Messages

1

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

« on: August 13, 2021, 11:10:01 PM »

Fellas.

Bob has left PMDX so Steve is alone at the moment and has moved his business to his home so he is a bit behind, give him a call.
Thanks

2

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Motion Underrun error

« on: August 13, 2021, 11:06:15 PM »

After talking with Steve the under Run error is a Mach 4 issue he has yet to find solution for best to bring this issue to Mach 4 forum and let them know about your issue.
Thanks

3

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Is PDMX still in Business

« on: August 13, 2021, 11:03:24 PM »

Yes PMDX is still in business.
I have talked to Steve personally and he has moved his business to his home and is in the process of putting everything together, so if you need to have an issue resolved ,firsty send him the information that he requires and then call him right now that is the best solution.
I was having a major issue with my 416 board and he was able to find out that their is a plugin issues that has to be resolved so the 416 board works properly with Mach 4.
This will take awhile so if you are having communication errors with Mach 4 and 416 motion controller , he is working on this issue
Thanks

4

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Updated PMDX-411 firmware, now constant Motion Underrun errors in Mach4

« on: July 29, 2021, 08:47:14 PM »

devinw
Many have this same problem but are not getting any response to our call for help.
So if you get help let them know others need help on this issue with 416 and 424 boards

5

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Is PDMX still in Business

« on: July 26, 2021, 11:04:48 PM »

Greeting from  a PDMX BOB and Mach 4
Is PDMX still in business?
I have written them with issues I am having with PDMX 416 BOB and Mach 4 but no replies.
Having "motion Under Run", lost packets , lost communication and issues with calibrating my DM556 drivers for accurate axis movement.
Has any one had replies from anyone at PDMX in recent as 2021.
Thanks

6

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Motion Underrun error

« on: July 02, 2021, 04:11:46 PM »

To Forum
I have much the same issue and I am using PDMX 416 board latest version of Mach 4 , Windows 10 Pro I am using a 36v dc 12 amp power supply for the H bridges. Power does not seem to be the problem have changed the H bridges and same results.
Hope there is a solution.

7

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: 3 identical axis drivers

« on: May 03, 2018, 07:39:07 PM »

Well the motors are mounted so I did not swap motors , but when I swapped "Y" axis driver and used "X" axis wiring the motor worked. But when I moved the physical driver to say "Y" axis and used "Y" axis wiring the "Y axis motor failed, so I knew problem had to be at driver but when I put that very same driver on a Acorn motion card that driver worked.
And remember this driver was the original driver that was just borrowed for the new build and when new driver came in I put the "Original" driver back on older CNC.
But I talked to PMDX today and he wished me luck because all the trouble shooting was done and there just did not seem to be a reasonable explanation. So I built me a pulse generator with direction control and hooked that driver to my generator.  Everything worked fine. Now I am at a real loss as to want to do, so I put the driver back on older CNC and hooked everything as before and it again failed but I noticed a very quick flash of the 2 lights on the driver they came on and went right back off. So I fiddled with the connector on the A+,A- B+B- positive input and and and the lights again flashed but the connector worked just fine on other drivers so I had but one more idea, and that was to take apart the driver and look at the male header connector on the board and wow what did I find the tolerances when manufacturing were against me and the length of the plus terminal was to short to make connection with my female connector solidly ,who's tolerance must have been at the low side also , so I moved the connector on the driver forward by removing the connector and moving it forward maybe 0.040 and playing with the holes a bit re-soldered the connector and all was fine.
So bottom line all is well in circuit city tonight. Lesson learned all that glitters is not gold, sometimes it is tinfoil

8

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / 3 identical axis drivers

« on: May 02, 2018, 08:47:48 PM »

