1
Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / Re: Slaved Axis setup replacing Richauto with PMDX126 and Mach4
« on: March 09, 2019, 12:39:44 AM »
bump
Show Posts
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
2
Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / Re: X axis vibrating when home activated
« on: October 23, 2018, 03:56:58 PM »
I had similar behavior but with one of the PMDX 414. drove me insane for a while and it turned out to be one loose pin inside a connector going to the stepper motor. took the connector apart, redid the pins and it was back in service. It was quite intermittent based on where the axis was (just enough strain on the cable to cause the connector to move.
One test you can do is to disconnect the stepper from the gecko right at the gecko end and test continuity for each coil in the stepper. I'll kind of bet you've got bad connectivity on one coil.
Mike
One test you can do is to disconnect the stepper from the gecko right at the gecko end and test continuity for each coil in the stepper. I'll kind of bet you've got bad connectivity on one coil.
Mike
3
Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / Slaved Axis setup replacing Richauto with PMDX126 and Mach4
« on: October 21, 2018, 09:55:58 PM »
I've recently gotten my new CNC router and had every intention of replacing the Richauto DSP controller with a PMDX126/ESS/Mach4 mostly because I understand Mach4 much better and am used to it. This had the added benefit of getting rid of a 24v standalone PSU in the electronics cabinet and simply driving it all off the 220v mains. The PMDX126 makes all that quite simply so thanks for the nice board.
This machine has 4 Leadshine DMA860H connected to 4 Nema 34 steppers. X and Z axis were pretty straight forward for the migration but the Y axis is the gantry with a typical Y1 and Y2 motor config. The way the Richauto was connected up was with a single +5v, Step, Dir connector to the Y1 driver and the Y2 driver simply daisy chained from the Y1 driver.
I've replicated everything on the PMDX126 with the Y outputs on pins 3,4 and it certainly seems to work just fine (so Mach is only aware of the 3 motors, no slave setup in the software).
I've read another post with a somewhat similar question but different Leadshine drivers and there was some concern about the necessary current of the output signal pins. Is this something I should simply wire to include the Y2 drive as a slave or is the daisy chain a good solution. Seems like a sound way to keep the 2 drivers in sync but I've not run the machine for any duration and have just tested things so far, just trying to avoid future head scratching.
To be honest, I'd never even considered doing a daisy chain setup so got me thinking for sure.
Mike
This machine has 4 Leadshine DMA860H connected to 4 Nema 34 steppers. X and Z axis were pretty straight forward for the migration but the Y axis is the gantry with a typical Y1 and Y2 motor config. The way the Richauto was connected up was with a single +5v, Step, Dir connector to the Y1 driver and the Y2 driver simply daisy chained from the Y1 driver.
I've replicated everything on the PMDX126 with the Y outputs on pins 3,4 and it certainly seems to work just fine (so Mach is only aware of the 3 motors, no slave setup in the software).
I've read another post with a somewhat similar question but different Leadshine drivers and there was some concern about the necessary current of the output signal pins. Is this something I should simply wire to include the Y2 drive as a slave or is the daisy chain a good solution. Seems like a sound way to keep the 2 drivers in sync but I've not run the machine for any duration and have just tested things so far, just trying to avoid future head scratching.
To be honest, I'd never even considered doing a daisy chain setup so got me thinking for sure.
Mike
4
SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / PMDX 407 config save
« on: June 23, 2018, 04:19:59 PM »
I've got a 407 working nicely with my VFD but when I exit Mach4, I have to go reconfigure the plugin. Any hints on how to fix this?
Mike
Mike
5
SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Mach4 and probing
« on: February 21, 2017, 08:55:59 AM »
I'm not sure where the retract gets calculated from but a sanity check is simple enough to perform, just do a "g1 z0 f5" or something of that sort and your tool should be at the correct z0. keep an eye on the machine during that command and get ready to estop if it's driving into something important (like the table) ;-)
6
SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Mach4 and probing
« on: February 20, 2017, 06:20:21 PM »
OK, here goes...
Fist off, you need to make sure the Probe Feed Rate in the touchoff screen is set high enough. Mine seemed to have some issues with it moving too slow and giving a false signal. It'll take some testing to make sure you don't drive a bit through your touch plate (the way I did it was to just put the bit in the tool holder a bit loose so if it didn't stop the probe it could move and not tear up the bit or the part).
The second thing I did was changing the LUA code. If you're playing with this stuff I'll assume you have some familiarity with your computer so the following file on my system was modified: c:Mach4HobbyModules/mcTouchOff.Lua
If you search for "CheckProbe" and look at that function there are 2 lines that say "wx.wxMilliSleep(20)". Change the first one to read "wx.wx.MilliSleep(75)". You might try fiddling with the number but 75 seems to be where it worked well for me.
Also, to check the probe and the fact it's working right, in that same area on the screen where you click touch there are 4 little boxes. The one on the left is where mach expects to see the probe so if you test your probe and watch that screen (if it's just z touch then a fairly simple test to complete the circuit). If that doesn't work then you have a bit more troubleshooting to get the probe working.
That's about all I can think if, let me know how it goes.
Mike
Fist off, you need to make sure the Probe Feed Rate in the touchoff screen is set high enough. Mine seemed to have some issues with it moving too slow and giving a false signal. It'll take some testing to make sure you don't drive a bit through your touch plate (the way I did it was to just put the bit in the tool holder a bit loose so if it didn't stop the probe it could move and not tear up the bit or the part).
