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Author Topic: Smooth Stepper questions  (Read 18277 times)

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Offline ger21

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Re: Smooth Stepper questions
« Reply #20 on: September 29, 2013, 12:21:25 PM »
Sounds like a bad connection of the ethernet cable.
Gerry

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Offline Fastest1

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Re: Smooth Stepper questions
« Reply #21 on: September 29, 2013, 12:38:21 PM »
Do you power up your controller before starting Mach or after?
I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather, not like the passengers in the car! :-)
Re: Smooth Stepper questions
« Reply #22 on: September 29, 2013, 07:21:22 PM »
Do you power up your controller before starting Mach or after?

Always before.    Won't work otherwise.

I connected to one of my CNC machines.   Even though the smooth stepper appears to working it does not move any part of the machine.

The Smooth Stepper has 3 DB 25 connecting ports.    Seems like I need to tell the computer which one I'm using.
Jim
Re: Smooth Stepper questions
« Reply #23 on: September 29, 2013, 07:25:30 PM »
Do you power up your controller before starting Mach or after?

Always before.    Won't work otherwise.

I connected to one of my CNC machines.   Even though the smooth stepper appears to working it does not move any part of the machine.
Mach3 is already setup with ports and pins.     The DRO in Mach3 shows movement but the machine is idle.

The Smooth Stepper has 3 DB 25 connecting ports.    Seems like I need to tell the computer which one I'm using.
Jim

Offline Hood

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Re: Smooth Stepper questions
« Reply #24 on: September 30, 2013, 02:55:38 AM »
Attach your xml please and I will have a look.
Hood

Offline Jeff_Birt

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Re: Smooth Stepper questions
« Reply #25 on: September 30, 2013, 09:58:52 AM »
I connected to one of my CNC machines.   Even though the smooth stepper appears to working it does not move any part of the machine.

The Smooth Stepper has 3 DB 25 connecting ports.    Seems like I need to tell the computer which one I'm using.
Jim

You have to tell Mach3 that you want to use the SmoothStepper AND you have to tell Mach3 which Ports&Pins things are on. Take a look at page 9 here: http://www.soigeneris.com/Document/Warp9/Installing_and_Configuring_the_Ethernet_SmoothStepper.pdf
Happy machining , Jeff Birt
 
Re: Smooth Stepper questions
« Reply #26 on: September 30, 2013, 10:09:10 PM »
OK, met with my brother who is an Electrical Engineer and this is what we figured out.

The Ethernet cable is wrong, I need a "crossover" type cable.    But, he had a "network Hub" box on hand so we connected to the smooth stepper using
the network hub.

He checked the Smooth stepper  IP address and it was 10.9.9.9.    He could not understand why we could not enter the MAC address.

We also tried the configure.exe link.    We watched some files load up but they never finished.   I think my problem is with "Configure".

Loading up Mach3 I get a box that says "Motion Control hardware plugin sensed"       ESS_v10tb2       is selected.    Hit OK

Another box "Wakeupclient board does not reply"   YES to retry;  NO to config;  Cancel to quit.      I hit NO to config.      Dialog box open with
the smooth stepper address set to 10.9.9.9    hit OK, and back to  "Wakeupclient board does not reply".

The "smooth stepper plugin" has been installed.

This is what I have.
Jim
« Last Edit: September 30, 2013, 10:14:11 PM by jimglass »

Offline Jeff_Birt

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Re: Smooth Stepper questions
« Reply #27 on: October 01, 2013, 08:48:24 AM »
Jim, let's back up and think about this situation in more familiar terms. Lets say you want to make a phone call, what do you do? You pick up your phone and you dial the other persons number. If your calling someone in the same area code you don't even need to type in the area code, just the phone number.

Computer networking is similar the IP address is like a phone number, every Ethernet device has its own phone number (IP Address). If you want to talk to another Ethernet device in the same area code (sub net) you don't need to type the area code in. In the context of the SmoothStepper you set up your PC with a fixed (static) IP address that is in the same subnet (area code) as the SmoothStepper. The SmoothStepper board comes preprogrammed with the IP address of 10.9.9.9 so you want to set your PC up with a static IP address that is in the same subnet (area code) so 10.9.9.1 is a good choice.

When you are changing the network adapter settings on your PC you want to set the IP address to 10.9.9.1, the SmoothStepper is already programmed so just leave it alone. When you start up Mach3 you have to tell Mach the IP address (phone number) of the SmoothStepper board which is 10.9.9.9.

If you have an older computer you may need a cross over cable. Any computer made in the last five years or so most likely has 'Gigabit' network adapter which will do an 'auto change over' so a special cross over cable is not needed.
Happy machining , Jeff Birt
 
Re: Smooth Stepper questions
« Reply #28 on: October 01, 2013, 09:16:53 AM »
When I get time I'm going to start over on this and recheck everything.

Someone needs to write an instruction manual so a machinist can set up this Smooth Stepper board  as well as a computer geek.

If I ever get this thing working, I'll write a manual myself.    I'm not a computer geek but at the same time I hold my own working with
computers.    I network programmable controllers all the time.

Hood;   Your asking about an XML file.    I have no idea what that is.

I really think it is important to get the Smooth Stepper working not only for me but others as well since newer computers fail to have
the old printer port most of us are familiar with.

Appreciate your patience
Jim












Offline Jeff_Birt

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Re: Smooth Stepper questions
« Reply #29 on: October 01, 2013, 09:51:25 AM »
Part of the problem is that you can't write a 20 page manual that will turn a machinist into a computer geek any more than you can write a 20 page manual that will turn a computer geek into a machinist. Each has years of experience to draw on.

Configuring things to work with Mach3 requires a breadth of knowledge you have to know some about machining, electronics, computers, software etc., etc., and you can't distill all of this into a small manual and cover every situation. Just getting an Ethernet device to work can be a challenge as there are so many variables: does your companies PC policy prevent you from making the needed changes on the PC, is the firewall or AV program your using going to interfere, does your network adapter require a cross over cable or not, does your PC have some sort of other software on it that will cause problems? Not to mention that folks start this journey at all different places, some folks struggle to turn the PC or unzip a file and others are a whiz.

I know it is frustrating when your just trying to make something work and I'm certain there are things that can be done to improve manuals and set up procedures. I'm also certain that no matter what sort of manual gets written it will never cover every scenario or makes sense to every reader.
Happy machining , Jeff Birt