Messages

1

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Freezing during G code run

« on: June 24, 2015, 07:48:42 AM »

After Months of having no issues, I too started to have this problem (not to mention uninstalling mach because of crashes and losing my mach configuration and having to reconfigure my machine - my fault BTW -  I was unaware that a firmware update was release and I jumped the gun).

Anyway,
2 Days ago, my machine started to display this same problem out of nowhere. I was pulling my hair out at this point.

I came across this post and re-routed the USB cable from the machine to the computer, much easier than moving the router cable. I went from having the machine run 100 lines of code to running about 400. Re-routed again and ended up using ferrules on either end of my USB.

Fast forward to Today,
Ran 16,000 lines without missing a beat. I hope this helps anyone else with a custom built machine that does not really have the option to reroute their VFD/Router cables.

I will be buying more ferrules today...
V/R
Mike

2

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Machine Has its own mind made up

« on: April 13, 2015, 10:50:42 AM »

Nothing was wrong on your end, I updated and used the old profile link and it was not the new PMDX shortcut from updating the driver...

sorry for the scare!
May my mistake be a lesson to all! another hint that you are using an older version after updating, the DRO's will give CRAZY readings. Say you are in INCHES the DRO's will say that. Your machine is at ZERO, you start to JOG and they show in the THOUSANDS, example: 0.0000 starting point, begin moving and it shows: 27684924.0873. and so on.

be warned.

V/R
Mike

3

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Machine Has its own mind made up

« on: April 04, 2015, 10:06:48 PM »

I dont know what happened between the last update of Firmware and the latest version of mach, but my machine is driving me nuts!

I set Home. Jog out of the way, set my workpiece, press go to home. It starts travelling in the OPPOSITE direction and sets at a random spot on the table. if I press it again it moves in the same direction, but this time only 2-3 in on the x and y axis.

anybody please help!
My wife is starting to hate me for spending sooo much time on this, and I cannot have her hating me too.

This machine hating me is enough.... what is with mach and their motion issues!

V/R
Mike

4

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: PNP Proximity Sensors

« on: March 28, 2015, 03:26:46 AM »

Bob,
So is that the same for NPN?
Just curious, soft limits scare me and I would preffer for the actual limit switches to work...

V/R
Mike

5

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: PMDX 422 Smart-BOB Project Timeline

« on: March 26, 2015, 06:42:51 PM »

Thank You for your tireless efforts to bring this to the community!

I was on a 10 day vacation away from the machine and have not yet updated it to test the slaved axis function or homing. Thank you for this!

V/R
Mike

6

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: PMDX 422 Smart-BOB Project Timeline

« on: March 12, 2015, 10:14:36 PM »

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
I just needed to know those few things. I am going on vacation starting on saturday and will be away from the machine for 10 days. my business partner may run the machine while I am away but he has been instructed to not update mach or the pmdx firmware while I am gone to prevent any lack of movement or other unforeseen issues.

Thank you very much for that information!

V/R
Mike

7

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / PMDX 422 Smart-BOB Project Timeline

« on: March 12, 2015, 12:15:38 AM »

I know all of you at PMDX are in a daily struggle to provide the latest and greatest when it comes to the latest drivers and Mach4 hobby updates.
It would help many who already own the 422, or are looking into purchasing one, if we knew what your burndown project list/timeline looked like for new features like probing and axis slaving.

I know you are all very busy, but I was hoping for some type of timeline so I can schedule my projects accordingly.

Thank you so very much!

V/R
Mike

8

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: PWM Output on the 422

« on: March 04, 2015, 04:13:12 AM »

works perfect now!
Thank You Bob!

V/R
Mike

9

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Mach 4 Release 2251 No motor movement

« on: March 04, 2015, 04:12:40 AM »

I just installed mach 4 release 2251 and got no movement from any axis on my machine, the DRO's reflected this.
I reinstalled mach 4 release 2238 and everything is working just fine.
Just wanted to see if this is a known issue and if there are any fixes on the way?
it works just fine with R2238 for now so no rush, a heads up to anyone getting ready to update.

V/R
Mike

10

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / PWM Output on the 422

« on: March 02, 2015, 12:54:41 AM »

I know that this is a coming feature and I will be using it in conjunction with the SuperPID router controller for my Bosch 1617EVS Router.
So far I have the Router working with the 422, but it auto starts and when the spindle CW button is on in Mach4 it will stay at 5000 rpm. When the button is turned off after completing a cut and returning to zero or home, the router spools up to max. I am looking at my end to be sure everything is wired correctly. I do know that this feature is being added, so I am not expecting it to fully work until then. I just wanted to put it out there so everyone doing something similar (or the same thing) has a place to look at all of the configuration and wiring to get this feature to work as it should in the future.

Thanks and good luck to everyone out there!
V/R
Mike
PS bob there is no rush, the SuperPID still lets me manually operate the RPM.

11

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Slaved Axis question

« on: March 02, 2015, 12:48:32 AM »

Thank you for continuing to keep us up to date on the progress. So far I am loving every bit of information and applicability each update brings to the 422!

12

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: One Direction?

« on: February 25, 2015, 06:12:09 AM »

Bob,
for the J3 setting I actually have it set to GND. I do not have any ground to the 422 and motor drivers, I do however, have the low level +5v connected for the enable feature on the drivers.
I hope that helps, I am currently going home to sleep, I have been non-stop with other hardware issues today. Don't worry nothing electrical or PMDX related, all bonehead mechanical nonsense.

Also, here is a screenshot for the softlimits and active low setting.
Thanks again,
V/R
Mike

13

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: One Direction?

« on: February 24, 2015, 07:56:32 PM »

Wow, Bob! Lots of info!
1.  I do not have a COM wire from the 422 to the drivers. does the COM go to the driver Ground?
2. The drivers are the DM860A's from Longs motor - I know, I know, I went cheap. I eventually plan on going to servo motors but needed to                  get the basics worked out first.
3. J3 is set to +5v
4. I meant the soft limits button on the home screen of Mach4. I looked at the ports and pins earlier today and found that softlimits was selected to be ON, I turned on the "Active Low" setting and everything returned to normal with the machine softlimits working.
5. Before switching this on, all axis's behaved the same, i.e. moving only in the + direction.

As of NOW, everything is working fine....
One new question, should the Ground from my DM860A's be plugged into the COM on the 422?

I have attached a photo of the specific drivers that I have.

Thank you for the fast response!
V/R
Mike

14

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: One Direction?

« on: February 23, 2015, 12:26:59 AM »

Disregard my last issue. I figured it out. I had the direction wire in the "COM" location for the axis output. totally incorrect spot.
Now that it is fixed, when machine soft coords are on the machine will duplicate the above problem. again tried switching the wires and believe this one ot be a legitimate issue.

Thanks in Advance,
V/R
Mike

15

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: One Direction?

« on: February 22, 2015, 08:44:44 PM »

Oh, and I am running firmware version 32.104. trying to reload firmware again seeing that it started to do this after the update from 31. whatever it was last