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Author Topic: Newbie and having teething probs  (Read 14622 times)

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Offline br22

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Newbie and having teething probs
« on: December 21, 2009, 03:26:29 PM »
Hi guys

I have been fascinated by cnc machinery for a long time and now that they are somewhat affordable I intend to build myself one which will handle a 8 by 4 sheet of plywood.

But before running I want to walk a while so I got myself a small kit so that I can work on it in the warm spare bedroom rather than in a draughty workshop.

It is from buildyourcnc.com I got it from a guy who got  it and then tired of it.

My intention is to build it up and use it to cut the parts for my bigger one.

I have put it all together and yesterday I did the electrics and hooked it up to a PC with mach3 installed.

As soon as I plugged it in the motors "tensed" and the light came on in the control board and everything seemed ok, except that nothing moves.

I believe that I have configured mach3 properly and I have triple checked the wiring.

I installed a port monitor which tells me that the port is active when I use the scroll buttons.

I checked some of the pins with a volt meter but they show 5 volts whether red or green on the monitor.

I hope someone can help me with this as this is my first experience of trying to control something by PC

br22

Offline ger21

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Re: Newbie and having teething probs
« Reply #1 on: December 21, 2009, 03:33:31 PM »
The installation video should get you up and running.

http://www.machsupport.com/videos/
Gerry

2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html

JointCAM Dovetail and Box Joint software
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html

Offline br22

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Re: Newbie and having teething probs
« Reply #2 on: December 21, 2009, 03:51:22 PM »
I have watched those videos over and over yesterday and this evening.

I am thinking that there is probably something so simple its not even in the videos anyone (except me) probably knows .

br22

Offline Hood

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Re: Newbie and having teething probs
« Reply #3 on: December 21, 2009, 04:00:04 PM »
Have you made sure you have the correct port address?
Have you run the Drive Test to see what the pulse is like?
Hood

Offline br22

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Re: Newbie and having teething probs
« Reply #4 on: December 21, 2009, 04:43:25 PM »
Yes
correct port address and the drive test says excellent

br22

Offline ger21

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Re: Newbie and having teething probs
« Reply #5 on: December 21, 2009, 04:46:04 PM »
Do the drives require the enable pins?

Do all the step and dir pins have port 1 assigned to them?
Gerry

2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html

JointCAM Dovetail and Box Joint software
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html

Offline Hood

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Re: Newbie and having teething probs
« Reply #6 on: December 21, 2009, 04:47:11 PM »
Can you attach your xml please, if using the standard profile it is called Mach3Mill.xml and its in the main Mach3 folder, you will need to rename to attach to a post.


Hood

Offline comet

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Re: Newbie and having teething probs
« Reply #7 on: December 21, 2009, 05:07:33 PM »
have you checked the port is outputting a pulse? a quick way is to put a small speaker across the axis
step pin and earth(or +5v) and see if it buzzes when you jog that axis

Offline br22

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Re: Newbie and having teething probs
« Reply #8 on: December 21, 2009, 05:36:46 PM »
Do the drives require the enable pins?


Do all the step and dir pins have port 1 assigned to them?

Yes Port 1 is assigned to all three axis step & Dir

I don't understand about the drives enable pins

br22

Offline Hood

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Re: Newbie and having teething probs
« Reply #9 on: December 21, 2009, 05:43:14 PM »
Some drives require a signal to enable them. Do you have a link to the documents for your hardware?
Hood