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Author Topic: Gremlins  (Read 2973 times)

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Gremlins
« on: July 20, 2012, 09:39:59 AM »

   

Hello everyone
Some time ago I purchased a 6040 CNC
Finally put it together and started learning how to make chips ( with some success )
When I went to start it up yesterday, I found there was no signal getting from Mach to the controller
I can hear the magnets engaging in the steppers
When I use the jog option there is movement on the screen counter
What I carnt work out is, it was working when I shut it down last weekend  but nothing when I started it up again yesterday
Is it possiable the the multiple pin cable or USB cable failed on shutdown or start up

Thank you in advance for any feedback
Cheers Tony

Offline Tweakie.CNC

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Re: Gremlins
« Reply #1 on: July 20, 2012, 11:18:01 AM »
Hi Tony,

Almost anything is possible but if you made any changes / alterations to the Mach configuration last time you used the machine then some parameters require a system restart to take effect so would not be noticed at the time but would come into effect next time the machine is used.
Your configurations are stored in the xmlbackups folder so you should be able to return to an earlier configuration without too much trouble.

If you are using a PCI parallel port card may be worth checking that it has not worked loose.

Tweakie.
PEACE

Offline Hood

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Re: Gremlins
« Reply #2 on: July 20, 2012, 04:39:31 PM »
Does your control connect via USB or is it via parallel port?
Hood
Re: Gremlins
« Reply #3 on: July 20, 2012, 08:20:57 PM »
Gentlemen
Thanks for the reply
Thinking after I logged post I should have elaborated a bit more.
It has both a multi pin port cable and a USB cable coming from the computer to the controller,
I've put a multi meter on the USB cable and have the required 5 volts  @ pin were goes into Break Out Board.
I've taken the cover off the controller, the indicator LED on the BOB is lit green for healthy, as are the LED 's  on each of the stepper boards
But the red LED is also lit up on each stepper board
Thinking there might be a bug in the system I uninstalled mach from the computer hard drive and reinstalled reconfigured all the motors etc as per the manual and nothing has changed
Am on IPad at the moment  so cannot post a manual or photos, when I can get back near my home  computer I will endeavor to find and post
I know from other cnc forums I've looked at that the Chinese wiring etc isn't that great, but I've only had the machine moving for about 1 hr max, one would have thought it would have lasted a bit longer

Thanks again for any feed back
Cheers Tony

Offline Hood

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Re: Gremlins
« Reply #4 on: July 21, 2012, 02:19:05 AM »
Ok sounds like its via the parallel port and the USB is just used for power to the BOB.
Check your port address is correct.
Hood
Re: Gremlins
« Reply #5 on: July 22, 2012, 02:13:11 AM »
hood
 thanks
am on night shift at the moment, my shift sparky has asked to look at the controller and cabling, he might find something that iv missed
hopefully i am not back to building a whole new controller etc way soon than i would like
cheers Tony