Messages

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General Mach Discussion / Re: NEED HELP! GECKO G540 CAUSING MACH 3 TO CRASH

« on: March 26, 2014, 01:26:54 PM »

Spent 1/2 the day today trying to figure this out and I think I've solved the problem. The G540 doesn't like my Cydom Solid State Relay. I tried to use another new ssr and it seems to piss it off consistently.  Went to a 24v contactor and all seems happy now.

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General Mach Discussion / NEED HELP! GECKO G540 CAUSING MACH 3 TO CRASH

« on: March 25, 2014, 08:37:49 PM »

I had the machine configured and everything seemed like it was working just fine. The G540 was bought from Automation Technology Inc (March 2012) just before the rev 8 came out and Mariss said it was a Rev5 that I have. I had it sitting in my cabinet since then and only got it hooked up last week. I am running WinXP sp2 like I do on all my other machines with no issue. The problem occurs when I 1st start up Mach (Latest version) when the power has been off for a while. If I unplug the DB25 while start up, Mach never crashes, I can then plug in the db25 and take it out of Estop and it works just fine. If I have the db25 plugged in while powering up the computer and then start up mach I can't get it out of Estop and almost every time the computer crashes. I thought the PC might be the Issue. The port is configured properly in the Bios. I tried 2 other different brand PCs and same crap. I even tried older versions of Mach and no luck either. All the PCs are 2ghz+ and I have run the driver test it says it's excellent. Usually if I restart the PC again with everything plugged in and powered up it works the 2nd time around. I'm at my wits end with this. All my previous experiences when running stepper motors with Mach 3 have been with cheap China drivers and breakout boards. I bought the G540 as everyone kept telling me it's WAAAAY better than the china stuff I've been buying. I really beg to differ. I tried it with and without the charge pump and no luck. I've never had an issue with the cheap stuff ever it just worked from the start and keeps working. I'm hoping the g540 is not faulty and someone can suggest something that I might be just doing wrong. Any suggestions will be appreciated!

**also posted this at the cnc zone**

Dan

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Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: China HF-start plasma CNC design!

« on: April 12, 2013, 07:42:47 PM »

Hi MachinistSF I ran across this when searching Google. I saw your YouTube vid also. Instead of running a big long wire from tip to ground. Couldn't you just run a jumper wire at the front to the case from the ground clamp to the torch?
Also how has your plasma machine held up?

Dan

4

General Mach Discussion / Problem solved

« on: July 14, 2008, 06:59:23 PM »

Turns out the c11 board was not getting the 5v from the computer power supply. My tech guy got me to do voltage tests and I found that the board was not getting the 5v turns out it was a bad connection.
The culprit were these cheesy connectors.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: PLEASE HELP E STOP ISSUES!

« on: July 10, 2008, 07:05:36 PM »

I have two ports but I have not connected the 2nd PCI parallel port yet. The 2nd port controls the VFD and MPG

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General Mach Discussion / Re: PLEASE HELP E STOP ISSUES!

« on: July 10, 2008, 05:43:43 PM »

Hi Hood, the port address is the same as the setting in the ports and pins 0378. My setting in the device manager says 0378-037f and the IRQ 07 no conflicts. Here is a copy of my .XML

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General Mach Discussion / Re: PLEASE HELP E STOP ISSUES!

« on: July 10, 2008, 05:25:53 PM »

Hi I do have an Estop button and did try changing the active low but it did not help. I also did check the port address and it is correct. The new board is the same configuration as the previous board. Parallel port is onboard. I tried changing the Port for the E-Stop to zero and I can get it off estop. Still can't get the machine to move though. When you overwrite the mach3mill.XML to the old saved one is it not suppose to be a complete configuration, pins config and all?

Thanks!
Dan

8

General Mach Discussion / PLEASE HELP E STOP ISSUES!

« on: July 10, 2008, 04:51:26 PM »

Recently my ASUS motherboard decided to start acting up and I had to replace the motherboard with a new one. The system would just restart at any point. I setup the new system on a new Harddrive because the old motherboard is still on warrenty and will be replaced so I didn't want to format the old drive. Anyhow I reinstalled the latest version of Mach on the new drive. I am using the C11 multifunction breakout board from CNC4PC. The guy who did the retrofit for me, said if ever I had to replace the computer, all I had to do was Copy the mach3mill.XML file and all my parameters would remain the same. He's on vacation right now so I can't ask him. After overwriting the stock XML file, the parameters that I remembered are still there even my last fixture ofset is correct. The Problem is I can't get it off ESTOP. It says external ESTOP requested. There is a check mark on the active low input and I tried to toggle it but it still didn't make any difference. Do you guys have any idea what could be causing this issue?

Thanks
Dan