Messages

11

General Mach Discussion / Re: MPG

« on: January 29, 2016, 08:05:37 AM »

Thanks Hood.

I won't be at home for the next couple of days, but when I get back, I will take this BOB to the lab and test and try everything we were talking about. I might even be able to post the schematics, as I guess other people with the same device could find it useful. I have 4 or 5 of those, so for me it definitely makes sense learning a bit more about it...

I understand the advantage of the higher voltages, still, looking at the configuration of inputs, I find it a bit odd having to attach an extra power supply in order to, for example, connect the limit switch.

I'll try to change the resistors so everything will work with 5V only.

Miso

12

General Mach Discussion / Re: MPG

« on: January 28, 2016, 04:47:50 PM »

I will check that, too, Overloaded, thanks. The comment was more of a reply to Hoods last post, where he said it might be possible to connect 5V to the 12-24V terminals...
I've tried to plug the USB too, but I couldn't see any difference, at any rate terminals 10-13 and 15 behaved the same way...

13

General Mach Discussion / Re: MPG

« on: January 28, 2016, 03:35:18 PM »

Thanks, will read your post again and try to make it work. I'm leaving tomorrow morning and will be away for a couple of days, will be online but obviously I won't be able to try any of this until I come back. But I will have plenty of time to read and hopefully learn something more about it, maybe see more video tutorials etc... Brain, Macropump, I have yet to dive into the subject, I only have a foggy idea what they are;) But OEM triggers sound simple enough to me...

I'll check if 5V works on teh 12-24V terminals, although I'd expect if this was possible they would be labeled 5-24V. Bt who knows, we'll see...

Thanks again for your help.

Miso

14

General Mach Discussion / Re: MPG

« on: January 28, 2016, 02:54:10 PM »

  - how could I choose the axis for jogging, except obviously clicking on the onscreen jogger?  
Thanks

How about just putting the 3 led's on the screen (59, 60 and 61) and toggle through them with AltA on the keyboard ?

I see your mention in the first post  .... via the bob.
Maybe a momentary button to 1 input, triggering 175 to toggle through the axis'.
Many use a multi pos. rotary switch to multiple inputs.

3 position rotary switch sounds great, and I do have 3 inputs left, but I'm afraid I don't know a first thing about the "triggering 175" stuff, I'd need a more basic explanation, or a link to info I could use to do this... Toggling is also an option, of course, I'd try both, I don't mind reading, if you can tell me where to look...

Thanks,
miso

15

General Mach Discussion / Re: MPG

« on: January 28, 2016, 02:49:50 PM »

Hood, I think you are right again, GND is connected to the GND of the (12-24V POW). I still don't understand though why I would have to connect this high periferral voltage just to be able to use the switches, and what else could that voltage be used for?. As nothing is connected to these terminals,I wonder if I could just connect this GND to the PCGND, but I think I have already tried something like that and did not get the output... So I don't intend to connect the external power supply, and certainly not connect the encoder to it...

Overloaded, BOB has the 5V supply directly from the PC power supply. I guess the USB is there for the same reason, but I did not try to use it so far, I believe the result would be the same, though. This BOB worked fine so far, until I invented this wheel problem;)

Maybe the solution with onsceen LEDs would work, I'd have to learn how to do it first, though, never tried it before. And I would be interested in Hoods solution, as this way I might be able to assemble some sort of pendant, or add some sort of box on the router itself, as opposed to having to reach for the keyboard or mouse. Sometimes it's not a problem, but sometimes it's simply too far to be able to see the tool AND use the keyboard.

I'll try both, thanks again...

16

General Mach Discussion / Re: MPG

« on: January 28, 2016, 01:42:13 PM »

I just managed to make it work;)

Looking at the schematic of the input terminals, I guess that to get the signal out of the BOB, any of the five must be shorted to the bottom (GND) terminal. BTW, this teminal is not connected to any GND or Vcc, and I also tried to just short the two, witn no result, so I guess probably this pin should be connected to the BOB GND.

Anyway, as I was not sure how to connect this, and there was no signal at the output, I opted for the solution similar to what you mentioned earlier, and connected the encoder to the BOB connector directly, and it worked right away.

Thanks everybody for your help and your time. I will try to find out how I could connect it to the terminals, but it's also OK as it is.

OK, now the next question - how could I choose the axis for jogging, except obviously clicking on the onscreen jogger? I still have 3 inputs left, but I don't know how (if at all) this can be setiup in Mach...

Thanks

17

General Mach Discussion / Re: MPG

« on: January 28, 2016, 10:26:01 AM »

I've tried, it's not passing the signal:(
I've switched to the inverted AB pair, so I could measure the voltage on the BOB terminals 13 and 15, it's 4.1V.
But nothing on the pins 13 and 15 on the BOBs D25 comnector or the cable, why would that be?
I've also detached the wheel, and connected +5V directly to the BOB terminals 13 and 15, that also did not get through, so I guess nothin's wrong with the encoder...
Cable was not connected to the PC during this test, and I also tried without the cable, directly at the BOB connector, same thing, no signal...
The BOB is brand new and it worked fine otherwise, and I don't think there's any setup apart from the jumper for the relays...
In the BOB manual, terminals 13 and 15 are marked as the inputs for limit switches....
Miso

18

General Mach Discussion / Re: MPG

« on: January 28, 2016, 06:56:27 AM »

I checked the signal on inputs 13 and 15. And I checked the motor output terminals, nothing changes there when I turn the wheel.
I'm really not an expert, how would I check if BOB passes the signal to the LPT?
If I understood correctly about the hacking into LPT directly, I should connect the whhee's outputs directly to pins 13 and 15 of teh LPT cable, and not to the corresponding terminals on BOB? In  other words, just eliminating the opto couplers from the equation? I'll try that, too.
If it's of any help, I'm attaching my BOB manual...
Thanks

19

General Mach Discussion / Re: MPG

« on: January 28, 2016, 06:13:10 AM »

I have checked the connections again, and found out I had the MPGs GND terminal connected to the wrong terminal on BOB, also marked as GND, but it's obvoiusly not connected to the PC GND. So I connected it to the PC GND terminal, and now there's 5V on the wheel.
I have connected the LED and the corresponding terminals on BOB (13 and 15) are getting the signal from the encoder when I turn it, but this doesn't affect the outputs ( I only have 3 drivers connected, no other outputs).
Jogging via keyboard and onscreen jogger works fine, so I assume Mach doesn't pass the encoder signal to the BOB for some reason.
I'll try to connect to the LPT port directly and let you know if that helped.

20

General Mach Discussion / Re: MPG

« on: January 28, 2016, 04:26:21 AM »

Thanks Hood.
I took Vcc and GND from the BOB, and it's getting them directly from the PC's power supply, so I don't think switching this to the USB would change anything, or am I wrong?
I did not check the BOB outputs yet, I don't have the oscilloscope here, but I might put a LED or something to see if there's a signal. And I think I have some sort of LPT "sniffer" installed, so I could use that, too, to see if LPT is getting signals or not.
What I don't understand, however, is, shouldn't the change be visible on the DROs in the first place? I mean, if Mach doesn't register the MPG input and doesn't react accordingly, change coordinates, I guess it most probaly doesn't send anything to BOB either?
Or am I miissing something here, wouldn't be the first time;)

One more thing, I remember seeing somewhere that the pins had to be specified as inputs specifically, but I couldn't fint anythig alike in the Mach, maybe that was in some other version. Just a thought, in case I failed to setup something trivial...

Miso