Messages

1

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Squaring the Gantry on the PMDX-424 without functionality

« on: June 03, 2021, 05:17:16 AM »

Hey @mckinleyrb,

I just replied to this in the Mach forum...

2

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Many problems with my 424

« on: June 02, 2021, 07:38:58 PM »

Hey radio.dub,

If your 424 is anything like my 422 then Plug-in Version: 0.53.263 might be the problem.
If I upgrade to that version my board crashes with stuff like you are reporting.
Mine works just fine on version 0.52.254 though.

Annoyingly Support seems AWOL at the moment, which is unusual as Bob and Steve are normally on it.
Not sure what's going on??

3

General Discussion / PMDX Support for gantry squaring

« on: May 31, 2021, 03:01:38 AM »

Hi Folks,

I'm finalising my new build and have added in home switches as well as limit switches on both of my Y axis (slaved motors).
This may have been a waste of time given what I have discovered now I want to actually use them.

The SmartBob-USB Mach4 plugin Version 0.53.263 release notes clearly states:

(2.5) Known Issues:
Does not (yet) support "gantry squaring" during homing using one home switch for each motor on a tandem axis

So, given release 0.53.263 came out over 2 years ago and there hasn't been one since, I was wondering if it ever will?
The only ref I can find in the forums is from 2015!

Of note, is that I have a PMDX-422 and release 0.53.263 actually completely stuffs up the 422.
The limit switches don't operate correctly and the 4th axis (A) doesn't ever work.
I have to back down to release 0.52.254 from 2017 to get things working so it's now 5 years old.

I totally get that the 422 is getting on a bit in age.
If PMDX release a new board that supports gantry squaring I'll buy it.

Cheers,
Neil

 

4

General Discussion / (Solved) 3 out of 4 motors behaving weirdly

« on: May 13, 2021, 07:18:23 PM »

Found it.

Regardless of my multimeter saying continuity was OK - it wasn't.
Pulling the motors out of the machine and eliminating the new wiring from the equation has the motors running perfectly.
I have dodgy cables somewhere. Replacing now.

But thanks for your help none the less.

Cheers
Neil.

5

General Discussion / Re: 3 out of 4 motors behaving weirdly

« on: April 29, 2021, 01:39:34 AM »

Correct. I bought a "matched" motor and stepper. Not that that means much but it was set correctly when I got it.

Looking at say Y on J4 on the PMDX

com -> Dir -
com -> Pul -
4     -> Dir +
5     -> Pul +

to the motor

B-  -> Blue
B+ -> Red
A-  -> Green
A+ -> Black

6

General Discussion / Re: 3 out of 4 motors behaving weirdly

« on: April 28, 2021, 01:29:14 AM »

Thanks 12strings.

They are 4 wire motors.
I've triple checked the connections.
I was wondering what would happen if I swapped them (just to see) but haven't been brave enough to try that yet.

7

General Discussion / 3 out of 4 motors behaving weirdly

« on: April 25, 2021, 09:12:28 PM »

Hi Folks,

posting here to see if anyone can point me in the correct direction.

Some background - in case it helps. I am finalising a new CNC build.
All the components have come across from a previous build and I have doubled in size and moved from a moving table to a moving gantry design.

In final testing - I have 3 out of the 4 motors behaving weirdly.
If I hold the jog button down - they shimmy a little and then take off as expected.
But if I quickly press the jog button multiple times they shimmy then move and sometimes change direction.

It's as if I'm loosing power intermittently on the Dir for some reason.
I've checked the continuity of all leads to the motors. All seems good.

The weird bit is that the new motor (bought because I now need 2 on the gantry) is working perfectly.

I'm using a PDMX-422 and new TB6600 drivers. (Although the motor that is working has it's own matched stepper driver)
Not that I think there is an issue with the PMDX-422. It doesn't matter where I plug the working motor in (X,Y,Z or A) it always works perfectly.

I've tried many settings on the steppers. Even though I want 3.0A and 1/8 microsteps. Nothing makes any difference what so ever.
I haven't changed the settings in Mach 4 from what was working previously (except to add a motor).

The motors are 3.0A Nema 23.

Does anyone have any ideas on what to try next?

