X3 Mill running mach 3-skipping steps during Gcode? not during jog

Hi All,

I'm new to the CNC world and have bought a litte X3 mil that has been converted to CNC. I'm running Solidworks with HSM Xpress for my CAD/CAM software. I recently ran a test Gcode and realized the machine seems to be skipping steps in all of the axis from what I can tell. The zero position is always off when I come back after running a partial code.

I have played with the mill in manual mode and the distances (DRO) seem correct and I can't see that it skips in the manual jog mode. However when I run the Gcode, The locations seem to be way off. On the tool path, It looks correct, but the machine just isn't keeping up it seem

I'm a newb with stepper motors/drivers completely. The machine I bought came with a laptop that has mach 3 on it but I have to assume it is set up with the default settings and hasn't been tuned for this machine as none of the soft limits are set up etc.

Could someone help point me in the right direction as to how to get this new toy set up correctly or how to troubleshoot what I am seeing?

Thanks much in advance!

Justin

use half pulse sherline mode. and if that fixes it, then you have the usual problems requireing an oscope to verify that the parallel port can deliver the 1-5us long pulse. some can't, they are just too slow.