[theblah]

I searched high and low for any type of setup instructions for setting up Mach 3 on my Sherline mill but could not find anything. I tried some XML files I found in various places but I am not having any luck. Using the XML files I am not getting any movement.

I have Mach 3 running on a clean install of windows with the stock Sherline driver box.

Thanks,
Theblah


I seem to have gotten the pins and ports correct but now I am having troubles with the motor tuning. When I turn the steppers on all I hear is a humming sound.

[theblah]

Update: I seem to have gotten the pins and ports correct but now I am having troubles with the motor tuning. When I turn the steppers on all I hear is a humming sound.

[awerby]

Or do they just sit there and hum? If so, what makes you think the pin-out is correct?

If they turn at all, you can tune them by varying the velocity and accelleration values until they work optimally, then derate them about 15% as a safety margin.

Andrew Werby
ComputerSculpture.com — Home Page for Discount Hardware & Software

[theblah]

The motors just sit there and hum. I think the pin-out is correct as I used the specifications from the Sherline website.

[awerby]

Parameters:

∙ Logic high levels should be greater than 2 volts.
∙ Logic low should be less than 1/2 volt.
∙ Step pulses are active low.
∙ Step pulses should be at least 22 microseconds long.
∙ The lines labeled as EMC inputs or outputs can be disregarded in other systems.
∙ For use with software other than EMC, make sure your software addresses the correct I/O lines for step and direction as shown below. Sherline is not able to provide assistance for other programs. For help with the EMC software, see LinuxCNC.org
∙ We recommend at least an 800 MHz Pentium class computer or faster for use with the frequency mode.

In operation, the power to the motors will be reduced to half current after 3 seconds of inactivity. This can be changed to 1/4 power with a jumper on H1.

DB25 pin out:

1 - Input from EMC (may be ignored in other systems)
2 - X Direction
3 - X Step
4 - Y Direction
5 - Y Step
6 - Z Direction
7 - Z Step
8 - A Direction
9 - A Step
10 - NC
11 - Output to EMC (may be ignored in other systems)
12 - Output to EMC, XYZ home (may be ignored in other systems)
13 - NC
14 - Input from EMC, C1 (may be ignored in other systems)
15 - NC
16 - Input from EMC, C2 (may be ignored in other systems)
17 - NC
18-25 - Ground

Assuming all that's set correctly, did you set your parallel port mode to EPP in BIOS? Are you sure all the wires in your DB-25 cable go all the way through? Are the step pulses set to "active low" and do you have the pulse durations set long enough? Are you sure your system's not in e-stop? Mach normally wants a signal from the emergency stop circuit before it will move the motors.

Andrew Werby
ComputerSculpture.com — Home Page for Discount Hardware & Software

[theblah]

I'm not in my shop at the moment but I will have a look to see if those setting are set correctly.
Is there anything else I should set?

[theblah]

I'm still not having any luck. All I'm getting is a humming sound from my X-axis.
Here's a couple screens of my settings:

[awerby]

It looks like everything's correct, except that your step pulses (at the bottom of that last screen) are set to 1 microsecond. Try changing that to 3, and see if anything improves.

Andrew Werby
ComputerSculpture.com — Home Page for Discount Hardware & Software

[theblah]

It looks like everything's correct, except that your step pulses (at the bottom of that last screen) are set to 1 microsecond. Try changing that to 3, and see if anything improves.

Andrew Werby
ComputerSculpture.com — Home Page for Discount Hardware & Software

I changed the step pulses to and still no luck. The x-axis is still humming and no movement in any of the axis.

[awerby]

Are they perhaps too big for this controller? Are you sure they're wired correctly?

Andrew Werby
ComputerSculpture.com — Home Page for Discount Hardware & Software

[Stbrnrd]

Sorry to piggy-back on this post, but I'm having the exact problems (except that the motors are "locked" when the driver box is turned on) and if their housing is touched, you can feel the coils being energized in the "brake" position, I went as far as uninstalling mach3, going to an earlier restore point in the os, re-installed it, made sure to reboot the pc after install, and still have the same problem. The driver show successfully installed with a minor rippled line in the display.
P.s. the sherline (driver box) interface, does not have a place to connect a "real live" E-Stop button.... I'm working on solving that, but without the machine running is a little concerning. Any help in the matter WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED! :-)

[awerby]

If everything else is configured correctly, then you might still be in e-stop. Is it enabled, with the signal configured for active low? If not, it's waiting for a signal that never arrives. Look on your Diagnostics panel to see if some soft limits might be triggered. Make sure you're using a desktop parallel port that's set to EPP mode. This sort of thing can also be caused by bad grounding, EMI (RF interference), faulty cables, and a debounce interval that's too low (among other problems...)

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[lstool]

To Theblah.... did you ever get your sherline running on mach 3 if so can you post the final settings in Mach 3.... im trying to get a sherline lathe running with the sherline control box.

Thanks