Messages

226

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: mach 4 dro is moving but motors are not

« on: November 01, 2015, 10:39:38 PM »

Thank you for the diagram and and Mach4 package.  At a quick glance I see nothing that should cause any problems, and it runs just fine on my PMDX-422.  I don't see why it wouldn't also work on the PMDx-411, *but* just to make sure I'll test that when I get in the office tomorrow (Monday).

Regarding the voltage measurement on the DIR signal (pin 3) - please humor me here, I'm an engineer.  When you say:

I checked and I am not getting any signal on the pin 3

I have to assume that you mean you measured zero volts.  But I really don't want to have to assume anything because there is a chance I'll pick the wrong assumption.  And it could be important if both measurements were close to zero, but different than each other (like, say, 0.1V and 0.3V, if those measurements were repeatable).

Here are some things to try while waiting for me to run more tests in the office:
(1) I'm guessing (presuming?) that you have the jumper for pins 2-9 pull-up/down resistors in the "pull down" position.  If so, change it to the "pull up" position and see if the voltage you measure on the "Pin 3" screw terminal changes from what you measured before.

(2) See if you can toggle parallel port pin 1 - WARNING - THIS PRESUMES YOU HAVE NOTHING CONNECTED TO THE PIN 1 OUTPUT ON THE C30 BOARD!  If you do, then please disconnect it for this test.  Go to the "configure" menu and select "Mach...".  Click on the "Output Signals" tab and scroll down to the bottom.  You will see "Spindle On" is already assigned to the SmartBOB pin 1, but is disabled.  Click on the red "X in the "Mapping Enabled" column to change it to a green check mark, then click on "OK'.

Enable Mach4.  Measure the voltage on the "Pin 1" screw terminal on the C30 board.  It should be close to zero volts.  Then, in Mach4, click on the "Spindle CW" button in the lower right corner of the Mach4 screen.  The indicator just below the button should turn green.  Measure the voltage on the "Pin 1" screw terminal again.  It should be close to 5V.

(3) If you do NOT measure something close to 5V on the "Pin 1" screw terminal above, I'm guessing that the C30 board may still have its outputs disabled (man I wish there were LEDs on that board besides a power LED).  Keep the PMDX-411 plugged into the C30 board.  Unplug the PMDX-411 from the USB power and remove power from the C30 board.  Measure for continuity between pins 18 and 19 on the DB25 connector on the C30 board.  You will probably have to turn the board upside down to do this.  The C30 User's Manual has a drawing that shows how the pins are numbered on the DB25 connector.

Bob

227

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: mach 4 dro is moving but motors are not

« on: October 31, 2015, 12:49:05 AM »

One more thought.  Did you start by using the PMDX-SmartBOB sample profile?  Is the PMDX-SmartBOB selected as the motion controller?  To find out, go to the Mach4 "Configure" menu and select "Select Motion Device".  Which device has a check mark next to it?

Bob

228

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: mach 4 dro is moving but motors are not

« on: October 31, 2015, 12:33:41 AM »

Rats - the C10 doesn't have any LEDs on the I/O signals.  The only things I can think of (until we see your wiring diagram) is to make sure that your COM terminals are connected to the PUL+ and DIR+ terminals (since you have COM jumpered for +5V), and the step/dir signals to the PUL- and DIR-.

If you have a volt meter or DMM, you can measure the voltage on one of your DIR signals like this:
(1) Release your EStop switch and click on the "Enable" button in Mach4 to enable everything.
(2) Pick an axis, for example say the X axis has step on pin 2 and dir on pin 3
(3) Jog the X axis to the right and then stop (release the jog button)
(4) Measure the voltage on the C10 board between the pin "3" screw terminal and one of the GND terminals (!NOT! the "COM" terminal).
(5) Jog the X axis to the left and release the jog button
(6) Measure the voltage again on the pin "3" screw terminal

The voltage should measure close to 5V in one of the measurements and close to 0V in the other.  If no, then the direction signal is not getting to that screw terminal.

Bob

229

Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / MOVED: E-Stop does not work

« on: October 31, 2015, 12:10:25 AM »

This topic has been moved to SmartBOB-USB controllers and dedicated accessories.

http://www.pmdx.com/PMDX-Forums/index.php?topic=186.0

230

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: mach 4 dro is moving but motors are not

« on: October 30, 2015, 12:56:45 AM »

The most common cause of this is having the step and direction pins reversed (i.e. the "step" signal from the PMDX-411 connected to the "dir" pin of your motor driver).

