Messages

46

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Mach4 can't find SmartBob 411

« on: October 04, 2016, 09:15:50 PM »

"faq" references below are to this page:

http://faq.pmdx.com/content/3/1/en/troubleshooting-did-not-find-a-valid-pmdx_smartbob-device-errors.html

   3.   Power LED is lit
   4.   Red and green LEDs behaving correctly

So you see the flash pattern as described in section 1(f) of the FAQ?

   7.   Uninstalled and reinstalled 64-bit driver

Just to be very clear - did you un-install and re-install the plug-in?  Or did you un-install and re-install the STMicro Virtual COM Port driver (as in step (2) of the FAQ)?

The next thing to try is step (4) from the FAQ.  Then either upload the profile package here or email it to us.  Oh, and let us know what version of Windows you are running.

Bob

47

Generic Spindle interfaces, I/O boards, Misc boards and panels / Re: Mach 3 to PMDX 107 issues

« on: September 29, 2016, 03:13:02 AM »

3) no led is lit and I do have the step to pin 16 and dir to pin 14, and spindle is enabled with a green check at DirLowActive
 button on the PMDX107 runs perfect, I will run through the AN002 protocol again and see if there is a change.

If you don't see anything on the "Pin16" LED on the PMDX-126, then for some reason the PWM signal is not making it out of the ESS.  Double-check the ESS Plug-in configuration screen and make sure that PWM is enabled.

Other than that I'm not sure what else to try.  You can upload your XML file here and we can take a look at it to see if there is anything obvious.  If not, then you may need to use the Warp9 support forums for help on getting PWM to work.

Bob

48

Generic Spindle interfaces, I/O boards, Misc boards and panels / Re: Mach 3 to PMDX 107 issues

« on: September 28, 2016, 01:09:58 AM »

A few questions:

(1) Verify that you have the PMDX-126 DIP switches set for "Normal mode with charge pump" (Config3 and Config2 set to "closed" or towards the "Config3" silkscreen, and Config1 "open" or away from the "Config1" silkscreen).

(2) Are you setting the spindle speed in Mach3 (either via an "S" command or by editing the "Spindle Speed" DRO in the lower right corner of the default Mach3 screen set)?  If so, what speed are you commanding and what is the spindle speed range (see Config->Spindle Pulleys)?

(3) You should be able to see the PWM signal on the PMDX-126's "Pin 16" output LED (on PMDx-126 connector J6).  Turn the spindle on and set the spindle speed to a "low" value.  The LED should be on but dim.  Then set the speed to a "high" value (near the maximum spindle speed as set in your spindle pulley config) the LED should be bright.  Since the PWM frequency is set to 25 Hz (presuming settings as per our AN002), you may see some flicker in the pin 16 LED.  That is expected as 25 Hz is just within most people's eye's ability to resolve flicker.

If you do not see the Pin16 LED behaving like this, then the PWM signal is not making it into the PMDX-126 on pin 16.  Verify that your spindle motor step and dir pins are configured as shown in AN0002 figure 4, including setting the "Step Port" and "Dir Port" to "1".

(4) You say you hear a solenoid click when you engage the spindle.  What solenoid is this?  Could it be one of the relays on the PMDX-126?  Verify that you have the "Disable Spindle Relays" checked as in AN002 Figure 3.  Pin 14 is used as the "DIR" signal for the spindle in AN002, and with the default PMDX-126 jumper settings pin 14 also controls the K2 (smaller) relay.  Likewise the default jumper settings have pin 1 controlling the K1 (large) relay.

And finally a disclaimer: The app note was written for the USB SmoothStepper, before the Ethernet version existed.  The ESS plug-in may have slightly different settings than shown in the app note.  Also, the Smoothstepper plug-ins have been updated a few times since that app note was written and we haven't gone back to see if the newer versions behave the same way regarding spindle PWM configuration. 

Bob

49

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Homing - 0.050" Move

« on: September 21, 2016, 08:47:09 AM »

Out of curiosiity, and for my use when I get to making the homing params user settable, what is the "counts per unit" (i.e. steps per inch) setting for that axis.  It has got to be something pretty huge, I would think.

Bob

50

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Wildhorse probe

« on: September 08, 2016, 02:41:25 AM »

*** EDITED 8 Sept 2016, see edits under both warnings below. ***

Geeze, this had me running in circles trying to figure out!!!  At least on my system here this is what the issue looks to be:

You have the feed rate configured for "feed per revolution" (G95) and it should be "feed per minute" (G94).  When in "feed per revolution" mode, if the spindle isn't turning then the Mach4 motion planner never sends any movement data to our plug-in.  Well, kind of.  Strictly speaking it does send us probe move data, but the move data is all zero motion.

