[rocket67]

\r\n \r\n Hi Balam, Good to see that you got your power sorted out.
\n
\nI have read various posts on the tdm/forum where they write that " Vista " does not work well with cnc machines. Maybe you will need to go back to the older Windows system?
\n
\nRe software - Ucancam and type3 are not used by most people with Excitechs who post on this thread. Douggie from the UK had problems with Ucancam. From memory he could not import any of his existing files into it.
\n
\nThe popular choice of software is Vectric`s V Carve Pro. All users with this software - including us - are very happy with it. A chap who sells Excitechs in South Africa supplies V Carve Pro with the machines. If it suits your intended purpose it may be worth buying it.
\n
\nHow are you doing with the machine at the moment?
\n
\nRocket.\r\n \r\n

[ksealey]

\r\n \r\n

\r\n

\r\n

\r\n

\r\n \r\n \r\n

Hi Balam, Good to see that you got your power sorted out.
\r\n
\r\nI have read various posts on the tdm/forum where they write that " Vista " does not work well with cnc machines. Maybe you will need to go back to the older Windows system?
\r\n
\r\nRe software - Ucancam and type3 are not used by most people with Excitechs who post on this thread. Douggie from the UK had problems with Ucancam. From memory he could not import any of his existing files into it.
\r\n
\r\nThe popular choice of software is Vectric`s V Carve Pro. All users with this software - including us - are very happy with it. A chap who sells Excitechs in South Africa supplies V Carve Pro with the machines. If it suits your intended purpose it may be worth buying it.
\r\n
\r\nHow are you doing with the machine at the moment?
\r\n
\r\nRocket.

\r\n \r\n

\r\n

\r\n

Hi Rocket
\r\nI have had good results with Ucancam it can handle large 2d dxf files easily. It will do things in a couple of minutes that other programs I use just give up on. I particularly like the auto nesting function. I am running it on an XP machine. I suppose it depends what you are trying to design/cut.
\r\nKen\r\n \r\n

[Big S]

\r\n \r\n Fabo,
\r\n
\r\nI just use G-Gode for the post processor file type to run on the machine, might be worth a try.
\r\n
\r\nShannon.\r\n \r\n

[Big S]

\r\n \r\n Has anyone purchased from CNC Teknix in Australia? They have a piece of hardware that would make my machine a lot easier to trust in having a square gantry. I have noticed that when I start the machine up the gantry is out of square by as much as 2mm. Once it is started square its stays square until its turned off (or gets crashed into something like a clamp )
\r\nhttp://cncteknix.com/portal/componen...art/Itemid,67/
\r\n
\r\nI am considering getting this for the dual stepper drives on the gantry, I have purchased the extra homing sensors a few weeks back and was going to use the fourth axis output in mach3 to do the squaring. This dual drive splitter looks to be a much better and simpler option.
\r\n
\r\nAny suggestions?
\r\n
\r\nShannon.\r\n \r\n

[Zig]

\r\n \r\n I have purchased a few tek6 drives from Pete Dunster.
\r\n
\r\nThe product was in beta stage, had some issues with documentation and almost blew up the drives due to erronious documentation .. BUT as i said the product had not been released yet when i purchased it.
\r\n
\r\nI am now looking at getting some more tek drives from Pete. He has anewer highvoltage version of tek 6 whihc i intend to use on some old NORMAG linear motor and glass scale drives.
\r\n
\r\ntek6 drivers are of course BLDC drivers and the new version can go up to a few hundred volts at 10 amps I think.
\r\n
\r\nThe tek6 are ok in terms of current capability but are only a 28volt driver.
\r\nIn anutshell I am very pleased with cncteknix dealings.\r\n \r\n

[Big S]

\r\n \r\n Zig,
\r\n
\r\nThanks for the feedback, CNCteknix have been good on the email response. I just need to find out whether the drive splitters are able to be used with stepper motors as they seem to be designed for servo drives.
\r\n
\r\nShannon.\r\n \r\n

[Zig]

