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Mach4 General Discussion / Y axis stepper not smooth / missing steps?
« Last post by Dale Grice on July 19, 2025, 11:04:23 AM »I am running Mach4 4.2.0.4300 Build 4300 and Pokeys 57E 8.38.0.3630 on a mini lathe with an old Win 7 PC. The control and motion device parameters are the same as years ago. I checked against a doc I had made.
My X tool offset kept changing. I finally noticed that the Y stepper was jerking / not turning smoothly on a facing cut. It used to work fine. But that was quite a while ago as the machine was gathering dust. I pulled the belt and observed the stepper by itself. Still jerking on a simulated facing cut. I swapped X and Z cable on the outputs of the CNC4PC box. Now the Z was jerking. Both motors are config'd Velocity 70 Units/Min and Acceleration 20 Units^2.
My question, where would the collective wisdom of the group suggest I look next. Hardware like swapping drivers in the CNC4PC box, or messing with software, possible upgrading the Win 7 machine. I was thinking of upgrading the Win 7 hardware and Mach software anyway. I would like to not introduce too many variables.
I had tried upgrading to the latest Mach4 and encountered problems. I re-imaged the PC with a good know backup to get back to where I was. An issue developed with path errors. See attached. The path and file is there. So I am scratching my head. IF I say OK and dismiss. System will run the Gcode. But I get the "missing steps on X, but not Z. If there was a big problem, I'd expect both X and Z not to work.
Thanks,
Dale
My X tool offset kept changing. I finally noticed that the Y stepper was jerking / not turning smoothly on a facing cut. It used to work fine. But that was quite a while ago as the machine was gathering dust. I pulled the belt and observed the stepper by itself. Still jerking on a simulated facing cut. I swapped X and Z cable on the outputs of the CNC4PC box. Now the Z was jerking. Both motors are config'd Velocity 70 Units/Min and Acceleration 20 Units^2.
My question, where would the collective wisdom of the group suggest I look next. Hardware like swapping drivers in the CNC4PC box, or messing with software, possible upgrading the Win 7 machine. I was thinking of upgrading the Win 7 hardware and Mach software anyway. I would like to not introduce too many variables.
I had tried upgrading to the latest Mach4 and encountered problems. I re-imaged the PC with a good know backup to get back to where I was. An issue developed with path errors. See attached. The path and file is there. So I am scratching my head. IF I say OK and dismiss. System will run the Gcode. But I get the "missing steps on X, but not Z. If there was a big problem, I'd expect both X and Z not to work.
Thanks,
Dale