To change this, go to the Mach configuration dialog (go to the "Configure" menu and select "Mach...").  On the "General" tab, in the 2nd column of config items is "Feed Mode".  Select "Per Min." then click on OK.  Then exit Mach4 and re-start it.

** WARNING #1 **
There appears to be a bug in Mach4 build 2914.  If you change the feed mode in the config dialog, it does not take effect until you exit Mach4 and re-start it.  At least that appeared to be the case on my PC here at home.  I have not yet tried this on any of the Mach4 build 3xxx beta releases.
[EDIT 8 Sept 2016: This is NOT a bug, just a misunderstanding on my part of how Mach4 works.  To make this change take effect, click on the "Enable" button and then click on the "Reset" button just above the "Enable" button.  That will re-send the initialization string to the Mach4 motion planner and update the line on the display. [end edit]

** WARNING #2 **
When I run your profile with "Per Rev" feed mode selected, the G94/G95 mode shown at the bottom of the Mach4 screen (in the wx4 screen set) does not reflect the config dialog setting when you first start Mach4.  When Mach4 first starts, I see "G94" listed, which is "feed per minute".  When I click on the "Enable" button this changes to "G95", "feed per revolution" (which is the setting in the config dialog).  FYI, I also see G99 change to G98, and G61 change to G64.
[EDIT 8 Sept 2016: this happens because the initialization string cannot be send to the Mach4 motion planner until Mach4 is enabled.  So I'm guessing the values displayed before the first time you click on "Enable" are the motion planner's default values.  Clicking on "Enable" the first time also effectively does a "Reset" and sends the init string to the motion planner.[end edit]

Bob

51

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Wildhorse probe

« on: September 06, 2016, 09:53:24 PM »

I need more information.  I presume that since you are posting here you have one of our SmartBOB products.  If so, which one?

You say the "diagnostic screen recognizes it" - *which* diagnostics screen?  Is this the SmartBOB real-time display which shows "Pin15" (go to the "Diagnostics" menu and select "PMDX SmartBOB", then click on the "real-time display" button)?  Or is this the "Diagnostics" tab (or in newer Mach4 versions, "Machine Diagnostics" tab)?

Do you have the Mach4 "Input Signals" tab configured to map SmartBOB Pin15 to the "PROBE" input (not PROBE1, PROBE2 or PROBE3)?

There may be some setup you need to do with the Mach4 probing screens in order to get them to work.  If you can post your profile here (create a "profile package" by going to the "Help" menu, selecting "Support" and then "Package Current Profile", then save it somewhere you can find it later).  Also tell us exactly what steps you are taking when trying to get the probing screens to do something.

Bob

52

General Discussion / Re: Stepper Motors & Driver Information

« on: September 02, 2016, 10:28:03 PM »

This is really two questions: will the drivers work with the PMDX-424, and will the drivers/motors work well in my machine.

The PMDX-424 works with pretty much *any* stepper driver as the interface is pretty standard.  The stepper drivers should have a step input (also sometimes called "pulse"), a direction input (sometimes called "pol" for polarity) and a "common", which is usually either ground or +5V.  Some drivers have "Pulse+" and "Pulse-", "Dir+" and "Dir-" (or maybe "Pol+" and "Pol-" for "polarity) in which case the "-" terminals can be tied together and connected to the PMDX-424 "COM" terminal.  The "Pulse+" goes to the PMDX-424's "Step" terminal and the "Dir+" goes to the "Dir" terminal.  Then configure the PMDX-SmartBOB plug-in to output "Ground (0V)" on the "COM" terminals.

Some drivers also have enable terminals.  You will need to refer to your stepper driver manual to see whether you need to connect these to anything, or can leave the un-connected to enable the stepper driver.

The issue of having the motors and drivers "matched" pertains more towards what kind of performance you will get from the machine.  I'll leave it to Steve or someone else to address the motor size issues, though it would help if you could tells us a bit about your machine (i.e. is it a 4' x 4'x router like the example you quoted?).

