Pmdx 132 and pmdx 122 motion ceasing

[TarHeelTom]

Have an ancient Bridgeport CNC which I've gutted and now run off a pc, a 132, a 122, and Gecko 203V's, and linuxcnc

Machine ran fine for some months, and if I'm flogging it hard, it seems to like that.

But occasionally the table (steppers) just stops moving.  But linuxcnc doesn't cease this lack of motion and continues to run.  I'll shut everything down and disconnect/reconnect a bunch of connectors, and eventually I'll get it to run again.

But I've no idea why the machine is stopping, or how to troubleshoot the failure.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

Tom

[Bob at PMDX]

We are going to need more information about how your have the PMDX boards wired and configured.  I'll start off with a couple of questions and some things to look at:

So you have 2 parallel ports in  your PC - one connected to the PMDX-132 and one connected to the PMDX-122, is that correct?

Do you have the PMDx-132 and 122 configured like figure 3 in the PMDX-132 manual, including the jumper settings?  If not, please describe (or post a drawing) of haw they are connected and configured.

If not, are the PMDX-132 and PMDX-122 configured to pay attention to the "charge pump" signal?  On the 132 this is jumper JP1, which can be either "not EStop" or "CP OK".  On the 122 this is jumper JP3 and can be either "not EStop/Fault" or "CP-OK and not EStop/Fault".

When the motion stops, look at the "outputs enabled" LEDs on both of the PMDX boards.  Are these LEDs on or off?

When the motion stops (and LinuxCNC still thinks it is outputting step pulses), do the inputs work (limit switches, EStop, etc.)?

And one last question - when the motion stops, can you change any of the outputs signals?  I don't know if LinuxCNC will allow you manual control of any output while it is running a GCode program, and I don't know what outputs you have defined- spindle on? coolant on?  Some external indicator light?  So this may not be possible to test.

Bob