\r\n \r\n I suspect you will find that they are quite happy to work with steppers.. tek6 is designed to work with a BLDC and have an encoder input.. but the inputs to the controller are still step and direction signals as per stepper drive.
\r\n
\r\nIn fact I am presently using tek6 with renishaw 5 micron linear scale in lieu of open loop stepper motors.
\r\n
\r\nTek 6 closes the loop on the bldc motor through the encoder.\r\n \r\n

[ksealey]

\r\n \r\n Has anyone heard from Taney this week? I sent him an email on Monday and followed up yesterday with no reply. Ken\r\n \r\n

[rocket67]

\r\n \r\n

\r\n

\r\n

\r\n

\r\n \r\n \r\n

Has anyone heard from Taney this week? I sent him an email on Monday and followed up yesterday with no reply. Ken

\r\n \r\n

\r\n

\r\n

Hi Ken, Saw a report on the news last night concerning a major Green Algae problem in China. Seems that they can`t get rid of the dreaded stuff, so there are many thousands of people at the site assisting in the attempt to get rid of it. We quite often have the same problem in the Torrens River in Adelaide. The Olympics are only 36 days away now and the Algae threatens to disrupt the water sports.
\n
\nGlad to see that you are doing well with Ucancam. I must admit that we did not bother even trying it because the V Carve Pro works so well for us.
\n
\nDid you sort out the problem with your DSP cable? Interesting to note that last week i knocked the cable on our machine with a pallet truck and caused a similar problem to the one you had. Ramon only needed to push the cable back into position and it was ok again.
\n
\nRocket.\r\n \r\n

[mhkwd]

\r\n \r\n Good one Rocket,
\r\n
\r\nI saw pictures of that green gunk and glad I\'m not cleaning it up. As for Taney, I believe he is in Shanghai for a week or so.
\r\n
\r\nMitch\r\n \r\n

[Big S]

\r\n \r\n Green gunk = Bio fuel? theres enough of the stuff
\r\n
\r\nShannon\r\n \r\n

[ksealey]

\r\n \r\n I have had a reply from Taney he has been at an expo. Taney sent me a new cable but I still have the same problem I have made a small video for Taney to have a look at.
\r\n
\r\nI think it may be the DSP itself that is shot.
\r\n
\r\nI haven\'t done any research on the thread but can I plug the Excitech straight into a Computer? From what Balam was saying it seems I can send to it straight from Ucancam. I don\'t really want to have to buy more software etc but if there was a simple way of by passing the DSP so that I can isolate the cause of the problems I am having that would be very helpful.
\r\n
\r\nIt has been a while now that I haven\'t been able to cut and I am not sure but I think I am starting to suffer withdrawal symptoms.\r\n \r\n

[Big S]

\r\n \r\n I would check all the connections on the internal breakout board inside the cabinet and also the connections to the stepper drives. Check that the plugs are not loose and also that the screw terminals are down firm. Make sure the machine is unplugged when you do this though.
\r\n
\r\nPM me if you need more help with what to check and I can send you a labeled photo of the internal board.
\r\n
\r\nShannon.\r\n \r\n

[Balam]

\r\n \r\n Rocket, Big S, Signandcrafts and ksealey and the rest of the crew, the news:
\r\nI\'m experimenting with output files like *. mmg *. tap, and transmit them to router but does not respect the scale, but not that according to the manual dsp on the menu Pulse Equiv be configured according to a number type of router, you think I can help with the data for control DSP?
\r\nThank you very much and greetings.
\r\nFabo.\r\n \r\n

[Big S]

\r\n \r\n Hi fabo,
\r\n
\r\nThere are settings in the DSP to control the size. Mine didn\'t have the right Pulse Equiv in my manual either. What I did was make the machine jog 1000mm and see how far it traveled.(mode button, distance, type in 1000,enter)
\r\n
\r\nWhen it doesn\'t go far enough increase the pulse equiv setting. If it travels too far, decrease the pulse equiv setting. You should be able to get the machine to jog exactly 1000mm. The settings for the X and Y axis should be the same but the Z-axis will be different.
\r\n
\r\nShannon.\r\n \r\n

[rocket67]

