Messages

11

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Mach3/USB SmoothStepper will not control spindle speed

« on: July 22, 2015, 11:22:23 AM »

I am saying that you should avail yourself of multiple avenues when needing help. Support forums are great because chances are if you have a question someone else has already had that same question and had it answered on the forum so you can search the forum and find the answer you need most of the time. Again, it DOES NOT matter if the PWM signal went from the ESS 'through' the G540 to the SuperPID. The SuperPID has no idea, and in either case the ESS is generating the signal and has no idea what is receiving the signal. have you tried to measure that you are getting the PWM signal at the SuperPID?

12

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Mach3/USB SmoothStepper will not control spindle speed

« on: July 22, 2015, 11:03:38 AM »

>>I emailed the support address. No reply.
A manufacturer can get 100+ support emails a day. Your email may also have been caught in a spam filter, the replay to you may have been caught in a spam filter and there may have been email server problems. I have had all of these happen to me when trying to communicate with my customers in the last 5 years.

>>So are you saying it needs a common ground or it doesn't??
>>I have all components grounded together, can't understand why anyone would suggest otherwise
Because you generally don't want everything 'grounded' together. The Ethernet cable provides isolation from PC to ESS. This helps prevent electrical noise from getting back to the PC and also prevent ground loop issues between machine/control and PC. The term 'ground' can mean 'Earth Ground', i.e. the ground rod driven into the Earth that your AC breaker box is tied to and it can also mean 'DC Common', i.e. the negative/return/common side of the DC circuit. Earth Ground and DC Common are different things and should not be intermixed.

>>As for the forum post you linked to , I'm not a member of that forum and I doubt I will be joining
So you won't join the support form for the manufacturer of the equipment you are trying to install. But you will come on here and complain about not getting any support form them? That makes NO sense to be honest with you. If you would bother to read the post I linked to and perhaps even use the forums 'Search' tool you might learn something. It makes no different to the SuperPID where the PWM signal is coming from. Since you are not using a BOB how are you connecting the ESS with the SuperPID?

13

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Mach3/USB SmoothStepper will not control spindle speed

« on: July 22, 2015, 09:48:48 AM »

>>Guess he doesn't provide support any better than his documentation.
There have been 30+ posts on the warp 9 forum in recent weeks. When did you try to get help?

>>I'm being told the ESS can only use pin 14 for PWM,
No true, it can output a PWM signal on any output pin.

>The ESS has all max Step Freq set to 1M as suggested.
As suggest by whom? 1mHz is too high for most systems. Take a look at: http://www.soigeneris.com/Document/Warp9/Installing_and_Configuring_the_Ethernet_SmoothStepper.pdf for the formula for calculating the max step frequency for your machine. This has no impact on your spindle issue most likely.

As I recall a lot of folks use a USB cable from the PC to get 5V for the SuperPID. The ESS is isolated from the PC (Ethernet connections are isolated on both ends), and if you are using a separate 5V power supply for the ESS as Warp9 (and I) recommend then you wind up with no common 'ground' (DC Common) between the SuperPID and the ESS.

I also seem to recall there was someone on the Warp9 forum last year who had issues with a SuperPID...

http://warp9td.com/index.php/kunena/7-general-discussion/5182-mach3-ess-g540-superpid?start=18#7327

I think your PWM base frequency might not be right. From the post above and other related posts it looks like the SuperPID requires a 1000Hz (1kHz) base frequency.

14

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Windows 7 32bit and Mach 3

« on: July 02, 2015, 01:26:46 PM »

External devices such as the SmoothStepper work fine on a 64bit OS. If you are looking to add an external motion controller to an existing machine without rewiring things you could use something like my SSENC-2: http://www.soigeneris.com/ssenc_2_ethernet_smoothstepper_system-details.aspx 

15

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Windows 7 32bit and Mach 3

« on: July 02, 2015, 12:42:36 PM »

The way the parallel port driver works is similar to how many viruses work, taking over your computer in the background. For this reason Microsoft does not allow that type of unsafe code to run in a 64bit OS.

