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Author Topic: No Outputs on a UC300 USB on Mach3  (Read 2780 times)

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No Outputs on a UC300 USB on Mach3
« on: February 07, 2019, 06:44:38 PM »
Hi all, straight in with a problem as I suppose most new members are, but I've lost a day to this already and could certainly use some advice, please.
Large gantry Flat-bed CNC router, three axis (2 steppers in the Y direction), Mach 3 with UC300 USB controller, windows 7, and other than the odd disconnection from the UC300 and having to power it down and power it up, no real software / electronics issues in the last year or so of the steep learning curve into the CNC world!

Seemingly randomly on machine power up today the Mach 3 software is no longer able to output to the CNC machine. When activated the inputs (start, stop, spindle cool, cutter cool, limits etc) all show up in the IO monitor for the UC300, but any command sent to the hardware of the machine has no effect. The input / output monitor shows all the outputs to be at zero, even when the software is issuing commands to the hardware. For example, when I reference all home, the display of the Z axis position changes in the run program screen, but the UC300 IO monitor doesn't show any change, and the machine doesn't physically move.

Also, the physical emergency stop buttons suddenly have no effect. the I/O monitor shows the input coming into the software (input 40), but it has no effect. The software reset button kicks off an Estop, but the hardware buttons don't. There seems to be no assigned action to input 40.

My question is, how do I assign a signal showing in the UC100 I/O monitor as input 40 to a port and pin number in the input signals tab on the port and pin configs?

I notice the UC300 has 5 inputs on ports 2 and 3, and 13 on ports 1, 4 and 5. This makes 49 inputs, plus 4 analogue inputs makes 53, but 54 input states are shown in the UC300 I/O monitor. The same for the outputs where one more is shown than should be available.

Should I be assigning actions to the inputs in the UC300 IO Monitor, or in the ports and pins settings?

Ideally i want to check all physical connections to input and outputs, log what port and pin from the UC300 they are on, and then check in the settings that they are all setup correctly. Understaning the link between 'input 40' for example on the UC300 I/O monitor and that being port x and pin y to tell Mach 3 would be really handy!

My UC300 is using ports 2 and 3. The spindle inverter (Fuling DBZ 300) seems to only receive a control signal on two wires, a ground and an analogue output.

If it helps...
Pin-outs from the UC300 are...

Port 2
1-8 to stepper drivers
10,11,12 to X,Y and Z home stops
13 to control panel 'stop cycle'
14 to <to be discovered>

Port 3
1-8 to a relay board, 1 and 2 driving spindle and cutter coolants, rest unused
10 to control panel 'start cycle'
11 to control panel 'feed hold'
12 to control panel 'stop'
13 to control panel 'spindle coolant'
15 to control panel 'cutter coolant'

Analogue Output
1-4 to feed and speed adjustment potientiometers
5 and 6 to DBZ Inverter

any pins not mentioned are not connected to anything.

In Ports and Pins
Motor Outputs
X - Step Pin# 1, Dir Pin# 2 (port 2)
Y - Step Pin# 3, Dir Pin# 4 (port 2)
Z - Step Pin# 5, Dir Pin# 6 (port 2)
A - Step Pin# 7, Dir Pin# 8 (port 2)
Spindle - Step Pin# 0, Dir Pin# 0 (port 2) (seems odd?)

Input Signals
X Home - Port 2, Pin 10
Y Home - Port 2, Pin 11
Z Home - Port 2, Pin 12
Input #1 - Port 2, Pin 15
Estop - Port 2, Pin 13
OEM Trig #1 - Port 3, Pin 13
OEM Trig #2 - Port 3, Pin 15

Output Signals
Output #2 - Port 2, Pin 17 (Not active low)
Output #3 - Port 2, Pin 1
Output #4 - Port 2, Pin 2
Output #5 - Port 2, Pin 3
Output #6 - Port 2, Pin 4
Charge Pump - Port 2, Pin 14  (Not active low)
Output #7 - Port 2, Pin 5
Output #8 - Port 2, Pin 6
Output #9 - Port 2, Pin 7
Output #10 - Port 2, Pin 8

Spindle
M3, Output #2
M4, Output #1 (spindle doesn't turn CCW)

Flood / Mist
Mist M7, Output #4
Mist M8, Output #3

Motor Control
Ticked to use spindle motor output
ticked to use PWM
unticked to use step/dir motor

Any settings not mentioned are disabled or have no values

I'm unsure if this is a hardware fault or settings problem, but any help / advice anyone can offer would be great.

Chris

Offline ger21

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Re: No Outputs on a UC300 USB on Mach3
« Reply #1 on: February 08, 2019, 11:32:38 AM »
Quote
Also, the physical emergency stop buttons suddenly have no effect. the I/O monitor shows the input coming into the software (input 40), but it has no effect. The software reset button kicks off an Estop, but the hardware buttons don't. There seems to be no assigned action to input 40.

My question is, how do I assign a signal showing in the UC100 I/O monitor as input 40 to a port and pin number in the input signals tab on the port and pin configs?

How old is the plugin you are using?

The I/O monitor in the manual shows individual ports and pins, which appears to be different than what you have?

I have a UC30ETH, and it lists the pins for each port.

First thing I would try is to replace the .xml file with a backup.

Was this setup working
Gerry

2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html

JointCAM Dovetail and Box Joint software
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html
Re: No Outputs on a UC300 USB on Mach3
« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2019, 07:08:10 AM »
Ok, so an update to this one...

The IO monitor for the UC300 showing just inputs / outputs 1-40 or 50, and not separating them into different ports was giving me the hang-up. I could see no reason for this, unless of course the UC300 has taken a bolt (electrically) and gone to the afterlife, noonger differentiating between it's ports.

As it was working fine, and then suddenly not, I went the software route first, tried the backup XML, no changes, then removed and re-installed UC300 drivers and the UC300 IO monitor is now showing ports and pins as it should. A few changes to settings and the machine is back.

Still need to consider other changes, possibly to a UC400 ETH, I'm not convinced my spindle is driven via a charge pump, EMI / RF filtering is poor/ non existent (but I need a three-phase filter to the inverter) and if i can find one a No Volt Relay for three phase as well, but for now the machine is back, and I can spend whats left of my weekend catching up on the work it should have been doing the last few days!

Thanks for your advice on this. Combined with all the other reading I have done on the site this has all been invaluable in helping get the machine back working.