The second thing I did was changing the LUA code. If you're playing with this stuff I'll assume you have some familiarity with your computer so the following file on my system was modified: c:Mach4HobbyModules/mcTouchOff.Lua
If you search for "CheckProbe" and look at that function there are 2 lines that say "wx.wxMilliSleep(20)". Change the first one to read "wx.wx.MilliSleep(75)". You might try fiddling with the number but 75 seems to be where it worked well for me.
Also, to check the probe and the fact it's working right, in that same area on the screen where you click touch there are 4 little boxes. The one on the left is where mach expects to see the probe so if you test your probe and watch that screen (if it's just z touch then a fairly simple test to complete the circuit). If that doesn't work then you have a bit more troubleshooting to get the probe working.
That's about all I can think if, let me know how it goes.
Mike
7
SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Mach4 and probing
« on: February 20, 2017, 11:25:32 AM »
Are you using the touchoff module or the probe screen. I've not spent much time with the probe screen but the touchoff thing was fixed by increasing the timing in the touchoff module and speeding the feedrate up a bit. Let me know as I can give some help on one area.
Mike
Mike
8
SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Different types of probe connections (NO vs NC)
« on: December 14, 2016, 08:45:08 PM »
As it turns out, the simplest method is to use the Lua script option. There is a spare empty button on the main screen so I used it for the toggle probe function and just set the button to toggle the input activelow state. On experimenting, you don't have to be disabled to do it but I did limit it to only function in an idle state. Was a bit surprised that it even saves the state it's toggled to in the .ini file.
Mike
Mike
9
SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Different types of probe connections (NO vs NC)
« on: December 08, 2016, 06:47:37 PM »
Figured I'd start a new thread on this but I have a touch probe that works relatively well as far as I can tell (other than it has to go fast enough but that's another story). That probe has NC contacts but my other probe for setting Z is NO (simple touch plate) so switching back and forth is a bit of a pain. I was thinking of various ways to get around that other than going into mach4 and setting the input to either active high or low depending on the probe being used. Only thing I can think of is a small transistor based circuit but figured I'd ask here before I break out my breadboard and start tinkering.
Mike
Mike
10
SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: PMDX 424 not detected
« on: December 04, 2016, 09:35:52 PM »
Well since all my cables are now labeled I took the controller inside to another computer running mach4 demo (I use it to mess with lua scripts with my pmdx-412). Well the controller came right up so I wound up messing with the gecko err/rst lua code all night and got that to a good state now based on your other post on the topic. Works pretty nicely. Took it back outside and it worked there too. The only thing I can figure out is the usb cable was iffy and I used the same usb cable I had in the house when i took it back outside.
So. add "replace usb cable" to the list of troubleshooting steps I guess.
Mike
So. add "replace usb cable" to the list of troubleshooting steps I guess.
Mike
11
SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / PMDX 424 not detected
« on: December 03, 2016, 03:00:20 PM »
This happened while I unplugged all my motors/limits, etc from my controller to label things. Plugged things back in and not it's not detecting the 424. Tried the reinstall of the com port driver and such but still no luck. I've read through the logs and other than it can't seem to find the 424, nothing leaps out at me.
I'm on Windows 10, no new software from last night when it worked to today. The lights on the 424 look normal to me (flashing green and solid red). The com3 port shows up as connected when I turn on the 424. I did even unplug all the ports except the power and estop signals as well as the cat5 cable to the pmdx179 and still the same result.
I did go through several reboots just to ensure that windows 10 hadn't gotten stuck.
Here is the profile with the debug turned on. Hope you can see something I can't.
Mike
I'm on Windows 10, no new software from last night when it worked to today. The lights on the 424 look normal to me (flashing green and solid red). The com3 port shows up as connected when I turn on the 424. I did even unplug all the ports except the power and estop signals as well as the cat5 cable to the pmdx179 and still the same result.
I did go through several reboots just to ensure that windows 10 hadn't gotten stuck.
Here is the profile with the debug turned on. Hope you can see something I can't.
Mike
12
Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / PMDX 407 with VFD Forward/Reverse
« on: December 03, 2016, 12:40:10 PM »
I've got the PMDX 407 on a PMDX 424 and have the VFD working great in forward mode (and I've tested it in reverse) but I want to be able to do both. I've read through the manuals and the relays on the 424 are referenced as the way to do that but for the life of me I can't get my head around exactly how that would be wired up. My VFD is a Huan Yang model so it has the FWD/REV terminals in the VFD.
Mike
Mike
13
Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / Re: PMDX-179 Error code light
« on: November 27, 2016, 01:08:05 PM »
Ok, yeah I kind of figured it could be something that was due to a newer board being plugged in. I noted one other item on it that the probe triggered led isn't lighting up at all. I can see in mach4 status lights and on machine diags that the probe is in fact touching but the led on the panel isn't lighting up.
Mike
Mike
14
Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / PMDX-179 Error code light
« on: November 27, 2016, 12:39:51 AM »
I've got a PMDX179 attached to a PMDX424 and almost all of it works but the Error code light keeps flashing about once/sec. All the other lights behave as I expect them to but kind of concerns me that an error might be going on that I've not been aware of as yet.
Mike
Mike
15
SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Mach4 and probing
« on: November 23, 2016, 10:03:40 PM »
Just a note but i've got a PMDX 412 that I use for testing purposes on a different computer and I hooked the probe up to it and did a circle center (just ticking the probe by hand) and got the same "Can't transition from MDI RUNNING to STOP" error on my first try. I did the center again and it did what it's supposed to. Did it three more times with success on all.
Also did a complete restart of the 412 and mach4 and it didn't repeat the error.
Just another set of datapoints for you.
Also did a complete restart of the 412 and mach4 and it didn't repeat the error.
Just another set of datapoints for you.