Messages

41

General Mach Discussion / Wrong Way X Slave

« on: October 19, 2007, 09:47:09 PM »

I use Mach 3 on my Ascension  controller on a modified Shopbot.  This CNC has two X axis steppers.  They were working fine, traveling in both directions with correct coordination. 

Somehow now one motor is moving the gantry in the opposite direction, causing an immediate racking of the gantry.  I understand  I can switch wires to correct this, but I wonder what setting I have changed to cause this.  I swear, it was working correctly!

Can I change the configuration of motor connections via Mach software?  What section of the manual should I read to learn about this? 

Also, I'm a bit disappointed with the performance of my Vextra motors.  I can't get very much velocity before the gear boxes spin out and lose steps.  Can I tune Mach to improve performance?  Where do I look in the documentation to learn more about this? 


Thanks for a great product.


Wayne from White Salmon

42

General Mach Discussion / Fixed so far

« on: October 13, 2007, 05:18:12 PM »

Well, I'm not at all sure what I did, but its working now.  I didn't change any settings, but I did reset the plugs.  So maybe I just had a loose connection somewhere.  If it turns intermittent, I'll dig further and maybe open the Ascension to see if there are any unset plugs, etc.


Thanks for the quick reply.  I'll be reading the tutorials and trying to catch up.  This is going to be alot better than my Shopbot controller, but I do need to spend time learning.

Thanks for your patience Hood.

Wayne

43

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help with troubleshooting Ascension/Mach 3

« on: October 13, 2007, 11:39:50 AM »

Couple questions, Hood.
1) Just to be certain, I'm checking for voltages from the computer, right?  Dumb I know, but I want to be sure.
2) Which pins on the plug are the DirY and Dir Z, and STE?  Are these assigned by Mach? 

Thanks so much for your help. 

Wayne

44

General Mach Discussion / Help with troubleshooting Ascension/Mach 3

« on: October 11, 2007, 10:00:38 PM »

I finally got my Shopbot PR upgraded, with a new gantry and Z axis.  Today I finally connected the motors and installed Mach 3 and the Ascension 1000 controller.   I installed the .xml files and .set files provided with the Ascension controller, and followed the set up instructions.   Here's my situation:

My X axis, both X1 and X2, work OK.  The jog command moves the gantry as its supposed. to.   The Y axis does not respond to the jog keys.  The Z axis does not respond either. 

When I swap the plugs at the back of the Ascension box, sending output from the X axis to the Y or Z axis, both of these axis work.  This suggests that motor and cables for both are OK.  This leaves either Mach 3 settings or a problem with the Ascension box as possible troublespots.

 need help to determine if I have some setting wrong somehow, or if I have a problem with the Ascension hardware.

Thanks so much for this forum.  I look forward to learning Mach 3. 

Wayne C

45

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 computer requirements, network compatibility

« on: July 28, 2006, 10:05:28 AM »

I just read a bit about new Duo Core Two processors coming out in a month or so that will have much greater number crunching capacity- reportedly DOUBLE the capacity of even the latest DuoCore processors.  Does Mach 3 benefit from this?  Its not clear to me what happens in the controller box, and what happens in the Mach3 software.  It may be the case that there is little benefit in getting more processor speed than the control box is capable of. 

I'm not ready to spend that sort of money for first tier technology, but I'd like to know if Mach benefits from better number crunching.  That will help me decide between a Celeron or a full on Pentium processor.  Also, does WinXP home or Pro versions make any difference, particularly in terms of setting up the optimal environment.?

I will try to run a network while I'm testing, and see what sort of hiccups I get.   

46

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 computer requirements, network compatibility

« on: July 27, 2006, 11:52:51 PM »

Thanks fort the quick reply.  I can make the machine a dedicated CNC machine OK.  I was hoping to be able to transfer files to it via network, and to access the camera feature via the network.  Is that not adviseable? 

I understand the minimum requirements- pretty modest really.  But do you think its worth it to use a dual core processor instead of just a Pentium 4?   Would Mach 3 benefit from 1 gb of memory?   

Prices are coming down bigtime on Pentium 4 single core chips, so I think that's what I'll do.  Thanks again for the quick reply.

47

General Mach Discussion / Mach 3 computer requirements, network compatibility

« on: July 27, 2006, 08:19:18 PM »

I'm just about ready to order an Ascension controller and Mach3 to run my Shopbot PR router.  I expect to get improved cut quality, better reliability, and great new Windows based Mach 3 interface.  Maybe I'll get a toaster too.   

I'd like to know two things;

1) What sort of computer is best suited to running Mach 3.  I run mostly simple 2d cabinet files that are short and easy.  But sometimes I run quite large 3d files for signs.  What sort of processor?  How much Memory?  Is MORE memory better?  Any preferred chipset, or sets to avoid? Any graphic card advice?   Since I'm gonna need to buy a new machine for this, I want to give the program what it needs. 

2) I'd like to run this machine on a wireless network so I can transfer files to it, and possibly access a camera connected to it so I can monitor the machine from my office.   Any caveats about running a network, or wireless network, while running files? 

Thanks for answering this question for the thousandth time! 

Wayne from White Salmon