[jsantos]

admit it guys you go to work thinking bout carve's router gremlims like me ??

Yup. My wife cannot wait for the following week to find out what happens in her favorite TV shows, and I can't wait for the next post in this thread. :-)

This thing will keep a lot of people thinking and wracking their brains until this thing is solved. Maybe we should all just go over to C1's house to work on this. Then we can have a celebration party afterwards. :-)

I know. This is all C1's devious doing to keep us riveted to his build. :-)

[ger21]

It says 5 us is the maximum. I don't know how much it will allow in Sherline mode but I'll try it tomorrow.

CarveOne

It says 5us max, but it's not. Try it.
And Sherline mode sets it at 40us, I believe.

But either one of these is just a fix for PC or parallel port problem.

[CarveOne]

if you run the code with a spring loaded pen holder (being sure it is aligned as well and that it has enough room to travel the full depth of z axis travel) with out making any other changes wouldnt the "drawings" have the same 45 degree drift ? if so that would rule out "loading " the cutter as there would be no loading on the z axis. or simple running the g-code above the part then going back to some known point and see if they are still the same point.at this step (actually a few "missed steps" ago..) i dont think it has anything to do with loading

if you then have the same problem (the drifting down and left) it would seem to be that the B.O.B. ,or the parallel port, or the wiring inside the cable carrier (maybe the router motor wire??)...are somehow getting some step signals crossed...or bleeding across into the wire next to it

maybe you could take all your wires out of the cable carrier and leave them draped across the back of your gantry ,or taped (apart from each other , isolated from each other) along the back or the gantry and try running the g-code with the router turned off,then on again to see if any change?? this would eliminate the wiring as the bug,..then move on to the port, and then the BOB??

you have alot of support on this carve' ,..just ...we are all in a diffrent state... you would get no sleep at all if you lived near all of us ..as we would be at your house till 3:00AM every night till we get this fixed,

admit it guys you go to work thinking bout carve's router gremlims like me ??

The plots that I did a few weeks ago does have the drifting circles when I cut the Tank mount. I thought at the time that they were caused by the little bit of slop in the pen to brass tube that allows it it operate but it was actually the first indication of the problem that we are chasing now.

I tried the router on/off, removed the router cable from the channel, removed the motor cables from the channel, separated the wiring just as you mention last evening. No change.

CarveOne

[CarveOne]

Yup. My wife cannot wait for the following week to find out what happens in her favorite TV shows, and I can't wait for the next post in this thread. :-)

This thing will keep a lot of people thinking and wracking their brains until this thing is solved. Maybe we should all just go over to C1's house to work on this. Then we can have a celebration party afterwards. :-)

I know. This is all C1's devious doing to keep us riveted to his build. :-)

No, actually this is all just a hoax that increases my viewer count.

Hey, the grill is just outside the work shop door under a shelter. Ya'll come on over. We may need to bbq a practically new defective computer while we're at it.

CarveOne

[CarveOne]

It says 5us max, but it's not. Try it.
And Sherline mode sets it at 40us, I believe.

But either one of these is just a fix for PC or parallel port problem.

Among the things I tried tonight was turning on the Sherline mode with the other thing still set for 5us. It does make the step and dir LEDs on the C11G get somewhat brighter but there was no change in the "sliding cuts". If the width can be set to a larger number I suppose the LEDs will get brighter. I'll try it tomorrow morning or evening.

[contactirfu]

The one on my other machine has a ribbon cable connector on one end to connect to the stepper controller. I would need to make an adapter to convert it to D-sub connector interface. It would be better to buy a new cable.

CarveOne

try building a new cable your self - that may actually solve your problem -

[CarveOne]

So, here's the score card for tonight:

1. Set the Steps Per to 1908.862362
2. Set the pulses to 25,000. No effect.
3. Enabled the Sherline option. The LEDs got brighter but not more than half brightness. The LEDs are similar brightness now instead of some of them barely lighting at all. Will increase the microsecond value tomorrow.
4. General config menu - changed A axis is angular to linear. No effect.
5. General config menu - changed distance mode to incremental. No effect.
6. Control box - Separated the step and direction wires that go to the X and A motors. No effect.
7. Control box - Separated the step and direction wires that go to the Y and Z motors. No effect.

