Missing information for Mach3 settings

[dazp1976]

Thanks Jazz, that manual has a bit more info than mine.

I will test out the system later today when I get dressed, it is 5am here in Australia and cold too.
The project I am working on is a plasma cutter that has a standalone THC with a DC motor, so I only need to use X and Y axis with Mach3.
Because the table is wide, I will be using two stepper motors and will need to slave Y and A together. I might have some homing and limit issues to deal with later.
I have already changed the Ref All Home button to allow homing of only the X and Y
DoButton( 22)
RefCombination( 10 )
I guess I will find out if it works for real later, it works on the screen OK.
The THC has a DC motor and is fully automatic, but I will still need to lift and lower when setting a job up, so I will use real push buttons to do that. There are not enough inputs and outputs available on this board to allow some keyboard macros to control a couple of extra relays needed for that part (unless it is possible to reassign some unused pins maybe?)

Well. If you can't assign any unused pins. Has your PC got a pport and 32bit o.s?.
If so, get one of those £6 5 axis pport boards with the relay. They're actually pretty good tbf.

Or bin off usb and get a UC400eth instead.

[regpye]

I wired up the motors and tested mach3.
Some things changed in the pins settings, the motors for X Y and Z all got populated with pulse and dir pins, but not A.
I tried running the motors and they all worked fine, except I have not been able to get the A motor to turn.
I swapped the wiring over between X and A and the motor and driver is fine, so the settings for A are not there in the configuration.
I tried putting in some settings from another setup that has 5 axis, and it didn't work, so now I don't know what to try next as far as getting A to work with Y as a slave. (or even separately just to test it)

dazp1976 I have both a 32 bit machine and a 64 bit machine, the board is working fine on either one. I have already ordered and waiting on a 4 channel relay board to come.
I have several Mach3 boards, all different from each other, some have almost no outputs except for a single relay. I have an old Dell computer that runs XP and also has a parallel port that I might end up using.

[regpye]

I have spent the whole day trying to get the A axis working. Can't get any response from either the motor side or the limits side of A or B axis.
XYZ all work OK, but I need A to work at least.
The limit settings seem very strange too, nothing is working as expected. I might have to toss this board and get a different one.
I have another board I will dig out, it is also a 5 axis I think, but this one has a parallel port connection, so I will have to use my old Dell computer for that board.

[JAZZCNC]

If you want my advice, especially because you are using plasma is to dump USB and buy an Ethernet-based controller like the UC400 or UC300 and use UCCNC, it's much better than Mach3 and Ethernet is rock solid. USB will threak out when your plasma fires and you'll be constantly chasing trips etc.

[dazp1976]

I have spent the whole day trying to get the A axis working. Can't get any response from either the motor side or the limits side of A or B axis.
XYZ all work OK, but I need A to work at least.
The limit settings seem very strange too, nothing is working as expected. I might have to toss this board and get a different one.
I have another board I will dig out, it is also a 5 axis I think, but this one has a parallel port connection, so I will have to use my old Dell computer for that board.

Mach3 won't change anything if you try and do it in the ports and pins sections etc.
As far as I read, these need to be changed in the plugin file for the board itself. That's what Mach loaded in when it changed.
Have a look in the Mach3 config folders for the usbMach (or whatever your board is) plugin.

You may be able to get round it for now by sharing the Pul Dir signal pins from the board to both the drivers to at least spin them.
One may go backwards and need wires reversing.

I have only read these 2 points from others and never tried either myself. Have a search around and see what you come up with.

DO NOT series daisy chain 2 motors to 1 driver unless the driver has double the output power of a single one.
This option may be suggested out there elsewhere.

[dazp1976]

If you want my advice, especially because you are using plasma is to dump USB and buy an Ethernet-based controller like the UC400 or UC300 and use UCCNC, it's much better than Mach3 and Ethernet is rock solid. USB will threak out when your plasma fires and you'll be constantly chasing trips etc.

Totally agree.
I recently bought a UC300eth and 2*UCBB's. Nice bits of kit.
I did get slapped with an import fee though

If you have decent enough axis LPT breakouts already, then you can get a uc400eth. Get some IDC26 to DB25 cables to go with it.
Or the AXBB-E might suit you too/better if they're available.

It will be much more reliable and easy to work with.

Edit: Just relised you're in Aus
They are available though.

[Clive S]

Totally agree.
I recently bought a UC300eth and 2*UCBB's. Nice bits of kit.
I did get slapped with an import fee though

If you have decent enough axis LPT breakouts already, then you can get a uc400eth in the u.k. Get some IDC26 to DB25 cables to go with it.
Or the AXBB-E might suit you too/better if they're available.

It will be much more reliable and easy to work with.

Not sure but I think Jazz stocks some controllers

[JAZZCNC]

Not sure but I think Jazz stocks some controllers

Yes, I do Clive S, AXBB-E, and UC300ETH with UCBB breakout board also UCCNC control software license.

We also have other components like Lichuan closed-loop steppers system, 2.2Kw water-cooled spindles with VFD also ATC spindles for those who want something a bit special. plus all the other bits and bob's for routers like energy chain, limit/home switches etc.

[regpye]

Thanks for your advise, I checked them out and they look good and I will keep that in mind, but as I have already spent more than I should I would really like to get this working ( so I can sleep at night)

I thought I would have another go at this. I checked the software info that came with the board and saw a configuration file for the mill. I loaded that and had a look at the pin configuration and found that they were all set to zero. I used that file to clone another plasma xml.
I opened Mach3 with this new XLM file and checked the pin configuration again and still the settings were all zeros. I tried using the keyboard arrows to move the motors and found that the X and Y will move no problem. The A moves with the [ and ] keys.

When I enter some gcode to test, like G0 X100 the X motor works fine, and I can reverse it also, same with the Y and the A axis, all work fine with either keyboard button control or gcode control. The problem I have now is that although I have A slaved to Y, it is not working, maybe I have done something wrong or not done something?
I know I could just use the A and Y as a single axis by connecting the stepper drivers together using the same DIR and Pulse signals and forget about A altogether, but I really want to have separate homing available for Y and A so that I can keep my gantry square.

[ZASto]

AFAIK some external motion controllers do not support axis slaving.

So it's not Mach.