Messages

16

Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / Re: Mach4 and probing

« on: November 13, 2016, 10:55:03 PM »

Duplicate post - see responses here:
http://www.pmdx.com/PMDX-Forums/index.php?topic=356.0

17

Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / Re: Can't get spindle to change direction.

« on: November 07, 2016, 12:45:10 AM »

Look at the pin 14 LED on the PMDX-126 at screw terminal connector J6.  You should see the LED turn on for one spindle direction and turn off for the other direction.

18

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Problem with Spindle ON/OFF

« on: November 03, 2016, 10:06:51 AM »

I can't yet replicate you issues, though I haven't yet run on our Win10 PC.

Meanwhile, a few things:

(1) Please copy your profile to something other than Mach4Mill.  If/when you install a new version of Mach4, that profile WILL get overwritten with the default Mach4Mill profile.  Open the Mach4 Loader, highlight "Mach4Mill" and then click on the "Copy Profile" button.  Give it some other name.  You can leave the screen set field blank and it will use the current screen set.  Or if you are Windows-saavy you can simply copy to Mach4HobbyProfilesMach4Mill directory to some other name and change your desktop shortcut (if you have one) to use that new directory.

(2) In a similar fashion, if you have made any changes to the default wx4 screen set you should copy the screen set to some other name and use that.  Unfortunately, there is no easy way to merge changes from a new version of the wx4 screen set into your custom version.

(3) You have the SIM plug-in enabled.  Please disable it.  In older versions of Mach4 having SIM and our plug-in enabled at the same time definitely caused problems.  Supposedly in build 2914 that shouldn't happen.  However, unless there is a specific reason you have it enabled (and please let me know why) it is better to disable it.

(4) If you still experience crashes with the SIM plug-in disabled, try also disabling the ShuttlePro plug-in.  I don't really expect that this is a cause or contributor to the problem, but it is a quick and easy test you can run while we try more tests on our end.

(5) If you feel adventurous, and *AFTER* you have renamed your profile and screen set (if you changed it), you can try installing the latest version of Mach4 (build 3206).  Make a copy of your Mach4Hobby directory before installing 3206 so you have an easy fallback in case something goes haywire.

Bob

19

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Problem with Spindle ON/OFF

« on: November 01, 2016, 10:46:09 PM »

Thank you for the files.

It got about half way through and MACH 4 crashed - wouldn't restart - had to reboot computer to to be able to open MACH 4 again.

I know this is getting pretty picky, but when you say "crashed - wouldn't restart"...

"crashed" - in your first post you said "completely stops".  When you click on any of the on-screen buttons (like the "Enable/Disable" button), do they "depress" (even if they don't perform their intended function).  Can you display the "File" or "Diagnostics" menus?  What do you have to do in order to shut Mach4 down (i.e. click the red "X" in the upper right corner? right-click on the task bar icon? bring up Task Manager?)?

"wouldn't restart" - what exactly happens when you (I presume) click on the desktop icon to run Mach4 again?  Can you start the "Mach4 Loader"?  Do you see anything?  Do you get warning or error messages when you try to restart Mach4?

Bob

20

Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / Re: stealing 5v for laser pointer

« on: November 01, 2016, 02:54:06 AM »

It depends on what else you are powering from the "PC+5V" supply (PMDX-107, for example, or anything else tied to "PC+5V" or the "+12V" on J7). It also depends on the power requirements of the laser pointer.  How much current does it require?

Refer to page 37 (Electrical Specs) of the PMDX-126 manual and note the current limits on the "PC+5V" (350mA total) *and* the 500mA total from "PC+5V" and "+12V".

Bob

21

Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / Re: PMDX 126 Rev C jumbo mode not working.

« on: October 31, 2016, 10:59:50 PM »

Glad you found it.  As long as the smoke is still inside the board all is good.

