Messages

91

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle direction control

« on: June 14, 2007, 03:25:12 PM »

Chip,
I have applied 5v and 0v to the digispeed board and the relay then functions as expected, so the board appears OK.
checking or X on pin 17 in config only alters the direction( if I remember correctly) but does not give CW and CCW

tmsmith

92

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle direction control

« on: June 14, 2007, 01:32:26 PM »

Vmax549,
Starting with your last point, yes you have the problem correctly.
The spindle always runs in the same direction, which is CW so I can use the mill.
The dir LED on the DS board does not change when M3/M4 is altered.
Going further back in the system pin17 of the computer parallel port does not change either so the DS board is doing what it is asked to do.

So the problem appears to be in the Mach3 config, or is a fault in the actual computer.
What would help would be some way of testing pin17 outside of Mach3.
This would eliminate Mach3 (or condem the config).

tmsmith

93

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle direction control

« on: June 14, 2007, 09:23:40 AM »

One odd looking setting is the output signal 'Enable1 which enables pin14 active low. Strange because pin 14 does *not*  appear to be used further down through the system.
Pin 1 is wired up, and I am guessing it gets its signal from one of the config settings in Mach3. The 'Motor output' spindle enable step pin 1 must be most likely.


tmsmith

94

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle direction control

« on: June 13, 2007, 06:34:33 PM »

Hi Vmax.
Yes I have talked to Peter who in fact sent me  a replacement DigispeedXL board.
He asked for photo's of the setup prior to sending the new board so he had not spotted anything obvious.
I was also getting info from Graham Waterworth who runs a similar setup.
Myself, I have very little experience so can easily be wrong/make mistakes.

The direction relay is part of the XL board and is used to switch a larger power relay which is mounted separately.
The speed control appears to work OK using the 'S' gcode.
I am using the pinout as it is in the user guide except I am using port 1 instead of 2(not fitted)

Motor outputs     ticked step pin 1  dir pin 17 both active low

Input signals        index ticked  port1  pin 15  active low

Output Signals     enable1 ticked   port1  pin 14 active low
Output#1            enabled port 1 pin 16   active low

Spindle tab         Disable spindle relays is unticked
Clockwise(M3)    set Output#1
CCW (M4)         set output#1
Motor Control    Ticked, Use spindle motor output
                       PWM control ticked
I have read these settings from my records but I will confirm them tomorrow when I can get out to the shop, since I have played around with the setup to see if I could find the fault.

Thanks for your interest vmax

tmsmith

95

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle direction control

« on: June 12, 2007, 05:30:01 PM »

Thanks Hood, I will see what type I need.

tmsmith

96

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle direction control

« on: June 12, 2007, 05:12:20 PM »

Yesterday when the 'writing was on the wall, I asked about them in the local computer shop (I am in the UK too).
I was told that nowadays the ports were on the mother board and he hadn't seen one for about 4 years.!!!
I was very sceptical.

tmsmith

97

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle direction control

« on: June 12, 2007, 04:57:16 PM »

I have tried chips suggestion and the spindle goes either CW or CCW but there iis no difference whether I use  M3 or M4 , shame.
Thanks for your reply Hood.
I will try that once again on my system. Since my pin is always high the cable must be OK; well thats how I see it.
I will have a look in the box but dont expect to be much wiser.
I guess it means a computer upgrade when I have the need to rotate the spindle both ways for a job.

tmsmith

98

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle direction control

« on: June 11, 2007, 07:18:33 PM »

Thanks for that suggestion Chip, I will try that tomorrow.
The problem is not the cable Hood since I did the test on the pins of the parallel port.
Do I take it that you couldn't spot anything wrong on the xml file making it more likely that it is a computer port problem?


tmsmith

99

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle direction control

« on: June 11, 2007, 11:18:05 AM »

Further confirmation that the fault is upstream of the DigispeedXL.
I put a 5v/0v onto the direction input and the direction relay switched - well at least its LED did.

tmsmith

100

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle direction control

« on: June 10, 2007, 04:22:04 PM »

Hi Hood,
Well this is what I found.
put the DVM between pins 17 and 20.
Booted Mach3 and on MDI screen entered M3,M4,M5.
The voltage read 4.24v and did not change for any of the codes.
So the setup in Mach3 is wrong or the port/computer is faulty.

Are there any other test I can try to see if it a Mach3 config problem?

Malcolm