\r\n \r\n Shannon - If anybody can get these blokes up and running - i am sure that you can.
\n
\nI regret that i do not have the technical knowledge to help them.
\n
\nRe ksealey`s question about whether the machine can be run directly from the computer - therefore bypassing the DSP controller, do you know if it is possible.
\n
\nGood on ya mate!
\n
\nRocket.\r\n \r\n

[Big S]

\r\n \r\n Rocket,
\r\n
\r\nI have not been able to run the machine directly from the computer, it does almost seem as if it will be possible through some of the setting in the DSP computer software. I think this would still need to have the DSP connected though.
\r\n
\r\nShannon.\r\n \r\n

[rocket67]

\r\n \r\n Shannon, I was looking on alibaba.com today to see how many cnc router suppliers there are in China - lots of them -, and i took particular notice of the operating systems from the different suppliers. They all use the DSP system.
\n
\nOur DSP system works very well and i believe that most other Excitech owners have no problems with theirs. Is it possible that ksealey may have shorted something within the DSP when his pins on the cable were bent?
\n
\nThe crappy connection of the cable to the control box would seem to be the cause of any problems with the DSP.
\n
\nThis leads me to the conclusion that maybe the Mach3 or Wincnc may be a much better operating system. Jim converted his machine to Wincnc and i believe that he is extremely pleased with the conversion. Obviously it would cost a fair bit more. Any idea how much?
\n
\nRocket.\r\n \r\n

[Big S]

\r\n \r\n I am still going to convert mine to mach3 at a future date. I will need a toolchanger and the DSP doesn\'t support that
\r\n
\r\nI am not sure exactly how much a Mach3 conversion would cost but breakout boards are around USD$120, mach3 USD$160, A PC to run mach3, and some cables etc, shouldn\'t be too much over USD$500 all up??
\r\n
\r\nShannon.\r\n \r\n

[cabnet636]

\r\n \r\n i recently went to camaster in georgia and there was a machine that had been traded in, it had been retrofited with mach 3 and i used it with the .tap files we use all the time, no problem!
\r\n
\r\ni have win cnc cost is 1200.00 us i have it primarily as it is the preferred system at bills shop, i can now actually help set up someone elses machine with it you can run it from remote location over the net so having bill, josh or joey help us with any details is a instant case!!!! i have emailed my ini file to them and had it back perfect in 1 hour, there are techs here who can support it on a by the hour cost over the phone and the net!! recently we set up joesph\'s new 3x6 machine that he uses for machining custom rocking horses and we had set him up adjusted his machine set his parameters and soft limits and carved his first piece in on hour after the power was on!!
\r\n
\r\ni am thrilled with the win cnc and will be sticking with it on the new machine!!
\r\n
\r\nthe custom screen and some more are posted on the camaster thread,
\r\n
\r\ni don\'t know enough about mach to comment but it is widely used here in the us i went with it to stay in my support with other camaster cnc owners.
\r\n
\r\nthere are some others here in the south east and hopefully kieth g, george g, and joesph will post on this for you!!
\r\n
\r\nwhere is jimmy Z (aka jimmy007 )
\r\n
\r\njim mcgrew
\r\nwww.mcgrewwoodwork.com
\r\n
\r\nthis is joesph\'s machine man it is like having some kind of kick ass sports car in your garage!!! i have told bill i want one for the farm after we get the business machine installed
\r\n
\r\nremember IWF atlanta august 20-23\r\n \r\n

[Kent_Norway]

\r\n \r\n Since my machine is 1300Km from me I don\'t get my hands on it so often as some of you guys. In my spare time I do however read as much as possible.
\r\n
\r\nI have now just read about how to not to clean the spindle...
\r\nhttp://www.precisebits.com/tutorials...eprocedure.htm
\r\n
\r\nAny comments ? How do you guys do it ? Since my machine is not operated on a daily basis, this is important for me.
\r\nDo you cover the spindle fixture when you leave it with a rubber cup which supposed to be supplied with the Spindle ?
\r\n
\r\nK\r\n \r\n

[Big S]