Bob

53

Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / Re: Need help wiring a PMDX 107 to a Delta VFD-M

« on: August 31, 2016, 09:00:48 PM »

You must choose *either* 0-10V speed control from the PMDX-107 *or* the PTC thermal protection.  They both use the same ACM/AVI terminals.  On page 172 (of the manual that I could find), in the section that described register 07.14, it says:

When the source of first/second frequency command is set to AVI (02.00=1/02.09=1), it will
disable the function of motor PTC overheat protection (i.e. Pr.07.12 cannot be set to 1).

So I guess the answer is either don't run the motor at a "low" frequency for very long, or provide an external fan to cool the VFD.  It looks like this could be controlled by the "Thermal Overload Relay" and registers 06.06 and 06.07, along with register 03.01 (value 14) to route this function to the MO1/MCM terminals.

Bob

54

Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / Re: Campbell Designs BOB with PMDX-411

« on: August 31, 2016, 10:56:32 AM »

However... the PMDX-411 does not support the step and direction pin-out that the Campbell board uses.  It will still work, but the step and direction signals will NOT match the silkscreen and connector arrangement on the Campbell board.  The Campbell board presumes the 4 steps signals appear on parallel port pins 2,3,4 and 5, and the direction signals on pins 6, 7, 8 and 9.  The PMDX-411 supports step signals on pin 2, 4, 6 and 8, *or* on pins 3, 5, 7 and 9.

So, here is how to configure the PMDX-411 and your breakout board:

(1) Presuming you are starting from scratch with the PMDX-411, make a copy of the PMDX-Sample Mach4 profile.  Start the Mach4 loader, click once on the "PMDX-Sample" profile, then click on "Copy Profile".  Select a new name, and leave the "screen set" field blank to use the default wx4 screen set.  Then click on "OK" to create the copy.  Then load that new profile.

(2) In Mach4 go to the SmartBOB configuration dialog by clicking on the "Configure" menu and selecting "Plugins..." and then clicking on the "PMDX SmartBOB".

(3) Click on the "Motor Config" tab.  In the upper left corner is a section labeled "Step/Dir Pin-Out Configuration".  Select the "Step on pins 2, 4, 6 and 8" option.  Then click on OK to save the changes.

(4) This is how the step and direction pins will map to the silkscreen labels on the Campbell board:

PMDX   Breakout Bd
Pin#      Silkscreen      Motor Driver
-----      -----------      -----------------------
2      Xmotor Step   STEP terminal on Motor0*
3      Ymotor Step   DIR terminal on Motor0*

4      Zmotor Step   STEP terminal on Motor1*
5      Auxmotor Step   DIR terminal on Motor1*

6      Xmotor Dir      STEP terminal on Motor2*
7      Ymotor Dir      DIR terminal on Motor2*

8      Zmotor Dir      STEP terminal on Motor3*
9      Auxmotor Dir   DIR terminal on the Motor3*

* Motor0, Motor1, etc. refer to Mach4 motor numbers.  These can be mapped to any axis in the Mach4 configuration.  In the PMDX-Sample profile they are mapped to the X, Y, Z and A axes respectively.

Bob

55

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: PMDX 424 USB header shield ground

« on: August 29, 2016, 01:39:14 PM »

Connecting the USB shield to earth gnd on your chassis creates what is called a "ground loop" and allows current to flow through the shield, including any electrical noise from your motors/spindle.  This in turn can induce noise onto the USB signals inside the cable, or into the isolated side of the USB interface on the PMDX-424.  So my answer is "don't do that".

It *is* interesting that apparently the PMDX-424 can communicate with the PC at least briefly.

Bob

56

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: G-code stops running with 411

« on: August 29, 2016, 12:03:13 AM »

The red & green LEDs alternating at about 3 times per second means some kind of internal fault (invalid memory access, for example).  When that happens the only option (as you've discovered) is to un-plug the PMDX-411 from the USB port and exit Mach4.  Wait 10 seconds to make sure our plug-in shuts down.  Then plug the PMDX-411 back into the USB port, wait a few seconds and then re-start Mach4.

(1) Does this happen every time?

(2) Does this happen at the same place in your GCode file?

(3) What version of Windows are you running (XP, Win7, 8, 8.1, 10)?  And is it 32-bit or 64 bit?

(4) To help me figure out what is causing this, please enable our plug-in's debug log as described in item (4) of the SmartBOB FAQ here:

http://www.pmdx.com/PMDX-Forums/index.php?topic=75.0

Enable the debug log as described, exit Mach4.  Re-start Mach4, load and ruin your GCode file.  When you get this error condition, disable the debug log as described in the FAQ above.  Then create a "profile package" as described in step (8).  Send me *BOTH* the profile package *AND* your GCode file.  You can either post them here on the forums, or you can email them to be at bob at this domain.

