Stepper Holding Torque but not Jogging

Hi all,

I have a problem with a set up that consist of the the following gear;
G203V
Nema 34 - 640oz/in
MB-03 V1 BOB

All seems to be wired correctly, and the motor holds but wont turn when Mach3 is jogged.

I've been through the Mach3 setup process a few times and pins/ports and other assignments seem to be okay.

I've measured the voltage between 2/com and 3/com on the BOB and always have 4.7V when powered up.

It would be my understanding the voltage should be 0V if there is no command is being given by Mach3. When it is being controlled I would expect a raise in voltage.

I've played around with some of the jumpers with no success.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Ramon

I am not familiar with that BOB.

In order to check whether or not you are getting the Direction signal from Mach3, through the BOB and all the way to the G203V input, can you measure the voltage between terminal 8 and terminal 10 of the G203V, and jog Mach3 first in one direction and then in the other direction?

You should expect to see a signal of close to 5 volts when jogging in one direction and close to 0 volts when jogging in the other direction.

Based on the results of that test there may be additional tests that could be done.

Hi Doorknob.

Thanks for the reply.

I have a consistent voltage of 4.8V at 8-10 and on 9-10 at all times; when jogging + or - and static. Hmmm.

Thanks

Ramon

You should not expect to see a change in the step signal with a multimeter, whether you monitor between pins 9 and 10 on the G203V or on the step signal pin going from the PC to the BOB. The step signal is an extremely short pulse which can only be seen on an oscilloscope or a logic probe but which will not register on a typical meter.

The direction signal is a better one to check, because it should be "high" when jogging in one direction and "low" when jogging in the other direction (that is, if Mach3 is configured properly and your parallel port is working properly).

So, as a next step, I would try to check the direction pin voltage at the input to the BOB (from the PC parallel port). If you do not see the voltage at that point shift when changing direction then I would suspect either the Mach3 configuration or the parallel port.

Hi Doorknob,

Checked pins 2/25 and 3/25 on parallel port and they're reading a constant 5V.
Jogging Mach3 has no effect.

Mach 3 holding pulling the voltage up?

Thanks

Ramon

Hi Doorknob,

Further to that those earlier pin combinations show 0V when Mach3 is closed down.

Thanks

Ramon

Can you post a screen capture of your ports and pins screen?

What version of Windows are you running?

Are you using the built-in parallel port of your PC or a separate add-in parallel port card?

Windows 7 32

I added the parallel port 2 weeks ago as the PC wasn't built with one.

Screenshot attached.

Oops. Try again.

From this point, you might need some assistance from someone who has more experience with Mach3 than I have. Your config looks OK to me, and the fact that the parallel port output pin voltage changes when you start or stop Mach3 implies that Mach3 is seeing your parallel port.

There is a subforum here that is dedicated to Mach3 issues, or Mach3 has their own support forum. Good luck with finding your problem...

No probs. I'll try there. Thanks

Ramon