\r\n \r\n Good find, I like part about not putting your fingers in the spinning spindle bore Lets just say someone would only do that once
\r\n
\r\nIn the HSD manual it recommends not leaving tool holders in the spindle even overnight. I have been doing that both at my previous job and with my new machine and not had any issues with the holders sticking. If you workshop has any amount of dampness then it will be important that the bore is covered at all times with a tool holder or cover. You can see the pictures or the rusty bore on my machine in the remain excitech thread. The rust on mine hasn\'t caused any measurable runout...yet.
\r\n
\r\nShannon.\r\n \r\n

[cabnet636]

\r\n \r\n any of you aussies or others coming to atlanta ga usa for the IWF woodworking show? feel free to stop and say hello
\r\n
\r\njim\r\n \r\n

[ksealey]

\r\n \r\n Firstly thank you to Shannon and Rocket for giving me a hand with my machine\'s recent ailment.
\r\n
\r\nTaney\'s technician diagnosed it as a failed stepper driver (YAKO) and sent me a replacement.
\r\n
\r\nUnfortunately the problem persisted. I swapped the X and Y on the breakout board and the problem migrated to what was then the Y axis. Which it appeared to me meant the problem was not in the breakout board.
\r\n
\r\nI took the Z axis cover off to check the limit switch. A drill bit dropped out of the housing! When I first put the Z axis gantry into position a tap dropped out. Who knows what else may be rattling around in the machine.
\r\n
\r\nAnyway I swapped the X and Z connectors that are inside the housing and when I fired it up I couldn\'t really work out what was going on. I think the X that was now the Z was trying to go home in the + whilst the Z which was the X was going -. Anyway I didn\'t like the noise and turned it off and returned everything to where it should be.
\r\n
\r\nLo and behold the machine then trotted faithfully home 0,0,0 no banging no grunting. X+ goes to X+ and X- to X-. I can only think that the X axis connection in the Z housing was loose.
\r\n
\r\nI had checked every connection in the box on the side of the machine but didn\'t even know there was one up top. Put it on the list of connections to check.
\r\n
\r\nI now have a YAKO that will probably cost as much to send back as it would to buy and was wondering if anyone has had any luck with a 4th Axis on the Excitech.
\r\n
\r\nI think Kent had a go but was disappointed with the end result and needed a new DSP? It appears from posts made by Shannon/Jimmy007 that the breakout board in the 1325 is up to it.
\r\n
\r\nI have Deskproto software for my 3D work and it will generate the code for a 4th axis and I have a 450 mm Z on my machine. Can someone tell me what I am missing and if it is going to be Rocket science or not?\r\n \r\n

[rocket67]

\r\n \r\n G`day Ken, Glad to see that you are up and running again.
\n
\nAlso excellent to see that sh-cnc were there to help you through the problem. Gives us a lot more confidence in the product.
\n
\nSorry that i cannot answer your questions about the 4th axis.
\n
\nRegards, Rocket.\r\n \r\n

[Kent_Norway]

\r\n \r\n

\r\n

\r\n

\r\n

\r\n \r\n \r\n

Firstly thank you to Shannon and Rocket for giving me a hand with my machine\'s recent ailment.
\r\n
\r\nTaney\'s technician diagnosed it as a failed stepper driver (YAKO) and sent me a replacement.
\r\n
\r\nUnfortunately the problem persisted. I swapped the X and Y on the breakout board and the problem migrated to what was then the Y axis. Which it appeared to me meant the problem was not in the breakout board.
\r\n
\r\nI took the Z axis cover off to check the limit switch. A drill bit dropped out of the housing! When I first put the Z axis gantry into position a tap dropped out. Who knows what else may be rattling around in the machine.
\r\n
\r\nAnyway I swapped the X and Z connectors that are inside the housing and when I fired it up I couldn\'t really work out what was going on. I think the X that was now the Z was trying to go home in the + whilst the Z which was the X was going -. Anyway I didn\'t like the noise and turned it off and returned everything to where it should be.
\r\n
\r\nLo and behold the machine then trotted faithfully home 0,0,0 no banging no grunting. X+ goes to X+ and X- to X-. I can only think that the X axis connection in the Z housing was loose.
\r\n
\r\nI had checked every connection in the box on the side of the machine but didn\'t even know there was one up top. Put it on the list of connections to check.
\r\n
\r\nI now have a YAKO that will probably cost as much to send back as it would to buy and was wondering if anyone has had any luck with a 4th Axis on the Excitech.
\r\n
\r\nI think Kent had a go but was disappointed with the end result and needed a new DSP? It appears from posts made by Shannon/Jimmy007 that the breakout board in the 1325 is up to it.
\r\n
\r\nI have Deskproto software for my 3D work and it will generate the code for a 4th axis and I have a 450 mm Z on my machine. Can someone tell me what I am missing and if it is going to be Rocket science or not?