Bob

57

Cables, connectors, switches, contactors, sensors and other items / Re: BAUMER ELECTRIC MY COM E75/500 PRECISION LIMIT SWITCH

« on: August 25, 2016, 11:35:35 AM »

Since they appear to be purely mechanical (no electronics) they should be OK.  However, the specifications on the sample that I found online here (look at the 3rd image, a close up of the label):

http://www.baumer.com/us-en/products/productfinder/?tx_baumerproductfinder_pf%5Burl%5D=%2Fpfinder_sensor%2Fscripts%2Fproduct.php%3Fcat%3DCONFMyAppli%26psg%3DmadynPGGrundfunktion%7CMy_Com%2CmadynGrundfunktion2%7C1976991042%26pid%3DMy_Com_E75_80%26language%3Den%26country%3D%26header%3D%26ptk%3D

say that the maximum DC switching current is 2mA (milli-Amperes).  The PMDX-424 inputs, when shorted to ground, will source between 4 and 5 mA.  I measured 4.65mA on my sample board.  This is greater than the specified maximum current.

I recommend using a different switch.  These switches would probably work for a while.  But exceeding the maximum current rating will cause the switch to fail at some point, either by making intermittent contact or a total failure (stays open or stays closed).

If you do find an alternate mechanical switch to use, you would connect one wire to the "GND" terminal on J16 or J17 on the PMDX-424, and the other wire to one of the input terminals on J16 or J17 labeled "1" through "8".

Bob

58

Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / Re: PMDX-126 to Leadshine ES-DH1208 problems

« on: August 24, 2016, 02:37:05 PM »

Well its good to know the voltages are OK!

Looking at your register settings and the manual for the ES-DS series Easy Servo Drives, if PA_07 is 1600 (meaning 1600 steps per motor revolution) and PA_09 (following error) is 5000, that means that the drive won't fault until the motor is more than 3 revolutions behind the commanded position!!! (5000/1600 = 3.125 revolutions).  The default values have the position error at 1/4 of a revolution.  That sounds more reasonable in my mind.  So change PA_09 to no more than 400.  I don't think this is causing the problem, but it needs to be changed anyway.

The PA_08 setting needs to match your physical encoder.  If your encoder has 1000 lines (per revolution) then PA_08 needs to be 4000 (4 times the number of lines).

It is not clear to me from the manual, but I am presuming that changing the PA_07 value will change the number of microsteps the driver uses.  Setting PA_07 to 1600 means 1/8th microstep (8 microsteps per motor full step).

The motor motion caused by the first 5 single steps from the PMDX-126 test mode *should* turn the motor just over 1 degree: (5/1600)*360 = 1.125 degrees.  I don't know if your motor marking is sensitive enough to detect this or not.  You may need to grab the motor shaft to see if you can feel that motion.

You can try to manually generate step pulses: Remove the PUL+ wire from the PMDX-126 "Pin2" terminal.  Touch it to the PMDX-126's "PC+5V" terminal then remove it.  That is 1 step pulse (well, maybe more depending how cleanly the wire make connection and then breaks connection).  Do that a bunch of times and you should see (or feel) the motor move.  If not, the issue is with the motor driver.

Bob

59

Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / Re: Hoping for help with connecting PMDX-107 and Fuling DZB200 VFD

« on: August 24, 2016, 09:55:59 AM »

Those do indeed look like the correct connections.  DCM is the digital common and ACM is the analog common.

Bob

60

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: PMDX-424 Gantry squaring (master AND slave drive limit switches)

« on: August 21, 2016, 01:08:58 AM »

The only way to have separate limit switches for the master and slave motors is to use Mach4 to define the master/slave.  When using the PMDX-424's hardware slave feature Motor3A and Motor3B appear in Mach4 as a single motor named "Motor3" and so there is only 1 set of Limit+/Limit-/Home inputs available.

NOTE: The SmartBOB plug-in does not currently support gantry squaring, either on the PMDX-424's Motor3A/3B hardware slave, or using Mach4 to configure the master/slave motors.  This is mentioned in our release notes under "Known Issues'.  We *will* support this, but it isn't there yet.

In fact, if you assign different home switch inputs to the master and slave motors and try to home that axis, the plug-in will generate an error saying the axis motors must use the same home switch.  The plug-in *will* allow different limit switches for the master and slave motors.  It is only the home switch that must be the same for both motors.  This restriction will go away when we support gantry squaring.