Messages

171

General Mach Discussion / Re: best supported controller?

« on: December 29, 2010, 08:24:30 PM »

To rrc1962:

You mention that your controller is only 4 axis; is there something else in your system that makes it able to handle 6 axes?

Richard B

172

General Mach Discussion / Re: best supported controller?

« on: December 29, 2010, 08:21:23 PM »

Okay, thanks Hood. I was thinking smooth stepper, I just think there's a bit of a wait to get one now, and I'm impatient!

I'm also loath to give up on the ncPOD, but it's just more efficient to spend a day sorting a problem out by using the benefit of wide experience online, rather spend weeks redefining the problem to one support guy at oemtech. They are nice guys over there, but there are just too few of them! Time ticks away...

Do you find the smooth stepper people helpful? Is the support fairly prompt, and suitably competent? The documentation doesn't appear to have moved on in the last couple of years.

Anyway, thanks again

Rich B

173

General Mach Discussion / Re: best supported controller?

« on: December 29, 2010, 06:05:12 PM »

Can you give me a link for that? It's a bit general for me to google...

174

NC Pod / Pod not recognised?

« on: December 29, 2010, 01:45:27 PM »

Hi,

A year ago I got my machine working (Mach3, ncPOD, xp sp3), mothballed it for months, and forgot everything I learned setting it up the first time...

Now I come to use it again, after 4 months away from it, it doesn't work.... no jogging happens (even in DRO's) and no response to gcode, unless I specify the parallel port driver in mach instead of ncPOD. Motors all tight and torqued up, lights on drivers lit, so no problems there.

When the pod is switched on, the red and blue lights show continuously, the green flashes slowly. It stays like this regardless of whether the pc is on or off, or if Mach is running or not. Disconnecting the usb lead at either end causes the blue light to blink (which tells me no usb connection)

So I reloaded Mach and all drivers, tried it , with same response. Even ran chkdsk to see if PC  had a problem. None there.

Also, despite seeing 'Deskpod-ncPOD-plugin-3.00.--A.Fenerty-B-I'' 'in the motion control hardware sensed!' dialogue at start of mach, I'm still only seeing 'ncPOD v2.00.059 config' in the dropdown under 'plugin control', plus an ominously empty config box... (see attached.) I seem to remember something automatically appeared there the last time I did all this I mean in the config box, sorry.

I don't remember how I solved this last time I did all this... I know I had same problems a year ago, forgot to write down what I did.

Rich B

175

General Mach Discussion / best supported controller?

« on: December 29, 2010, 12:00:48 PM »

Hi,

At the risk of starting a war of some kind, can anyone recommend a control board for me that is actually popular and well supported (in terms of advice, updates, etc) by both the manufacturer and cnc forums.

I'm fed up with the pace of progress getting my ncpod based machine running.

My pc has a parallel port, and I'm running 6 axes. Such things as backlash compensation, spindle speed control etc not necessary, but THC would be helpful (not obligatory, though; there's probably a way to work around the lack of it), and I need home/limit for all 6 axes, plus a few supplementary input and output pins.

Anyone any ideas? anyone tempted to sell me something they're not using?!

Rich B

176

General Mach Discussion / Re: .m3p file

« on: December 28, 2010, 05:51:34 PM »

Yes, I ticked the box next to the plugin, like you said.... I know I solved this problem last time, I just wish I remembered how.

177

General Mach Discussion / Re: .m3p file

« on: December 28, 2010, 03:31:22 PM »

by "I seem to remember something automatically appeared there last time I did all this I mean in the config box, sorry.

178

General Mach Discussion / Re: .m3p file

« on: December 28, 2010, 03:29:09 PM »

Thanks, Hood,

Okay, did the first one, restarted pc, restarted mach (pod plugged in and switched on),

Despite seeing 'Deskpod-ncPOD-plugin-3.00.--A.Fenerty-B-I'' 'in the motion control hardware sensed!' dialogue at start of mach, I'm still only seeing 'nc~POD v2.00.059 config' in the dropdown under 'plugin control', plus an ominously empty config box... (see attached)

Still no response from motors or DRO's while jogging, and it won't run gcode that will run (although not on the machine itself, obviously) when I have the parallel port driver selected.  I seem to remember something automatically appeared there last time I did all this... I know I had same problems a year ago, forgot to write down what I did.

Rich B

179

General Mach Discussion / .m3p file

« on: December 28, 2010, 03:04:17 PM »

Hi,

stupid question coming:-

A year ago, I got my machine working ( mach3, ncPOD), mothballed it for months, and forgot everything I learned setting it up the first time...

At the moment, the ncpod plug in doesn't work. There is a plug in on the mach site, which I've downloaded, and want to use. I think this went some way to solving the problem last time. It's a .m3p file! I have no idea at all what to do with it. Frustrated, can't remember. Looked in the mach 3 mill documentation, found nothing...

Can anyone tell me what to do with an .m3p file?

Thanks...

Rich B

180

VB and the development of wizards / Re: speed of execution of macro

« on: December 25, 2010, 07:03:38 AM »

Thanks, yes, that helps a bit. Part of the reasoning of the subroutine was because it makes the whole file size smaller than putting 2 extra lines into the gcode all the time. My maximum gcode file size ( I forget what it was) caused Mach to crash. I'll try the subroutine when the festivities are over, and post the results...