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  1. #31
    The board you soldered the pins to is a break out board BOB hence the BOB hack.

    Richard don't get disheartened it will be something simple.

    You need to break this down into small pieces.
    First you need to verify the wiring is correct so check this first.
    Then you need to detemine if the signals are getting through and the BOB Hack worked.

    Now Mach3.!

    Mach3 or any other controller for that matter all work the same in that they need to communicate with outside world through some external device, in your case the parallel port which is connected to the BOB you messed with. They do this by taking the PIN #'s which are connected to physical devices on the machine and assigning them to functions the controller deals with.

    Now Mach3 can be broken down into 4 separate sections which control the working of the machine. INPUTS, OUTPUTS, MOTOR OUTPUTS and SPINDLE.
    You are only interested in the INPUTS section because a LIMIT is telling mach3 to DO SOMETHING.

    I'm going to give an example just setting up the X axis, just repeat for the other axis and change the PIn #.

    So first you need to know which PIN # you connected the X axis Limit switch to. I'm going to use PIN 11 in this example.

    So go to the PORTS N PINS / INPUTS section of mach3 and you'll see X++ and X-- enable these with green tick. Next is the port # this will usually be 1 if using parallel port.
    Next is the PIN Number, in this example I'm entering 11.

    Finally the Active Low.
    This is toggled depending on how you wired the switch. ie: NO or NC
    If you wired NC (normally closed) switches then you want Mach3 to DO SOMETHING when the switch goes LOW, or put another way when it sees the voltage on PIN11 switch OFF.
    If you wired them NO (normally open) then mach would only DO SOMETHING when it sees voltage appear on the PIN. The PIN goes HIGH.

    It's that simple and if your BOB is letting the Signals through and the wiring is correct then Mach3 will see them and respond.

    HOWEVER if any of these settings is wrong then Mach3 knows nothing and will DO NOTHING. It's common with new users to Blame Mach3 but mach3 only does what YOU tell it so if you give it Duff Info or it doesn't see the Signals getting through then it won't work now matter how much they bitch about it.

    If you are sure you have the correct PIN # entered and the Port # and it still doesn't work then it's 99% either the BOB or the Wiring not letting the signal through.
    -use common sense, if you lack it, there is no software to help that.

    Email: [email protected]

    Web site: www.jazzcnc.co.uk

  2. #32
    Thank you for all your advice, as long as the boss allows me back out into the garage, :-) I have been hiding in there a lot and ignoring her.
    I will see if I can trace the wiring from the BOB to the plug and see if it has linked through to it, if it has I will note the pin number, am I correct in thinking that it goes from left to right from the top row ( the one with the most pins) as to look at the plug. I know that the wiring to the switches is correct as it is wired n/c and I have already checked that.
    I did wonder if the BOB was not suitable for the mod, but I will know later this morning I hope :-)
    I did try to search for another controller putting 6040S in the search box but nothing came up I was hoping to find one with a connection for switches.
    I will get there,

  3. #33
    My opinion : The BoB should be suited for the mod.

    Squinting at the PCB images, it appears that there's a SIL resistor package that pulls-up the parallel port "inputs" (X/Y/Z/E-STOP) to the onboard 5V, and the pin-pairs allow the connected switches to ground these through to ground. Apart from a failure on the board there's not much to go wrong.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Power OFF, disconnect limit switches, disconnect computer cable:

    1) Verify the three pads marked "GROUND" have low resistance between each (100% confident they will)
    2) Verify continuity between pad marked "11" and pin 11 on the DB25 connector. Yes, the long row are pins 1-13, the short row 14-25. The pins are usually marked in the connector, but at 51 years old I can't read them. Pin 13 is the one closest to the jack socket that you want to add.
    3) Verify continuity between pad marked "12" and pin 12.
    4) Verify continuity between pad marked "13" and pin 13.
    5) Verify no* continuity between pad marked "11" and the adjacent "Ground" pad.
    6) Verify no* continuity between pad marked "12" and the adjacent "Ground" pad.
    7) Verify no* continuity between pad marked "13" and the adjacent "Ground" pad.

