Originally Posted by Don-in-Japan  I am using the factory Sherline driver/power supply. The steppers are a carry over from the old smaller tables (130oz. I believe). The problem rears it's head every once in awhile.. not every time.
I would have to dual boot the computer for Windows to run Mach 3 correct?
Pc is (again) the standard Sherline equipment.. 1.8Ghz processor, somewhat older & unknown motherboard.. upgraded from 256M Ram to 1G. |
Ok, well to start if you don't have Windows on the machine (not sure of the sherline PC config out of the box) you would need to dual boot with Windows in order to run Mach. If you go that route I'd recomend a separate drive, that way it's easy to swap back in the second drive and be up and running with a known good config.
Barring that, those are smaller motors, and I don't know what the drivers are specifically. There are many potential issues for trouble with steppers. Not enough power, midband resonance in the drive, lower motors than are needed for the application are all potential problems. Even things like motor tuning, setting accel and max speed are important too. Couple that with fine pitch leadscrews and you have to spin the motor fast, which is harder on the steppers as well.
But losing touch with the machine and plowing down into material seems like software issues rather than motor tuning issues. Unless your drives are freaking out or getting noise somewhere. Try a different parallel port cable?