I finally got my Shopbot PR upgraded, with a new gantry and Z axis.  Today I finally connected the motors and installed Mach 3 and the Ascension 1000 controller.   I installed the .xml files and .set files provided with the Ascension controller, and followed the set up instructions.   Here's my situation:

My X axis, both X1 and X2, work OK.  The jog command moves the gantry as its supposed. to.   The Y axis does not respond to the jog keys.  The Z axis does not respond either. 

When I swap the plugs at the back of the Ascension box, sending output from the X axis to the Y or Z axis, both of these axis work.  This suggests that motor and cables for both are OK.  This leaves either Mach 3 settings or a problem with the Ascension box as possible troublespots.

 need help to determine if I have some setting wrong somehow, or if I have a problem with the Ascension hardware.

Thanks so much for this forum.  I look forward to learning Mach 3. 

Wayne C

Remove the parallell port cable from your control box and put a voltmeter between  the pin for Y Dir and ground, use the keyboard to Jog and you should see the voltage change between 5v and  0v depending on the direction. Do the same for the Z. If you dont see this then its a problem with the Port or Mach config. If you do then also put the meter between the Ste pins and ground for each axis in turn, you should see a voltage change when jogging from 0V to ?v the voltage will depend on your jog speed and the response time of your meter but it doesnt really matter what it is. If you dont see the change then again its a problem with port or config. One other thing it could be is your cable so check pin for pin for continuity.
 If the above tests show voltage then it has to be your box.

Hood

Couple questions, Hood.
1) Just to be certain, I'm checking for voltages from the computer, right?  Dumb I know, but I want to be sure.
2) Which pins on the plug are the DirY and Dir Z, and STE?  Are these assigned by Mach? 

Thanks so much for your help. 

Wayne

Yes you want to make sure Mach is putting out 5v for one direction and 0v for the other.
You have set up the pins for that by using the xml file from the makers. If you go to the Config menu, then ports and pins then motor outputs you will see which pins are for Dir and Step on each axis.


Hood

Well, I'm not at all sure what I did, but its working now.  I didn't change any settings, but I did reset the plugs.  So maybe I just had a loose connection somewhere.  If it turns intermittent, I'll dig further and maybe open the Ascension to see if there are any unset plugs, etc.


Thanks for the quick reply.  I'll be reading the tutorials and trying to catch up.  This is going to be alot better than my Shopbot controller, but I do need to spend time learning.

Thanks for your patience Hood.

Wayne

No problem, glad you are up and running

Hood