Working with my mill today, trying to teach my grandson how to jog the machine around and pick up edges. He knows how to do it on a manual mill. He was jogging the x axis in rapid and it wouldn't stop, it ran all the way to the end limit!  I looked into it further and here is what i discovered.

Using the jog pendant brought up by the Tab key. Jog mode set to Step. Use Shift to override step mode. Press an axis key and the axis rapids.  The fun starts when you want to stop.  If you happen to release the shift key before releasing the axis button the axis keeps right on going unless you hit E-stop!  This is completely repeatable and works with all axis.  I'm using mach3 version .066. I am wondering if it my logitech wireless keyboard is the problem. The machine is extremely well shielded with metal enclosures and every motor and control cable properly shielded. Haven't seen any glitches at all.

Can someone try duplicating this problem as described above? I'll try a wired keyboard to see if that is different. This is real machine killer!

Gary H. Lucas

Works fine here.
I never use wireless devices on my machines although I am simulating here with a wireless logitech keyboard.
Hood

Hood,
I replaced the keyboard with a usb keyboard. Put it in step jog mode, hold shift to make it constant then press an axis direction. It jogs fast. Release the shift key while the axis is still moving, then release the axis key. The axis continues moving with no keys pressed! Scary, does this on all axis. Just waiting for a big expensive crash.

Gary H Lucas

Just tested again and works fine here but if you attach your xml I will test with it.
Hood

Hood,
Here is my XML. I appreciate you taking a look.

Gary H. Lucas

Ok tested fine here as well, however I see you are using an external motion controller. I am not familiar with that particular controller but can say with almost certainty that it is the problem. You will need to contact the makers and ask them to look into the problem.
Hood

Hood,
I was afraid you were going to say that. After the last test I did I suspected the same thing. It will be interesting to see if I can get help from them. I bought the board early on before I knew much about Mach 3. I may be forced to buy something else.

That is the sad thing about external controllers, unless you can be fairly sure that the support for problems will be there then its a risk.

Hood

Hood,
I emailed the vendor and they say they have not heard of this problem.  Why do I always hear that?  To their credit they offered to take it back and offered me an Ethernet smooth stepper in it's place. That means a fair amount of rewiring and my control panel is pretty tight, I may have trouble getting it to fit.  However this problem is too serious to ignore in my book. So I am going to take them up on it. Also I think it might provide an upgrade path to Mach4, that I am sure doesn't exist right now.

In looking at all the controllers and breakout boards out there, plus looking at all the boards available for 3D printers I am absolutely amazed at how poor the board designs are, and how bad the documentation is!  The board I bought first was actually documented very well.  It had useable mounting holes.  Mounting holes? It actually had mounting holes?  Wow!  The people making these boards need to watch some customers struggling to understand the Chinglish.  They need to try mounting one of their own boards.  4mm holes drilled with a handheld drill is tough to do.  What the heck would be wrong with large holes, and room for washers? It appears that the shelf life of electronics is about 15 minutes too.  The board we sold you is bad? So sorry, we replace with another completely different one, no charge!

Gary H. Lucas

That is the main problem with external controllers, especially ones that originate for China, ie the support for problems may not  be there. The ones such as Smoothsteppers, CSMIO, DSPMC, Kflop etc all have a proven track record and are likely to be around and supported for a long time yet. Suppose you never can tell, something could happen to one of these companies tomorrow and thats the end of it but the big advantage is they all have proven track records so likely you know what they are capable of and if support did stop tomorrow then you can still use them.
 Regarding Mach4, if I understand correctly it will be much easier to write the plugin for an external device with Mach4 however I think the companies have to provide some sort of proof that they will be in it for the long haul before they will get the information to allow them to make a plugin. That can be seen as a bad thing in a few cases I suppose but for the vast majority of cases, and more importantly the users of such devices I think it will be a good thing. Also I think Artsoft are a fair company so even if someone wants to make a plugin for their own personal  device that they are not intending to sell then I think Artsoft will accommodate them as long as some guarantees are given.

Now which controller, well the Ethernet Smoothstepper works very well and is a very nice controller, I have one on the big lathe and a USB one on on the Beaver mill. The big disadvantage of them to me however is they are 5v and I like my machines to be 24v for noise immunity, that means I have to convert everything.
 I am now using the CS-Lab products on two of my machines and for me they have huge advantages, 24v I/O analogue I/O etc etc, that however may be a disadvantage for some, especially if just wanting to add to an existing machine as it means rewiring will definitely be needed. Personally I think the advantages of 24v I/O far outweigh any disadvantages of having to rewire but often people do not want to do that and are quite happy with 5v.

Just some of my thoughts

Hood