Messages

3411

General Mach Discussion / Re: arrow buttons for moving

« on: November 28, 2012, 05:17:53 PM »

How did you set it up?

3412

Finished Screens / Re: Mach3 2010 Screenset - Now available

« on: November 25, 2012, 07:10:36 PM »

Do you have a slow PC? I've seen on slow PC's where entering and exiting wizards can cause an EStop, but I've never seen an error message. If it takes more than about 3 seconds for the screenset to reload, Mach3 will Estop.
Try turning off watchdogs in general config and see if that  helps.

3413

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help with setup & controler

« on: November 25, 2012, 05:14:49 PM »

Yes, it is.

3414

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help with setup & controler

« on: November 25, 2012, 02:02:43 PM »

Most people use a 48V power supply rated between 7 and 10 amps with the G540.

3415

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help with setup & controler

« on: November 25, 2012, 08:13:59 AM »

Having said that and returning to your TB6560 problem – yes, your steppers should lock when power is applied so the problem may be with your Mach3 setup. Check that your X,Y and Z axis are enabled (Config / Ports and Pins / Motor Outputs) and that you have the correct port #1 address enabled – typically 0x378 (Port Setup and Axis Selection).

Unless the TB6560 has enable pins (I don't think it does), then the motors not locking up is a TB6560 problem, not a Mach3 problem.
To test this, unplug the parallel port and power up the TB6560. The motors should still lock up without PC control.

As the others have set, the TB6560 is a piece of garbage, and should only be considered if you have the smallest possible budget, and are willing to roll the dice, as they have an extremely high failure rate.

If you want to control a Plasma, you should look at the kits from www.candcnc.com Bring your wallet.

Retrofitting a Thermwood will probably be an extremely challenging and complex job, depending on how much of the stock functionality you need to retain.

3416

General Mach Discussion / Re: Pulse width help

« on: November 24, 2012, 07:47:18 AM »

The first thing, is that you shouldn't need to optimize a fresh copy of Windows. Did you Optimize the previous version of XP? If not, the optimization may be the issue. You should only optimize if you have problems.

Did you make any bios changes? I like to disable in the bios, any hardware devices that aren't being used, like sound, and extra drive channels, and unused ports.
Typically, when you need to increase the pulse width, it's due to a weak signal from the parallel port. There are probably numerous things that can cause this, and I really don't have an answer for you.

Did you install XP in Standard PC mode, or ACPI? What was it before?

3417

SmoothStepper USB / Re: How are folks Homing the Slaved Axes when using a Smoothstepper ?

« on: November 23, 2012, 08:59:27 AM »

I find that the speed/% of the homing is critical, Duel switches work on my large gantry router, but there was a dance between setting the speeds and debounce setting. My screen set's settings page has LED's that show when the switches are made. I just kept testing till I found a sweet spot.

So your using an ESS, and you can home a slaved axis with 2 switches? Just want to make sure we're on the same page.

3418

SmoothStepper USB / Re: How are folks Homing the Slaved Axes when using a Smoothstepper ?

« on: November 22, 2012, 05:17:50 PM »

Are you homing the slaved axis to two separate switches? I know of at least one person who says it doesn't work correctly. And this has been a recurring theme sine the the first SS was released.

3419

General Mach Discussion / Re: Getting motors to run opposite direction

« on: November 21, 2012, 05:55:30 PM »

Config >Homing/Limits and check the "Reverse" column.

3420

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help with VB script

« on: November 21, 2012, 05:52:34 PM »

Try:
Message "Turret Error, E Stop"