Thank you - in advance.
Neil.

8

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: 407 wont configure after upgrade

« on: September 24, 2020, 06:17:14 PM »

PMDX-422 (Rev B PCB) on COM3
Serial Number: SN327720 (B1)

9

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: 407 wont configure after upgrade

« on: September 23, 2020, 09:05:04 PM »

Yep - I installed release Ver 0.52.254 and my machine works perfectly again.

Does beg the question why would the newer version break it??

Haven't done a longish run yet so yet to know if the buffer over run issue is fixed.

Thanks for the help.

10

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: 407 wont configure after upgrade

« on: September 21, 2020, 06:40:54 PM »

Yep, just a software upgrade. Didn't touch anything else.

Yes, after starting up Mach4 it downloaded the new firmware and asked for a Mach4 restart.

Don't remember the old version to be honest. I'll download the last few and try them.

It wasn't a really old version of Mach4. I was on 4.2 3402 (I think)

11

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / 407 wont configure after upgrade

« on: September 21, 2020, 02:32:40 AM »

Hi Folks,

I've been CNCing reliably for several years now using your PMDX-422 with a 407 on top for spindle control.
But several times recently the 422 has thrown an over run error and given up on a job.

So I thought I'd upgrade to Mach4_Hobby_4.2.0.4300 and the SmartBob-USB plugin to Ver 0.53.263.
The laptop is running Windows 7 64bit.

But now 2 things have gone awry.

1. The z limit switch seems jammed on. I have to unconfigure it completely for the motor to run in either direction.
2. I get an error saying "PMDX: Unable to configure device. error 'PMDX-407 unavailable'. Consequently the spindle doesn't start anymore.

Both of these things were working immediately before the upgrade.

If I swap to the supplied PMDX Sample config and enable the spindle I get the same error.

I have gone through the forums and tried a bunch of stuff but given it has all been running for years I'm stumped.

Any ideas??

Please help - I miss my CNC :-(

12

Generic Spindle interfaces, I/O boards, Misc boards and panels / Re: How to configure 422/407/Mach4

« on: April 29, 2018, 06:43:48 PM »

oh - and one more thing I learnt along the way...

When setting values on the VFD, if you change a PDnnn setting and press Set - you will see "End" for a couple of seconds. If you don't see that - THE VALUE DIDN'T CHANGE.
I assume the VFD does this when the value you are trying to set is invalid because of another value somewhere.
It should say "Err" or something, but it doesn't. It just moves on to the next PDnnn setting.

13

Generic Spindle interfaces, I/O boards, Misc boards and panels / Re: How to configure 422/407/Mach4

« on: April 28, 2018, 11:32:02 PM »

and...... I got it.

Firstly ensure the toggle on the side of the VFD is set to VI (wont run otherwise)

Settings on the VFD are now:
PD000 - 0 (not 1 as mentioned elsewhere thinking it's an unlock, cos it's not)
PD001 - 1, for external control
PD002 - 1, for external control
PD003 - 400
PD004 - 400
PD005 - 400

PD072 - 400, max freq
PD073 - 120, so it doesn't run too slow

so my issue was having a min speed set to 120 and then trying to set more than that using the PMDX-407 which the VFD was ignoring cos I had a min set.

It's WORKING :-)

14

Generic Spindle interfaces, I/O boards, Misc boards and panels / Re: How to configure 422/407/Mach4

« on: April 28, 2018, 11:09:04 PM »

There's progress - I can now turn the spindle on/off from Mach4 but it runs at 120Hz no matter what I try.

I have checked the voltage output of the PMDX-407 which is going nicely from 3.4v to 9.5v and the led is dimming correctly.

So I guess I need to set something on the VFD??

I'm also having issues where sometimes the VFD simply refuses to save a PD change. Can't work out why. Very annoying.

15

Generic Spindle interfaces, I/O boards, Misc boards and panels / Re: How to configure 422/407/Mach4

« on: April 28, 2018, 08:04:27 PM »

OK- progressing a little.

Now I've set the JP1 pin to on on the 422 and the 407 now appears to be powered up (hilariously this pin is hidden from view by the way I have it installed so I actually set the wrong JP).

Still no go but the error message has gone away :-)