pmdx-126 will only work with hardwired step/dir, not 26pin cable

[grimsbycnc]

Hello, I am using the pmdx-126, with ess smooth stepper, and gecko 213v drives... I am not able to get the motors to operate when I am using the 26pin cable plugged into j19, and into the pmdx-133...the step and direction LED's do light when motion is commanded...ie jog. (MACH3)

Before plugging the drives into the pmdx-133, I verified the polarity of the incoming DC (50vdc), and the green LED,did light. I also, checked for continuity on all the pins of the 26 pin cable.

When I wired the signals directly from the terminal strip on the pmdx-126 to the driver terminals, it works just fine.

I am missing something....but can not see it..

Kevin Urquhart
Grimsby Ontario, Canada

[Bob at PMDX]

The usual cause of this is that the step and direction pins are not assigned to match the pin-out of the PMDX-133 (or PMDX-134).  The PMDX-133 needs the step signals to be assigned to parallel port pins 3, 5 and 7 (and 9 if you have 2 PDMX-133s), and the direction pins on parallel port pins 2, 4 and 6 (and 8 if you have 2 PMDX-133s).  See section 3.4 of the PMDX-133 User's Manual.  Note that this is NOT the default for Mach3 configurations.

I think that the SmoothStepper plug-in pays attention to the normal Mach3 step/dir settings (presuming that you are running Mach3).  Go to the Config->Ports & Pins menu, then click on the "Motor Outputs" tab.  For the X axis, set the "Step Pin #" to 3 and the "Dir Pin #" to 2.  For the Y axis set the "Step Pin #" to 5 and the "Dir Pin #" to 4, etc. (i.e. odd pin numbers for step signals and even numbers for the direction signals).

If this doesn't work, check in the SmoothStepper configuration dialogs and see if there are any step/dir configuration settings there.

If you are using Mach4 then the step and dir configuration must be in the SmoothStepper plugin configuration dialogs.


Bob

[grimsbycnc]

Bob, thank you. You were right....I changed the mapping for the step and direction from...ie 2=step, and 3=dir,  to the opposite

I was not thinking about the mapping issue that might be, with  the pmdx-133

Kevin