First, look at the breakout board or motor driver box that the PMDX-411 is connected to and note which parallel port pins are connected to the "step" inputs on your motor drivers, and which pins are connected to the "dir" inputs.  For the PMDX-411, the step and direction pins must be connected in one of the following two ways:

Step signals on "even" pins:
Motor0 - step on pin 2, dir on pin 3
Motor1 - step on pin 4, dir on pin 5
Motor2 - step on pin 6, dir on pin 7
Motor3 - step on pin 8, dir on pin 9

... or ...

Step signals on "odd" pins:
Motor0 - step on pin 3, dir on pin 2
Motor1 - step on pin 5, dir on pin 4
Motor2 - step on pin 7, dir on pin 6
Motor3 - step on pin 9, dir on pin 8

If your step/dir wiring does not match one of the above, you will need to change the wiring to match one of these combinations.  Note that if you are using a PMDX-340 or a GeckoDrive G540 then the step signals are on the even pins.

Start Mach4 and then go to the "Configure" menu and select "Plugins...".  In the "Configure Plug-ins" dialog, click on the "Configure" button on the PMDX-SmartBOB-USB line.  Then (finally) in the SmartBOB configuration dialog, click on the "Motor Config" tab.   At the top is a section called "Step/Dir Pin-Out Configuration".  Here you can select to have the step signals appear on even or odd pins.  Make sure this matches your actual wiring as discussed above.

If you still don't get any movement from the motors after checking/changing the pin assignments, let me know and we'll investigate further.  You will need to tell me what breakout board or motor driver box you are connecting to, and what parallel port signals you have wired to the step and dir inputs of your motor drivers.  I'll also need to know if there is any kind of EStop or enable/disable circuit on your breakout board, and if so, what do you have wired to that.

Bob

231

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: pmdx 411

« on: October 29, 2015, 01:04:20 AM »

I presume that you are running a copy of the PMDX-Sample profile, or a profile that has the PMDX-SmartBOB plug-in enabled and selected as the motion device.

When you first display the "Motors" tab in the config dialog, the tuning parameter fields along the bottom of the window ("Counts per Unit", "Velocity", etc.) are grayed out.  You must click on one of the four motors in the upper right ("Motor0", "Motor1", etc.) in order to enable the fields and allow you to edit them.

NOTE: Click on the text "Motor0", etc. and not on the check box.  Clicking on the check box will check (enable) or un-check (disable) that motor, but will not enable the tuning param fields.

If this is not the problem you have been having, or if this doesn't work, let me know.

Bob

232

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: USB Cable Length - PMDX 422

« on: October 29, 2015, 12:55:58 AM »

I thought it was the connector also initially.  and have tried wiggling it and checking how far it seated, but that did not seem to be the issue.  I am using the onboard connector.  I purchased what I thought was the panel mount connector with the pin connectors to remote another usb, but when it came I was just a usb extension that panel mounted, but plugged into the front of the unit, it was a mistake on my part when ordering.

That cable should be OK.  I see that you ordered a USB "B" Panel to header cable.  We also threw in a 6 ft USB A-to-B extension cable for you to try as well.

Also, keep in mind that every change that I made, I had to unplug and re plug the cable.  I have a 5v power supply driving the opto sensors and I will try to connect it to the board to see if that helps.

You can try the external 5V supply, and I will be interested to hear the results.  My gut feeling is that this is not a power supply issue.  If it was a supply issue, I would expect the PMDX-422 to reboot or mis-behave (in some way other than not communicating over the USB).  Since you said that when the comms stopped working you did not see the power-on LED test and that the green LED continued to do its slow blink, that suggests to me that the firmware was still running.

When you tested with the longer cables, did you notice a voltage drop at your board due to the additional length?  I was seeing a .6v drop with my longer cable, if you are not seeing any drop that may be the issue.

When you said that you measured the USB supply voltage at 4.94V, I presumed you meant you measured the +5V pin on the USB jack itself (or on the 5-pin header next to the USB jack).  I also thought that the 4.4V that you measured was at one of the "+5V" screw terminals on the PMDX-422.  If my two presumptions are correct, then you have approx. 0.06V drop through the USB cable.  The 4.4V you measured is consistent with the voltage drop *ON THE PMDX-422* due to protection circuitry that protects the USB interface from overvoltage on the +5V terminals.

But to answer your question, I saw negligible drop across the 15 ft of USB cable (less than 0.1V - I'm at home now and don't have access to my test notes to get the exact value).

If I do run 5v power to the board, will I have to power down the whole unit, or press the reset button if it locks up?

