Toolpath not cutting as shown

[Phizell]

Hi Swarfing,

I have tried two new cables and metered both.

Do you think I really should be testing BOB voltages on a brand new machine or just send it back?

[martin54]

Hi Swarfing,

I have tried two new cables and metered both.

Do you think I really should be testing BOB voltages on a brand new machine or just send it back?

What he means by checking BOB voltages is that the BOB is receiving the correct voltage from the parallel port, you can measure the output voltage for steps at the parallel port outlet pins, some port run on a reduced voltage which isn't enough to give a good signal.

Sometimes uninstalling a program doesn't remove it all, don't know if this is true of mach3 or not but might be worth checking. Also depends on the method you use to uninstall.

[Phizell]

Hi Everybody,

Just had the supplier on the phone and its not my fault! Its the post processor (not 100% sure what that is other than a file) in cut 2 d and it also is the control box (Some lose wires and the problem with the sticky jog keys) by all the tests done.

I have cut a square on three sides the fourth side not cutting however the display is counting down to 0 but no movement.

Will keep you all informed and thank you

[Musht]

If your hitting the jog keys and Mach thinks it`s moving but the machine only moves sometimes its got to be primary computer issue unless all 3 drives are intermittent on the machine.

Had similar issues at one point, things I learned.

Mach likes living on its own on a blank , just vanilla xp, non internet connected machine, no screensavers , no virus checker, nothing. Use a USB key to load files.

Some paralell settings are buried in the host PC`s bios.

USB hubs are the spawn of the devil on a Mach machine, just keyboard and mouse and port for a memory key, had usb hub that would randomly tug computers arm anything from 20mins to 2 hours into a cut and Mach would lose its place.

Running the Mach test exe that checks the timings is well worth doing.

Its easy to get checkbox blindness in ports and pins settings, have another look after a break.

Nothing has had a 5V paralell port in years, usually 3.3V, BOB will need the USB to 2.1mm D.C. jack to get 5V to function reliably.

Adding a 3rd axis is a lot more confusing that you think it will be coming from plotters... ;-)