Need helpwiring up from scratch

**irving2008** · 11-07-2010

Originally Posted by GeorgeD

Here's some info on the motors setupin Mach3...need any more please let me know?

I'm summising in the diagnostics screen those red lights should be green? but no matter what I do I cannot get them to turn green?

George,

In the Outputs tab, disable the 'enable #1,#2,#3 and output #1,#2,#3 lines (red X them) but enable the ChargePump line on pin 1... I suspect thats the reason its not singing... assuming wiring is OK

**irving2008** · 11-07-2010

Originally Posted by GeorgeD

Irving,that diagram doesn't show the enable +&- does that mean they are dismissed?

There's one wire there that I had in "ena-"

The Chargepump circuit on the DIYCNC board acts directly on its outputs so for a stepper circuit it makes no difference. The external enable would be used to power down a servo where there is external 'intelligence' driving the motor. The reason I'd leave it disconnected here is that the DIYCNC board outputs an 'Active Low' enable signal, but the drivers use active low to "enable the motor for manual operation", i.e. disable it!

If you suspect the problem is the chargepump not enabling the outputs, jumper J3 on the DIYCNC board - which is normally left off - can be fitted temporarily to override that and enable the outputs permanently...

**GeorgeD** · 11-07-2010

Done all what you have stated Irving and still no life out of the motors :-(

**irving2008** · 11-07-2010

OK... let me have a think, go get some shuteye :D.. i'll be back on later...

one quick question tho... what are you connecting the PC to the BoB with? are you 100% sure its a 25way pin to pin cable... we've seen lots of 'printer' cables that aren't..... and they simply dont work...

**GeorgeD** · 11-07-2010

Plugging the breakerboard directly into the parallel port.

Yeah,think I'll call it a night...erm day. :)

Cheers Irving.

**GeorgeD** · 11-07-2010

Well I've a nap,basically she gave me a dig to get up :twisted:

Had another bash at this darnnone motor tuning.

Connected 1 drive and one motor,the motor was nt the one I was using ealier but one that came ut of a big office printer/fax which was fully working before I cannibalised it :twisted:

Still no joy,the motor is in the lock position and gets warm,Mach3 goes through its process of executing a loaded G-Code....so what the dickens can it be?

The components on the System1 breakout board don't even get warm to the touch ie the high voltage reg thats strapped to the heatsink,normally any compnents strapped to a heatsink get warm or hot underload.

**irving2008** · 11-07-2010

George,

One other thing I forgot to ask... have you been through the 'motor tuning' section of the MACH3 manual? What settings do you have for steps/mm, acceleration and step pulse width (should be at least 5).

If you have a mutlimeter, check the 5v output from the BoB, confirm its 5v and its getting to the + pins on the driver (orange wire on my diagram). Also measure voltage between the ENA output and the 5v rail. This should measure close to 5v if the system is enabled. If its not, try putting J3 in place to override the chargepump and confirm that the enable output goes low (i.e. measures 5v between it and 5v rail). The 'chargepump' CP LED should be on as should the POWER LED.

A simple test ypu can do is to disconnect the 'step X' wire from the BoB, (in my diagram the blue wire to PULS-) leave everything else connected. Set the motor driver to full step. touch the step X wire to the ground terminal, the motor should step each time you do that.... if it does then the issue is with the Bob or the MACH3 configuration.

**GeorgeD** · 12-07-2010

Hi Irving

Are you the only techie on here?

Ok I'll peform some steps(bad pun) later on today as I need a rest from this.

I figure it just might be the bob as the charge pump led come and goes as does the power led,this board is basically naff because what happens is the led without pwer supply attached to 70v rail,glows dimly and when you attach the power supply its bright,I never known a piece of equipment that functions on the power side like that.

The charge pump led comes on and goes off when I reboot the computer ie it comes on just as it boots into the initialising screen and then goes out when windows is about to boot.

**GeorgeD** · 12-07-2010

What settings do you have for steps/mm, acceleration and step pulse width (should be at least 5).

This step and pulse does it automatically calculate the required number or have we to put it in?

Just had a quick browse of this PDF file http://www.kelinginc.net/Mach3Tutorial.pdf of setting up Mach3 and I can't work out the required parameters.

**irving2008** · 12-07-2010

you have to tell it what steps/mm and acceleration.. just use 100 steps/mm, velocity 1000mm/min, acc 5mm/s/s, step pulse 5, dir pulse 5, these are good defaults for now... you'll set them correctly once the machine is built.

The charge pump LED should be out (I think) until MACH3 starts then it should come on... or the other way round... either way it should change...

The power supply LED glows when it plugged into the parallel port but not powered? hmmm, then its being driven from the parallel port outputs which is possible through the input clamp diode on the buffer chip so not sure that in itself is an indicator of faultiness...

I have a bit of software to exercise the parallel port, to prove hardware independent of MACH3... i'll try and upload it later on today...