Messages

11

General Mach Discussion / Re: New PC Loosing Steps (I think)

« on: June 01, 2010, 12:55:48 PM »

Well after yet another clean install of XP and MACH my situation is no different.

I have had a plunge gauge in the Z axis and programmed some very fast moves ranging from 90mm right down to 0.1 mm and finshed off at Z zero and the dial gauge shows it is bang on, no signs of any missed steps at all.

It seems only to happen when all three axis are moving together!

Can anyone tell me what the  "TIME IN INT" number means this is on the diagnostics screen just below "Jog ON/OFF control-alt-j" button as I have noticed the readout is jumping all over the place which might be ok I don't know?

Thanks for everyones help, this is now starting to drive me mad.

Andy

12

General Mach Discussion / Re: New PC Loosing Steps (I think)

« on: June 01, 2010, 01:36:16 AM »

Hi Gerry

Yep I tried to disable the ACPI but that was when windows could not find my hard drive to install it's self to.

I have finished the clean install and will try it tonight (Tues) when I get home from work.

Thanks again

Andy

13

General Mach Discussion / Re: New PC Loosing Steps (I think)

« on: May 31, 2010, 06:35:21 PM »

Hi Gerry

Thanks for the help, do you know how to get a pc to run as a standard pc and boot from a sata hard drive?

Andy

14

General Mach Discussion / Re: New PC Loosing Steps (I think)

« on: May 31, 2010, 04:20:05 PM »

Hi Ger

I have looked through my bios but I do not seem to have the options your other thread talks about.

I have done a complete new install of XP carried out all the optimisations apart from standard PC as this will not allow the boot from my sata hard drive just about to install Mach and try again.

Will keep you all posted with my progress or not which ever the case maybe


Thanks

Andy

15

General Mach Discussion / Re: New PC Loosing Steps (I think)

« on: May 31, 2010, 01:41:11 PM »

I have now tried two PC's both with the problem I am thinking more about the smooth stepper!

16

General Mach Discussion / Re: New PC Loosing Steps (I think)

« on: May 31, 2010, 01:04:59 PM »

Well I have tried everything I can think of and nothing has worked, going for the complete reinstall of windows XP then a fresh install of MACH fingers crossed : (

17

General Mach Discussion / New PC Loosing Steps (I think)

« on: May 30, 2010, 04:52:22 PM »

Hi All

I have been running Mach 3 now on my machine for quite sometime with no issues what so ever, but last week my PC that I use just for controlling my machine decided to call it a day, so because the PC was fairly low spec 1Ghz 512MB ram I decided to build a higher spec with some bits I had around.

The new spec is AMD dual core running at 2.4Ghz 2MB ram clean install of XP with all updates nothing else other than Mach3 apart from the graphics card and sound card untils, ran the system test which showed a nice flat line and a steady pulse rate but here is the problem.

Since changing the PC I seem to be loosing steps in the Z axis, I have been trying to do some simple engraving and as the tool moves along the line of text the tool starts to get higher after every safe Z move until it's completely above the work piece.

If I stop and home my Z axis it returns to the correct starting height.

One more thing I have noticed  when my axis are on the home switches the LED's  on the Diagnostic Screen randomly flash so I was just wondering if anybody has experienced anything like this or could come up with some idea what might be going on.

The only thing I haven't tried is retuning my motors but I am using the same .XML file from my old PC setup, I use a CNC4PC buffered breakout board and the LED's on the board are solid no flashing or flickering.

Thanks

Andy

18

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help, X-Axis only moves in one direction

« on: May 30, 2010, 03:49:20 PM »

Might also be worth looking at the direction pulse in motor tuning (make it a higher number)

19

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

« on: October 07, 2008, 05:25:06 PM »

Hi Everybody

Just popped in to say hello, I am in the process of building my own machine the electronics side of things is pretty much sorted, using Gecko's with nema 34 steppers and of course Mach 3.

My machine is made from aluminium plate and Item extruded aluminium section, hoping to get it finished before the end of the year, so no doubt I will be asking questions as problems arise.

Bye for now

Andy