Just saying 'hi'.

[magicniner]

The Boxford is a nice little machine, I'm sure you'll find good answers here to any queries you may have.

Regards,
Nick

[SirRustalot]

Well, the CNC is installed in the workshop. Thank goodness I have an engine crane with expandable jib 'cos it's frightfully heavy. And that's the polite version. My Denford lathe only just tops it in sheer weight...

Anyhoo, this machine has been converted to USB etc. so I booted up Mach3 and connected everything up. Flicking the on switch, the CNC lit up like New York at Xmas and I can twiddle the spindle speed knob on the front panel with great success. Then, I ran a few G-codes...and nothing happened. It seems the program isn't talking to the machine. I pressed a few of the 'printed' buttons on the machine panel (my finger went right through one and it appears the board behind it is no longer in existence) and hit tab on the laptop to try and jog a bit but no luck.

The machine came with two connections (if I can work out how to post pics I will do so later. I apologise in advance if I inadvertently post holiday pics, posed shots of my dogs or saucy snaps of my motorcycles). Oh, yeah...the connections:

- One coming out of the side with a USB on it's end. This looks like the conversion part.
- Another coming out of the original parallel port with an adapter (parallel to tiny USB2 mini b type to full-sized USB). The adapter has a green LED that lights quite satisfactorily, but that's about it. This could be the original input adapted to work on gawd knows whatever.

The G-code on Mach3 appear to run nicely it's just that the CNC itself appears dormant.

I did a bit of studying and found that I cannot run a driver test as the program doesn't seem to have DriverTest.exe installed.

The laptop is a recent(ish) T-400 Notebook running Windows 7. I'm a Mac person so Windows is like gibberish to me. Nonetheless, I think I can work it in time, with the help of 15yo Balvenie.

Discuss (please!!) I'm existing on a mix of frustration, disappointment and abject excitement.

[magicniner]

DriverTest is for the Parallel Port interface driver in Mach3

[SirRustalot]

DriverTest is for the Parallel Port interface driver in Mach3

Right-oh. I hear you. I dropped the back off the machine and it's packed PACKED with electronics. Lots of leds lit up, a Gemini controller, boards left, right and centre, miles of cables and a small digital display the reads '10.1'. The list of gizmos goes on and on and on. So, I'm going to try an post pics.

Strap yourselves in...

[cropwell]

The only things I recognise is the Boxford power supply and the gemini controller, and maybe that 10.1 disco light is a voltage controller. The motion controller board - ???? Presumably the USB connection just provides 5v for the optos and the rest is a standard LPT connector that you infer is run by a USB to Parallel adapter (UMMMM).

Anything printed o the board in pic 2 ?

Fairly recent conversion, judging by the Wago connectors.

Did you see it working before you bought it ? That is the pivot point as to where to look.

Cheers,

Rob

[SirRustalot]

Can't see anything printed on the board.

Tell you what, though, I've made some kinda progress this evening. After a bit of research aided by wine, I discovered that Mach3 isn't that keen on 64bit processing. So, in a fit of being productive, I dug out an aged laptop. After doing a Windows XP re-install, checking that it's a 32bit outfit, I then installed a Mach3 demo. I plugged it all into the mill but still nothing happened. However, after a Driver Test (all excellent, I'm reliably informed) the diagnostics seems to confirm that the port 1 pins current state is lit for eleven of the twelve bar of lights. If I enable port 2, the bar underneath lights up with three greens (pic attached). Pulse frequency is 24599, give or take.

There's clearly something happening but still no life from the mill motors. I expected it to burst into life after inputting a few G-codes but it's still treating me like a contemptuous cat. Yes, e-stop is all green.

[cropwell]

First of all, it is not advisable to use a laptop to control Mach3. Mach3 takes over the printer port and needs full control. Laptops have power saving features that interfere with this. You may find this out later, but for now, it'll do to get you up and running.

Have a look at this ftp://ftp.machsupport.com/Docs/Mach3...20Tutorial.pdf It is worth going thru the steps to get your steppers stepping. Do you know what pins your machine uses - useful info to have this written down.

Cheers,

Rob

PS I have never figured out what those green thingies mean on the diagnostics screen.