Xylotex Stepper Box and Smartbob 422

[ErikEich]

Hello,
Has anyone tried to use a Smartbob 422 with Xylotex stepper drive box?  When I try to connect the stepper motors they make a bad noise and run continuously.  I noticed there is a PMDX-103 isolater board, is that necessary to interface the xylotex driver box from the Smartbob 422.  I also noticed that there is no "com" reference pins on the Xylotex box only Step and Dir.

This is the Xylotex box that I have: 4AX_40V_425_DB

http://xylotex.netfirms.com/OSCommerce/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=92

Also I am running Mach 4 with USB to the Smartbob422.

Erik

[Steve Stallings]

The Xylotex box uses the normal ground connections of the parallel port as the "com".

The jumper JP3 on the PMDX-422 should be set to the GND positition.

Isolation such as provide by the PMDX-103 should not be needed.

The plug-in configuration for the PMDX-422 SmartBOB should be set for step
signals on 2, 4, 6, and 8 while the direction signals are on 3, 5, 7, and 9.

[EDIT to fix typos]

[Bob at PMDX]

I presume you are using a 26-pin ribbon header to DB25 cable between the PMDX-422 and the Xylotex box.  If so, the ribbon header end should have a "key" on it - a bump sticking out in the middle of one of the long sides of the connector.  If it does not have this "key", make sure that the cable is plugged in the proper orientation:  Pin 1 on the ribbon header is on the end of the connector closest to screw terminal connector J3, and the silk screen text "www.PMDX.com".  Gray ribbon cable usually have a red stripe on pin 1 of the cable.

To set the step/dir pin-out, go to the Mach4 "Configure" menu and select "Plugins...", then click on "PMDX SmartBOBUSB" (or on older versions of Mach4, click on the "Configure" button next to "PMDX SmartBOBUSB").  On our plug-in configuration dialog, click on the "Motor Config" tab.

Bob

[ErikEich]

Thank you Steve and Bob,
Before I try this again, I just ordered the ribbon cable to db25.  I suspect it may be the cable i'm using. 

Erik