Bob

22

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: pmdx 424 and pmdx 407 speed control

« on: October 31, 2016, 10:58:07 PM »

OK, have it commanding speed now with the a-ref connected to the +10v terminal.  The VO terminal does something else and I have no idea what it is.

The VO terminal is a 0-10V *output* signal that is proportional to the current RPM (basically an output signal to mirrors the input control voltage from the PMDX-407).

Think where I got concerned/confused is I had the parameter 72 set to 400hz (which is just a tad outside how fast this motor can or should go).  Now the question I have is how to tune the rpm settings properly.  I'm guessing that parameters 72 and 73 have to be set to the realistic values of where I want the motor to run at and then mach4 setup with estimated values where I think the rpm should be and then use the POT on the 407 to fine tune so that measured RPM and commanded RPM match fairly close.  Am I near being correct there? 

I don't know about the PD072/PD073 settings, that is beyond my limited knowledge of VFDs.  To "calibrate" the PMDX-407, command Mach4 to run the spindle at the max RPM ("S3000" if 3000 RPM is your max).  The adjust the pot on the PMDX-407 until the VFD gets as close to that RPM as possible.

Last question is, what is the default RPM that mach4 will startup at if you just turn on the spindle?  Is it the last commanded speed and how is that determined upon a fresh boot of the system?

When you first start Mach4 the spindle speed is zero.  If you enter an "M3" command without a "S" command, the spindle will be commanded to zero RPM.  Once you enter an "S" command, that becomes the spindle speed when ever the spindle is enable, until you enter a new "S" command.

Bob

23

Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / Re: PMDX 126 Rev C jumbo mode not working.

« on: October 31, 2016, 04:38:39 PM »

I set the DIPs to O, C, O, as well as O,O,C. Still no joy. The LED's do what you describe they should do, in pin 3 low active and high active, but I get no movement out of the drive connected to J5, C & D, only the drive connected to J4.

I'll look at the XML later.

Since the J5 "C" and "D" LEDs are behaving as expected, please double check the wiring from J5 to the motor driver.  Make sure that "C" is indeed connected to the step input on your motor driver, and "D" is connected to the DIR input.  Also make sure the step/dir common signal is connected where ever it needs to be (either "PC+5V" or "PGgnd", same as the motor driver on pins 2&3 on J4).

Then try swapping the motor drivers from J4 and J5 (i.e. swap the wires on "Pin2" and "D", and swap the wires on "Pin3" and "C") and see if the problem stays with whatever is wired to J5, or if it moves to J4.  I don't *think* it is a bad motor driver since you said earlier that when not in Jumbo mode you can assign those pins directly to the ESS and it works.

Bob

24

General Discussion / MOVED: Problem with Spindle ON/OFF

« on: October 31, 2016, 04:29:20 PM »

This topic has been moved to SmartBOB-USB controllers and dedicated accessories.

http://www.pmdx.com/PMDX-Forums/index.php?topic=349.0

25

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: Problem with Spindle ON/OFF

« on: October 31, 2016, 04:29:06 PM »

I've moved this topic into our "SmartBOB Controllers" forum since this is (most likely) specific to the PMDX-422 and/or Mach4.

We need some additional information, including what version of Mach4 and the SmartBOB plug-in are you running and is your Win10 a 64-bit version (likely) or 32-bit version (rare).

You mention testing using M10/M11 driving "Output1", where Output1 is not assigned to a SmartBOB pin, and then assigning "Output1" to a SmartBOB pin.  Are you using custom macros/Lua scripts to control "Output1"?  I know of no built-in Mach4 function that will do anything with any of the "OutputX" signals.

When you are using the M3/M5 code to control the spindle on/off, what Mach4 output signal do you have mapped/assigned to which SmartBOB pin (for example, is it the "Spindle On" signal mapped to the SmartBOB "Pin1")?

