Messages

11

General Mach Discussion / 2nd parallel port

« on: March 31, 2012, 04:41:22 PM »

I have a dell optiplex with XP and have been using it for a couple of years to control a G540.  I bought 2 different PCI parallel ports with Moschip hardware on them and the C26 buffer board from CNC4PC.  I have searched and read extensively on this forum for a solution to my problem with no success.  I can not get Mach to seem to recognize it.  The board shows up in the hardware list on the PC fine.  I have tried various moschip drivers (although their website no longer seems to support driver download).  I have  swapped the cables between the two G540s and the problem follows the port.  I can't get the charge pump to engage (green LED on G540).  I have tried the board in another PC with windows7 with the same result.

Is there a way to see what Mach sees from this port? 

Any suggestions for how to get it working?

Thanks!

12

General Mach Discussion / Re: 6 stepper support

« on: January 17, 2012, 11:05:09 AM »

So I just got a reply from Marcus over at Gecko and here's what he said:

"A second G540 would need a second parallel port on your computer. I believe Mach3 can control up to two parallel ports so that should not be a problem."

ftomazz, can you tell me what brand/model number PCI/parallel port you are using?  I don't think all of them are created equal and I suspect some will work and some won't.  Just to confirm, you are also using these 2 parallel ports with Mach3?  Thanks.

13

General Mach Discussion / 6 stepper support

« on: January 13, 2012, 05:18:35 PM »

I am currently controlling 4 steppers (3 axis) with Mach3 and a Gecko G540 via the parallel port.  I want to add 2 more axis, 1 for a lathe, and 1 for a rotary table mounted to the router motor. 

Any thoughts on how to do this? 

I've read that people have problems with PCI parallel ports and I'm not sure Mach will handle 2 parallel ports, well, in parallel, even if it did work.  I haven't been able to find anyone in the forums with the same problem although I'm sure others have run into it.

14

General Mach Discussion / Re: sin/cos velocity profile control

« on: August 12, 2011, 04:35:50 PM »

I've tried Tempest now.  That works MUCH better.  Why isn't velocity profiling available in the standard version of Mach?

Gerry, I downloaded your router screenset.  I love it.  Thanks!  Only one question.  Is there a button for online/offline, so I can turn the holding current off when my motors are sitting around for a long time?  If not, can I add one fairly easily?  Thanks again for the tip on Tempest.
Stan

15

General Mach Discussion / Re: sin/cos velocity profile control

« on: August 12, 2011, 10:07:20 AM »

sorry, i meant that i had tested quantum and was having those problems, not tempest.

16

General Mach Discussion / Re: sin/cos velocity profile control

« on: August 11, 2011, 11:43:40 PM »

I am in CV mode.  I loaded Tempest and tried that.  I'm using the same g code file that I have motion problems with in the standard Mach3, which is in mm, but when I bring it into Tempest, it runs really slow.  I've brought in my profile and have tested that the steppers are running per the velocity profile in the motor tuning screen using the up/down arrows.  Any suggestions on why it runs so slow?  I've tried setting the default units in Mach to both IN and mm to no effect.  Until I can get it running the right speed, I can't test if the S-shaped velocity profile works.

I still need to test Tempest.  Thanks.

17

General Mach Discussion / sin/cos velocity profile control

« on: August 09, 2011, 04:21:46 PM »

I'm new to this forum and am using Mach3 with my homebuilt CNC routers.  I am writing to ask if Mach3 supports anything other than a trapezoidal velocity profile.  With the standard profile, even though I've decreased my accelerations significantly, I still experience a fair amount of jerk (2nd derivative of velocity) that could be reduced alot with a simple sin/cos (S-shaped) velocity profile.  Does anyone know if this is possible with Mach3?  I've searched google, and these forums and haven't found that it does so thought I'd pose my question directly.  If not, how do I go about requesting this feature?
Thanks.