Mach 3 was set up and A-axis was slaved.  All motors were tuned in and functioning correctly.  Disconnected everything to put board in cabinet and mounted motors.  Now everything is hooked up and A-axis is not working slaved.  swapped around motors and wires at board and all are good and function on x,y, and z, but not a.  Swapped for different DB25 cable and still no luck.  A-axis motor does get power and holds position.  However it doesn't move with the y axis.  When the controller board gets signals from any of the axises an l.e.d. will light up, but not for the a-axis.  Not sure how to test output of printer port or send another signal on the a-axis pin to see if it get a signal ?  Can I check for a voltage on the A-axis pin to see if computer is sending signal ?  Anyone have any suggestions ?  Bought a DB25 PCI card to go around onboard port, but won't receive until the end of the week.  Thanks in advance.

You've swapped motors & wiring proving that's all good, now swap your inputs for A & Y to see if your fault follows a port pin or a hardware channel.


 - Nick

The board in question is a single board, 4-axis, with fixed output connections. The step and dir signals to x,y,z,a axis are wired internally, and cannot be changed. The 6560 driver has been superseded by the TB6600 driver. The 6560 had problems, and is now obsolete. The best option, in my opinion, is try to return the board to the seller, and replace with the 6600 version, with the later voltage regulators. The later board has better voltage regulators for the 5v, and 10v output signals, which do not overheat. This board design has undergone about 3 or 4 redesigns, and the latest version has a heat sink for the drivers which covers the entire base, has eliminated the fan, and is a USB input from the computer. It is perhaps the most compact 4-axis board system made for a small to mid motor system. Sorry to sound negative about the 6560, but it is not worth your time to try to fix an old, problematic design, that has evolved with better hardware components.
John

Latest 4-axis board design

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Industrial-Automation-Control-/42892/i.html

The step and dir signals to x,y,z,a axis are wired internally, and cannot be changed.

It has wires feeding into it though ;-)

If the board has wires connecting to drivers, separate from the main board, it is not the board I was talking about.  The boards referred to as "6560 4-axis board" however is the type I am discussing. The points I made about the 6560 driver still apply. The Toshiba 6560 driver I.C. is not used anymore on new drivers. It has been replaced  by the Toshiba 6600 driver I.C. in small single axis drivers, and the 4-axis boards as well.
There are a very large number of board variations from China, and some of the later ones are very good.
Hope I did not add confusion to the issue; just trying to add some background.
John
 

 

It has wires between the computer and multi-axis board, even if you can only get cables with moulded plugs it's easy to swap two pin connections for testing purposes by splitting and metering out a spare cable and swapping the two required wire connections.

Here is the correct link to the board I was talking about.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CNC-4-Axis-USB-Mach3-Stepper-Motor-Driver-
Controller-Interface-Board-Card-2-In-1-/251912576226?pt=LH_
DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3aa728dce2

This one works.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CNC-4-Axis-USB-Mach3-Stepper-Motor-Driver-
Controller-Interface-Board-Card-2-In-1-/251912576226?_trksid=
p2141725.m3641.l6368

An alternative link to the same board...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251912576226?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fsch%2FBusiness-Office-Industrial-%2F12576%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_nkw%3D251912576226%26_rdc%3D1

Tweakie.