This is making me crazy. 

I have recently purchased a PMDX-126 and a SS.  Basic install is going fine, USB and Mach driver installed, they are talking, I can move all 3 axis of my machine. 

Attempting to get the motor control relay that is on the PMDX-126 to work.  I configure the ports/pins to use port 1, pin 2, for step and port 1, pin 14 for direction for relay K1 and K2 respectivly.

Spindle control is enabled, in step/dir mode.

If I set active low the relay energizes and active high it denergizes (love those LED's indicating output state on the PMDX-126).  This sort of tells me that the electrical connectivity is there, and that I have the pin assignments right.

A M3 or M4 command on the MDI do not seem to control the relay though.  M1 has no effect either.  I am at a loss for what to try next!  No a show stopper to running my machine as I had no motor relay control set up so there is the old manual on-off switch, but....

Attempting to get the motor control relay that is on the PMDX-126 to work.  I configure the ports/pins to use port 1, pin 2, for step and port 1, pin 14 for direction for relay K1 and K2 respectivly.

Huh? Why are you trying to turn a relay on with a step/direction signal? What you need to do is look in the 'Spindle Setup' tab in Ports&Pins under 'Relay Control'. Set the Output number to the logical output you want triggered when the spindle is told to turn on in the forward and reverse direction. For example set M3 to Output #1, and M4 to Output #2. Now go to the 'Outputs' tab and set 'Output #1' and 'Output #2' to the proper port and pin numbers.

That's why the forums are so great!  I was using step/dir because there is a "spindle" in the "motor outputs" tab, an error in intuition and not very well covered in the docs, IMHO.  I will give your idea a go and see if it gets things going. 

Now, if I could just get keep the  USB driver from dropping offline between the computer and teh smoothstepper....  I am going to try a couple of things there, a different computer and a different USB cable for starters.  Also, I rolled back to the lockdown version of the SS plugin -- I noted in the release notes that the developer 'doubled the current from the FPGA to the FDTI (USB) chip' so there is the potential for different USB charisteristics, perhaps. 

On a totally unrelated note, I'm making chips!  It's funny, folks are coming out of the treeline with "can ya make me a ____" requests.  Have made about 8 signboards so far, just basic ones using the "Write" wizard.  Which is *terrible*, but it gets the job done....

Take a look at the 'Installation Tips' document in the SmoothStepper section here:

http://www.soigeneris.com/Documentation-content.aspx

. Typically the problem with loosing communication is related to how Windows is set up.

Thanks, Jeff, I think you have something there, I will give it a go this evening!

Reading the doc you reference, I can see how power management of USB can cause problems. Even if the SS itself is externally powered, which mine is via the PMDX-126 board, as opposed to using the USB power.  In fact my symptoms sort of point that way in that the FPGA state stays in "done" (vs "init") indicating that the FPGA software is still downloaded and present onboard the SS itself, just the comms piece is going away on me.  Perhaps the FDTI USB chip is still powered by the PC +5V coming across the USB cable?  If that's the case (and I suspect that it is) then when the PC shuts down USB power then the USB connection goes away, resulting in the Mach3 SS plugin throwing a comms assert exception.

Nice catch! 

On a brighter note, I notice a huge improvment in the axis motion of my machine with SS.  I was getting stalling and skipped steps with the PP interface, upon reflection probably due to the DMA associated with the mobo's onboard graphics doing DMA and stealing cycles from the pp driver ring 0 process... just speculating though.  It truely *is* a smoother stepper!! ;-)

On the down side, the SS plug in loses the - sometimes handy - PP driver based feature of that pop-up window saying "a limit switch has tripped, would you like for Mach to fix this", which allows one to back off a limit switch via a couple of jog cycles.  With SS I have to estop the machine (and I have estop tied into both the PMDX-126 *and* the G540, so that the steppers go limp) and then back out of the limit switch by turning the lead screws by hand.  Of course, ya'll never hit limit switches because you are MUCH better machine operators than I!



-- Don Gates

You just need to tell Mach to let you back off the limit switch (in configuration). Or, better yet get the Soft Limits set up and you'll never have to worry about hitting a limit.

I will check the config for that option.  As for soft limits, seems when I turn them on they keep annoying me and getting in the way, my work pieces seem to push right to the edge of the working envelope.  But you're right.

-dg

You just need to tell Mach to let you back off the limit switch (in configuration). Or, better yet get the Soft Limits set up and you'll never have to worry about hitting a limit.

Is this the "home switch safety" check box in config? 

Well.  I implemented your suggestion regarding the spindle motor control relays assigned to an output and set the approprite output and THAT works. 

Got the FTDI USB driver error again, switching to the v.17 plugin now, have reset pwr management in device manager, going to see if it's more stable now.

Wish me luck!  (It ran 90% through a 10,000 line gcode file and then I accidentelly pulled the USB cable.  Arrgh.  Do-Over)
-dg

Arrgh.  Smoothstepper appears in device manager.  Turn off power to SS and it goes away.  Turn power back on and it comes back.  Mach plugin won't see it.  Making me crazy.