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Offline Fastest1

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Pulsing too fast
« Reply #10 on: February 08, 2013, 08:46:55 AM »
A working PC would have been cheaper than the SS.
I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather, not like the passengers in the car! :-)
Re: Pulsing too fast
« Reply #11 on: February 08, 2013, 06:36:27 PM »
If memory serves, a normal driver test displays "Pulsing too fast" for 6 seconds or so before it takes over??  You're not getting impatient and exiting the test before it runs are you?  I know, dumb suggestion but I thought something was wrong when I saw the message the 1st few times I ran it and I exited too early.

Just a suggestion.... :)
Milton from Tennessee ya'll.

Offline jevs

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Re: Pulsing too fast
« Reply #12 on: February 08, 2013, 08:49:57 PM »
No, it takes over, pulses up a bit and then just stops. Pulsing too fast is not really the issue even though that is what is left on the display. Sometimes it will blip up for a sec and turn green before it dies.  It won't pulse a stream at all. It just spits out a little and then dies. I am not messing with the Mach driver anymore, I already put 64 bit Win 7 on and I am putting in a smoothstepper (Ethernet).

Offline jevs

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Re: Pulsing too fast
« Reply #13 on: February 08, 2013, 08:59:36 PM »
A working PC would have been cheaper than the SS.

I don't want to mess with old terd computers and XP. I choose to have a modern computer. The aggravating thing is, I built one that should have worked with Mach. I actually could have saved money by not having to make it take an outdated PCI card (spent more on the motherboard). This computer runs cooler, is lighter, smaller, no platter HD to fail, draws less current, faster, etc etc. Much better than any computer you could get for the price of a smoothstepper. It should feed a smoothstepper quite nicely. I also sold my old computer for $175 shipped :) . With the smoothstepper I should have a more reliable pulse stream as well. It gives more benefits than just working like a parallel port.

Mach will have to evolve sooner or later, more and more people want to use newer computers. Some people aren't interested in dumpster diving for an old computer when you can by a pretty fast new one for $300 and a good portion of the used ones are starting to be 64 bit Win7 machines. Remember...Win7 is even old now :) XP is ancient.
« Last Edit: February 08, 2013, 09:01:30 PM by jevs »

Offline jevs

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Re: Pulsing too fast
« Reply #14 on: February 12, 2013, 09:50:36 AM »
It is alive again! Thanks to an Ethernet Smoothstepper!

No more OS limitations, mach driver issues, or parallel port card! I am using 64 Bit Win7.
 
I mounted the smoothstepper in the computer case and used some computer case mount parallel ports. This way I did not have to do any changes to the rest of my machine and the breakout board hooks up the same as before. The board is also powered off the computers power supply (500W so plenty to spare since I am using CPU/MB video).

My whole machine is designed to power up off one button press on the front panel. This button hooks to the power pins on the computers motherboard. Once the computer powers up, the rest of the system is activated by the computers power supply using relays etc. Works great. I also have a USB port on the front panel, HDD indicator LED, and power indicator LED. So, you can load your programs with a thumb drive etc. and there is no reason to get inside the cabinet or mess with the computer seperatly to run the machine.

Now I just have go through and double check all the settings and stuff and I am back to where I left off a year and half ago when the computer crapped out and I lost interest. I have a good feeling I will cut something soon!

Thanks to those that offered up suggestions even though the mach driver just would not work with my setup. The smoothstepper is the way to go (from what I see so far).
Re: Pulsing too fast
« Reply #15 on: February 17, 2013, 12:56:25 AM »
I'm with jevs on this, the lpt driver seems flaky and parallel port is old tech. I retrofitted a commercial machine that had Delta 10 controller rated at 6MHZ and a travel speed of 350ipm. When I setup using a 3GHZ machine I figured that it would handle the load with now problem. I was wrong, the Delta system uses a pulsing engine similar to the smoothstepper taking simpler commands from the computer and generating it own pulse train. This means its not affected by other computer loads and would run plenty fast on a slower machine. How many time have you sent something to a printer then moved on to other projects on the computer and then realize the printer is pausing every time you open another page on the computer robbing from the printer port. Not good for a CNC machine running at high speed with high degree of precision. I am running right now on the parallel port but plan to install the smooth stepper in the near future, I don't like some of what I have seen with the port driver my self.
For anyones info you must run the driver test with Mach running and configured as you plan to run it. You all so have to run the driver two times to get a reading from it.
Run it once and wait till its has completely taken over and reading pulsing to fast close it and launch it again you should get a reading then.

Steve
« Last Edit: February 17, 2013, 01:01:32 AM by Machinehead57 »
I have this ultimate set of tools I can fix it.

Offline Hood

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Re: Pulsing too fast
« Reply #16 on: February 17, 2013, 03:54:02 AM »
Run it once and wait till its has completely taken over and reading pulsing to fast close it and launch it again you should get a reading then.

Steve

That would suggest the driver was not installed. Running the drivertest will install the driver but you will not get anything meaningful from that run.
Hood
Re: Pulsing too fast
« Reply #17 on: February 17, 2013, 10:06:35 AM »
Driver is installed it runs the machine, just there is something not quite right in the software. I have made judgment calls from this test and realized the first run wasn't correct so I make it a practice to run a second time before making any decisions.

Steve
I have this ultimate set of tools I can fix it.

Offline Hood

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Re: Pulsing too fast
« Reply #18 on: February 17, 2013, 10:35:18 AM »
If you get pulsing too fast and have to always run the driver test a second time to get a reading then that is indicative of issues with your computer, I would suggest you try some of the optimisation steps detailed on the downloads page.
Hood
Re: Pulsing too fast
« Reply #19 on: February 17, 2013, 06:16:25 PM »
Hood I understand this and thought it was my computer so I replaced it 3 times before I realized they all did the same thing. The driver is obviously working it runs the machine just fine and very accurately but I don't get a driver test till I launch it a second time.

Steve
I have this ultimate set of tools I can fix it.