Just about to throw this baby out with the bathwater.

I have been *very* sporadically working on a camtech 4 x 8 router rebuild. it was 95% done 6 years ago and has at times been 100% done and cutting. However, never for long.

UCCNC software has been fine (with Ger21 screenset), but I have been having issues with CNC4pc breakout boards. I have stuck with C35S as my CNC4pc board of choice..... for better or for worse.

Last I left the machine I had one of the Y drives (dual rack and pinion for the Y so reverse slave direction) stop getting step signals. Having recreated that setup it was the Y axis that wasn't stepping, the A slave was working only.

So, having tried to trouble shoot, I ordered some new boards, plural so as to have a backup if problems later. New boards were Rev2 versus Rev1.2 but relatively easy to swap out wiring due to most of it is via RJ45 connections.

For the new boards the Y worked again as well as nearly everything else (limits, spindle on off and speed control, etc).....but Z only wanted to go up. Would not change direction for anything, that signal just wasn't getting to the board. Swap the X and Z and Z works fine and X is one-way. Swap the C35s board with the spare, exact same issue. Swap the Rev2 board with the Rev 1.2 board, Z (and the Pin 7 direction for Z) work fine but there is the Y problem.
Suffice to say, the UC100 seems to be able to use pin 7, the ribbon cable seems to be OK, and the cables to the drives and the drives seem ok which leaves only the board. The weird part is that BOTH boards didn't work in exactly the same way and both are brand new.

Further and finally, as a backup's backup, I also bought a C88 board from CNC4pc to split the Y output from something that worked...and it doesn't move anything with either the Rev1.2 (hooked up to the A axis) or the Rev2 (hooked up to Y). I figured I could use A to control Z if the C88 worked.....a kludge but something.

I know a lot of people use CNC4PC but my experience isn't so great. And, given it's 6 years later, I am thinking of just ditching all of the above and moving to the acorn system by Centroid as my bother ran a Centroid control for years and liked the service and robustness.

Thoughts? Troubleshooting tips? (yes I have a ticket in with CNC4PC). I like UCCNC and I like the RJ45 connections, but if I move to ethernet I will probably just try Centroid.

Why has the C35 not worked for you? It is a very simple board. It is intended for single port systems using Closed Loop steppers or servos as it can connect to the fault/enable signals. Make sure it is the appropriate board for your system.

Arturo Duncan
https://cnc4pc.com

Hi Arturo,

Well, see your email too, but the reasons are listed above.

The boards don't work for me. Rev 1.2 stopped working for Y axis STEP output and two copies of Rev 2 isn't working for Z axis DIR output.

On the Rev2, switching to another axis RJ45 (ie plugging Z cable into X plug on the board) and then Z is fine. That tells me the connection to the drive is OK.
On the Rev1.2, the same axis and uc100/UCCNC pins are working fine. That tells me the UC100 and ribbon cable are OK (The same is true for the problems of the Rev1.2 board, those problems specifically are gone when changed to Rev 2 board.)

What is left as a possible issue is the C35s board(s). What exactly on the board? I have no idea. I have checked my path to ground and it seems ok.

I still don't understand why the C88 board isn't working either....that board is simple, the input side is getting steps and dir signals but it's not driving either the master Y or the slave Y.

Using the C88 would free up the A axis to bypass the Z outputs causing the REV2 board issues.

Edit: Z in fact works fine on the A axis outputs. C88 still doesn't work to slave the Y axis drives together, but there are two ways to get it all working. Get pin 7 on the c35s rev2 working or get the C88 working.

Arturo was able to figure out the issue with the C35S board and UC100, apparently a known issue of batches of product that for some reason didn't quite work together. An old issue apparently, just like my parts.

Everything is working now and I am able to get the machine to my old employee that will be using it. Thank you to Arturo for shipping it quickly to allow this to happen (DHL added a day but Arturo was great) and I am really glad it was a known issue and a fixed issue.

Is it perfect, No. The machine is what it is....state of the art small shop router circa 1990 or something.
I also have an issue that not having the USB connection working and cycling the power will cause some odd issues that shouldn't happen but relatively minor.

Still curious about the C88 issue, but I won't have a machine to test anymore so it's moot.