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Messages - guido666

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11
I really can't understand how it would be the spindle, since the spindle runs perfectly if manually connected (not to the G540).  I called them anyways... and they had nothing to offer.  They said if it works when wired up manually ("simple connections" in the manual), then their side of things works... which sounds reasonable.

I understand what you're saying about 10V vs 5V, but then it should run at 1/2 speed at least.

I'm waiting to hear back from SmoothStepper support too.

12
Is there a reason you think it would be on the spindle or spindle controller side of things?  If I wire the spindle controller up manually (e.g. just jumpered, not connected to G540) it runs fine.  The speed voltage signal from the G540 drops slowly over time, and since it resets happily when Mach3 is restarted it seems logical that the "issue" would exist in Mach3 or the SmoothStepper plugin for Mach3.  Do you disagree?  Why?

13
Unless I'm misunderstanding what I have (not impossible, though maybe unlikely) I'm guess that isn't it then.

This is the spindle controller... http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=4213&category=

The instructions ( http://littlemachineshop.com/instructions/4213CNCSpindleControlUpgradeKit.pdf ) include a wiring diagram to the G540 (page 8 ), and I have it set up as described.  There are no jumpers, DIP switches, or other adjustments on the board (besides a potentiometer for speed adjustment, which I've tried in many positions with no change in effect, besides top speed).  I know what they say about assumptions, but I'm taking this to be an indirect confirmation that it's known to work with the G540.

14
Vfd settings?

They aren't really set to much.  I enabled the spindle PWM, and set it to 50Hz in Mach3, and then enabled the spindle and set it to 50Hz in the SmoothStepper (USB) Mach3 plugin.  The spindle's motor tuning settings are currently set to 5000 steps, 60, 1 accel... no real reason why, except playing with it from the 1000/60/1 settings I've seen recommended elsewhere.

Sounds like the VFD speed reference input is setup for 4-20ma instead of 0-10Vdc.

Is this a setting in software or a physical switch somewhere?

15
I just added a PWM spindle to my machine (Mach3 > SmoothStepper USB > Gecko G540).  Now it runs, but with some very odd symptoms:

  • The spindle gets up to speed quickly (1sec?), but then slowly drops in speed... from 2500 RPM initially, down to <100, then stall, over the course of 2-3 minutes.
  • If I check voltage across Ground->Speed pins at the spindle, I can watch it correspondingly drop slowly from 5V down until it stops, in tiny increments.
  • Power cycling the spindle or Gecko G540 does not fix it.
  • Stopping and restarting the spindle from in Mach3 does not fix it.  In fact, if I stop the spindle, and restart it, it continues at whatever slow speed it was stopped at, and continues it's slow decline to stall.
  • Changing the spindle acceleration in Motor Tuning of Mach3 has dramatic effects.  A setting of 1 gives the "slow decline" behavior above.  A setting of 5 causes the spindle to start, then stop within about 1-2 seconds.  A setting of 10 causes the spindle to start accelerating and then decelerate to a stop before it even reaches full speed (<1sec), then it will do the same thing when the spindle is stopped in Mach3.
  • Closing, and restarting Mach3, without turning off or resetting anything else, will reset the problem... resetting the spindle to its full speed, to start a new slow decline.
  • Also, not sure if this is  important, but I'm typing 2500 into the spindle box, Mach3 is showing 2500 in the sVo box, but the RPM box always shows less (~2415).

I'm thinking that since the problem persists until Mach3 is reloaded means the problem is likely in there somewhere.  Anyone have any ideas?

16
General Mach Discussion / Re: Need help - gcode file hanging Mach3
« on: February 19, 2011, 05:37:21 PM »
M98 P10 jumps to O10 in your program, but remembers where it came from.
M99 sends it back from the jump location.
M30 ends the file.

You need an M30 before the subprogram so Mach will stop reading (after line N22)

With no M30 the file reads directly through the sub until it sees the M99, but has no place to return to.

That worked!  Thank you so much!

17
General Mach Discussion / Re: Need help - gcode file hanging Mach3
« on: February 19, 2011, 05:14:23 PM »
Ok, after playing with this a little longer, I got further, but I don't know enough to understand the new things I've discovered.

I noticed in the Status Line of Mach3 that it has the error message "Return Called with no Sub in effect...looping".  See attached screenshot.  It's hung on line 5658.

So I look at line 5658, and it's about a dozen lines BEFORE the line that is highlighted in the Mach3 code window.  That line is actually 5667.  I think I read somewhere that Mach3 looks ahead a few lines, so that might make sense.

Line 5665 (the next line with content before 5667) reads "N5618 M99 (SUBPROGRAM RETURN)".  I looked at Wikipedia, and an M99 is a subprogram end, which matches the text in the line.

I notice that line 5667 (highlighted in the code window), reads "O11 (SUBPROGRAM OF O100)".  So I looked up what "O" codes are, and they are program names (e.g. "O11").  I assume that includes SUBprogram names, too.

So, in notepad, I put the cursor at the M99 line (5665) and searched UP the file, for the next "O" line.  The next letter "O" above line 5665 occurs on line 47, which reads "O10 (SUBPROGRAM OF O100)".  Lines 47-5665 are a solid block of commands, with no blank lines, and there are no other "M" (or "O") codes between those two lines.

I hope that wasn't too confusing to follow.

This leads me to believe that the root issue may lie on line 47, and that Mach3 is never recognizing the "O10" beginning of the subprogram.  I see on page 10-9 of the Mach3 user manual ( http://www.machsupport.com/docs/Mach3Mill_1.84.pdf ) that the manual's authors at least know this command exists, and I assume recognize it.  And on page 10-10 it gives this info...

Quote
10.5.2 Subroutine labels
A subroutine label is the letter O followed by an integer (with no sign) between 0 and
99999 written with no more than five digits (000009 is not permitted, for example).
Subroutine labels may be used in any order but must be unique in a program although
violation of this rule may not be flagged as an error. Nothing else except a comment should
appear on the same line after a subroutine label.

Can anyone help me from this point?

18
General Mach Discussion / Need help - gcode file hanging Mach3
« on: February 19, 2011, 02:17:50 PM »
I'm a Mach3 novice, so hopefully someone can help me.  Hopefully this is something I'm misunderstanding, and is easy to fix.

I recently bought a copy of BobCAD v24, and generated some g-code for a 3D model.  I'm using the "Mach3-NoATC" post processor (tried revisions 1 and 2), which my friend says he uses with Mach3.

When I load the g-code file into Mach3, it pops up the "generating toolpath" dialog, which seems to complete, then close, then open up again, then get stuck part way through.  I don't understand why it gets stuck.  You can see in the background, in the Mach3 code window, that it's stopping on line 5400-something, which is an N01 of some subprogram.

I've attached the .NC file.  Does it stick for others too?  Am I doing something wrong?


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