MACH 3 STALLING

Good morning everyone,

I have a CNC wood router that I built myself. It is 5' x 8'. It is a rack and pinion set up and runs Teknics motors and power supplies. Also this axis is running a 25 to 1 gear reducer connected to the pinion. I am running MACH 3 and Vetric Aspire. Just recently when running a program the X axis will stall during its passes across the surface.
At first I wondered if I was cutting too much at a time but I raised the Z off the surface and it still did it. I checked all set screws on the motor and gear pinion and all is tight.

The funny thing is, When you start the program it will run perfect but after making about 10 passes it starts doing it.

It will run smooth for about the first 10 passes and then as its going across it will stop for a split second and then continue across the cut. It does this about 5 to 10 times in a 30" pass.

Also I thought maybe something was binding and the motor was not able to move continuously but I ran it in manual and as I ran across the board, taking a healthy cut, I tried to physically stop the axis and I could not slow it down a bit and it was very smooth. But also the problem doesn't start in auto til after about 10 passes though.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thank You very much in advance.

I can't be sure but it sounds a bit like trouble I had early on. The data connection from my HP laptop to Mini CNC control box was through the parallel printer port. I decided to use my laptop USB port by adding a USB to parallel converter to the CNC control box.

"will stop for a split second and then continue across the cut" That is what you reported that closely resembled the issues I was having.

So the first question I have is whether or not you are using the USB port on your PC to communicate with your control. If so order a USB to parallel adapter. They are not expensive.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by forbri40

Good morning everyone,

I have a CNC wood router that I built myself. It is 5' x 8'. It is a rack and pinion set up and runs Teknics motors and power supplies. Also this axis is running a 25 to 1 gear reducer connected to the pinion. I am running MACH 3 and Vetric Aspire. Just recently when running a program the X axis will stall during its passes across the surface.
At first I wondered if I was cutting too much at a time but I raised the Z off the surface and it still did it. I checked all set screws on the motor and gear pinion and all is tight.

The funny thing is, When you start the program it will run perfect but after making about 10 passes it starts doing it.

It will run smooth for about the first 10 passes and then as its going across it will stop for a split second and then continue across the cut. It does this about 5 to 10 times in a 30" pass.

Also I thought maybe something was binding and the motor was not able to move continuously but I ran it in manual and as I ran across the board, taking a healthy cut, I tried to physically stop the axis and I could not slow it down a bit and it was very smooth. But also the problem doesn't start in auto til after about 10 passes though.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thank You very much in advance.

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I am using a Ethernet cable to a Ethernet smooth stepper ESS.

Are the motors faulting?

Does Mach3 keep running? Any error messages?

The motors do not fault and there are no errors at all. It will run the whole program but will for a split second stop and continue probably 3-4 times per pass.

Does it lose position?
If not, then it sounds like an ESS/Mach3 issue? But I've never heard of anything like that before.

no it never loses position. I cut a 3d piece last night. I ran the roughing pass and the finish and it came out fine but it stalls quite a bit during all of it.

Check your CPU usage on the PC when it stalls.

Can you try a faster PC? Someone suggested your PC usage is too high while the CNC program is transferring data. I believe PC overload was my problem and by changing to the more efficient USB port reduced my PC usage and corrected the issue. Please let us know what you finally find as the root cause and what corrective action resolved the issue.

Did you figure out the issue , mine CNCRP machine seems to do the same problem and noticed when I manual jog around back and forth randomly for a while it will randomly have a quick stall , but when it does it in a program its just like you mentioned it doesn't loss steps or fault any errors

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MrOrange

Did you figure out the issue , mine CNCRP machine seems to do the same problem and noticed when I manual jog around back and forth randomly for a while it will randomly have a quick stall , but when it does it in a program its just like you mentioned it doesn't loss steps or fault any errors

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My question is, "Are these issues are happening when the parallel controller port is connected to an older PC that has a parallel port output? If so has anyone having these issues tried an item listed on Ebay as "

ORIGINAL UC100 CNC USB Motion Controller for Mach3, USB to Parallel".

I had the very much the same issues until I switched over to using the USB port of my laptop. All these intermittent issues went away.

The UC100 is not cheap. $110 but the seller accepts returns. I tried using a knock off UC100 and it did not go well. Just would not work.

I was so pleased with the performance of the, "

ORIGINAL UC100 CNC USB Motion Controller for Mach3, USB to Parallel" that I sent a note to the seller.

Off course if folks having this issue are using USB from PC directly to a CNC controller that has a USB input forget all that I said above. It does not apply.

I hope this helps at least one MACH 3 user that is setup like I am.

JN

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Im running my machine over Ethernet smooth stepper and mach 4

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MrOrange

Im running my machine over Ethernet smooth stepper and mach 4

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MrOrange,

So I ask, "Is it possible to try something different?" Perhaps not. I am sure your PC has a USB port but you controller may not have a USB or parallel port. If this is the case the suggestions I have made are of no use to you but might be to someone else on this forum that has a setup like mine.

Are you still having these issues? If so I wish you the best. I cannot help.

JN.