Messages

741

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Gaining Steps with SmoothStepper

« on: September 20, 2009, 10:43:31 AM »

I'm not sure what you are seeing on the DROs as Mach tells the SS where to go, the SS does NOT set the DROs. You probably have your step polarity set incorrectly. Many drives expect to see a falling (high to low) signal indicate a step, if you have your step pulses set active high then it won't work right.

742

General Mach Discussion / Re: strange results with laptops.

« on: September 20, 2009, 10:38:00 AM »

That is why they say the use of laptops is not supported on the Mach download page. A laptop is full of both HW and software designed to improve battery life. It does that by slowing down the processor to match the computational load. Slowing down the processor is absolutely the worst thing you could do with Mach. It might be possible to run a utility program that keep the processor from slowing down, sometimes that works sometimes it does not. If you want to use a laptop then your best bet is to use a SmoothStepper: http://soigeneris.com/Warp9.aspx.

743

General Mach Discussion / Re: MACH 3 SUPPORT

« on: September 16, 2009, 06:50:57 AM »

your motors are servos, wired in a bipolar stepper configuration same as mine.

Huh? Servos wired as steppers? I think you meant to say they are STEPPERs wired in a certain configuration...

it is a 24 volt output system then you can use the power on/off switch and e-stop

The 24 volt power supply may work but may not be ideal. If the inductance of the stepper motor is known you can estimate(calculate) the ideal power supply voltage. Generally speaking a higher power supply voltage will give you better performance and let you get the most out of your new G540 drive.

744

General Mach Discussion / Re: MACH 3 SUPPORT

« on: September 14, 2009, 02:13:40 PM »

I'm not sure what the exact specs on your steppers are (inductance) but judging by the current requirements I would suspect that this power supply would be a good fit: http://soigeneris.com/CNCParts.aspx. I have sold a lot of them for use with the G540.

745

General Mach Discussion / Re: MACH 3 SUPPORT

« on: September 14, 2009, 08:34:34 AM »

May I humbly suggest a new drive box I'm building that employs a Gecko G540: http://soigeneris.com/CNCPartsPage4.aspx. One other things I noticed is that your steppers are the older round style. You might want to consider getting some newer 'square' steppers as well. The newer square bodied steppers are more powerful and as an added benefit starting out with a new drive and steppers will remove a lot of the unknowns you are experiencing with your current set up.

746

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Ver. 3 full screen

« on: September 11, 2009, 10:25:05 AM »

Glad you got it sorted!

747

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Ver. 3 full screen

« on: September 10, 2009, 04:39:25 PM »

It has nothing to do with Vista, it has to do with the display resolution, graphics driver, font settings, etc. There is also a 'Screen Control' section in Config->General config (lower right corner) that may help.

748

SmoothStepper USB / Re: SS Locking up mach3

« on: September 10, 2009, 12:49:43 PM »

Are you using the latest lockdown of Mach and latest SS plug-in? (I don't think that will effect your problem though.)

As far as turning everything else off I was meaning just run the SS, turn off the spindle, steppers etc. That way you can see if the problem is with the SS/PC or from noise from the machine.

It sounds like some noise from your machine is getting into the SS. I'll send you a PM with another idea to try.

749

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 setup parallel port question- help

« on: September 09, 2009, 09:49:39 PM »

Glad you got it sorted!

750

SmoothStepper USB / Re: SS Locking up mach3

« on: September 09, 2009, 08:36:02 PM »

Turn off everything else on you machine, now try it. If that does not work try a new USB cable. It sounds like there is a poor connection between the PC and SS.