I also finished cutting the aluminum blocks that will replace the purple heart blocks on the Z axis assembly. They have been face milled to size. Two 5/16" holes need to be located and drilled in each block and then the blocks will be installed this weekend.

[CarveOne]

try building a new cable your self - that may actually solve your problem -

I took a look at the cable and it has the wrong gender D-sub connector on one end and I made a short 25 pin D-sub to ribbon cable and header adapter cable so that it could connect to the Xylotex controller for my first CNC machine. I have parts that will let me make a gender changer from two connectors with 1" spacers and some short wires.

[jsantos]

Among the things I tried tonight was turning on the Sherline mode with the other thing still set for 5us. It does make the step and dir LEDs on the C11G get somewhat brighter but there was no change in the "sliding cuts". If the width can be set to a larger number I suppose the LEDs will get brighter. I'll try it tomorrow morning or evening.

Did you ever run the drivertest.exe program? Did the result look good?

[CarveOne]

Did you ever run the drivertest.exe program? Did the result look good?

No, I don't recall doing that on the new computer I bought for this CNC machine. I think I did it on an older WinXP machine with the trial Mach3 last year. I'll do it tomorrow.

[jsantos]

Let me know if you want the parallel port and I'll mail it to you.

[CarveOne]

Let me know if you want the parallel port and I'll mail it to you.

Let's wait a few days to see if anything else works first. There's no need to spend the money mailing it until it's a last resort effort. I'll call a couple of friends today that may have one I can borrow locally. There are more things to try. I'll get a new cable today and also wire up a gender changer for the other cable I have. Also increase the pulse width some more and maybe try the Linux/EMC2 computer.

Do you still have my mailing address at work?

[jsantos]

Do you still have my mailing address at work?

I think I still have it in my PM box.

[CarveOne]

I think I still have it in my PM box.

If you don't have it I'll PM it again before Monday if it comes to that. I didn't find a straight wired pport cable at Staples or Walmart today and there are no other options around this little town.

I made the gender changer for the other cable I have and tried it this evening. Still no change in the cuts.

My next 'act of desperation' will be to swap computers. The Linux/EMC2 computer will be driving the new CNC machine and the Vista/Mach3 computer driving the Solsylva CNC machine. I want to see if the Solsylva machine works properly with Vista/Mach3 also, but the main thing is to see if the Linux/EMC2 makes any difference on the problematic machine. There will be a need to set up new configurations on both machines, so it probably won't be a quick swap.

CarveOne

[FandZ]

Carve one, If you want I can skip a week of having my g540 if you want to give it a try. To rule out your electronics. I do owe you one. Just don't blow it up...lol

[jsantos]

If you don't have it I'll PM it again before Monday if it comes to that.
CarveOne

Yup, I still have your address. I can send the port via US mail if you want.

[jsantos]

Carve one, If you want I can skip a week of having my g540 if you want to give it a try. To rule out your electronics. I do owe you one. Just don't blow it up...lol

Supposedly, you cannot kill a g540. :-)

[ger21]

3. Enabled the Sherline option. The LEDs got brighter but not more than half brightness. The LEDs are similar brightness now instead of some of them barely lighting at all. Will increase the microsecond value tomorrow.

Sherline mode sets the pulse width to 40. Changing the numbers in motor tuning won't give you any more than that.

As for the drivertest, it's unlikely that any PC issue would give you such consistent results.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you have two different axis' losing position by the same amount, at the same time. right?

[jsantos]

If you don't have it I'll PM it again before Monday if it comes to that. I didn't find a straight wired pport cable at Staples or Walmart today and there are no other options around this little town.

I made the gender changer for the other cable I have and tried it this evening. Still no change in the cuts.

CarveOne

Do you also want a straight pport cable? I've got an extra 5-ft one. When I bought my cables, some guy was selling them for 3 for $5 in ebay so I have a couple of extras.

[jsantos]

Carve one, If you want I can skip a week of having my g540 if you want to give it a try. To rule out your electronics. I do owe you one. Just don't blow it up...lol

This just triggered something. The 1909.86 steps per inch is for the Gecko G540 which has 10 microsteps. What controllers are you using. Do they have microstepping ?