Messages

31

SmoothStepper USB / Re: SmoothStepper & CNC4PC Cards

« on: May 30, 2008, 05:28:07 AM »

Arturo,

I have tested the XML that you sent and it made no difference.

e.g.
M3 S500  - starts ok in the right direction.
S1000      - increases the speed.
S2000      - increases the speed.
S1000      - speed decreases.
S500        - speed decreases.
M5           - spindle stops.
M4 S500  - spindle runs in the correct direction but extremely slowly.
S1000     - no change
S2000    - no change
M5        - spindle stops.

This does not work on my system. Changing the direction stops the
spindle control from working until after a EStop is called.

It also works the other way around using M4 first and then M3 later on.

Thanks
Simon

32

SmoothStepper USB / Re: SmoothStepper & CNC4PC Cards

« on: May 28, 2008, 05:10:27 PM »

Arturo,

Please see my e-mails to both you and Greg regarding this.

I do not get it either. It should work the same. It just doesn't!

The C11G works fine when connected directly to the LPT port but when connected via the SS all sorts of strange things happen.

The latest SS plugin has improved the situation but not fixed it.

Simon

33

SmoothStepper USB / Re: SmoothStepper & CNC4PC Cards

« on: May 28, 2008, 04:26:42 PM »

Arturo,

I am using a C11G and a C15 relay board. The two relays switch another pair of mult-contact relays to reverse the windings on the DC controller and enable/disable the DC controller and isolate the other relay so that it cannot get forward and reverse together.
It works fine in LPT mode, just not with the SS.

Simon

34

SmoothStepper USB / Re: SmoothStepper & CNC4PC Cards

« on: May 28, 2008, 01:27:22 PM »

Initial tests showed that the spindle is now controllable in the forward direction but I still have no control in the reverse direction.

I have no idea what the speed was as the timing input in my SS profile has been disabled as the older version of the SS does not take a timing signal. I have not tested to see if it has been implemented in the latest SS plugin.

I will test more later.

Simon

35

SmoothStepper USB / Re: SmoothStepper & CNC4PC Cards

« on: May 19, 2008, 02:50:59 AM »

I have since spoken to Greg and Arturo about this and they are working on it.

1)I suspect the SmoothStepper cannot go slow enough for the C11G card but will await confirmation and a solution from Greg and Arturo.

2)Greg confirmed that at present the spindle timing does not work. He is working on it.

3)Greg confirmed that the motor tuning dialog does not work. Mach3 needs to change to get this to work.

4)As I cannot get the spindle to run properly on my system I cannot use it for anything.
Luckily I am still converting the machine and so there is no downtime as such. However, I hope/trust they will get sorted soon. otherwise it will have been a very expensive gamble! It cost me over $230 by the time it got here through UK customs!

Additionally the SS does not work with one of my "brains", there is something odd going on where it half works, it looks to me like the SS does not respond to OEMtriggered events but I have reported it to and will await the results.

36

SmoothStepper USB / SmoothStepper & CNC4PC Cards

« on: May 17, 2008, 11:28:36 AM »

I am using a CNC4PC C11G Breakout board and a C3 Index Board for spindle feedback.
My system was running fine using the parallel port.
 
After installing the SmoothStepper I have a number of issues...
 
1) The spindle control no longer works. I have no control over the spindle speed, it either runs at full speed or nothing. I have tried changing the SmoothStepper spindle output down to the minimum speed of 32kHz but this made no difference. Presumably because the C11G is expecting a maximum frequency of 25kHz?
 
2) The Spindle Timing no longer reports *any* speed when the spindle is running.
 
3) In motor tuning of Mach3 I cannot "try" the settings as the SmoothStepper does not respond to the up or down arrow keys?
 
I was under the impression that the SmoothStepper installation would be a simple replacement for the parallel port, obviously I am doing something wrong or have omitted something, can anyone point me at my error(s)?

Thanks
Simon

37

Brains Development / Brain not functioning correctly

« on: May 16, 2008, 11:53:48 AM »

I have finally managed to get my spindle brain working to turn the spindle on in a set direction, albeit with a round about method!

However my last rung is not functioning properly. In brain view it shows the correct signals highlighted in green but the AND ignores that the bottom signal is not active and activates the output rung.
What have I done wrong or is this a bug?

Thanks
Simon

38

Brains Development / Re: Turning on Spindle in a set direction...

« on: May 14, 2008, 01:55:56 PM »

I am struggling with this.
How do I send an "m03" command or run the m3 macro or "DoSpinCW()" at a rung termination?

Thanks
Simon

39

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help needed Connecting NPN Proximity sensors to BB`s

« on: May 13, 2008, 03:39:00 PM »

Thanks for the explanation! I would have blindly followed the values given in the documentation!

Thanks
Simon

40

General Mach Discussion / Re: Lathe spindle index quit working

« on: May 13, 2008, 03:33:43 PM »

Out of curiosity have you tried removing the Rutex motherboard? You said that you have this on Port 2 and are using a CNC4PC C23 card on port 1. The C23 card is designed to use both LPT1 and LPT2, I wonder if it is confused because it isn't connected to a second port?