There is no reset button on the PMDX-422.  The push-button is (currently) only used for forcing the boot loader to run in the case of corrupted firmware.

While you are waiting for the new USB cables, I would like you to enable the debug log and try to capture the communications failure (see my first message in this thread for details).

Bob

233

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: USB Cable Length - PMDX 422

« on: October 28, 2015, 12:11:04 AM »

I ran a PMDX-422 here in the office through 2 ea 6' USB A-to-A extension cables, then though a normal 3' USB A-B cable.  I was unable to create any issues with the PMDX-422 communicating with  the PC.

I *was* able to reproduce your symptoms somewhat by plugging the USB cable only part way into the USB jack on the PMDX-422.  The USB connectors are designed so that the ground terminal makes contact first, then the +5V terminal, and then the two data lines.  With the USB cable plugged only part way into the connector on the PMDX-422, there was power to the PMDX-422, and the data lines would initially make contact so the PMDX-422 would be able to talk to the PC.  If I wiggled the cable or connector, or pulled it just ever so slightly out of the PMDX-422's USB jack the data lines would disconnect (even if only for a split second) and cause the USB port to reset which then makes the plug-in unable to talk to the device.

The symptoms you describe, combined with your statement that the 3' cable seems to work fine and my experiments above, make me think there is an issue with the longer cable.  It may be in the cable itself, or it may be that one of the connectors is not seating completely or is making intermittent contact.  If so, you should be able to replicate this problem by wiggling the cable and/or connectors.

Can you try that same long cable with another USB device?  Wiggle the cable and connectors and see if there are any problems.

Hmmmm...  Are you plugging the USB cable directly into the USB jack on the PMDX-422? Or are you using a panel mount USB jack that plugs onto the row of pins just behind the USB jack?

Bob

234

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: USB Cable Length - PMDX 422

« on: October 27, 2015, 02:36:18 PM »

Thanks for the testing info.  The voltages you mention are about what I would expect - a little bit of a voltage drop in the longer cable.  And sorry that I thought you had a PMDX-134 - I was getting my support threads  mixed up.

(1) One unanswered question from my previous post: You said in you original post that "When I run it utilizing a 3' usb cable it seems to work fine once I get the cable orientated." What exactly do you mean "once I get the cable oriented"?

(2) When you close the EStop switch or ground the EStop input and then lose communications with the PC, is the green LED next to the USB connector still flashing about once per second?  Is the red LED just above it on or off?

(3) When in this state (EStop grounded and no communication with the PC) please measure the USB bus voltage and/or the voltage on any of the "+5V" screw terminals.

(4) We ship the PMDX-422 with a spade lug installed shorting the EStop input to GND on connector J10.  Do you get the same behavior if you install this (or a short piece of wire) instead of your EStop switch?

(5) Which terminals on the PMDX-422 do you have your EStop switch wired to?

(6) What about with the 3 ft USB cable?  Does closing the EStop switch make the SmartBOB stop communicating with the PC?

(7) Do you have anything connected to the 26-pin ribbon header on the PMDX-422?  If so, look at jumper JP1 along the edge of the board near the ribbon header and J10.  Is this set to "On" or "Off".

Bob

235

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: USB Cable Length - PMDX 422

« on: October 27, 2015, 11:09:17 AM »

I have not heard or seen this being a problem.  I routinely run my SmartBOBs through a standard USB cable plus one of our USB A-A extender cables.  I don't know off the top of my head if that total length is 8 ft or not, though it *should* be since the extension cable is 6 ft and the original USB cable should be at least 3 ft.  But I"ll check that when I get into the office later.

Here are a bunch of questions, some of them pretty basic, but please bear with me.

Can you give me any more details about the symptoms you are seeing.  For example, do you see the SmartBOB turn on all of its LEDs briefly when you plug it into the longer USB cable?  Does the green LED continue to blink about once per second?  What does Mach4 show you to tell you it isn't working?  Do you get a "I couldn't find a valid PMDx-SmartBOB device" kind of pop-up window during startup?

Have you tried this longer cable with any other USB device?

Try disconnecting everything from the SmartBOB (PMDX-134 and anything connected to the screw terminals.  Does this make any difference?

When I run it utilizing a 3' usb cable it seems to work fine once I get the cable orientated.

What exactly do you mean "once I get the cable oriented"?

Without changing anything that is connected to the PMDX-422, can you plug the 3' USB cable and have it work and the, not changing anything else including position of the PMDX-422, plug the 8' cable in?  Does it work in this case with the 8' cable?

