Messages

1

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Wiring Price CNC Torch Height Controller to PMDX 424BOB

« on: January 05, 2022, 07:56:15 AM »

Good Morning, A little bit of a wiring question as to hooking up the Price CNC THC to my 424BOB? The THC has an “anti dive” function to it which “receives an Anti Dive signal from Mach 3 via breakout board”. The voltage is between 2 - 50 vdc for this function to operate in. Yellow wire is “postive”, Black wire is “negative”. It states to use an “Output” terminal or spare “Axis” to wire this into? I am going to use “Output” terminals @ “J-12” wiring Yellow + to “pc+5 and Black - to terminal #1. Obviously if i wired the negative to ground this would continually get 5 volts, using pc+5 and terminal #1 this will switch ON or Off via Mach. Does this seam correct? I’m running Mach 4 Plasma with my PMDX424 just as an fyi not Mach 3, don’t think that is an issue.
Brad

2

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: PMDX 424 inputs

« on: April 18, 2020, 08:46:00 AM »

Ok, i reached out to Avid CNC where I purchased the Pepperal-Fuch proximity sensors and found out as TheBuilgBug stated you can combine like axis to use 3 of the 8 inputs from the 424. Basically Avid said yes you can use 6 individual inputs to your BOB but it doesn’t care what’s X or -X. Makes sense so i guess my input issue is no longer an issue! Chalk this up to inexperience or learning ?

3

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: PMDX 424 inputs

« on: April 16, 2020, 07:28:34 PM »

TheBuildBug,
    Appreciate your kind response and ideas. Yes i am using npn proximity switches for X, X-, Y, Y-,Slave (gantry squaring) and Z.
I would like to use them to “Home” as well, all new stuff to me. I will check out the link you sent as much appreciated for your help and planting seeds.
Brad

4

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / PMDX 424 inputs

« on: April 15, 2020, 11:13:59 PM »

Good Evening,
   I am building a cnc plasma table using the 424 BOB and Mach 4 to run things. I’m in a little bit of a pickle at this point. My systems is using 6 of the 8 input slots for 6 each Pepperal-Fuch proximity sensors. I also have a floating Z axis switch and a Price cnc torch height controller  (3 inputs for THC) that i am going to use (2 more input spaces needed), Any ideas?

5

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Pmdx Plugin not remembering settings!

« on: June 02, 2019, 11:37:42 PM »

    I believe that the issue that i was seeing was that even though i got out of the Mach4 program after making changes to the pmdx plugin i was not seeing them saved as i never shut down and restarted Windows. I turned ON my laptop this morning that is running Mach4 and the changes showed up that i made within the pmdx plugin. Should pay more attention!

6

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Pmdx Plugin not remembering settings!

« on: June 01, 2019, 10:05:05 PM »

Hi,
   I recently got my Mach4 and PMDX 424 working together to do some bench testing but when making some changes within the PMDX plugin the changes are not saved when closing Mach4 even after checking OK box on plugin after changes have been made. When i bring Mach back up and run the plugin the changes are not there as the plugin reverts back to its default settings.

7

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: 542T Stepper drive fault light using pmdx424

« on: May 22, 2019, 11:27:09 PM »

Today a friend and i sat down and tried many different wiring changes and the like to try and get stepper motors and drivers to work with the pmdx424. Nothing appeared to keep the M542T stepper drivers to not fault out (red light) to come ON. My friend is running mach 3 on his cnc machine tool and is pretty familiar with steppers and setting them up. Pmdx board is sending steps out by indication light on board, problem lies in stepper drives. I will most likely switch drives out to another brand. He has taken one home to try on his setup. A lot of wasted time spent only to find out all is wired correctly.

8

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: 542T Stepper drive fault light using pmdx424

« on: May 22, 2019, 08:19:09 AM »

   I have not tried doing G code move in mdi, i was trying to do a manual “jog” using the jog tab in lower right hand corner of mach 4 operator screen. Motor sees some form of pulse as it pulses very quick like a blip of power then the over current light comes on in the fault mode.
   Counts per unit set at 8128, velocity set at 85, and acceleration set at 41. This is my first stepper project and am pretty sure i have settings incorrectly set in mach, just want to make sure connections are correct? Thanks for your reply.

9

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / 542T Stepper drive fault light using pmdx424

« on: May 21, 2019, 08:29:16 AM »

Hi to all, i have built a cnc controller box for a plasma machine using the pmdx 424 motion controller. I am using 4 omc stepper online nema 23/425oz motors driven by the M542T drivers 4 each. I am having issues with the drivers tripping into the fault mode every time i try to do a manual jog from my laptop using mach 4. I have tried wiring Dir and Pul both ways (com+ & com-) it still sets off red fault light. I have tried this with motors disconnected and still trips the drive. I am using 36vdc power supplies to power 4 drives/4 motors. I believe all wiring is correct with no Enable connected as well? Have tried different settings within the pmdx plugin as well, no success. Help!