Messages

21

General Mach Discussion / Re: homing

« on: December 30, 2014, 09:40:21 PM »

I would suggest that you take a little time and do some reading over at the cnczone.com forum.  This has been discussed and explained in great detail. 

22

General Mach Discussion / Re: Add-on PCI card or another type of connection?

« on: November 26, 2014, 11:00:22 PM »

Here are some links that may help you out.
http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,11300.0.html
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/gecko-drives/95845-anybody-working-pci-parallel-card-g540-w.html
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/gecko-drives/75142-charge-pump-signal.html

23

Mach Screens / Re: Odd behavior with jog button

« on: May 05, 2014, 04:59:05 PM »

Thanks for the quick reply.  Mach3 is such a great program, I can live with a few of its idiosyncrasies.  Is there any work around to get it out of sight?  I've changed the label (making is shorter), so the button is a bit smaller.
Rick

24

Mach Screens / Odd behavior with jog button

« on: May 05, 2014, 01:29:00 PM »

Maybe someone can tell me what is happening with this screen set.  In the interest of stream lining my screen I am removing some of the buttons and making other minor modifications.  One of the things is that I only use from the Tab (MPG mode) is the jog step and continuous.  Occasionally I will change the step distance, but not often.  So I thought I would put these couple of items on the program run screen. 

I also wanted to reduce a little more of the screen clutter, so I removed the Jog ON/OFF button on the program run screen.

So everything worked (or at least looked like it did) until I tried to run it on the router.  As soon as I pressed the Step/Cont. button I placed on the program run screen, the jogging stopped working. 

I found the Jog ON/OFF button on the Offsets screen and toggled that off and on, and the jog worked again.  If I pressed the tab from the program run screen and used the  Jog mode button, it worked as it should.  But if I pressed my new button, Step/Cont., the jog stopped working.  Going to the Offsets screen and press the Jog ON/OFF, everything worked again.

My solution was to move the Jog ON/OFF button back to the program run screen.  Now my new button on the program run screen works just as it should.

Now why does not having this button on the program run screen, inhibit the Jog Mode (OEM code 245) from working?

Thanks
Rick

25

VB and the development of wizards / toggle camera plugin on and off

« on: March 15, 2014, 05:18:42 PM »

I have a button for turning Klaus's camera plug-in ON. (Call SetUserLed(1102,1) ).  And this works great.  What I would now like to do is use the same button to turn the camera plug-in OFF. (SetUserLED(1103,1) )

I could use a simple IF/THEN/ELSE if I had a way of determining if the camera plug-in was OFF or ON.  I could set a variable to "ON" when the camera plug-in was ON and set it to "OFF" when it was OFF.  But I would need a way of setting this variable at the start-up of Mach3. 

Thanks for any help.
Rick

PS.  This is a great camera plug-in,  by the way.  It's supper easy to set-up and works real well.  A big Thank-you to Klaus.

26

General Mach Discussion / Re: Limit / Home Switches

« on: October 06, 2013, 12:43:10 AM »

There is an override button that will allow you to move off the limit switch. I've only used it once or twice so I don't remember the details.  I think it is mentioned in the Homing, limits and offsets video.
http://www.machsupport.com/videos/

27

General Mach Discussion / Re: PCI parallel port problems

« on: April 04, 2011, 07:12:42 PM »

I found the solution to my problems.  I posted what I found in the thread that I linked to in my first post in this thread.  Hope this helps somebody in the future.

28

General Mach Discussion / Success at last

« on: March 18, 2011, 05:15:07 PM »

Well it all works now.  Thanks to Arturo at CNC4PC.com  and his C26 board.  Before this board,  I was having partial success, but the charge pump was not working.  As long as I kept the charge pump on the G540 to off all  worked.  I could jog the steppers through Mach 3.  If I disconnected the estop jumper I would get a fault (which it should). 

But I really wanted the charge pump to work the way it should.  The C26 board fits in between the PC and the g540.  It gets its power from a usb plug (included).  So for less than $20,  all works as it should. 

I had looked at a lot of forum posts and many have had the problem with not getting the charge pump to work with Mach 3, the Gecko g540 and a PCI parallel port card.    One post had suggested the C26 board (and also Arturo suggested it) and said it worked for them. 


So if your having this problem, I highly recommend the C26.
http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=c26&x=13&y=7


I really do not think it is possible to get it all to work using a pci parallel port card, a G540 and Mach 3 without using the C26 board.

Rick

29

General Mach Discussion / Re: Parallel port for PCI bus that works with Mach3 - just passing along info

« on: February 08, 2011, 07:39:24 PM »

Well let's see if I can explain the situation with my limited knowledge. 

I'm using a Gecko g540.  With no steppers attached, I've got it plugged into the pc.  The reason I first suspected the pci card was that I could see absolutely no reaction in Mach 3.  And after reading so many posts from people with PCI problems. After changing a couple of settings in Mach,  (the db25 connector on the card is lpt3)  I was able to see on the mach screen an estop fault when I disconnected the jumper for the estop on the g540.  When I reconnected the jumper, and hit the reset on mach, the fault was cleared.      So this made me feel better, since I was getting communication from the G540 into the PC through the pci card. 

When I switch the charge pump to the on position (on the g540) I get a estop fault on the mach screen.  I've gone to the Gen Config then to the Gen Config section and checked the   checkbox that says Chargepump on in Estop.  This had no impact.

I think I have a problem with the g540, since when I plug it in with nothing connected, only the estop jumper, It will sometimes go to the red fault light.  If I disconnect the jumper and reconnect it, the fault will clear and I will get a green power light on the g540.

I've emailed Marcus and he suggested sending it back for them to check it out.

The saga continues.
Rick

30

General Mach Discussion / PCI parallel port problems

« on: February 07, 2011, 06:49:20 PM »

Well I am pretty sure I am having problems with the pci card.  It is the same one mentioned in this post (the Roswell RC304)
http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,11300.0.html

I have downloaded the latest drivers for it.
I have got the port address set in Mach to E800.  I have set the e stop to active low and have the e stop jumpered to ground on the Gecko g540.  When I go into Mach, the reset will not clear the e stop error condition. 

When I go to the diagnostics screen in Mach, on the port 1 pins current states, Pins 5,6,7,8 are high (led is on).  If I jog, nothing changes on these pins.

I have not tried connecting the steppers, since I think it would be unproductive at this point.

Any help would be appreciated, as I am out of ideas.  Short of getting another pci parallel card.



Thanks.
Rick