Messages

31

General Mach Discussion / Problems Setting Home limits, table size etc

« on: June 21, 2010, 05:56:05 PM »

HI All,

I am running through the setup of my home limits, table size for the first time and seem to need some assistance. I have viewed the online video which was some help, but still having some problems.

I have all three home switches functioning properly, inputs configured and working.

A few questions:

   Can I tell just a single axis to go "home" to test it out before tackling the other axis?

   When I manually jog the table to home and all three home switches activate, how to I tell Mach3 that this is Home.

   My DRO's seem to be reading twice the actual table movement ie" I get a DRO reading of 72 for 36" of actual table movement.

My table is 36x36 with a 5" Z axis

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks

Castleworks

32

General Mach Discussion / Re: Parallel Port Test Pulsing too fast

« on: June 11, 2010, 10:31:50 AM »

Turned out to be the safety charge pump. I had it enabled previously (jumper on breakout board set to enable)

It was not enabled in the output section of Ports and Pins. Regardless of the setting in Ports and Pins if the jumper was in the enable position on the board it disabled all motor outputs.

Thank you again for your time and assistance!

Kevin

33

General Mach Discussion / Re: Parallel Port Test Pulsing too fast

« on: June 11, 2010, 10:08:30 AM »

yes it does require external 5VDC, it also has an ENABLE line that requires 5V and a safety charge pump....I am checking these now.

34

General Mach Discussion / Re: Parallel Port Test Pulsing too fast

« on: June 11, 2010, 09:59:03 AM »

Looks like I have a breakout board issue.....

X axis pins vary 0-4.3V when jogged

Y Axis pins vary between 0-3.3 V

Z axis pins vary between 0-3.3 V

The board is from cnc4pc.com  one of their multifunction board.  I will start looking at troubleshooting it

35

General Mach Discussion / Re: Parallel Port Test Pulsing too fast

« on: June 11, 2010, 09:33:16 AM »

I have not set up the steps, I was thinking the default worked last time simpy to get things running

My ball screw is a 0.5" lead Motors are Keling 1.8 deg / step

On the diagnostics page the pulse freq is 25003 and the time int is varying between 5.8 and 6.0

As an added note I do not see any activity on the breakout board _status LED's) when sending a jog command.

I really appreciate all the suggestions

36

General Mach Discussion / Re: Parallel Port Test Pulsing too fast

« on: June 11, 2010, 07:52:06 AM »

Hi Hood,

Attached is my XML file, it is pretty basic. I am new to Mach3 so hopefully it is something simple I am overlooking and that I just forgot since the last time I ran through the configuration.

37

General Mach Discussion / Parallel Port Test Pulsing too fast

« on: June 10, 2010, 09:33:22 PM »

Hi All,

Having difficulty setting up a new PC on a 3 axis cnc router I have previously used.

When running the parallel port test immediately after the system preparation screen it says "Pulsing too fast" then it goes into the "system take over in..." mode and the speed says excellent.

Following this test I am still unable to get any movement out of my motors. I have been through the pin I/O successfully before on this cnc machine and am confident the configuration is correct.

The only reason for moving to a new PC was the old one crashed, it was still under warranty and received this replacement.

I do have a non integrated video card.

Would installing a dedicated parallel port possibly help?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Castleworks