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Author Topic: Mach 4 with analog drives not working.  (Read 1147 times)

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Mach 4 with analog drives not working.
« on: December 07, 2020, 09:27:39 AM »
Hello

I have had to do an upgrade to my machine because of a failure in m motion controller card. I have installed a Vital System DSPMC/IP V3  controller, and have upgraded Mach 4 to the latest version 4.2.0.4300. I have installed the plugins for the controller into Mach. In the plugin configuration (Hicon 2.50.12), motors have been configured for control output type - Analog
  • (* is motor number).


Mach 4 is unable to control or command the drive movement with this configuration.

I am able to drive motors in both directions by issuing a voltage output command on the appropriate analog output channel, so I can confirm that the DSPMC board and analog channels as well as my drives are functioning. Just no control from Mach4.

I have another system that functions with analog drives but is with older version of Mach4.

Has analog functionality been removed or am I missing something?

Tks

Offline Graham Waterworth

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Re: Mach 4 with analog drives not working.
« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2020, 10:28:31 AM »
Mach4 only tells the Hicon what to do the Hicon is in control of the motors so my guess is you need to correct the config in the Hicon
Without engineers the world stops
Re: Mach 4 with analog drives not working.
« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2020, 11:11:12 AM »
please let us know about the analog
i never try this ,but i hade several old machines that need do retrofit and they use analog
Re: Mach 4 with analog drives not working.
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2021, 10:15:25 AM »
please confirm you have encoder feedback working when you move the motor by hand.  you can see the encoder count in the Hicon Diag status window.

Once you have that working, you can then start tuning the PID loop.  Analog drives require PID filter to move the motor for position control.

here is the document to configure the PID params.

https://www.vitalsystem.com/portal/motion/dspmc/DSPMC_PID_Guide.pdf

let me know if you need further help.  you can start a thread in the DSPMC forum so we will get notification when you post there.

regards
VSI Support Team.
Re: Mach 4 with analog drives not working.
« Reply #4 on: May 24, 2021, 06:10:45 PM »
Thanks for posting this, Zahir. 

I managed to get one of my 6 motors dialed in on my CNC machine.  My servo drives have 4 manual dial adjustments for Tachometer Potentiometer, Proportional Gain, Integral Gain, and Speed Adaptation...exponentially complicating the matter.  After 4 hours of reading manuals and tuning, one axis is jogging with encoder feedback within Mach 4.  Thanks again for the speedy reply to help me resolve this issue