[jmerrill9]

Hi all I'm hoping you can help!

I've had a K2CNC model KG2525HD for the past year working great with no issues... until I decided to try to get Mach3 to work with it and ended up upgrading the Dynomotion KFLOP control board without saving the previous settings. So now of course it doesn't work and I could really use your help. I think the simplest solution would to be to find somebody who has the same machine and possibly get the configuration files from them. Is that possible and is that person out there? If not I'll have to configure the machine form scratch which I have never done. Does anybody know how I can learn to do that?

Here are the specs of what I am running:
K2CNC KG2525HD made circa 2013
3-axis plus rotary 4th axis
4x DC brushless servo motors
Dynomotion KFLOP Rev 1.2 motion control board
4x K2CNC Servo Drive boards (SV_DRV Rev B)
1x K2CNC breakout board (Rev B)
Windows 8.1
KMotion and KmotionCNC 4.32 software

As I said everything worked great until I decided to upgrade the bios on the KFLOP board to the latest while installing the Mach3 plugin and wiped everything clean. Anybody have any ideas how to get running again?

Thanks!
Justin Merrill

[bhurts]

As long as you did not delete the old k-motion install your setup info should still be in your pc. K-motion does not delete the old directory it creates a new one. Check your computer under the c directory and see what versions of k-motion you have on the pc. Assuming the old one is still there your data is still intact.

Ben

[jmerrill9]

Hi Ben,
Thanks for responding so quickly. Yes, kmotion 4.29 is still installed in a separate directory from 4.32, however I don't see any of the previous settings there. When I open the 4.29 kmotion app and go to the config/flash tab everything is zeroed out (just like the 4.32 program) whereas previously all the numbers had been filled in. Could they possibly have been saved somewhere else or should I be doing something different? I did look at the .mot files and they all appear to be the default ones that install with kmotion - nothing that appears specific to my machine.

Any other ideas?

Thank you!
Justin

[bhurts]

I am not at my shop and won't be till this weekend. If I remember correctly you need to copy the contents of the k-motion/data directory into the new install. That should link everything back to the correct setup files and c codes. Somewhere in the help files there should be a copy of the exact procedure. Sorry I can't be more help right now. If you haven't gotten there by this weekend I'll try to help more. Hopefully Tom will chime in with a link to this info.

Ben

[jmerrill9]

Hi Ben,

Thanks again for your help. I'll look into that. I did previously attempt to downgrade by refreshing the KFLOP card with the previous version of motion thinking that may magically make everything work again with no luck. If the data I need still exists in my data folder of my previous install it seems that even the previous version of kmotion isn't accessing it when I run it on my computer. If I understand correctly if it were accessing it then I should be able to flash/upload them to the KFLOP card.

I'll read the documentation and see if Tom might have an idea like you suggested - I see he is super helpful addressing issues with the dynomotion hardware which I appreciate.

Again, thanks. I'll let you know what I find out.

Best,
Justin

[jmerrill9]

Hi Ben,

Still haven't got it back working. I've been reading a lot on this website and on the Dynomotion site. Most of it is over my head right now but I'm slowly learning things and will eventually et it figured out.

One thing that does give me hope is I saw last night on this website where Tom had said that the general process for getting the KFLOP card to work is to use kmotion to configure each channel and then once everything is working to combine all of those channel settings into a single initialization C file. Then open kmotionCNC and use the INIT button to activate that file which if I understand correctly (which I very likely don't!) will get it all working. Well the good news is I do have a K2CNC init.c file in the KFLOP directory which when I look at it does appear to have custom settings for four channels. I can link to it in kmotioncnc.exe and use the INIT button to run it but still nothing works. Is there something else I should be doing with this file? It hasn't helped me yet but I think the info in that file is going to come in handy if I can figure out how to use it.

I'll keep plugging away and get this working again!

-Justin

[bhurts]

First download the newest test version from the dynomotion yahoo forum. Then run the install. Then open k-motion executive and open the configuration and flash screen. Then use the flash new version button on the right hand side of that screen. Then power down k-flop and before doing anything else post your k2cnc.ini file here for review before going any further. Also give any specs you can about your setup. Motor drivers / servos or steppers / power supply etc... No guarantees but that will help give some indication as to what you are working with. Also has anything been disassembled or changed since you received the machine. Was it working when you received it? This can be a daunting process but one you understand your system future upgrades in software should be a quick and painless process. I have changed versions at least a dozen times and it shouldn't take more then a hour or two.

Ben

[bhurts]

Also there should be other c programs that will need to be linked correctly for homing and spindle or other peripherals. If possible go to the last working install and open it. Look for k-motion cnc and open that folder. Then post the data folder for review. It should have everything you need for linking things up if copied and pasted correctly.

Ben

[bhurts]

I just reread your first post and see you have already given the info about your setup and that it was working. I should pay more attention. That would just leave you needing to post the ini file and your data folder. It will be located at c/kmotion429/kmotion/data.

Ben

[jmerrill9]

Hi Ben,

Thank you so much for your responses and suggestions. With the help of another member, Chris Perez, I've been able to get my machine mostly working. Basically all I had to do was execute and download the main.c file which also included a few other C programs. After doing that my enable/emergency stop button is now working correctly and I can get all axis moving (seemingly) normally. I ran a test cutting program in the air and it seems to be running correctly as well. Power to my router seems to be working correctly as well. I do have a 4th axis rotary attachment and haven't gotten around to testing that yet.

A couple things I still need to sort out:
1. Currently I need to open kmotion.exe and execute that main.c file overtime I cycle power my control box/KFLOP card. Do you know how to have the card execute that program on startup so I don't have to manually do it everytime?
2. When I open kmotioncnc.exe after executing/downloading the main.c program my X and Y axis directions are reversed (ex. the X+ arrow sends the gantry into the X- direction etc.). I can fix this by hitting the INIT button and executing the k2_init.c file. I may be overlooking something but I thought that program was being called when I executed the main.c program so I'm not sure why I am having to run it when I open kmotioncnc.exe. Any ideas?

Well I'm feeling really good about how close I am. Thank you for your help. I'd be happy to send you any files you would like to see if that helps answer my questions, just let me know. I'll do some test cutting after the holiday and see where I am at. Ive got a couple more things I need help with but will put off asking until I am back to where I was.

Have a great weekend!
Justin

[TomKerekes]

Hi Justin,

You should be able to Flash that startup program into KFLOP the way K2 had it flashed in so it automatically runs on power up by:

#1 Run KMotion.exe
#2 go to the C Programs Screen
#3 Select Thread #7
#4 Load K2MC_Driver.c (or whatever the name is for your system)
#5 Push compile
#6 Push Download
#7 goto the Config/Flash Screen
#8 check Launch Thread on Startup #7
#9 Flash "User Data"
#10 Cycle Power

HTH
Regards

[jmerrill9]

Hi Tom,

Thank you for your help, that worked perfectly. With your and Chris's help I've got my machine back almost to where it was. One thing that is happening that wasn't before is that very occasionally my X axis will become disabled (motion stops and KmotionCNC X axis display turns yellow) when cutting or jogging. Do you have any idea what could be causing this or how to fix it?

Best,
Justin Merrill

[TomKerekes]

Hi Justin,

That would likely be a limit switch fault (due to noise) or a following error. If you run KMotion.exe while you are running there may be an error message on the Console Screen indicating the cause.

For following errors you would need to better tune the servo (check tuning using "Move" on the Step Respose Screen) or increase the maximum allowed following error.

HTH
Regards

[jmerrill9]

Thank you Tom, I'll check that out!

Best,
Justin