[CNCMAN172]

Do you have a wiring diagram of what you implement? You might be able to use one of those relays especially if they are running at 12vdc or higher.

Russ

[widgitmaster]

Right now all the diagrams are in my head And yes, your correct! The existing relay can be wired to the Pin #15 E-stop on the breakout board!

[dodger889]

Widgit Now you have a way to isolate the noise from reaching the BOB. This should allow you to run your machine without a problem. without having to rewire the system.

[widgitmaster]

Other than the fact that I'm totally aggravated, nothing I do seems to change anything!

If I press any of the limit switches, the yellow block goes on an off in Mach3.
If I press any of the arrow keys, I get movement on the respective axis.
If I press any of the E-Stops, the contactor opens, the green LED goes off, the red LED comes on, and Mach3 resets.
All of the above conditions work with the VFD running or not!
The machine will NOT home! it hits the limits, the yellow LED comes on in Mach3, and keeps hitting solid stop!

But if I try to use the auto-detect in Mach3, it automatically jumps to port-1, pin-15 on all menu choices!
There is a blinking pin in the upper row 4 from the left of the port pins display.
No mater what I do it will not go away! Even If I disconnect all limits from the BOB.


Mach3 Ver: R3.043.066 running in Demo Mode
Win-XP Home, Dell, Intel Pent-4 3GHz, 512MB RAM

[tahustvedt]

Fourth from the left is the E-stop on my machine. Maybe try triggering them a few times, on and off. Maybe poor contact is triggering the fault function.

[ger21]

Do you have the Home switches enabled? Can you post your .xml file?

[CNCMAN172]

Wigit can you pencil a quick drawing the way you have things connected? This might make helping you resolve this go much faster. As expected your homing sensors are also getting noise. What type of homing sensor are you using? While these issues are very frustrating they can all be addressed it just takes a few corrective actions.

Russ

[CNCMAN172]

Wigit, lets take this step by step. Does the machine home if the spindle is not running? If it does then you have to address additional noise issues. If it does not then you have something configured wrong in MACH3 or your homing sensors are not working as expected.
Russ

[bhurts]

I do not use mach but I wonder if you need to change something in regards to how mach sees your switches. It may be active high but need to be active low or the reverse. The electronics is where all the demons come out to play(for me atleast).

Ben

[widgitmaster]

After I disconnected the printer cable from the BOB, I powered everything up and Mach3 showed the same blinking ports! This led me to believe its a bad cable, so I borrowed one from a neighbor and installed it. EUREKA! All the blinking went away, I was able to auto detect all the pins for limits & e-stop! The machine homed perfectly, and I get super fast rapids with the VFD running! Phew, that was a brain-drain if I'v ever had one (chair)

As soon as it all started running smoothly, the UPS man dropped off the super shielded 25-ft USB cable! And the other two USB to Panel-Mount cables were in the mailbox! So I guess its time to install the SmoothStepper, and set the VFD inverter to accept commands from the software!

Oh man am I gonna sleep good tonight

[widgitmaster]

I just want to say Thank You to ALL of you for all the support up to this point!

[widgitmaster]

Now that I have added the relay to the E-Stop circuit, I have two unused wires that can be used for the Z-Axis Touch-Plate
Widgit

[CNCMAN172]

Widget great news... congratulations... Wow that must have been a long null modem dB25 serial cable or something... never heard of that many bad wires in a parallel cable. Wow your machine is nice and smooth and very fast. Nice Job

Russ

[bill south]

Great Job Widgit and congrats. Having been in the CNC hobby for about 10 years now, it doesn't surprise me to see a mechanical marval as conceived and built by yourself be haunted by electrical gremelins. Fortunately it usually turns out to be something simple as was this case! We sometimes can't see the forest for the trees!
However, you ended up with as close to a perfect machnine as I have ever seen.
Great Job and can't wait to see it cut!
B

[widgitmaster]

Thanks again guys!


Today I drilled the holes in the side of the big Hoffman box, to attach the panel-mount USB cable.
Then I finished wiring & mounting the plug in the gantry side box, for the Z-Axis tool setting probe to plug into.

Oh yea, the DEBOUNCE setting is Zero!! :wee:

[mactec54]

Oh yea, the DEBOUNCE setting is Zero!! :wee:

That's a good thing, this mean you have Tamed the Beast!!! ( VFD )

[widgitmaster]

Well, here we go again
I have never used the SmoothStepper board before, and my 1st impression is not good! It was awkward to install in Windows, and over complicated to install & configure in Mach3! I'll give it another day, then its out! The printer cable was more than fast enough, even with it's limited number of pins! So if necessary, I'll add another printer port card to the PC!

After the last two weeks of stress, I want simple & easy! I'm getting burned out!!
Widgit

[CNCMAN172]

Widgit, I think you first need to enable the plugin for the smooth-stepper and then exit mach3 and start it again and then go in and configure the device. You are correct based on your speeds you machine is plenty fast.

Russ

[Trotline]

The biggest reasons for a Smoothstepper are long distances between the control computer and the machine, and lack of a parallel port on the computer. The smoother pulse train is nice, but not world-changing. If neither of the first two conditions applies to your build, then skipping it isn't going to be much of an issue.

I use the Ethernet Smoothstepper to let me control my machine from a laptop placed well away from the heaviest of the dust. They're a minor pain to get up and running, but once you do get it configured, it runs reliably enough that you can basically forget about it. I haven't run into the errors you're seeing, because mine isn't the older USB version, but a search on the Warp9 forums will probably turn up something.

Man, you're going to be cutting parts on that machine so soon! Thanks once again for the super build log. I've learned a lot from it, and I know many others have, too.

Luke

[CNCMAN172]

Wigit, it just hit me these USB error message seem to indicate it can't find the smooth-stepper at all. I know the FKLOP another type pulse engine has a jumper on board that allows the board to be power by USB or a separate 5V supply. Look on the smooth-stepper board and docs and see if they have a similar jumper. If it is set to use an external 5V supply and you don't have one that could be your issue. Not even sure if this is a feature on the smooth-stepper just something to check.

Russ