Hi everyone,
I have been using Mach3 for a while now and on a few different projects, but I never managed to get past the following issue:
I'm turning on and off some outputs while moving along one axis (say X), which happens to be a gantry (2 motors slaved through Mach3). The outputs switch as intended, but the motion shows a clear "hick-up" every time, often leading to the two motors going out of sync and ending in the gantry getting stuck.
As the problem cannot be mechanic (everything runs smooth at much higher speeds when outputs are out of the equation), my assumption is that the main cause might be some power spikes occurring during the M10/M11 commands.

Did anyone encounter similar issues? And, more in general, do you think that adding properly dimensioned capacitors could help smoothing out the motion?

A brief overview on the electronics:
Motion controller: UC300
Drivers: Leadshine EM705
Motor: Hybrid stepper motor, 4A 2Nm
PSU: 10A@48V

One more note: the outputs switched on are powered by a second PSU.

Any hints/suggestion would be appreciated!

Which version of Mach3 are you using ?

Please .zip and post your problem Gcode file.

Tweakie.

Hi Tweakie, the version I'm using is the last one (3.043)

The code is the following

G00 G90 G17 G54 G40 G49 G80
...
G28.1 X 2
G01 F4500.00 X131.00
M11P3
G01 F4500.00 X181.00
M10P4
G01 F4500.00 X339.00
M11P4
G01 F4500.00 X341.00
M10P3
G01 F4500.00 X339.00
M11P2
G01 F1250.00 X231.00
G01 F1250.00 X15
M10P2
G01 F1250.00 X5
G28.1 X 5
...

Sorry but I have not been able to discover anything helpful.

Mach3 runs your Gcode just fine (M03 added to Gcode)  – without any hiccups and at various feed rates.
I don’t have a UC300 here to test but your code runs OK using a UC400ETH but I am not sure if the Mach3 plugin is the same for both these controllers.
(I do not have slaved X axis but that should not make any difference to the smooth running of the Gcode).

Tweakie.

Thanks for trying!
What’s the reason for M03 and where do you add it? Only once at the beginning?

Sorry I could not be of more help.
Mach3 requires the M03 (only once at the start of the Gcode) in order to enable the M11/M10 commands.

Tweakie.

So, I found the culprit:
nothing to do with M10/M11, was rather the combination of series of X moves and my CV settings (CV distance tolerance = 1.5). Got rid of the CV dist and everything's smooth now.

Tweaky, thanks again for your help!

Pietro

Hi Pietro,

I am pleased to hear that you have resolved the problem 

Tweakie.