Not sure where to begin, but I have 3 identical axis drivers that were working just fine. I was building a new CNC  router and I needed 1 driver for test my build , so I took the driver from my {"X" axis and put it on a identical motor setup only on "Z" axis . I tried my machine out all was just waiting for the replacement. When new Driver of again same brand as I had , came in I put it on the newer machine. And put the one I took off of older CNC, and reinstated it back on "X" axis . Put setting back as they were prior to removing driver and loaded Mach 4. put machine in manual mode with Mach 4 and tried "X" axis and low and behold it would not work. Made sure "X" axis drive screw was not free with power on driver and all was well with that, put Enable pin to ground and that released motor so I could turn screw by hand. So that was good. So I swapped motor wires and with "Y axis and had "Y" axis driver control "X" motor and no problem , so that eliminated wiring problem with "X" axis so then I swapped only pulse and direction wires on my pmdx controller and had output of motion board's "X" output control "Y" axis again no issue, So that ruled out PMDX board. So I took  the driver on "X" axis back off and placed it on new machine I was building but with a different motion board and that driver worked just fine. So I put new Driver On old machine put switches on driver where they needed to be and connected a know working driver back to my older machine, and same condition, no "X" axis movement. So I am at the end of my  knowledge about this and have come to forum for ideas. Now remember wiring checked out and was verified by using "Y" axis driver and pmdx board. The know good driver was verified on new machine and works well but again different motion board. And what was good driver on "X" was swapped with new machine and works just fine. All motion pulse and directions outputs were swapped and worked just fine when controlling "Z" and "Y" but nothing works when "X" is connected to any driver I have tried. 5 of them all together and all failed on "X" and when swapped with "Y" then "Y" does not work and when swapped with "Z" then "Z" does not work. BUT ALL DRIVERS WORK WITH NEW MACHINE WITH DIFFERENT MOTION CONTROLLER.

9

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Stepper Motor Config

« on: January 19, 2017, 12:52:45 PM »

Steve
I have the motor issue resolved and the program running issue fixed . I would like to know how to use the homing function with mt 422 and my present overtravel switches as the Homing switches?
Also when I tell Mach4 to goto home in the Program Run Screen only "X" and "Y" return not "Z" is this normal?
If not what is the fix?
Thank You
Bob

10

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Stepper Motor Config

« on: January 17, 2017, 02:20:11 PM »

I am having an issue getting my motors rev/in correct. I am using Windows 10 and all of the software is updated. My Stepper drivers are all working and rated for 4 amps and my steppers are NEMA 23 23HS41-1804S . I have calculated that with my lead screw being a 3/8-8 4 start and my driver set at 8 microsteps that 3200 should be correct for this motor. My Steppers are standard 1.8 degrees/step and 200 steps/Rev.
I have use the MDI in Mach4 to issue a series of G)X commands in both travel directions. And none of the moves equal the program distance .
Eg: MDI is G0X0.500 or G0-X0.500 the screen says X axis moved .500 inches but actual travel was .411" and if I set Steps/Rev to get distance closer then displayed distance is not even close to right. It is the same issue with all of the motors. I have also noticed that it does not do the same thing if I shut down Mach4 and restart the program. I have had "Y" axis work dead on but not "X" and then all of the sudden neither axis works right , shut down Mach4 and restart and "Y" starts working correctly. Can the issue be Windows 10 and the Mach4 software or Windows 10 and the 422 controller board driver?
Need a little help here
Bob

11

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Limit switch recommendation

« on: January 02, 2016, 07:45:04 PM »

For a 3 axis machine my typical recommendation would be:

E-Stop should be a dedicated input set up for Pin 10.

Each axis X, Y, and Z home would be a dedicated input.

Limits for all axes would be combined into a single input. If you home switches
double as limits, then just combine the limits for the other end of travel.

The one remaining input from those mapped like a parallel port would be used
for setting tool length offset or digitizing, typically assigned to Pin 15.

On the PMDX-422 there are three more input called A, B, and C. In the  future
it will be possible to use these for an MPG, but if you really want independent
inputs for your limit switches, they could go here.

Steve
A,B,C don't seem to appear on Mach 4 ,version 4.2.0.2803as "input pins"  where do I look for these "input pins" you mentioned. I have my "X" , "Y" and "Z" switches for max limits on smartbobusb 422, pins 12,13,15. Now smartbobusb shows the inputs going "Low" when the switch is made but other than that , the inputs do nothing as far as stopping the machine.
Can you help with this?
Thanks