Hello All.  Once upon a time I had Mach3 configured for a micro CNC mill.  It was working great, but was outgrown by my projects.  I sold it to free up space.

Now, using what was the default profile, not the one for the previous mill, I am working on a new setup.  It's a NEMA 23 Longs Motor kit.  The micro mill ran fine at 10 IPM and 3 in/s/s acceleration.  It is set to inches in the units area.

If I turn off the e-stop, I get zero movement or buzzing with X, nothing with Y, and buzzing with Z.  Here's the fun part.  When I press the down arrow key, an LED in a row of 4 (so not the 3 green ones that says each axis is working) lights up and it locks up the X axis!  It gets hot from this until I turn it off.  I measure the XA+ and XA- and am getting 24V, which is what my power supply is.  I thought this was a failure of the board, so I asked about it.  They sent me another one and it acts the same way.  If I press the up key the light goes off and the stepper cools down.

In the Port and Pins window, first tab, I have the port #1 checked and it says 0x378 and has 35000Hz selected.

On the next tab I have:
X step: 1
X dir: 7
Y step: 8
Y dir: 3
Z step: 5
Z dir: 4

All are enabled with the check mark.  Step and dir port is set to 1 for all, just like in the manual.  The other tables match the manual too.  One thing that is curious, with the 25 pin cable it says there are enabled pins for X/Y/Z.  Those are 14/2/6.  In the output signals tab they are shown.  In the ports and pins tab, I can put these numbers in with the enabled check mark, but when I click away, it goes away.  Not sure if this matters, but I've seen it, so I'll point it out.

The dip switches are: on off on on on off for each axis.  I think this is important for the microstep, and is set to 1/2, but don't remember where to confirm this.

Really appreciate any help with this.  I've read a few threads, including this one (https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=35229.msg241737#msg241737) and a few on locked up steppers.  I'd love to even get that far.

Just for fun, I went into the MAXNC profile, which was for the old mill.  All 3 axis work, but very odd.  Sometimes when moving Y, X will move as well.  Something happened with Z and another as well.  Z movement makes the relay on the board click on and off a lot.  None of them will spin an opposite direction.  Always the same no matter which key is pressed.  I know I should expect things to be off since this isn't the profile given in the instructions, but I find it funny that it works more than the profile I made following the instructions.

The step/direction pins are as follows in that profile:
X: 6/7
Y: 4/5
Z: 8/9

Can you attach your <profile>. xml file then we can see exactly how you have things set-up.

Here it is.  Didn't know that was a thing.  Good to know.

In your attached .xml you have a conflict of pins where pins 6 and 9 are both defined twice so that is unlikely to work.

You perhaps need to set-up all your Ports and Pins as shown in the Longs Motor .pdf you have linked then attach your .xml (it needs to have a unique name to attach)

I set up a new profile from scratch.  The changes I made were to go to 35000Hz, checked the enabled for X/Y/Z as well as the PIN numbers for step and direction.  Also turned the motors down to 10ipm and 3 inches of acceleration.  It was still acting the same way.  Only some steppers were buzzing, at least one wasn’t.  Either page up or page down would buzz Z, but also lock on X.

So the exact behavior as before, and the same as the previous board which I was thinking was faulty.  At this point I am almost wanting to go with something with better documentation.  I’m happy to take any suggestions with this current board, but would also be open to other controllers that are better documented for setting up in mach3.  Don’t have the budget for G540s, but there has to be something else out there.

Hi,

Don’t have the budget for G540s, but there has to be something else out there.

There is a reason that G540's are as popular as they are, they work exactly like they are supposed to and are about
the best 'bang for your buck' out there. Anything cheaper is going to be Chinese made and then your back in the same pickle
you are in now.......no manufacturer support.

Craig