\r\n \r\n

\r\n

\r\n

Sorry for late reply,this is done on my iPhone in a Wifi hotspot whis is accidentaly a pub: You would need a separate PC to run the SW which is going to controll the machine.Then you would need a breakoutboard to connect the PC to the machine.Several are available and I have not decided for one yet.The breakoutboard would be connected in front of the Yakos so the DSP breakoutboard would not be used.The breakoutboard(BB) would be connected to the PC through the printer port on the machine,but we are now looking in to a version which uses the USB port on the PC(a additional board is connected to the USB by one lead and then connected to the parallel port on the "normal" BB).
\r\nI\'ll be back with more info when I\'m back home from UK.Going for one of those brown ones now :-)\r\n \r\n

[ksealey]

\r\n \r\n Thanks Kent I look forward to some more info when you can. Keep up the research.:cheers:
\r\n
\r\nI would like to know what the PIN outs are on the DSP breakout board. It would be an elegant solution if I could connect the printer port to the DSP breakout board via a suitably wired crossover cable :ideagiven that I can\'t even solder it would also be a miracle). When I bent the Pin on my cable the spindle stopped working so I would say that is one I can guess.
\r\n
\r\nThe wiring diagram for the DSP breakout board is here http://www.dongfangxueshi.com/englis...%20diagram.pdf it says RZTH 501 but it is actually RZNC 501. It was too big to upload to the Zone. I have uploaded a dwg of the machine itself which references the DSP as well. Do the numbers inside the circles denote pinouts?\r\n \r\n

[Big S]

\r\n \r\n I have considered the same thing, but would have to hack up my cable to do that, I think we will also need to find out if the DSP uses 5V logic to send the signals to the RZNC board however I would be very surprised if it wasn\'t. Do we have a volunteer to find out the pinouts?
\r\n
\r\nShannon.\r\n \r\n

[ksealey]

\r\n \r\n Hi Shannon
\r\nI think there is some mention of 5V on the schematics (the linked pdf). If the numbers in the circles shown in the dwg relate to the pinouts as I suspect then I think we may already have the answers. If that is the case is it as simple as directing the printer port traffic from Mach 3 to the corresponding pins on the DSP break out board. If you can find a HONDA SCSI 50 way Male (I think) connector there is no need to cut up a cable. If you can\'t I have a cable with one slightly dodgey pin I can donate to the cause.\r\n \r\n

[Big S]

\r\n \r\n I think it is only an issue of whether someone is willing to take the time to do the mod, and then we would be able to use Mach3 with the standard breakout board. I think there are a couple of other issues too, Like the lack of a charge pump to stop errant signals getting to the machine when Mach3 is booting. That is easy to solve by always making sure that Mach3 is loaded before powering up the CNC. The other thing that I am not sure about is the way the signals from the DSP are sent to the breakout, I don\'t think they should be any different from normal step and direction signals, but since there are 50 pins compared to the parallel ports 36 pins. There may just be a few more ground and + pins though.
\r\n
\r\nI am all for the idea though and once we have a machine running on Mach3 it shouldn\'t be an issue to add another axis (and may even be possible with the stock breakout board)
\r\n
\r\nShannon.\r\n \r\n

[ksealey]

\r\n \r\n Shannon
\r\nAre the numbers in the circles on the dwg Pinouts?
\r\nKen\r\n \r\n

[Kent_Norway]

