I am brand new to CNC and find myself coming to the forum for basic questions once again.  I have Mach 2 downloaded and licensed.  Now that I am configuring I turned to the on-line video training.  I have noticed that all the on-line video training is for Mach 3. I assume the configurations work the same?  Please confirm. 

Also the configuration for mach 2 provided by the machine dealer shows to use pin 10 for X-, X+ and X Home.  (11 for Y and 12 for Z).  On the training video you indicate X+ as pin 10, and both X- and X home as Pin 11.  Whic is correct?  IS it dependant on the controller.  It makes more sense to me to use a different pin numbers for X+ and X- but I am not sure how this will effect the controller.  Please advise.

ANd again thanks in advance to everyone for your help.

Whay are you using Mach2 and not Mach3 ?
Are you aware the license you have will work for both versions?

The only reason i can think for a person to use mach2 is if their computer is less than 1gig processor.

What sort of machine do you have? Maybe we already have an XML file for you so that you will only need to do a minimal ammount of settings.

Purchased a router from 3drouters.  Uses gecko 201 drives. 

I am running off of a Pentium 4 processor so I am not concerned about processor speed.  I loaded Mach 2 because that is what the dealer recomended.  Would there be any reason not to run mach3?

Mach 3 is the current version to use, and i would do so, since it is better to do the setup for Mach3 now than have to do two setups.

Have a go at setting it up according to the videos, and let us know how you go.
Just copy and paste the licence file you already have, into the mach3 folder.

Ok I have removed Mach 2 from my machine and downloaded Mach 3, installed and rebooted.  Attempting to set-up using the on-line videos.  (by the way these are great)

Ran the driver test as suggested. 
Received the message "Preperation successful"
However, my readings are much differnt than the video.
My line is fairly straight but it is sitting at approximately 70uS  not  38uS
Pulse per second is approximately 14447 not 25800
CPU speed approximately 2932  not 2002

Do I have an issue?  Do I need to do anything before I proceed to correct.
Your help is much appreciated.

All looks ok apart from the pulses per second looks a bit low, this will be shared between three axis so the max number of pulses per axis is about 4500, if you are going to use servos then they normally require about 6000 pulses each.

Go to www.artsoft.com and download the optimisation information and work through that, then run the tests again.

Graham.

In answer to your question about the pin outs.

You only have a limited number of inputs and outputs on the parallel port so it all depends how many signels you require to drive all your components.

if you have 2 limit switches and a home switch on each axis all connected separately you would need 9 inputs and you only have 5, so its best to use the axis + limit as the home switch and link the 2 limits on the axis together, this way you only need 3 input pins.

Graham.

yennb

Is it possible to run Mach 3 on a P3 864Mhz machine?

yennb

Is it possible to run Mach 3 on a P3 864Mhz machine?

I ran on a P3 450 but had to reduce the pulse to 25K a P3 864 should manage a bit better
Hood