I'd like you to create a plug-in debug log for us.  The steps are outlined here:
http://faq.pmdx.com/content/3/3/en/how-to-capture-a-debug-log-file-and-send-to-pmdx.html
After enabling the debug log, exiting and restarting Mach4, run your GCode file until it (presumably) crashes.  Re-start Mach4, disable the debug log and then create the profile package as described in the FAQ.  Post that here along with your GCode file (if it is OK for you to share it without exposing anything you may see as proprietary).

Bob

26

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: pmdx 424 and pmdx 407 speed control

« on: October 31, 2016, 01:10:43 AM »

The connections from the 407 to the VFD look correct, including the 407's Aref to the VFD's "+10V".

Did you change the VFD parameter (PD002?) to select operating speed from external terminals?  It appears so since you are getting a reaction to the PMDX-407, but I gotta ask just to be sure.

Do you have PD070 set to 0 (for 0-10V analog input range)?

Are you entering an "S" command or somehow selecting the spindle speed in Mach4?

When you turn on the spindle in Mach4 and change commanded spindle speeds, does the "PWM" LED on the PMDx-407 change intensity/brightness?  For example, an "S3000" (i.e. full speed) command should make the LED pretty bright, and an "S500" command should make the LED noticeably dimmer.  Do you see these changes on the PWM LED?

Do you have a volt meter or DMM (digital multimeter)?  If so, try commanding the spindle to full speed ("S3000") and then measure the voltage between the "Agnd" and "Aout" terminals on the PMDX-407.  It should read very close to 10V.  Then set the spindle speed to "s1000" (1000 RPM) and again measure the voltage.  You should now read something close to 3.3V.

*** WARNING  *** Be VERY VERY careful when measuring the voltages on the PMDX-407's analog output terminals.  These are isolated from the rest of the PMDX-407 and PMDX-424 and *could* be at the AC mains voltage.

Bob

27

Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / Re: PMDX 126 Rev C jumbo mode not working.

« on: October 31, 2016, 12:39:25 AM »

In order to use jumbo mode you must have parallel port pin 2 configured as the "DIR" (direction) signal, and pin 3 configured as the step signal (as shown in Table 13 in the PMDX-126 User's Manual).  Is that how you have pins 2 & 3 configured?

It sounds like you have the "Pin3" step signal configured as "Low Active", though there may be something else going on, so read on...

For Jumbo mode you should have the PMDX-126 DIP switches in one of these two configurations from Table 2 in the PMDX-126 User's Manual:
(a) Config6=open, Config5=closed, Config4=open
(b) Config6=open, Config5=open, Config4=closed

where "closed" is the switch moved or pressed down towards the side closest to the "ConfigX" silkscreen, and "open" is with the switch moved or pressed down towards the side AWAY from the "ConfigX" silkscreen.

*IF* you have Mach3 configured with parallel port pin 2 as the direction signal and pin 3 as the step signal , and *if* you have the step signal configured as active high (a red "X" in the "Low Active" column), here is what you should see:

- With the machine not moving, on J4 the "Pin3" LED should be off and the "Pin2" LED will be either off or on depending on the direction polarity and last direction the motor moved.  On J5, the "C" LED should be off (step signal cloned from "pin3" with the same polarity) and the "D" LED should be the opposite of the "Pin2" LED (direction signal cloned from "Pin2" and inverted).  For example, if the "Pin2" LED is on, the "C" LED should be off.

- When you jog that axis back and forth you should see the "Pin2" and "D" LEDs change state when you change direction of motion, with the "C"  LED always in the opposite state from the "Pin2" LED.

- While you are jogging that axis, depending on the jog speed and ambient light, you may see the "Pin3" and "C" LEDs glowing dimly.


If instead you have the Pin3 step signal configured as "Low Active", you should see:

- With the machine not moving, the J4 "Pin3" LED should be on as should the J5 "C" LED.

- While you are jogging that axis, you  *may* be able to see the "Pin3" and "C" LEDs get a little dimmer, and then return to their normal brightness when the motion stops.


