Messages

11

General Mach Discussion / Activation file?

« on: October 07, 2013, 10:32:29 AM »

I purchased Mach3 on a CD.    What is the file name that needs to be copied from the CD to Mach3  to activate?
Thanks Jim

12

General Mach Discussion / Re: mach3 stops responding while running programs

« on: October 05, 2013, 04:06:57 PM »

I just got a smooth stepper working this week so I'm not an expert.    My Smooth STepper connects through the Ethernet port.    On my computer the Ethernet plug is a little loose on the computers Ethernet port.   Wiggle the cable just a little bit and the Smooth Stepper shuts down due to lack of communication.  In actual use I'll need to tie down the Ethernet cable to eliminate the wiggle.

Just think, the old parallel port was a nice snug connection with 2 mounting screws.
 
Just a thought,
Jim

13

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 won't run program

« on: October 03, 2013, 12:41:35 PM »

Hey,,,That did it.    Took a while to find it.   I missed that one.  Now both Mach3 loads are the same.

thanks.

14

General Mach Discussion / Mach3 won't run program

« on: October 03, 2013, 11:36:39 AM »

I just set up and got running a smooth stepper.   However I have a problem I think is unrelated to the smooth stepper.

I have a fresh download of Mach3 on a Dell laptop.    I also have a copy of Mach3 on another computer that has been running since 2009.    I have tried to duplicate all the settings from the older download to the new download.

My milling machine will JOG in all three axis's just fine.   The calibrations seem right.   But, load a program into Mach3 and all it does is show 4 concentric
circles in the toolpath window even though the program is 4 tiny holes that are inline.   Run the program and Mach3 Machines a huge circle.   I loaded another program without any circles yet Mach3 display the same huge circles.

The only thing different between the old computer and the newer (2005) computer is the CPU speed.

I have setup Mach3 several times and never ran into this.      Seems like Mach3 had setup program that told me a bunch of things to do but not this time.

I don't think this problem is related to the smooth stepper.
Jim

15

General Mach Discussion / Re: Got it working!!!

« on: October 02, 2013, 06:28:35 PM »

I got the Smooth Stepper working!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had a somewhat short telephone conversation with Greg Cary, the Warp9 tech support guy.   We emailed a few times until we decided to just talk on the telephone.     As it turns out most of my problems wasn't the  Smooth Stepper at all, it was my settings in Mach3 in Port & Pins.   It was my own fault for not seeing my own errors in Ports & Pins.    All I could think about was the network.     I couldn't see the forest for the trees.

One problem with the Smooth stepper is there are (3) 25 pin ports and I plugged into the very end port.   Wrong, need to be plugged in the middle port
or the port located in the corner.

Setting up the Smooth Stepper was difficult because I made it that.

Thanks again for all the support and encouragement here.     I was beginning to think at 63 I was to old to play with these things.

Jim

16

General Mach Discussion / Re: Smooth Stepper questions

« on: October 01, 2013, 09:16:53 AM »

When I get time I'm going to start over on this and recheck everything.

Someone needs to write an instruction manual so a machinist can set up this Smooth Stepper board  as well as a computer geek.

If I ever get this thing working, I'll write a manual myself.    I'm not a computer geek but at the same time I hold my own working with
computers.    I network programmable controllers all the time.

Hood;   Your asking about an XML file.    I have no idea what that is.

I really think it is important to get the Smooth Stepper working not only for me but others as well since newer computers fail to have
the old printer port most of us are familiar with.

Appreciate your patience
Jim

17

General Mach Discussion / Re: Smooth Stepper questions

« on: September 30, 2013, 10:09:10 PM »

OK, met with my brother who is an Electrical Engineer and this is what we figured out.

The Ethernet cable is wrong, I need a "crossover" type cable.    But, he had a "network Hub" box on hand so we connected to the smooth stepper using
the network hub.

He checked the Smooth stepper  IP address and it was 10.9.9.9.    He could not understand why we could not enter the MAC address.

We also tried the configure.exe link.    We watched some files load up but they never finished.   I think my problem is with "Configure".

Loading up Mach3 I get a box that says "Motion Control hardware plugin sensed"       ESS_v10tb2       is selected.    Hit OK

Another box "Wakeupclient board does not reply"   YES to retry;  NO to config;  Cancel to quit.      I hit NO to config.      Dialog box open with
the smooth stepper address set to 10.9.9.9    hit OK, and back to  "Wakeupclient board does not reply".

The "smooth stepper plugin" has been installed.

This is what I have.
Jim

18

General Mach Discussion / Re: Smooth Stepper questions

« on: September 29, 2013, 07:25:30 PM »

Do you power up your controller before starting Mach or after?

Always before.    Won't work otherwise.

I connected to one of my CNC machines.   Even though the smooth stepper appears to working it does not move any part of the machine.
Mach3 is already setup with ports and pins.     The DRO in Mach3 shows movement but the machine is idle.

The Smooth Stepper has 3 DB 25 connecting ports.    Seems like I need to tell the computer which one I'm using.
Jim

19

General Mach Discussion / Re: Smooth Stepper questions

« on: September 29, 2013, 07:21:22 PM »

Do you power up your controller before starting Mach or after?

Always before.    Won't work otherwise.

I connected to one of my CNC machines.   Even though the smooth stepper appears to working it does not move any part of the machine.

The Smooth Stepper has 3 DB 25 connecting ports.    Seems like I need to tell the computer which one I'm using.
Jim

20

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 turn; jog third axis

« on: June 20, 2013, 02:49:56 PM »

Ok, how do I go about doing that?    Never did anything like that before.    Just point me in the right direction and I can probably figure it out.

Jim