\r\n \r\n

\r\n

\r\n

\r\n

\r\n \r\n \r\n

Shannon
\r\nAre the numbers in the circles on the dwg Pinouts?
\r\nKen

\r\n \r\n

\r\n

\r\n

Hi Ken
\r\n
\r\nYou\'re idea has been discussed between me and Shannon but the J1 pinout has of course not been shown. However you\'re find is excellent and I do believe you\'re observation is correct. I would try to get my hands on a oscilloscope and probe the breakoutboard on the machine while the DSP is connected.
\r\n
\r\nIt would be the best and easiest way of using the machine, where we could use the machine both with the DSP and Mach when that is needed. It could be that even a Scsi HW switch could be connected where we just switch between the setups
\r\n
\r\nI have been reluctant to buy a separate breakout board since it seems like there is a lot of them and I feel not sure about any help if I get stuck.
\r\n
\r\nHere is you\'re file by the way in PDF for view for them without Illustrator.
\r\n
\r\nI\'ll update as soon as I manage to get my hands on a scope.
\r\n
\r\nK\r\n \r\n

[Kent_Norway]

\r\n \r\n I did these shots last time I was home of the DSP "naked".
\r\nAs we clearly see not all pins are in use so a big overhead in respect of pins is for sure....
\r\n
\r\nK\r\n \r\n

[Matty Zee]

\r\n \r\n

\r\n

\r\n

\r\n

\r\n \r\n \r\n

As we clearly see not all pins are in use so a big overhead in respect of pins is for sure....

\r\n \r\n

\r\n

\r\n

while on the face of it i\'d have to agree, bear in mind that is likely to be a multi layer pcb and connections to the mid planes won\'t be obvious...\r\n \r\n

[Big S]

\r\n \r\n Hi Ken.
\r\n
\r\nI am not sure what the details on the dwg file are.
\r\n
\r\nShannon.\r\n \r\n

[Big S]

\r\n \r\n I would say there should be about 11 or so really important ones to run the typical Excitech CNC.
\r\n
\r\nThey should be as follows
\r\nX dir, X step,X +5V, Y dir, y step, Y +5V, Z dir, Z step, Z +5V (gives 9 pins)
\r\nX home in, Y home in, Z home in, (for 12pins)
\r\nThen the other output is the spindle outputs (for 14 pins)
\r\nThere will also be a + and - supply for the DSP (makes about 16 pins)
\r\n
\r\nI have a hobbyCNC board with steppers running off a laptop beside me and that has very few pins active (6 pins for 3 steppers to be precise)
\r\n
\r\nI would think that the DSP just uses a double sided board (costs lots more for multilayer boards and also harder to design. In the previous photos some of the traces that go to pins are not connected.
\r\n
\r\nOne of these days I will have to open my DSP and find out what all the pins are
\r\n
\r\nShannon.\r\n \r\n

[Kent_Norway]

\r\n \r\n I do agree in respect of multi layered board.
\r\n
\r\nAt work I have been looking at these types and the amount of circuitry is just so much bigger than the one on my handheld device. But that do however not exclude the possibility of multi layers.
\r\n
\r\nShannon;
\r\n
\r\nThe easiest would be to measure inside the CNC machine "engine compartment" where you could easily get in contact with the different pins.
\r\nEven easier would be to knock in a SCSI 1:1 connector which could be opened. I\'m not sure if these exists for SCSI but we have those at work for RS232 and other serial connections.
\r\n
\r\nI\'ll do a search later.
\r\n
\r\nK\r\n \r\n

[Matty Zee]

\r\n \r\n Is it possible to see pics of the Connection board? From the doco posted earlier it seems like that is a far simpler board and afterall that is the one you\'ll need to connect a PC to for Mach3. I should be relatively easy to trace the pins on the board to their respective pins on J1.\r\n \r\n

[Big S]

\r\n \r\n Here\'s a couple.
\r\n
\r\nShannon.\r\n \r\n

[mhkwd]

Good one Rocket,

I saw pictures of that green gunk and glad I'm not cleaning it up. As for Taney, I believe he is in Shanghai for a week or so.

Mitch