Volts then check with Keling on the spec of their KL-DB25.
Assuming 3.3 Volts - If you have a  spare PCI slot a 5 Volt parallel port could always be added to your system.

Hope this helps,

Tweakie.

6999

General Mach Discussion / Re: Y-Axis Sticking

« on: April 02, 2011, 04:09:23 AM »

cvk31,

Check with them first but I think that the A25 PCI parallel port card sold by CNC4PC is OK for 5Volts output.

Tweakie.

7000

Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / Re: Impact engraving plugin

« on: April 01, 2011, 12:15:05 PM »

Brilliant Andrea.

You have just become the resident expert on this plugin 

Tweakie.