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Author Topic: Only X-axis motor is working  (Read 33584 times)

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Offline rcaffin

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Re: Only X-axis motor is working
« Reply #50 on: March 24, 2018, 05:03:54 PM »
Back to checking wires and pins with LEDs.

Cheers
Roger
Re: Only X-axis motor is working
« Reply #51 on: March 24, 2018, 07:13:35 PM »
Back to checking wires and pins with LEDs.

Cheers
Roger

I'm still trying to determine what I will see with the LEDs that I don't already see.
I have a few small breadboards and will certainly wire one up to see.

I'm assuming I should be connecting them to the Dir and Step pins?
I figure I can hook up 16 LEDs (18 with the enable) and set them to indicate high or GND, right?

Offline rcaffin

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Re: Only X-axis motor is working
« Reply #52 on: March 24, 2018, 08:04:22 PM »
Step and Dir pins - yes, certainly.
Hi or Lo - yes.
Imho, the 1st diagnostic is 'does the axis work'? The second is to look at the pins with such a LED tool.

Cheers

Offline TPS

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Re: Only X-axis motor is working
« Reply #53 on: March 25, 2018, 04:43:49 AM »
this profile is completly empty.
anything is possible, just try to do it.
if you find some mistakes, in my bad bavarian english,they are yours.
Re: Only X-axis motor is working
« Reply #54 on: March 25, 2018, 12:59:23 PM »
this profile is completly empty.
I'm guessing that means the profile doesn't actually save til you exit the program? Or am I supposed to do something I didn't do to not have a blank profile?

The two profiles I've used were the standard Mill one that comes with the download and the New one that appears to be empty. The only thing I did with the new profile was set the motor outputs as that's all I need to focus on until I have them working.
Re: Only X-axis motor is working
« Reply #55 on: March 25, 2018, 08:02:40 PM »
I was asked to check pins with LEDs.
Here are the results.

To explain what's going on with the board, I can select to ground the LEDs on one rail or supply +5 to the LEDs on the other rail.
The 8 LEDs represent the 8 output pins. X-axis is on the right side. Step pin is first, then Dir pin.

I have verified that the diagnostic board I made is functioning properly.

There is more to read after the images.

First I added +5V to the LED array. This is the result.



The lit LEDs are showing ground on the breakout board.
There was nothing else spectacular here.

Next I grounded the LEDs on the other array.



The X-Dir pin is lit and when I toggle the direction, it goes out



And when I engage the X step I can clearly see the X step LED working



NOW the interesting part
Or maybe not so interesting, depending on how much you know about this stuff.

If I have power to the breakout board, and it's hooked up to the computer through the parallel cable, I get the outputs above.
If I disconnect the parallel cable, the board, essentially, goes dead as far as the output pins are concerned. There is neither +5 nor ground once the parallel cable is disconnected.

So, the LED test verified exactly what I saw in the motor test. Only the X axis is getting a signal. The step and Dir on the other 3 axis is not functioning, whether set high or low in the output pin settings.

So, is it a bad cable? Bad port driver? Bad breakout boards? Time will tell.

Offline rcaffin

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Re: Only X-axis motor is working
« Reply #56 on: March 25, 2018, 09:25:41 PM »
Isn't it nice when you can SEE the signals.
When things get really baffling I forget all about the high-level diagnostics, like board swapping, and I go back to LEDs to actually see the signal.

OK, now what happens to the Y & Z axes under similar conditions?

I am a shade concerned about how the BoB goes dead when it is disconnected from the PP, but more info is needed.
First, are you supplying power to the BoB when it is disconnected? (This may be a silly Q, but it has to be asked.)
Next, what happens when you tie one of the BoB input pins to ground via a 100 ohm resistor? Does this affect the state of the output LED?

A perfectly horrible possibility which you have not mentioned is whether the PP output from the computer is damaged. You can test this with the LEDs and Mach3 as well. Note that you may need to supply +5 V to the LED board.

Cheers
Roger
Re: Only X-axis motor is working
« Reply #57 on: March 25, 2018, 10:04:23 PM »
Isn't it nice when you can SEE the signals.
When things get really baffling I forget all about the high-level diagnostics, like board swapping, and I go back to LEDs to actually see the signal.

OK, now what happens to the Y & Z axes under similar conditions?
Y and Z and A axis don't do anything. They stay as lit in the photos. No matter what I do, they don't change.

I am a shade concerned about how the BoB goes dead when it is disconnected from the PP, but more info is needed.
First, are you supplying power to the BoB when it is disconnected? (This may be a silly Q, but it has to be asked.)
I supply power to the BoB through the USB output from the puter.

Next, what happens when you tie one of the BoB input pins to ground via a 100 ohm resistor? Does this affect the state of the output LED?
I don't have any 100Ω resistors to try.  I used all my 220Ω resistors that I usually use for pull down on my Arduino stuff. I can get more on Tuesday if needed.

A perfectly horrible possibility which you have not mentioned is whether the PP output from the computer is damaged. You can test this with the LEDs and Mach3 as well. Note that you may need to supply +5 V to the LED board.

Cheers
I don't have a lot of ways to otest the parallel port but did order a PP breakout board.  Unfortunately they won't be here for a while. Having said that, I should be receiving my new 5 axis BoBs soon (could be in the mailbox right now) so I will try replacing those first.

At this point I'm thinking it's either the BoB, the parallel port, the PP cable or the Win7 driver (I saw another thread that mentioned their PP troubles after a Win7 update).

I know my hardware is good. That's a plus.
Roger

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Offline rcaffin

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Re: Only X-axis motor is working
« Reply #58 on: March 25, 2018, 11:01:13 PM »
Hi Inferno

Now I am a bit confused. (That's not hard.)
Is the BoB hooked up to the PP on the computer or via a USB connection? And how do you plug a USB cable into a BoB anyhow?

You may not WANT to be an electronics engineer, but if you are running a hobby CNC you WILL become one sooner or later. But that can be fun anyhow.

I am running Win7, ESS, 2xHomann Designs MB02 BoBs, Gecko 320s, Mach3 .062, and the whole hums away. I was running this morning in fact.

Cheers
Roger
Re: Only X-axis motor is working
« Reply #59 on: March 25, 2018, 11:30:14 PM »
Hi Roger,
I too use Homans BoBs and back when I was still using PP I powered the Homan BoB by USB. The USB
did not have any signal capability just a convenient way to plug your device (BoB) into the PC power.

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'