Topics

1

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / 407 spindle controller and plasma cutter

« on: June 25, 2020, 12:21:16 PM »

I am trying to set up a cnc plasma cutter. I'm not sure how to tell the plasma cutter to turn on or off between cuts. I was wondering if the PMDX-407 board might do this or is there another easy solution?

2

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / newb question Lua error, machine not moving

« on: March 06, 2020, 05:49:02 PM »

I'm a newb at this. I finally got the computer to recognize my SmartBob-424 card. It seems I've fixed the invalid or unknown device error. I have the STMelectronics port showing in Device Manager with no exclamation points. I tried to get the machine to do something today. My computer is a Win 7, 8 GB ram, 64 bit system. I tried putting in some code in MDI. A simple program, just G1Y1. The movement was made in Mach4 on my screen but no movement on the machine. When I started Mach4 I got a message in the History window that said Lua:Error occurred while opening file. I went into Diagnostics for the 424 card. When I make a move in Mach 4 the output lights turn green and yellow for the axis that I'm moving but nothing moves. At the bottom of the Diagnostics window under encoder position it says **Disabled** in the first window and Rawln 0x000007ff in the other window. Also I have a new light on the 424 board. I think its an "enable light". Its near a barrel shape capacitor, lower center of the board. I haven't done anything with the emergency stop switch. Could that be holding things up? My board still has the red connector on the E stop that came with the board. I would like to get this working. I feel like its close but no cookies yet. Thanks in advance for any help you could offer me. Not sure what other info to supply. Mach4 build #4162, screen set name wx4, set, PMDX SmartBob-USB Device: PMDX-424(RevD PCB)on COM3, Serial #: SN38024(D1), plugin version: 0.53.263, bootloader version: 1.15.76, firmware version: 0.60.208

3

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / PMDX-424-USB not recognized

« on: September 11, 2019, 12:35:16 PM »

I tried hooking up my 424 board the other day. At first I didn't have a good connection on the AC lines. I could wiggle the wires and the Power On LED would light intermittently, but I redid the connections and its been steady on ever since whenever I plug the board in.  I don't remember for sure but it seems like when I first plugged in the 424 board the red LED came on and the green was flashing every 2 seconds. I have a Win 7 computer with an I-5 processor and 8 GB of ram and a 64 bit system. Once I got the power on steady, I tried plugging the USB cable into the computer. The computer noted that a new device was plugged in and started to work on installing the drivers. After a few seconds I got the following message:
Device driver software was not successfully installed. In the box below it said:
 STMicroelectronics Com Port (Com3)    ready to use.
 Unidentified Device    Device unplugged.
 STMicroelectronics Virtual ComPort (Com4)    Failed.
Checking the troubleshooting page I copied VCP_V1.3.1_Setup_X64.exe onto a thumb drive and put it on the Mach 4 computer (it not longer has internet access, as its in the shop). I ran the program and as instructed, chose "remove" then once it had finished I re-ran it and it said it had installed the drivers successfully and prompted me to click finish. It never ran the second installer as the instructions indicated it should. Also when I went into Device Manager and checked Ports and Com it didn't show any new ports, just (COM1). But it said the drivers had been successfully installed so I tried starting MACH 4. It prompted me to choose a profile. When I chose one, it came back with the following message:
PMDX-SmartBOB-USB Plugin Init
    ERROR: Port auto scan did not find a valid PMDX-SmartBOB-USB device
So then I went through the whole process again, unplugging everything, removing the drivers and reinstalling. One thing I noticed is now it seems like when I plug in the AC, only the power on LED is lit. Its not until I plug in the USB cable to the computer that the red LED comes on and the green LED starts flashing. Anyway I tried removing and reinstalling the drivers. Again it never tried to install a second set of drivers as the FAQ said it should. It came back with the following message:
Drivers were successfully installed on your computer
  STMicroelectronics(usbser) Ports (04/25/ZOID 1.3.1)
  Status     ready to use
And the wizard prompted me to click finish. Looking in Device Manager/Ports it only showed the (Com Port 1) again. I tried starting MACH 4 and was prompted to choose a profile. I chose the one named myprofile and got the following message:
Select motion control device
    WARNING
  changing the motion control device will destroy any axis to motor mapping
It didn't list any motion control devices in the box to select.
So I redid everything and this time when prompted to choose a profile I chose pmdx424Sample and got the following message:
PMDX-SmartBOB-USB Plug in
    ERROR: Port auto scan did not find a valid PMDX-SmartBOB-USB Device
The FAQ indicated that if I couldn't get the drivers installed after trying the VCP setup program that I should contact PMDX for support. I could use some help with this problem. Not sure what else to try at this point. I noticed some other programs listed with the VCP setup program but didn't want to mess with them without knowing what they were. My apologies for the long message. Also I'll have to check on MACH 4 version numbers and PMDX-424 board numbers.

4

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / 424 limit switch size

« on: July 08, 2019, 02:47:41 PM »

Wondering what size limit switches I should buy. Most of them I've been looking at are rated at 15A, 125-250 volts. That seems way too large to me but I'm just a beginner. Is that a maximum? Any info would be appreciated. I bought some on ebay but when they came they were so small I couldn't find screws to mount them. I'd like something that uses about a 6-32 screw or something similar for mounting. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

5

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / newb question about wiring PMDX-424 board.

« on: May 30, 2019, 01:36:22 AM »

Should I have my motors and drivers wired up to the PMDX-424 before I power it up the first time and before installing the USB cable? Can I power it up and plug in the cable with no wires connected and then connect them later?

6

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / newbie question about wiring PMDX-424 board.

« on: April 27, 2019, 10:36:46 AM »

The manual states that my board can be operated from a Universal AC Mains input of 110-240 VAC. Does this mean I can just wire up a plug to J19 and plug it into the wall? It seems to say this but I don't want to fry my board before I even get it working. Thanks in advance for any help.

7

General Discussion / limit switches

« on: January 21, 2019, 08:13:00 PM »

Did PMDX quit selling limit switches? I'd swear I saw some on this site before Xmas. I wanted to wait a while to order as I was out of town. Now I can't find any available.