Topics

1

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / 410 case

« on: April 15, 2016, 09:15:11 AM »

I had to take my 410 out of my control cabinet for what appears to be interference problems so I made a case for it.
If anyone else needs or wants it, here are the stl's.

New zip. Corrected one problem found on the top part.

2

General Discussion / Losing steps in Z

« on: April 13, 2016, 11:14:24 PM »

Hello,
I just found out I'm losing steps in the Z axis, never noticed until I just tried to cut a lithophane. All the rapid Z movements involved really showed it.
I tried everything I could think of to figure out why, including lowering vel and accel, changing cables, swapping motors, swapping pc's, and rewiring everything.
No changes.
I then started looking at the USB connection. I took the PMDX-410 out of my control cabinet and it did get better but It's still happening.
Is there any way to determine if it is the 410 causing this??

My setup is originally an intel NUC running Win 10 Pro (went to a win7 pro when I swapped PC), to the 410, parallel to a G540, to a NEMA23 380 oz-in motor with a 1/2"- 10 single start leadscrew, Velox ZA800QR Z carriage with a porter cable 7518 and superPID.
All cables are shielded and grounded at the control box end, all to a common ground.

The lost steps are always moving the Z in the + direction, so If I start at 0, by the end of the lithophane I'll be somewhere near +.1.

3

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Default debug... any use for troubleshooting?

« on: December 03, 2015, 08:12:11 PM »

I was in the middle of a job and the machine just stopped. I noticed the pmdx-410 had the red light lit.
I was able to restart, but it stopped again a little while later. This time I was able to save a Mach4 "package".
I enabled file debugging but it didn't stop another time.

So I'm wondering if that package, with the default debug enabled, is of any use to determine what happened?

4

General Discussion / Not related to PMDX at all but...

« on: November 23, 2015, 11:28:06 PM »

This seems to be the best place to get support for Mach4. Artsoft should really be ashamed of this product and the support they (aren't) providing.
So just an off topic question...
Is anyone using an auto tool zero script in Mach4?
If so, how did you implement it?

5

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Spindle Issues with SuperPID

« on: November 22, 2015, 05:28:17 PM »

I'm using Mach4 .2803 with a 410 and plug-in .159.
Windows 7 Pro 32bit.
Mach to 410, to G540, to SuperPID.
I can turn spindle on and off with the Spindle CW button.
Spindle comes on and goes to correct RPM when running Gcode.
The problem is the timing that the spindle comes on. It takes a long time to start and the tool is already in the material by the time it does. Obviously, it never did this with Mach3. I don't know what is causing it since I threw Mach4, PMDX, and the G540 all into the mix at the same time.
The other thing is the spindle won't turn off if I press the stop or reset button. It goes to the lowest RPM and stays running.
Kinda hard to pin-point since I can't take any of the pieces out of the mix.

So the gcode tells Mach to start the spindle, does the 410 have any control over this or does it just go to the G540?