Messages

1

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / How to set up for Mach 4 to display RPM

« on: November 21, 2015, 06:21:20 PM »

With Mach 4 and the SmartBOB-USB, I see the spindle input toggling in both the Mach 4 diagnostic and the SmartBOB real time port display when I run the spindle but there is no RPM display in Mach.  I suspect I'm missing some set up step.  Also, and presumably related, I don't understand whether Mach is using the input to find the RPM or whether the plug in is finding the RPM and sending it to Mach to display.  Thanks for any advice.

2

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Setting up spindle PWM

« on: November 04, 2015, 10:03:51 AM »

I disconnected the PMDX-411 so Mach is out of the picture.  I opened the PMDX-411 and probed the pins on the circuit side of the connector.  When configured for Pin 14, I see good PWM.  When configured for Pin 16, I see 0V before enabling a spindle speed and 5V after.  Since it can drive high and low, it suggests that the problem is not a hardware issue with pin 16.  So I downloaded the firmware again, but that didn't affect the results.

3

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Setting up spindle PWM

« on: November 02, 2015, 06:50:30 PM »

Using an oscilloscope, I see good PWM on pin 14 when I configure to use that pin, but I never see anything on pin 16.  I will send my file to see if you can see anything that might be a problem.

4

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Charge Pump pin in the Mach configuration changes on its own

« on: November 02, 2015, 04:04:17 PM »

If I perform the following steps, the charge pump pin number in the Mach output configuration changes from Pin 1 to Pin 17.  This is with XP Pro and Mach 4.2.0.2763 and PMDX-411 v0.31.147

1. Start with charge pump assigned to pin 1 and enable Mach.
2. Enter plug in configuration and change something - like spindle assertion level.
3. Exit configuration screen.
4. Charge pump pin has now changed to pin 17 in the Mach configuration screen

I don't know if this is a Mach or a plug-in issue.

5

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Setting up spindle PWM

« on: November 02, 2015, 03:17:03 PM »

That is how I have it configured with 0 min and 10000 max.  The spindle just spins at one continuous speed.  The parallel port pins are broken out on a Xylotex stepper driver board and the PWM board is a Homann Digispeed in a Sherline motor controller box.  This all worked with Mach 3 and parallel port.

Probably unrelated but sometimes my Charge Pump pin in the Mach configuration is changed from Pin 1 (which it should be) to Pin 17.

6

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Setting up spindle PWM

« on: November 02, 2015, 12:41:00 PM »

I have not been able to get my spindle PWM working.  I am using XP Pro and Mach 4.2.0.2763 and PMDX-411 v0.31.147.

I have selected Pin 16 in the PMDX spindle config.  When I look at the real time signals, pin 16 is black which means "signal is not yet supported".  Maybe that doesn't matter.  Probably a more significant issue is that I don't know how Mach should be configured to interface to the PMDX-411.  Pin 16 is not one of the options available on the Mach configuration screen.