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Author Topic: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions  (Read 1243659 times)

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Offline ART

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Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #1070 on: February 26, 2017, 05:15:30 PM »
Hi Wofler,

  Cant think of why if its turned on in m4 config, Id check with them to see what turns on the jog button, as long as its mapped it should
at least enable the button. Doesnt sound like an Darwin issue..

Art
Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #1071 on: February 26, 2017, 06:13:33 PM »
It was in  the motor enable panel i am setting up a lathe and i used motor 0 and motor 1 and i should of used motor 2 for the Z axis motor.

I could not get the drives to enable and the charge pump to work before .i had tried before about 9 months ago an just kept waiting for something new to come along .

I finally figured out i had to put a 5khz signal out to the charge pump pin and then invert the signal to the drives enable pin to get the thing going.

I want to ask is there some docs somewhere on the spindle set up for Darwin and Mach 4?

Offline ART

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Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #1072 on: February 26, 2017, 09:05:01 PM »
Woffler:

   I dont think there is. However, you basically select from the menu config of Darwin the method of spindle control
you wish to use. 

Art
Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #1073 on: February 27, 2017, 11:25:12 AM »
I am having a problem with Darwin arbitrarily changing the frequency on its own after i input a frequency on a out put pin to the spindle pin .

I am trying to set the spindle pwm frequency on pin 1 port 1 and i set to say (50) i enter it, close out Darwin plugin, go into mach  toggle the spindle forward .

I come back into Darwin plugin and it has set out put frequency to ( 2) on pin 1 port 1.

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Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #1074 on: February 27, 2017, 11:37:45 AM »
Its probably Darwin changing it to the S word frequency. In the config you set a min and a max Spindle speed, and Darwin will set
the PWM to the correct % based on the current S word. Make sure the min and max are set properly. Try a higher S word, does the PWM change?
Darwin wont remember that PWM from its config, its assuming it will be set by the Spindle ON command.

Art
Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #1075 on: February 27, 2017, 03:59:43 PM »
Hi Art, i finally got it working and doing what it is supposed to do ,and the spindle works.

 The other thing i found is that if you do not enable home - in the motors tab in Darwin it will not allow you to jog in the Axis + direction in Mach 4 and gives you a error ( can not jog toward X or Z + limit switch).

And it does disable your M03 commands from the Mdi line , if you check the the ( home -) in Darwin you get your Spindle back crazy!

I am not sure at this point as to how to get it to home in Mach 4 i need to home in the + direction and it will not as of yet.

Offline ART

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Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #1076 on: February 27, 2017, 04:38:13 PM »
Hi:

  Hmm, seems to me you can specify in Darwin the direction of the home in the motor config..

Art
Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #1077 on: April 21, 2017, 06:44:45 PM »
Art the Great et all,

I have a 4 axis CNC machine with X, Y, Z, and axial functionality.  I have a 2.2 kw 220 volt spindle controlled by a 2.2 kw / 220 volt spindle mounted on the z position along with a CO2 laser.  I have a printer port break out board that i am trying to control the machine with.  I am currently on my 3rd break out board.  The first break out board i thought had a malfunctioning relay switch.  The second I thought I had fried.  Currently on the third.

My issues, more numerous than the Sears catalog, stem from being able to jog the machine reliably.  On the first break out board I was able to initiate g code, the famous road runner.  I turned on the laser and let it scar a piece of plywood with success; however, anytime I would try and jog the machine manually be with on screen controls in Mach4 or on a keyboard I would get erratic/unpredictable behavior to which axis would move and in what direction.  I found the support number to newfangled solutions and talked to some really professional guys and they helped negate a few signals in Darwin and I was on my way to being able to jog the machine reliably--every time!! Well I wanted to tie the spindle controls in on the break out board and followed the suggested guidance from buildyourcnc.com; however, I could never get the relay to respond.  So I thought I had a bad relay on my break out board.  The guys at buildyourcnc.com sent a new break out board to try--Turns out I had to power the break out board with a type A male to type A male usb cable--I just figured this out yesterday while on my third break out board. 

My problems began when I took the digital communications port and the speed direction from the VFD terminal interface and wired them to two different outputs on the second breakout board.  Once I did that I lost the ability to jog the machine or have the machine--stepper motors--respond to any g code at all.  So now thinking that I fried the break out board and talking with the folks at buildyourcnc.com I ordered a third break out board.  I didn't hook up the spindle, just wanted to get the stepper motors to move.  No luck what so ever in getting them to move.  I have uninstalled Mach4 and Darwin--deleted files off the hard drive and reinstalled with all the latest software to date 4-1-2017.

I am at a severe loss in understanding a path forward.  I don't know if somehow the stepper motors are bad now or what?  I have read and watched youtube videos from Art F. in regards to Mach 4 and Darwin setups.  I am thinking about ordering the 700 USD HICON board and getting away from printer port all together.

It is just so odd to me that after setting up the break out board and having it function to hooking up the vfd to a couple of outputs on a card or so back and now not having any functionality--my mind is just boggled.

Has anyone had this kind of difficulty?  Is this a sign from the CNC gods??  What would you guys do?

Thanks!

Offline ART

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Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #1078 on: April 21, 2017, 11:17:45 PM »
Not knowing what the vfd is like its hard to say what got crossed in the wiring to short things out..which is what it sounds like..

 However, witha new bb it should go.. I doubt very much you fried the motor drivers.. Id start small myself, test a motor, using a wire from 5 volts, Id touch many times the step pin to simulate a move.. ( Disconnecting wire from breakout board first..). If motor moves, then your OK on the motors.. then you just need to figure out why darwin wont put out..

 If the DRO is moving, then darwin thinks all is ok and is sending out, so maybe the charge pump isnt set right if the board needs one.. Check that with a meter , see if it goes to 5 volts when you hit reset.. those would be the first tests Id do. When you get no motion on a new board, its usually the chrage pump or a setting... and vfd's can have a weird suplies and grounds, so its not unknown for that to blow things up..

Art
Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #1079 on: April 24, 2017, 03:06:59 PM »
So I took a 5 Volt wire and tapped on the step side on the micro step driver and got some action out of the motor!  I consider this a success.  But what is odd to me now is that when I initiate a step I see a differential in voltage on the input side of the micro step driver, but on the output side of the driver I see no change at all; when initiated by the Mach4 GUI.  I do see DRO change, so Darwin is sending the signal, but I see no evidence on the output side of the micro step driver.  I am leaning towards a replacement on the micro step driver side.

On another note however, I am looking at the spindle setup through Darwin.  I'm setting it up on the relay side of the break out board and I am using the DCM and FOR signals from the VFD.  In my breakout board the pin that should be doing the talking to the spindle is pin 16.  So I have all of this setup and enabled in Darwin as well as setup on the Mach settings output tab.  I also have the freq range set on the Darwin Configuration screen for a range 0 to 400 Hz per specification of the spindle and vfd settings.  When I click start I see the DRO go to the minimum setting that I supplied for the signal.  The status bar in the bottom says Signal 5 set to 1; however, the relay fails to close the connection to initiate the spindle from turning on.

Maybe I should just get rid of all this and take up basketweaving???

Curious as to your thoughts.

Thanks again for your time and consideration.