And finally, please enable the debug log file as described here:
http://www.pmdx.com/PMDX-Forums/index.php?topic=97.0
and send the log file.  You can either upload it to the forums here (just the log file, not the entire Mach4 package), or email it directly to me at bob at this domain.

Bob

236

Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / Re: PMDX-107 connect to Colombo Spindle

« on: October 12, 2015, 03:15:44 PM »

The commanded RPM vs. measured RPM table that you gave me does indeed look like the PMDX-107 is not quite calibrated correctly.  The relationship between commanded and actual is linear:

   actual RPM = (commanded RPM * 1.2139) - 21.3838

So adjusting the PMDX-107 trim pot should get you closer to the commanded values.

I looked at your XML file and I see nothing in there that could cause this issue.  The spindle pulley range goes down to zero, so Mach3 should not be forcing low RPMs up to some minimum value.  Note that I am making educated guesses about some of the ESS config parameters because I don't know what the ESS plug-in does with them exactly.

See if you can get another person to help look at the PMDX-107's "PWM" LED as mentioned above.

And/or try this:

I think that the easiest next step is to try and verify what voltages the PMDX-107 is outputting for various commanded RPM values.  To do this you will need a DMM or volt meter.  For each commanded RPM, measure the voltage between the PMDX-107's AGnd and Aout terminals *or* at the VFD terminal 11 (gnd) and 12 (V in).

** WARNING ** DO NOT TOUCH THESE TERMINALS!!  While the relative voltages between these two terminals should be limited to 10V maximum, these terminals are floating relative to earth/chassis ground and may actually be floating at 120 or 240V above earth ground.

Try commanding RPMs of 1000, 2000, 3000, etc by 1000's up to at least 6000 RPM, and report back the measured voltages.

Bob

237

Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / Re: PMDX-107 connect to Colombo Spindle

« on: October 09, 2015, 12:25:37 AM »

When you ran the PMDX-107 self test/calibration, did the spindle reach full speed (18000 RPM or something close to that) after the first button press?  And did the spindle go to approximately 5400 RPM (30% of full speed) after the 2nd button press?

If you look at the "PWM" LED on the PMDX-107, it should get brighter with higher spindle speeds and dimmer with slower spindle speeds.  If you tell Mach3 to set the spindle speed at 3600 RPM (the lowest that you say you can get), and then command the spindle to something slower like 500 RPM, does the LED get dimmer than it was at 3600 RPM?  You may need 2 people for this test - one to look at the LED and one to enter the Mach3 commands.

My problem is that the spindle will not run on my mach 3 setup at anything less than exactly 3600 rpm. It will go up to max RPM, but there does not seem to be any science to the RPM after 3600. And it appears to run high, not low.

What exactly do you mean by "it appears to run high, not low"?

238

Generic Spindle interfaces, I/O boards, Misc boards and panels / Re: pmdx - 107

« on: October 08, 2015, 10:16:41 PM »

See this thread for the rest of this discussion:

http://www.pmdx.com/PMDX-Forums/index.php?topic=179.0

239

Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / Re: PMDX-107 connect to Colombo Spindle

« on: October 08, 2015, 10:15:14 PM »

There has been NO changes to my spindle drive firmware since connected to the previous controller. As this is a retrofit, the spindle has worked properly on the old controller and have seen it run myself even at a fairly low RPM.

My problem is that the spindle will not run on my mach 3 setup at anything less than exactly 3600 rpm. It will go up to max RPM, but there does not seem to be any science to the RPM after 3600. And it appears to run high, not low.

** EDIT ** 3600 RPM is 20%, not 2%.  Still, check the "Minimum PWM" field just in case & see next post **

Lets see, if the max RPM is 18000, then 3600 is 2% of that, which sounds like a likely value for the "Minimum PWM" setting.  Go to the Mach3 "Config" menu and select "Ports and Pins".  Then click on the "Spindle Setup" tab.  Look in the top center section called "Motor Control" for the "Minimum PWM" field.  This is shown on page 4 of our AN002 app note.  Our example has this set to 1%.  Try setting this to zero, then click "APPLY" and then "OK" and see if that allows you to get below 3600 RPM.

Bob

240

Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / Re: Low port#2 pin#16 voltage - PMDX-126 with jtechphotonics DAC PWM

« on: October 06, 2015, 04:08:26 PM »

I just realized another possibility.  Are you using the 2 relays on the PMDX-126 board?  If not, you could use those relays instead of the PMDX-104 or PMDX-105 to switch the +5V to the two "enable" inputs on the DAC-PWM board.  They are way overkill for this, but if they aren't otherwise being used you may as well use them.

Bob