[N11xxy]

Hi everyone, I’m new to this forum, but I have been trying to read up on things relevant to my problems.
We have bought a CNC machine, we are pretty complete newbies at this, but willing to work through with any help ????
The cnc is 2nd hand and it’s a 700mm x 700mm cutting area, the guy we bought it off hasn’t used it for almost a year but has assured us it was fully working when he had last used it.
He designed and ran the cnc off the same pc, it come with an electronic board where everything is already connected, I just needed to screw it to the wall and plug the board into a plug socket. There are two parallel port cables to attach onto the computer (I thought it was just one parallel port) I will attach pictures of the board.
The pc has Mach3 installed for running the cnc, I haven’t touched anything on this as I assumed it would be set to what the previous owner had it set to.
When I open mach3 and the turn the cnc machine on, the router immediately starts spinning quite fast, also when I try to jog the machine, the co-ordinates on mach3 move, but the machine doesn’t move at all on any axis?
Any help with a few pointers to try and get it moving I would really appreciate it.

[harryn]

Hi, I am far from an expert, but will throw in some ideas anyway.

Step one is really to verify that you have power to all of the right places. So step one is to go through to every location where there should be DC voltage from the power supply and make sure that it actually is getting it. ( volt meter work )

I have quite a bit of experience with DC wiring and what can happen when things are moved around. It looks like the builder did a good job but loose wires happen.

It might also be that a limit switch or stop sensor has tripped. When this happens, it usually will stop the motion.

I am not certain, but I believe that the last version of windows that worked with mach III is win 7. Versions newer than this didn't support it anymore - AFAIK, but again, I am not an expert.

The reason that I know a little bit about this is that I purchased / traded for a small wood router a few years ago that had mach 3 and decided to change it all over to planet-cnc so that it would run on newer software.

I am in the middle of rebuilding it and have posted a thread on it. Nothing special, but some pictures and links in case it is useful.

[harryn]

Thinking about it some more, the use of steppers and mach 3 is not "closed loop". In other words, the computer is issuing commands, but it has not way to know if the commands are resulting in motion.

That is pretty normal for hobby level cnc wood routers like you and I have. The really pro level machines have true closed loop feedback, so the machine actually knows where it is. Very nice to have, but not really necessary for hobby setups.

The output o the parallel ports will be a 5 volt pulse I think.

It might also help if you post some info on the stepper motor driver electronic boards, such as if they are gecko or other. Should be able to read them by flipping them over.

Make sure it is all de energized before moving things around.

[Vlod]

The reason to use two parallel ports is to have more i/o ports.
It looks like the upper one is for steppers and the lower one for pendant.
The USB ports on the motion boards don’t support Memory sticks - they are to provide 5V power to the boards.
You have to check if the motion control boards have 5V from separate power supply or they intended to be powered from USB of the computer.
They probably inverted relay for router, when the system is properly powered it might go off… it’s not the proper way to do it but I’ve seen people using it that way.
Thrace all wires that power the boards and drivers…

[N11xxy]

Thank you all for your help so far, I will try and work through the suggestions and update, the guy I bought it off said the usb on the board is for a receiver signal for something that’s plugged into the usb in the pc. There are 2 things plugged into the pc, one is for the hand held controller, the other looks like a dongle? Thanks again

[N11xxy]

Hi, I have had a check at weekend when I had a minute, if you see the image on my original post as a reference.( IMG 4070.jpeg,)
The top left power bank has 240v to it, from there it feeds 5v power to all the stepper drivers, and also a 5v feed to the top right motion board, and from the motion board wires go from the motion board back to the stepper drivers. There is another cable connected which runs down to the din rail where all the connectors are. There is a 5v feed going to the bottom motion board where the 2nd parallel cable plugs in.
If you notice the mcb that’s down, when I put that up the bottom left power bank lights up, which in turn fires the middle board, which then starts making the router spin immediately, that’s why I have it turned off.
The drivers are HY-DIV268N-5A and all of them have the red power lights on. I will try to add pictures.

[N11xxy]

Could it be mach3 settings? I’m not sure how I check whick pci port is designated to the cable connected to the driver motion board etc? I’m not sure how it’s supposed to be set up? Any pointers would be so helpful. Thanks again.

[Vlod]

Google your motion board or check YouTube on Mac3 settings.
You never mention on voltage powering your steppers, do the drivers get power?
In Mach3 settings go to Ports and pins, there is a table that specifies all of it.
If you get working machine then there is a configuration file that stores all the settings to your machine.
If for some reason you want to mess with it, create a new profile in Mach3 then it would not affect your old config.