    (* : "No" - certainly a lot higher than a few ohms - these signals are pulled to the onboard supply line, so there can be/will be some measurable resistance but would expect this to be >1kR)

    8) Verify high resistance between pad marked "11" and "12" (high = at least 2kR, depends on the SIL resistor values)
    9) Verify high resistance between pad marked "12" and "13" (high = at least 2kR, depends on the SIL resistor values)
    10) Verify high resistance between pad marked "11" and "13 (high = at least 2kR, depends on the SIL resistor values)

    If you're prepared to test "powered" - reconnect all power, computer and switches:

    11) X-Axis switch "closed" - voltage on pad "11" = 0V (measured, with respect to the ground plane on the board.
    12) X-Axis switch "open" (or removed from board) - voltage on pad "11" = 5V.
    13) Y-Axis switch "closed" - voltage on pad "12" = 0V (measured, with respect to the ground plane on the board.
    14) Y-Axis switch "open" (or removed from board) - voltage on pad "12" = 5V.
    15) Z-Axis switch "closed" - voltage on pad "13" = 0V (measured, with respect to the ground plane on the board.
    16) Z-Axis switch "open" (or removed from board) - voltage on pad "13" = 5V.

    If all these measure okay - and I'm confident that without a failure on the board that they will, then the BoB is okay.

    As an suggestion for your experience yesterday, with nothing working, double-check that your supply voltage to the BoB was present - the BoB depends upon the pull-up to the local board supply to get the "logic 1" (switch open) sense level.
    Last edited by Doddy; 24-10-2020 at 09:48 AM.

  4. #34
    Thanks Doddy,. I have taken the BOB out as I was not getting continuity between the XYZ header and the db25, you are correct there is a resister pack, well I think that is what it is, I am going to wait until my neighbours come over to read your post, as honestly I don't understand what you are telling me to do, with regards to resistance values and what scale the meter should be set on.
    Can you verify what you mean when you say pad marked 12 & 13 to pin 12 & 13 as there are no pads marked 12&13
    So I will wait until then and let you know
    Last edited by RichardR; 24-10-2020 at 12:47 PM.

  5. #35
    Quote Originally Posted by RichardR View Post
    Can you verify what you mean when you say pad marked 12 & 13 to pin 12 & 13 as there are no pads marked 12&13
    So I will wait until then and let you know
    Look at the picture Doddy posted he's marked the pins for you.
    -use common sense, if you lack it, there is no software to help that.

    Email: [email protected]

    Web site: www.jazzcnc.co.uk

  6. #36
    ZASto's Avatar
    Lives in Belgrade, Serbia. Last Activity: 3 Hours Ago Has been a member for 3-4 years. Has a total post count of 48. Received thanks 1 times, giving thanks to others 1 times.
    You have already pins for limit switches on DB-25 connector:
    XLimit - pin11
    YLimit - pin12
    ZLimit - pin13

    For probe, just solder a barrel connector to the board. Central pin is the probe input and it IS connected to the rest of electronics.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  7. #37
    Thank you Jazzcnc and ZASto I did see the marking that Dodgy did, and I have the probe wiring sorted, I could not work out what size barrel connected to get, so I got wired the pads and brought the wires out to a connected strip on the back of the control box.
    With Doddys help we have confirmed the board is working and the limit switches work, unfortunately the switches activate the BOB at regular intervals, due to noise interference, again with Doddy's help we are sorting that out, then the next step will be setting up the home switches, followed by the soft limits then machine coordinates, but I am getting ahead of myself.Thank you all

  8. #38
    Good news I have set the limit switches to work, also the home switching on the same switch as well as the soft limits, so with Doddy's help I am hoping to sort out the noise issue which keeps on putting it into emergency stop, then I can try and do some test work.
    Regards to all Richard

  9. #39
    Quote Originally Posted by RichardR View Post
    Good news I have set the limit switches to work, also the home switching on the same switch as well as the soft limits, so with Doddy's help I am hoping to sort out the noise issue which keeps on putting it into emergency stop, then I can try and do some test work.
    Regards to all Richard
    Hi Richard,

    If you want a quick workaround then Mach3 as a debounce option which will filter the noise, it does slow reaction time but will get you going until doddy gives you a electrical method of dealing with noise.

    To use it go to General config and in top right corner you'll see Debounce interval, each amount is in 40 milli second blocks so start low with say 1 or 2 and keep increasing until your system becomes stable.
    -use common sense, if you lack it, there is no software to help that.

    Email: [email protected]

    Web site: www.jazzcnc.co.uk

  10. #40
    Thanks I have already found the debounce setting and even set on 1000 it still drops out, however the time it takes to do that has enabled me to play with the settings, I am now going to wire the switches with screened cable, also I am going to earth bond all the axis on the machine

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