Hi to all,
My name is Isidro.  I am a self taught jeweler and I like to make things.  Probably like most of you, I want to make things using a CNC setup.  I put together an ancient CNC kit called a NEURACTOR CNC SYSTEM 300-700 many years ago.  I actually made some parts with it but now I have a different computer and would like to run it with MACH 3.  I am not sure what the problem is but it does not seem to get any signals from the printer port.  Any ideas?  Does anyone have one of these dinosaurs that actually runs with Mach 3?  Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Dont know anything about the machine in question but you can easily test the parallel port is outputting signals if you have a voltmeter. For example on the Dir pins for each axis you should see 0v when you jog that axis one way and 5V when you jog it the other. The Step pins for each axis will be a bit different as it is a pulse that is output so you will either see a slight rise in voltage from 0v or a slight devrease from 5v as you jog, depends on the active state of the axis pin in Mach.
Hood

Thanks hood.  I solved this with your suggestion.  No signal at the printer port so I re-installed and rebooted the system and suddenly the motors came to life.  Now I have another problem.  When I jog or when the program moves it on X, Y or Z, The first few pulses moves the stepper motor but after the first few pulses the motor just sits and hums until teh program indicates the it has reached it's destination. 

My thought was that the pulses to the motor are coming too fast for the motor to interpret.  Is that a logical or even possible probability?  If so, is there a way to slow the signal to the motor down a bit?

Thanks,
Isidro

My thought was that the pulses to the motor are coming too fast for the motor to interpret.  Is that a logical or even possible probability?  If so, is there a way to slow the signal to the motor down a bit?

You have identified the most likely cause. Try going to Config>Motor Tuning and lower the Velocity and Acceleration settings

that was it alenz.  Thanks for your help. I actually got it to work when I dripped the acceleration down to 10.  anything above 12 starts the chattering and humming with no motor movement.  But hey IT WORKS.  Thanks again. 
Isidro

Great!