Beside that external motion controllers work much better.

16

SmoothStepper USB / Re: SmoothStepper fails when extending stepper motor cable.

« on: May 13, 2015, 04:15:38 PM »

I see a couple of issues here:

1) You cannot use a DB9 serial cable as a stepper cable. A typical serial cable is made from 28~30AWG wire which is much too small to carry the current needed for stepper motors. You need at least a 22AWG cable, I like to use 20AWG wire when building G540 cables as it is a bit more robust. Take a look at: http://www.soigeneris.com/custom_made_g540_stepper_cables-details.aspx for custom made G540 cables. (my web site)

2) I suspect that since you have a DB9 on your motor that you have one of those motors where they put the G540 current programming resistor in the connector on the motor. Gecko DOES NOT recommend this as it is a really, really bad idea. The current programming circuit is a low voltage analog circuit. If the current programming resistor is at the motor that means you are running the two wires for the resistor all the way to the motor and back. This will let electrical interference from the high voltage stepper motor wires into the current programming circuit and the G540 will not work properly.

I would suggest making or buying some proper stepper cables and moving the current programming resistor to the G540 end of the cable where it belongs. If you want to order some custom made cables I can put a DB9 on both ends so they will plug into your motors but will put the current programming resistor at the G540 end (suggest getting EZ-G540 option.)

Also, with USB it is possible to overwhelm the USB connection with electrical noise. Don't run the USE cable along with the stepper cables and use a separate 5V power supply for the SmoothStepper: http://www.soigeneris.com/meanwell_ps_05_power_supplies-details.aspx . I have seen many a USB device not work properly because the PC can't put out enough current on the USB port. Using a separate power supply solves many problems.

17

General Mach Discussion / Re: New laptop or Desktop? Using ethernet smoothstepper

« on: May 12, 2015, 08:50:48 AM »

This is not really a laptop vs. desktop issue. Both will work fine and both have to be set up properly. I think the key here is Chris saying it is an 'old' laptop. I have seen many an old computer that is fine as far as the hardware goes but has had so much software added/removed over the years that it is overloaded with the 'gunk' left behind. Many times the best solution is to reinstall Windows and start from scratch.

The other issue is setting up the PC for Mach 3. Take a look at: http://www.soigeneris.com/Document/Warp9/Installing_and_Configuring_the_Ethernet_SmoothStepper.pdf for some tips.

18

General Mach Discussion / Re: New laptop or Desktop? Using ethernet smoothstepper

« on: May 07, 2015, 08:30:21 PM »

No he did not That is why I was confused 

19

General Mach Discussion / Re: New laptop or Desktop? Using ethernet smoothstepper

« on: May 07, 2015, 12:11:03 PM »

Since the OP asked specifically about the Ethernet SmoothStepper I'm not sure why everyone is going on about the parallel port. 

To the OP: Can you post an image of the error you are getting? It sounds like you have a configuration issue with your PC, not that you need a new PC. Any PC needs to be set up properly for running Mach 3. If you have lots of stuff running in the background, like iTunes (or any Apple software), 3rd party update software, etc. then you may have issues. Some firewall/AV software can also cause problems as they will slow things down enough to cause problems with Mach 3 feeding data to plug-ins.

On a few PCs I have seen things are so messed up that a fresh install of Windows is needed. Also be warned that new PC come with a lot of crap installed that needs to be removed.

20

General Mach Discussion / Re: Ethernet Smooth Stepper Problems - Stops at the same place EVERY time

« on: April 30, 2015, 04:28:31 PM »

You need to upgrade to the latest Ethernet SmoothStepper plug-in and make sure your Mach 3 version is 3.043.058 or higher. I recommend version .062 though. There was an oddity with how Mach 3 was filling the move buffer in some cases which could result in both Mach and the plug-in waiting on each other. This issue was fixed in Mach 3 .058 and the latest ESS plug-in.