Messages

421

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Problems getting mach3 to talk to smoothstepper

« on: March 15, 2011, 11:13:04 PM »

I had a customer have trouble using the profiles I supply along with my drive boxes. Turns out it was an issue with permissions on that file (we tried 'Run as Administrator first and it did not work.) I even tried setting it so 'Everyone' had full control of the profile and sent it to him again but his PC (Win7) didn't like it. The solution was to go in and change the permissions on the file on his PC.

422

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Mach3 & Smoothstepper Satisfactory Outcome

« on: March 15, 2011, 09:12:14 AM »

My SS sometimes resets when static jumps between my vacuum hose and the machine chassis when I touch them together while running a program.

Many moons ago I used to repair copy machines. Vacuuming out the toner produces more static electricity than you would believe. One thing I learned was to touch a piece of grounded metal on the machine with one hand while vacuuming with the other. This keeps the static charge from building up on your body or the vacuum hose.

It is also common practice with dust collectors on woodworking equipment to run a grounding wire through the hose. I used some bare 22 AWG copper wire and looped it through the hose about once every foot. By 'looping through the hose' I mean that I basically put a stitch around one of the ribs so the wire wrapped outside to inside and back. A few dabs of silicone seals up the holes in the hose made by the wire.

423

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Smooth Stepper: Versions? Where to buy?

« on: March 09, 2011, 08:20:48 AM »

heard back today. Three days later.

I sent in a rate quote request to both DHL Express and Ocean freight several days ago. Heard back from the ocean freight guys the next day, not a peep from the air freight guys. Sometimes it a human dropping the ball, sometimes the email to/from gets eaten by a spam filter, and sometimes you get 150~200 emails in a day and you just don't get to it as soon as you would like.

Every once in a while I have issues with PayPal screwing up a transaction. Their server hangs up mid process (or the connection dies somewhere in between) and the buyer is stuck not knowing if things went through or not. I think that really stinks all the way around, at least with this new website software I can tell it happened and try to contact them.

My point is that sometimes 'stuff' happens and what matters is that there are people there who will try to make it right. They guys at Warp9 are good people as are most folks in this lower cost CNC market. At any rate I'll climb down from the old soap box and go put your SmoothStepper in the mail

424

SmoothStepper USB / Re: If you have noise issues this might be worth a try

« on: March 06, 2011, 06:27:59 PM »

The USB port was very active of course, so I doubt that the system would have tried to power it down.

The USB device can be put into Selective Suspend if there is a 1ms lull in USB traffic from the device. (It might be 3ms I don't recall exactly, but it just a handful of ms.) I have done a lot of research on this and found cases where it would happen to some people with their mouse (what a PITA that would be.)

425

SmoothStepper USB / Re: If you have noise issues this might be worth a try

« on: March 06, 2011, 09:33:14 AM »

You also have to check the other things in your power profile, screen saver, HD shutdown, etc. On Win7 there is an advanced option in the Power Profile to disable the USB Selective Suspend, that is the place to change it rather than on each root hub (the way you do it in XP).

426

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Smooth Stepper: Versions? Where to buy?

« on: March 04, 2011, 08:43:07 PM »

As others have said Warp9 manufactures the board. There are a few other places that are resellers of them as well. Depending on where you are in the world it might be better to purchase at one place over another. Make sure you get a good quality USB cable with it (not one of the $0.50 cheap imports). I've been using the SmoothStepper since it first came out and selling them nearly as long (I put them in my drive boxes as well.). Check out my website: http://www.soigeneris.com/SmoothStepper-details.aspx the page lets you pick which cables you need to go with your SmoothStepper.

427

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Any Known Issues?

« on: March 02, 2011, 10:54:50 AM »

The forum is at warp9td.com.

What is the problem with the backlash comp; seems that would be rather important to those of us with less than perfect machines.

No machine is perfect, that being said open loop backlash compensation can cause as many problems as it sets out to solve. If you have ever used a manual mill that has a lot of backlash you are well aware that the cutting forces can cause the table to move in unexpected ways. Thus trying to keep track of backlash and compensate for it may be impossible in many cases. When you are measuring one axis at a time with no external (cutting) forces applied backlash comp seems like it works great. In the real world you often get different results. I'm not saying open loop backlash compensation "can't" help in some cases but rather I like everyone to know that it is not a cure-all for a sloppy machine.

428

SmoothStepper USB / Re: SS ans USB 3.0

« on: March 02, 2011, 09:33:24 AM »

USB 3.0 is backward compatible with all 2.0 devices. You should have no problems.

429

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Any Known Issues?

« on: March 02, 2011, 09:32:30 AM »

Threading has worked fine for the last two years. I do edge probing all the time, but not 3D probing (but have not heard of any problem with it.) The big thing that a few people gripe about is backlash compensation. There was a test plug-in with back lash comp posted on the Warp9 forum last night though.

I put the SS in 99% of my drive boxes and have sold loads of them separately as well. My experience is that 99% of folks love them.

430

Promote and discuss your product / G540 Garage sale

« on: February 20, 2011, 09:07:52 AM »

Hi guys,

In my last batch of G540s from Gecko I got a few where the 4-40 studs on the DB9 connectors are a little shorter than normal. Gecko sent me some longer screws for use on the DB9 stepper cable connectors so there is no issue securing the stepper cables. Even though they are new I don't want to use them in my drive boxes since I want to keep them exactly identical.

So I thought I would offer a special on them on a first come, first served basis. For $250 you can get a New G540 and free Priority shipping in the continental USA. (For internatinoal customers we can work out a deal on shipping.) I'll even honer the discount on a set of EZ-G540s when you buy a G540, $5 off the set.

If you interested just send me an email to: birt_j@soigeneris.com