Messages

11

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help Please: Computer upgrade causes no communication with controller

« on: September 24, 2016, 03:58:48 AM »

OK, I have given up. It appears that my PC is not communicating with the controller at all. I tried hitting the hard wired Estop but it had no effect on Mach3 at all. I have checked and reinstalled everything - twice. Once as Administrator and once as a user. No effect on behaviour at all. It seems as if Mach3 is very brittle. It doesn't seem to like Win7. I have gone back to my old PC. At least it worked. It just takes a long time to boot up.

12

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help Please: Computer upgrade causes no communication with controller

« on: September 21, 2016, 03:51:29 AM »

Craig,
The driver test showed the same results as the old PC did but having said that I am not really familiar with what the graph is telling me. I do get a green bar in the status monitor and it reports excellent so I am thinking that the driver is OK. I will check the physical Estop which I have hard wired to the controller. When triggered on the old PC it would trigger the Estop in Mach3 but I haven't tried it on the new PC. I have to go away for a few days but I will try a few more of your suggestions. I tried going to ports and pins and reversing the motor step outputs from step low active to step high but again, no result. I am still rather perplexed as to why it is cranky with the new OS.
Preso

13

General Mach Discussion / Help Please: Computer upgrade causes no communication with controller

« on: September 21, 2016, 01:29:02 AM »

Hi. I have a Sieg X3 with a Promica MX3 controller that has been working perfectly on a 32 bit version of Windows XP. I recently upgraded my home computer and as a result I had a surplus PC running the 32 bit version of Windows 7. The OS was a clean install and I also fitted a PCI parallel port at the same time. I have done all the normal prep including installing the latest version of Mach3, installing the old XML file from my previous PC, installing the drivers for the PCI parallel port and the Mach3 licence file however try as I might I cannot get Mach3 to communicate with the controller. I swapped back to the old PC to check the controller and it functions perfectly. I can jog the motors and run NC code so the controller is fine. I swapped back to the new PC and ran a driver test and it showed OK. I can jog the DRO's on the Mach screen but there is nothing happening on the stepper motors. When I enable the controller I can hear the steppers clunk so I know that the motors are powered up. I have checked the parallel port in Windows control panel and it says that the driver is installed and up to date.
Now for some strange things: When I first tried to run Mach3, the on screen reset button would not enable (see attachment).
It showed "emergency mode active" and "external Estop requested". I went into ports and pins and changed the output for the Estop from active high to active low. After this the reset button behaved normally. On my old PC the Estop pin was always active high! However on the new PC Mach3 will still not run the controller whether the pin is high or low.
Am I missing something? Do I need to reconfigure the whole Mach3 XML file? I understood that all you had to do when moving to a new PC was to put the old XML file into the Mach3 folder and then select that profile and everything would be sweet.
Any help or insights from experts would be most welcome because I am running out of ideas fast.
Regards,
Preso

14

Sieg Machines / Anyone know where to get a Promica Axis Controller Card?

« on: March 30, 2013, 05:46:13 PM »

Hi,
I have a functioning Promica'd X3 with a Promica IC3A axis controller. Now I want to add a 4th axis controller card but I have no idea where to get one. I have requested a quote from Marc Huett at Promica but from what I understand Marc is ill and/or not in a position to respond to requests. I have checked on Ebay for a Promica axis controller card but there does not seem to be anything like it in aftermarket CNC equipment. Marc must have them made in Australia specifically for the IC3A controller. If anyone knows where I can get one I would be most grateful. Alternatively if anyone knows of some other sort of axis card that can be modified to work that would be good too.

Regards,
Mark Presling

15

Sieg Machines / Sieg Motor Issues

« on: May 30, 2012, 03:43:51 AM »

I have a Sieg X3 which I have converted with a Promica kit. The original 600W motor that shipped with the machine failed. It began to blow smoke and sparks from the top end of the armature and eventually blew every fuse I put in it. The machine was still under warranty but the vendor claimed that a new motor would take nearly three months to be delivered from China. I complained that I needed the machine to be running to complete a project for some students I was working with and the vendor grudgingly agreed to expedite deliver if I paid half the cost of shipping. I was now $50 poorer and advised that I would not be doing business with Minitech again!
I fitted the new motor however it is also acting strangely. It is also blowing fuses and there are sparks and smoke issuing from the brushes. I disconnected the belt drive and it has stopped blowing fuses but it will only run up to speed for a second before the fault light comes on. The brushes are good and I can see no problems with the commutator. Is there a way to test the motor out of the machine? Could it be the motor controller? Can that be tested with a multimeter? Any advice would be welcome. I am not good with electronics and only have a mediocre grasp of electrical theory.