mach 4 dro is moving but motors are not

[bballish]

Hi
Another question.Im setting up mach 4 with a pmdx 411 and when I jog an axis the dro on mach shows movement but the motors dont turn.
Any suggestions ??

[Bob at PMDX]

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

[bballish]

Hi
Thanks for all the help.I checked the wiring and all the step wires are on the even sockets and direction are in the odd sockets.I checked the plug-in config and it matches.As far as to what hardware Im using its the 4-axis kit from automation technologies with kl-4030 drivers and 425oz steppers and c10 board.I also have a e-stop button wired in and that is working because when Im in Mach it shows up with a message that its in E-stop or not depending on button position.As far as the jumpers on the c-10 Its set for pins 2-9 as outputs and the com as +5volts.Not sure if it should be pull up or pull down on the resisters.Also Im not sure if there is anything I need to enter in mach4 config under the inputs or outputs tab.

Thanks
Blair Ballish

[Steve Stallings]

The C10 board has an additional enable input called EN that must have +5 volts
applied before it will let anything run.

[bballish]

I have a jumper to 5volts

[Steve Stallings]

The KL-4030 drivers have in input called ENA which is poorly named. This input
when driven actually disables the drive. You should leave it not connected or
be sure you have a way to correctly connected to the ENA input.

[bballish]

The ena is not connected

[Steve Stallings]

Running out of ideas here.... can you create a sketch of your wiring and also capture a "package profile" using the Help > Support dialog in Mach4, and email both to PMDX?

[Bob at PMDX]

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

[Bob at PMDX]

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

[bballish]

Hi
I checked and I am not getting any signal on the pin 3.And the pmdx is set as motion controler.
I am sending a e-mail with the wiring drawing and the mach file attached to it.

Thanks very much
Blair Ballish

[Bob at PMDX]

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

[bballish]

Hi Bob
Just to make sure I unpluged the 411 from the db-25 and it seems to be seated good.I re-checked the pin 3 on c10 board and now I get .11 volts when I jog it one way and 5.05 volts when I jog it the other way.Then I enabled the spindle  in mach and checked pin 1 and got .1 volt and then I turned on the spindle and  got 5.1 volts on pin 1.Witch I think sounds right But still no movement on motors.I double checked the wiring on the motors and it looks right.Im getting 36volts to the kl-4030 drivers is there any voltage checks I can do  on the A+ A- B+ B- to see if the driver are outputting anything.
Is there any thing on the motor config I have wrong. Im assuming you can see all my settings on the mach file I e-mailed?
Also I noticed on the mach config-outputs that output 1 has a green check but it dosnt have anything in the other columns saying what its for?
This is starting to drive me crazy but you and Steve are realy great guys to help me so much.If I ever have to buy anything in the future it will be from PMDX

Thank you so much
Blair Ballish

[Bob at PMDX]

Since you are seeing the pin 3 and pin 1 outputs changing from approx 0V to approx 5V, that implies that the C30's outputs are enabled.  That is good to know.  And for now I'll presume that the step signals are also being output from the C30.

I see in the Mach4 configuration that "Enable #1" has a green check mark and no device/pin assignments, not "Output #1'.  But no matter, if there is no device assigned to a signal it doesn't matter of it is enabled or not - it is ignored.

Just for kicks, go into our plug-in configuration, click on the "Motor Config" tab and select "step on pins 3,5,7,9".  See if that changes anything.  Yeah, I know you have it wired the other way.  But if I can't find a logical explanation, I try the illogical.  If this doesn't change the behavior, set it back to step on pins 2,4,6 and 8.

And going further out in left field - double check your wiring from the KL4030 to the motors.  Make sure the A+ and A- go to one phase and B+ and B- to the other.  You can use an ohm meter to verify the motor phases (low resistance between 2 wires means they are the same phase, high resistance means different phases.  Do you have "holding torque" on your motors?  With everything powered on, can you turn the motor shaft by hand?

Bob