Please let me know how you have pins 2 & 3 configured and which (if any) of the above LED behaviors you see.  It would also be helpful for you to post your Mach3 XML file here so we can take a look.

Bob

28

Generic Spindle interfaces, I/O boards, Misc boards and panels / Re: PMDX 107, PMDX 126, ESS, PWM signal blip

« on: October 26, 2016, 09:04:23 PM »

If so you may
be able to put the scope on the pin 17 PWM signal present on J6 of the
PMDX-126 board and try to see if the duty cycle of the PWM signal really
has gone wrong when you hear the spindle slow down.

That should be "Pin 16 PWM" signal :-)

Or Pin 17 if you want to look at the charge pump signal, which if *IT* had a temporary drop out could also cause that kind of behavior, though the charge pump dropping out would also cause a very brief drop out in the step pulses - which may or may not be noticeable by listening to the sound of the motors.

29

Parallel Port breakout boards, motherboards, and dedicated accessories / Re: Dmm Dyn4 pmdx-126 connections

« on: October 26, 2016, 09:03:55 AM »

You should connect the shield to GND on one end of the cable only!  Otherwise you can get ground loop current flowing through the shield which makes it a source of interference instead of a shield.  The sample connections on page 16 of the manual say to ground the shield on the receiver side, which is the DYN4.  So I would say do not connect the shield to the PMDX-126.

Unless you can prove that the shield is NOT connected to the DB25 shell on the end that plugs in to the DYN4.  Use an ohm meter to measure resistance from the shield to the metal DB25 shell, close to zero ohms means it is connected.  Infinite or very large readings means no connection.  In that case, there will be no shield connection to the DYN4 and you can connect the shield to the "PCgnd" terminal on the PMDX-126.

Regarding the PUL+/- and DIR+/- wiring, you have 2 options:
[edit 28 Oct 2016 - see also our FAQ on this:
http://faq.pmdx.com/content/3/11/en/how-should-i-connect-pul-pul_-dir-and-dir_-on-my-motor-drivers.html?highlight=pul]

(1) Tie the PUL+ and DIR+ together and connect to the "PC+5" terminal on the PMDX-126.  Then connect the PUL- and DIR- to the step/dir pins on the PMDX-126.  This corresponds to the "Open Collector (external power supply)" example in the DYN4 manual.  If you do this you must configure Mach to have the step pulses "active low".  The direction polarity will depend on how you have your motors wired.  Pick a polarity and see if the motor moves the direction you expect.  If not, change the DIR polarity.

(2) Tie the PUL- and DIR- together and connect to the "PCGnd" terminal on the PMDX-126.  Then connect the PUL+ and DIR+ terminals to the step/dir terminals on the PMDX-126.  This scheme is not shown in the DYN4 manual but should work.  Configure Mach to have the step polarity "active high" (or "not active low").  The direction polarity is the same as the previous case - i.e. you just have to test it and see which setting is correct.

Bob

30

SmartBOB controllers and dedicated accessories / Re: PMDX-424 and KL-6050 Driver Pinout

« on: October 21, 2016, 12:09:07 AM »

Since you have the PMDX-424's "COM"  connected to the "PUL+" and "DIR+", there are a couple of configuration things you need to pay attention to:

(1) Tell the PMDX-424 to output +5V on it's "COM" terminals:
Go to the "Configure" menu and select "Plugins...".  Click on the "configure" button for the PMDXSmartBOB.  In our configuration dialog, click on the "Motor Config" tab.  In the top right look for "Step/Dir Common Configuration" and select the "+5V" option.

(2) Set the step pulse polarity.  When the COM is +5V, the step polarity needs to be "active low".  Still in the PMDXSmartBOB plug-in configuration dialog on the "Motor Config" tab, change all the "STEP Polarity" settings to "Active Low".

(3) Direction polarity: this you will have to experiment with to get the motors to move in the correct directions.  The polarity setting depends on how you have the motors wired to the drivers.

Bob