CSMIO/IP-M vs Ethernet SmoothStepper (Begone foul parallel port!)

Any recommended retailers for the ESS or are you guys buying direct?

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Originally Posted by Washout

Any recommended retailers for the ESS or are you guys buying direct?

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Peter Homann is a Good guy to deal with and knows the SS very well and helpful if you have any issue. (He's in Oz.!! thou not a problem.)
SmoothStepper Controllers : Homann Designs!, The preferred CNC Component Supplier

I've also bought direct from Warp9 and while they deliver ok getting any help from them quickly can be hard at times, peter is much quicker to respond and knows is stuff.! Last time I bought there was Hardly any price difference due to currency at time.!!

I've recently ordered a PDMX-126 and a Smoothstepper ESS to use with my machine which will be running twin screws with slaved steppers on the long axis (1200mm long). I've just been reading that there is an issue with the SS regarding homing slaved motors using two switches (one per motor) : Ethernet Smooth Stepper, What Are The Negatives, What Features Are Missing?

Does anyone have experience of this? Is there a workaround apart from only using one switch?

Cheers,
Si.

I'll see if it's possible to simulate this tomorrow, I've currently got my system all connected and working with the stepper motors just lying on the bench. I thought the reported issue was a function of Mach3 rather than the ESS but maybe not.

There is a thread about it on the Warp9td forum (you need to be registered on the site to view the forum), and a quick scan says it does work, and Greg has actually modified it fairly recently to work a bit different. There are comments that some versions of Mach don't work quite how they should though.

Thanks guys, I'll investigate further.

Si.

Right this is how I have it set up.
ESS, Mach3, 4 inputs for home limits X Y Z A, I have A slaved off X because I'm using 2 ballscrews with one stepper motor each. I used the settings in Mach3 to slave A from X.
I pressed the 'Ref All Home' button on Mach3 screen and the Z axis moved first, hit the home limit, reversed slightly then stopped and moved onto the Y limit with same result. It then moved both X and A motors until one of them hit it's own home limit, reversed slightly then ran the other motor until it also hit it's home limit and stopped.
I tried it both ways round i.e. letting it hit A limit before X and X before A and it worked perfectly both times.

The reason I used 4 inputs for the home limits is because having worked with PLC's for many years that is the method of choice, anyway I rewired X Y Z in series so they used the same input while A used another input. It worked fine just as previous and it didn't mind if the A limit operated before the X or vice versa.

My conclusion is, there is no problem with the Smooth Stepper and Mach3 with regards to slaved motors using two home limits (one per motor) provided at least one of the slaved axis home limits has it's own input.

Eddy, Thanks for going to the trouble of testing that and posting your findings, much appreciated. Having read your post and also the most recent posts on Warp9's forum i'm confident the old issues have now been fixed.

As a matter of interest, could you post which version of Mach and the ESS plugin you are using. I believe 'ES_v10o1d1h' is the most recent ESS plugin.

Si.

ESS_v10h2d1a
Mach3Version3.043.066

Eddy, If you haven't already seen it, i'd recommend having a look at the 'Auto Squaring' ESS thread on Warp9 (registration req'd as m_c mentioned above): Forum

The new beta plugin for the ESS on that thread apparently fixes the slaving issues mentioned in the 'zone thread in my earlier post.

Si