3 Axis CNC router

**Neale** · 17-05-2020

Just a thought - last operation before you saw that "no Z movement" issue was drilling. Is it possible that the gcode was trying to move Z too fast? Too high acceleration? On my own machine, I have X and Y driver (EM806) fault outputs wired to the safety relay/e-stop system although that is mainly because I use a dual-motor setup on X and a stalled motor will try to twist the gantry. Thinking about it, though, my Z still uses an ancient M752 from the mk1 machine so no stall protection. But I do detune Z compared with the other axes - are you trying to use similar acceleration/speed?

Just thinking out loud - all our machines are different! Not obvious why IP/M and Mach3 would trip stall protection, though. FWIW, I've been using a wireless keyboard for a couple of years which connects via a USB dongle. Never seen any obvious problems from that area and the built-in touchpad is really useful.

**JoeHarris** · 18-05-2020

Thanks Neale, interesting thought and yes I have z tuned the same as y, I think at 5000mm/min velocity and 500mm/s².

To do the pro tuning it looks like you need a serial port and a special cable which is a pain!

I have pretty well copied over my current Mach3 settings to version 022 on an old laptop. Bit laborious but I didn’t want to just use the xml as this was advised against in the Mach support forum. It seems CS Labs recommend version 022 as the most stable, so let’s see!

Also, I’ve just bored out a 20mm cable gland so I can get an rj45 through it - I want to get rid of the two-Ethernet-cables-with-a-connector setup I have at the moment as that can’t be helping (!) and run the Ethernet cable further away from the VFD. It goes out the top of the cabinet and over the top at the moment...

**AndyUK** · 18-05-2020

I'm with Neale, sounds like Z is trying to move too fast.

I've had to detune my Z quite substantially compared to the X and Y speeds, the rapid upwards Z motions at the start of my cuts caused it to stall. Wonder if its something about moving a heavy spindle directly against gravity - although you'd hope that was only a small factor. It runs approximately 40% of the rapids speeds of X and Y (after correcting for screw pitch differences) and about half the acceleration. Its a 1605 running on a 3.1nm Nema 23, velocity 2m/min, 200mm/s^2 accel. Probably conservative, but works for me. Not a problem in every day life though as the travel is so much smaller :)

Regards the special cable, it requires a slightly custom job. I used a RJ11 crimper and some CAT5 to knock up one - you only use three wires. If you want I'll lend you one.

**JoeHarris** · 18-05-2020

Originally Posted by AndyUK

I'm with Neale, sounds like Z is trying to move too fast.

I've had to detune my Z quite substantially compared to the X and Y speeds, the rapid upwards Z motions at the start of my cuts caused it to stall. Wonder if its something about moving a heavy spindle directly against gravity - although you'd hope that was only a small factor. It runs approximately 40% of the rapids speeds of X and Y (after correcting for screw pitch differences) and about half the acceleration. Its a 1605 running on a 3.1nm Nema 23, velocity 2m/min, 200mm/s^2 accel. Probably conservative, but works for me. Not a problem in every day life though as the travel is so much smaller :)

Regards the special cable, it requires a slightly custom job. I used a RJ11 crimper and some CAT5 to knock up one - you only use three wires. If you want I'll lend you one.

Thanks Andy, yes I will try slowing the Z down a bit and see if that helps. Kind of you to offer a lend and an excuse to head down south sounds nice! but what about one of these: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32931330627.html probably costs less than the postage back and forth!

**Clive S** · 18-05-2020

Originally Posted by JoeHarris

Thanks Andy, yes I will try slowing the Z down a bit and see if that helps. Kind of you to offer a lend and an excuse to head down south sounds nice! but what about one of these: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32931330627.html probably costs less than the postage back and forth!

Yes that should do it.

Not sure if it will work with win10

I made a cable a few years ago that I keep in the control box. I think mine connects to a serial com port.

**AndyUK** · 18-05-2020

Looks like the sort, but some concerning reviews.

Half-way house in the meantime from the manual:

Auto configuration by SW4
Change SW4 two times in one second to identify the motor parameter after
power-up if it is the first time installation. Please note that the rotation
switch position must be 0 when using this function.

**JAZZCNC** · 18-05-2020

Originally Posted by JoeHarris

Thanks Andy, yes I will try slowing the Z down a bit and see if that helps. Kind of you to offer a lend and an excuse to head down south sounds nice! but what about one of these: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32931330627.html probably costs less than the postage back and forth!

Don't bother buying the cable Jo you won't need to play with PID settings etc. Just flick the Switch 2 times in quick succession, when you do it the motors will make a buzzing sound for a second then stop. If the motors are whistling at the moment they will probably stop or change the tone.

**JoeHarris** · 18-05-2020

Originally Posted by JAZZCNC

Don't bother buying the cable Jo you won't need to play with PID settings etc. Just flick the Switch 2 times in quick succession, when you do it the motors will make a buzzing sound for a second then stop. If the motors are whistling at the moment they will probably stop or change the tone.

Thanks guys, pretty sure I did this when I first set them up.

I got the laptop set up - connected it to the ipm but it wouldn’t connect for some reason, then it crashed! Maybe I should persist with plan A!!

**JAZZCNC** · 18-05-2020

Originally Posted by JoeHarris

Thanks guys, pretty sure I did this when I first set them up.

I got the laptop set up - connected it to the ipm but it wouldn’t connect for some reason, then it crashed! Maybe I should persist with plan A!!

To be honest I thought you had done it because I seemed to remember going thru it with you before. The Software just does the same thing but it does allow you to tweak it, but you should only need to do this is your having resonance issues, etc. Which you are NOT. 99% of the time the Auto tune option works fine.

RE: Laptop did you set the Adapter IPV4 address to manual .? and set to 10. 1. 1. 1 and 255.255.255.0

**JoeHarris** · 18-05-2020

Originally Posted by JAZZCNC

To be honest I thought you had done it because I seemed to remember going thru it with you before. The Software just does the same thing but it does allow you to tweak it, but you should only need to do this is your having resonance issues, etc. Which you are NOT. 99% of the time the Auto tune option works fine.

RE: Laptop did you set the Adapter IPV4 address to manual .? and set to 10. 1. 1. 1 and 255.255.255.0

You did! I’ll leave the protuning for now then.

Haha, no, totally forgot that important step! Cheers Dean. Its been a long while since I last went through the ip/m manual page by page. Looks like I need to get it out again...

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