Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / trouble hooking up run/stop/zerox, y, z buttons

« on: June 19, 2007, 02:59:21 PM »

I've got the buttons installed on a panel on my machine and I've run wires to the parallel port input pins with the 470 ohm resistors like the docs say.  I dont know how to make them push the buttons on the screen though.  How do I link pins to pushing screen buttons like "run" "stop" and "zero x" ?

Thanks!
-Mike

2

General Mach Discussion / cannot get encoder or mpg to work, need help

« on: June 18, 2007, 12:42:54 PM »

I took a 6 volt battery and hooked it up to the +5 and ground lines of the encoder (the encoder says 6V is within the range spec for it btw).  I connected the A channel to pin 10 and B channel to pin 11 of the parallel port.  When I turn the encoder I dont get a reading.  After setting the pins in the config screen the reading is simply -1 and doesnt change.  What am I doing wrong?  I tried 2 different encoders with the same result.

3

General Mach Discussion / Trying to get 2nd parallel port card working, need help!

« on: June 14, 2007, 01:30:50 PM »

I bought a parallel port card from Jameco and put it in the PC. The CD says PCI16C550 (NETMOS)

It installed to windows fine and shows up in the device manager as NETMOS PCI ECP Parallel Port LPT2
It lists the following under resources:

Input/Output Range: A800-A807
Input/Output Range: AC00-AC07

There are no errors showing in device manager.

When I go into Mach3, I checked Port Enabled under Port #2 and entered 'a800' which turns into '0xa800' when I go back and check it.

When I change the step port and dir port to 2 instead of 1 in the Motor Output tab, and move the parallel port cable to the card port, I cant get any movement from the CNC. 

I'm using a Rutex R2110 motherboard with R2000 drives, but I am guessing this makes no difference as from what I understand the parallel port is being used output-only for the step and dir.

Anyone have any tips for trying to debug what is going on, or perhaps can recommend somewhere to buy another parallel port card to try?

4

General Mach Discussion / mach3 Artsoft rectangle at startup doesn't go away

« on: May 03, 2007, 05:56:57 PM »

Hello all,

The artsoft rectangle that shows at startup doesn't disappear, instead if covers the middle of the controls.  Anyone else have this problem?

-Mike

5

General Mach Discussion / Just bought mach3 yesterday. Now I need mach2 ??

« on: May 01, 2007, 12:52:45 PM »

I asked this on the sheetcam mailing list:

I've got a prototrak style setup with a knee mill and only the x and y
axes under motor control. Whats the best way of setting up pauses in
the gcode where mach3 will prompt me to set the z before and after
rapid movement?

Les responded:

Use the Mach2 2D post processor. This inserts M00 stop codes before
every Z move. It also adds a comment telling you the required Z depth.



I just bought mach3 yesterday.  I thought Mach3 was the latest version of the software, and that Mach2 was an earlier version, and mach4 is coming up.  Is there a way to use mach3 the way Les describes or did mach3 lose functionality over mach2?

-Mike

6

General Mach Discussion / any mach-compatible controller for controlling standard servo amplifiers?

« on: November 28, 2006, 01:42:59 PM »

I've got some servo amplifiers and motors to go with them.  Are there any products that you can use to control the servo amplifiers and that take standard step/direction inputs?

7

General Mach Discussion / anyone know where to get an optical edge finder?

« on: October 21, 2006, 11:20:05 PM »

Hello,

I saw in a shop a black thing you could put in a collet and look through to find the edge of a part to high accuracy.  Anyone know where to get one of those?  I did a google search but didnt find anything.

Thanks,
Mike

8

General Mach Discussion / Whats that Sharp milling machine on the home page?

« on: October 21, 2006, 09:56:29 PM »

Im looking on the main page of this site, scroll down a bit.  Theres a picture of a bridgeport style Sharp mill with a laptop connected to it.  I see that it has motor attachments that look similar to a prototrak.  Are those custom made?  Where can I get something like that?  I just bought a bridgeport and I am thinking of how I can convert it to CNC!