step and dir pulse problem Mach3

[mrmacca]

Hi all,
New to forum and look forward to reading and gaining a little info.. Firstly i have the 6040 and have had nothing but trouble since i bought it 2 months ago , already had a x-axis replaced due to constant banging, now my problem is mach3 and the step and dir pulse... i change them but mach3 doesnt save them and they revert back to 0 and due to this my machine is missing steps badly. I've fully uninstalled and reinstalled mach3 but it still wont save so i continue to have this problem... Any help much appreciated.
Dave

[dazp1976]

Hi all,
New to forum and look forward to reading and gaining a little info.. Firstly i have the 6040 and have had nothing but trouble since i bought it 2 months ago , already had a x-axis replaced due to constant banging, now my problem is mach3 and the step and dir pulse... i change them but mach3 doesnt save them and they revert back to 0 and due to this my machine is missing steps badly. I've fully uninstalled and reinstalled mach3 but it still wont save so i continue to have this problem... Any help much appreciated.
Dave

That's a new one.
You are saving every axis individualy as you do it on the page aren't you?.
Not just going from page to page changing every axis and then trying to save?.

[Neale]

If the copy of Mach3 came with the machine, is it a genuine licensed copy? There are quite a lot of "pre-licensed" copies around and they are notorious for giving weird results and inexplicable problems. One possibility is to download a genuine demo copy of Mach3, use your existing configuration files, and test to see if that works. Demo versions are limited in the length of gcode they can run but are otherwise fully functional so that would see if there is a Mach3 problem or not.

[mrmacca]

That's a new one.
You are saving every axis individualy as you do it on the page aren't you?.
Not just going from page to page changing every axis and then trying to save?.

yeh saving individuly , will try again today and let you know.
cheers

[mrmacca]

If the copy of Mach3 came with the machine, is it a genuine licensed copy? There are quite a lot of "pre-licensed" copies around and they are notorious for giving weird results and inexplicable problems. One possibility is to download a genuine demo copy of Mach3, use your existing configuration files, and test to see if that works. Demo versions are limited in the length of gcode they can run but are otherwise fully functional so that would see if there is a Mach3 problem or not.

it was given with product and looks like a pre-licenced copy, will download a demo copy and try that and let you know how it goes.
cheers

[mrmacca]

Downloaded a Demo , and it let me change and save settings in motor tuning.....But now the machine doesn't move, if i use arrows on keyboard it shows it moving in the DRO but its not actually moving , i know i must have a setting wrong in setup so will try and figure out which one.
Cheers

[JAZZCNC]

If you connect using USB then you will need a plug-in for mach3 and possibly drivers for the device.

[mrmacca]

If you connect using USB then you will need a plug-in for mach3 and possibly drivers for the device.

Hi Jazz ,
yes its usb connection , when i first got a couple of months ago all worked fine once i installed mach3, never really cut anything due to it missing steps and waiting for a new x-axis to arrive, installed that and was still missing steps so i tried to alter settings in motor config but when i saved it just kept reverting back to 0 , so i decided to uninstall mach3 and re-install but now it lets me change and save the step and dir pulse but the motors dont actually move even though it shows them moving in the dro in mach3. so now i need to try and get the motors moving and then finally be a happy man. Cheers

[JAZZCNC]

Hi Jazz ,
yes its usb connection , when i first got a couple of months ago all worked fine once i installed mach3, never really cut anything due to it missing steps and waiting for a new x-axis to arrive, installed that and was still missing steps so i tried to alter settings in motor config but when i saved it just kept reverting back to 0 , so i decided to uninstall mach3 and re-install but now it lets me change and save the step and dir pulse but the motors dont actually move even though it shows them moving in the dro in mach3. so now i need to try and get the motors moving and then finally be a happy man. Cheers

Ok, then you will need the Plug-in for the controller you are using. This is why the DRO's are moving but not the machine, mach3 only provides the driver for the parallel port so any 3rd party motion controllers need to provide a piece of software called a plug-in that tells mach3 how to talk to the external motion controller.

To be honest you'll probably find it easier to start again and use a better controller because the Chinese USB controllers are notorious for being rubbish and USB it selfs isn't very stable or reliable for CNC due to being easily affected by electrical noise. Many people upgrade to an Ethernet-based controller.

Personally, I would replace it with an AXBB-E controller which is a great controller at a good price, it also has its own software called UCCCNC which is much better than mach3 and also made by the same people who make the controller so it's much better integrated with the controller and it's fully supported, unlike mach3 which is no longer supported.

The AXBB-E will also work with Mach3 if needed, I just wouldn't because UCCNC is so much better.

[mrmacca]

Cheers Jazz,
Found plugin and installed and all is working , only slight problem is that when it goes back to home its out by a couple of mm, did a cut on a small file that uses 4 passes and it looked fine , no missed steps as far as i can see not like before when it went out by miles. Anyway going to see how it goes before i decide if i am going to change anything so
thanks for all the advice.
Dave