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Author Topic: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions  (Read 1380074 times)

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Offline ART

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Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #920 on: December 15, 2015, 04:40:57 PM »
Mark:

   Did you try increasing pulse width in Darwins diags menu item in mach4? Set your step width to 5 or so to see if it helps.

Art
Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #921 on: December 16, 2015, 03:00:38 AM »
Hi Art,

Yes with Mach3 I need to set it the pulse width to 5 , for best results.

In Mach4 have tried changing it, will do a few more tests , but 5 seems to be whats required.

I am using leadshine closed loop stepper motors

http://www.leadshine.com/productdetail.aspx?type=products&category=easy-servo-products&productype=easy-servo-drives&series=ES-D&model=ES-D1008

Kind Regards

Mark

Offline ART

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Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #922 on: December 16, 2015, 07:38:15 AM »
Mark:

 Yeah, try 5 or 8 or something , if negating the DIR is making it step it really does sound like
reversed step/dir lines, but small pulses CAN do the same effect..

Art
Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #923 on: December 16, 2015, 01:33:48 PM »
Hooray, it working.

Turned out to need the negate step setting.

I have some odd things going on with the Mach4 the steps per mm, does not seem to relate to the Mach3 settings, but will be able to sort this.

Such a shame it does not have the auto calibration that mach3 has.

Thank you Art for all you patience again, its difficult doing remote diagnostics.

Finally , wishing you and everyone on the group a happy Christmas and new year.

You can see my machine at          http://marktaft3.wix.com/siegx3cnc

I supported the group over 13 years ago, in master5 days , so finally I got a machine converted !

Offline ART

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Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #924 on: December 16, 2015, 01:52:01 PM »
Mark:

 Congratz, glad its running..

Art
Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #925 on: December 22, 2015, 02:41:06 PM »
Hey Art, thanks for the info. This did the trick!
I thought M4's Active Low's had to match Darwin's Active Low's.
Whew!

One other question:
Why is the PC responsible for sending out step pulses?  I believe it should be the Motion Control Board that should do that.
The PC should simply send a "command" to the board to move a motor, x number of steps at a specified speed.  And the board should react to E-Stops and Home switches directly.
Communications between the PC and board could simply be serial messages.
This is how I operate my robot arms using Arduino and Beaglebone Black boards.  And I can run 8 motors simultaneously just fine.
No need for Darwin.
Perhaps for Mach5 ???
« Last Edit: December 22, 2015, 02:46:05 PM by DSTechLabs »
-Bill
DSTechLabs.com

Offline ART

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Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #926 on: December 22, 2015, 03:40:45 PM »
>>Why is the PC responsible for sending out step pulses?  I believe it should be the Motion Control Board that should do that.
The PC should simply send a "command" to the board to move a motor, x number of steps at a specified speed.  And

   There is no right answer to that, when I wrote Mach3, it was because there were no motion boards that didnt cost thousands,
and everyone had a printer port. The printer port was the secret to Mach's success. Now though, I no longer use Darwin or the printer port
any more myself. I have moved on to Win7. However, theres a lot of machine out there using printer ports, so until their willing to
upgrade... Darwin can at least help..


So even I now use motion control boards..now its all a question of how efficient one is at doing so..
 :)
 Glad its up and running.. :)

Art
Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #927 on: December 29, 2015, 12:30:13 PM »
Hi Art,

Just been doing some more testing, and seem to be stuck again.

Thought the problem may be a Mach4 problems posted some info on new thread "Version 2803 Problems" , they suggested it could be a Darwin problem.

My set up is still with only 1 motor on the x axis.

I have two issues ,

1) when a e-stop is activated, if mach 4 is in enabled mode, you cannot get back to enabled, even though the log says e-stop cleared.

The system seems locked , until restarted.

also noticed that I have to press enable twice for the very first time, before the motors are engaged. Could this be related.

after this you can disable / enabale and they switch ok. 

2) when I reference home, the dro zeroes , without searching for the home switch, as if it thinks its already at the home location.

when I press home switch they work the x home, x-- limit and x++ limit, the same as mach3 which works, these light up in the debug screen correctly.

I only have one switch connected to both x-- and x++ limits.

have not set any soft limits in darwin or mach4


Let me have any sugestions.

Regards

Mark

Offline ART

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Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #928 on: December 29, 2015, 12:48:00 PM »
Hi Mark:

>>1) when a e-stop is activated, if mach 4 is in enabled mode, you cannot get back to enabled, even though the log says e-stop cleared.
        The system seems locked , until restarted.

  When you press enable do you get any message about what causes it to drop back into Estop? Is the EStop switch showing active?

>>also noticed that I have to press enable twice for the very first time, before the motors are engaged. Could this be related.
 
  No, thats normal.
 
>>2) when I reference home, the dro zeroes , without searching for the home switch, as if it thinks its already at the home location.

   Darwin does that if it senses the home is already made. Check the home switch in Darwins config to make sure "Active" is set to the condition
when the switch is pressed. All switches in Mach3 should be left at active high in their settings, no matter how they work..
Under the History button Darwin will put messages about a home, so if it thinks the switch is made it will tell you that. Also
in darwins config you have to tell it in the axis config which signal is the homing switch for that axis, if you havent set that it wont home.

  Try those things to see what they do, based on what happens Ill boot back into xp for some tests to see how mine is reacting with latest build,
last I tested was 2805.

Art

Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #929 on: December 29, 2015, 10:15:31 PM »
Hello, I've been building a Hobby CNC machine and have been struggling for about a week on something. I have a windows 7 32 bit system that I downloaded the M3 trial version, and had some success with. I then purchased M4 with the Darwin PP plug-in and tried to set up but i'm not having luck with the configuration and can't get the X Y and Z axis to connect (nothing happens when I jog each axis). I can get the spindle to turn on and off however. I checked several times and the Hex value is correct on port 1. I'm setting up Motor 0-2 for axis x y and z. I've attached some screen shots if that helps any. Thanks in advance

Greg