I have an X3 style benchtop mill running on a very old seat of Mach3 on a Win XP PC with parallel port and a G540 driving four steppers (linear axis X,Y,Z  and rotary axis A).  the XP PC is failing so I decided to switch over to Mach4.2 with a UC100 motion controller.

I opted for the UC100, because I thought the setup would be easy... but now it's kicking my rear end.

Mach4 license was purchased back around 2018... but I just downloaded 4.2.0.5036 and got a new key to run it on a Windows 8.1 laptop.

I nixed the driver signature requirement in windows and got the UC100 communicating with Mach4.2,  but the config. screens in Mach4.2 don't match up exactly with the user manual or any of the forum posts I've found.  And the entries on the output config page are very different than those in Mach3

Here's my UC100 settings:
Motor    Step Pin    Dir Pin
0                  2             3
1                  4             5
2                  6             7           
3                  8             9

I used the XML wizard to help enter the input and output configuration settings.  And while the terminology for inputs seemed to make sense... the only outputs listed in Mach3 that match any of the options in Mach4 are the charge pump and EStop.   So I have nothing entered for X++,X--, Xhome, etc...   and the available options on the pull down windows don't make much sense.

I have a the blue coms light on the UC100 is lit, and Mach4.2 sees it, but the G540 isn't moving.

I bought the UC100 from AutomationTechnologiesInc.com  (formerly Kelling) which has always been reputable, so I don't have any reason to think I got a China clone.

Any help is much appreciated.

Still no answer? I'm having the same problem as you.

Hi,

Mach3 and Mach4 are designed differently.

Mach3 was designed specifically with the Parallel port in mind whereas Mach4 is more designed around hardware flexibility.

For Mach4, always make sure that you have the correct plugins enabled. In your case the UC100. Make sure that this device is selected as your motion controller. This will allow Mach to send motion commands to your UC100. From there, You set up your motor information in your UC100 plugin. Most motion controllers you can skip this step as it is not needed. After you go through your UC100 configurations, You can go into your Mach configs and setup things like steps per unit, acceleration, Velocity, Inputs, and Outputs.
When you do things like try to get motion, first verify that your drives are enabled. If your drives are not enabled you will not get motion. Next verify that you have the correct step and direction polarity, and finally, verify your wiring. These are the most common issues when it comes to getting setup.

Terms:

Inputs: This is an input signal. Mach is looking for an signal to tell it to do X thing.
Output: This is an output signal. Mach is telling something to do X thing when triggered.

Your limit, home, and ESTOP switches will be an input.
Your Pumps, Lights, Solenoids, Enable signals will be outputs.

If it is all set up and you're still having issues, there is a chance your firewall could be blocking the signal to your UC100. Try opening the firewall port and see if that makes a difference.