Troubleshooting my old hobbcnc project

[wjbzone]

Just got it set back up after a few years and trying to remember how to test it. It ran great last time I had it setup.

The old computer will not start up anymore (full of saw dust). I was running turbocnc. I downloaded and installed turbocnc on a working? computer.

Turned on the Hobbycnc box and it sounded good. (no smoke). The stepper motors engaged (ie the ball screws are locked) when the hobbycnc board is powered up, so I think the board is OK. (the screws turn freely when the board is turned off)

When I try to jog or issue MDI commands, I get no movement on any axis.

I think I either have a cable or a computer problem.

Going to start testing tonight. If I remember right I can measure the voltage on the cable (from the computer parallel port) for 5v while it is supposed to be moving.

Not sure what pin to measure. I need to find my old notes.
Any other suggestions appreciated.
Bill

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[wjbzone]

The computer I am using now is a Windows 2000 machine. Not sure this will work.

I know turbocnc will not run correctly in a Dos Shell, but I thought it would at least move the stepper motors. (I did it with my old W98 machine)

I booted to DOS using the F8 key, but not sure that DOS should work either.

I think I will try the Mach3 trial version on this computer to test.

[Walky]

Sadly, Windows 2000/XP is very strict about how you access the parallel port (it "protects" the IO ports); I'd say you're losing your time trying to make TurboCNC work reliably (or at all) under this OS. I'm pretty sure the Mach3 trial will make your motors move (and once you get the hang of it you probably won't want to use TurboCNC again) unless there's some problem with your drivers or parallel port.

[awerby]

No Windows version later than 98 gives DOS the full access to the parallel port necessary to run a CNC application like TurboCNC. From 2000 on, all you get is "emulated" DOS, unless you dual-boot, which is tricky.

Mach3 is a good alternative if you want to stick with Windows 2000, and have a machine with a working parallel port. Parallel ports themselves are becoming pretty rare, so if you're trying to use a new machine that lacks one, you might need to get a Smoothstepper to run Mach3.

All the Best;

Andrew Werby
ComputerSculpture.com — Home Page for Discount Hardware & Software

[CarveOne]

No Windows version later than 98 gives DOS the full access to the parallel port necessary to run a CNC application like TurboCNC. From 2000 on, all you get is "emulated" DOS, unless you dual-boot, which is tricky.

Mach3 is a good alternative if you want to stick with Windows 2000, and have a machine with a working parallel port. Parallel ports themselves are becoming pretty rare, so if you're trying to use a new machine that lacks one, you might need to get a Smoothstepper to run Mach3.

All the Best;

Andrew Werby
ComputerSculpture.com — Home Page for Discount Hardware & Software

A PCI parallel port card will work with computers that don't have mainboard parallel ports and there are still some available that put out the proper 5v TTL logic signals. I have three of these cards that use LPT3 and require a driver for them that comes with the card. They claim to work with Win98, WinXp, Win2k, and Win Vista. I have only used them with WinXP so far. They were about $19 each.

CarveOne

[ger21]

Welcome back, Bill. As Walky said, TurboCNC won't work in any OS past Win98.

TurboCNC users are pretty rare these days. Just about everyone's using Mach3.

[rlwoodjr]

I use Turbocnc on an old DOS computer. Boots in 15 seconds and it turns off instantly. I use it on my mill and my router.

I also have a computer that has DOS, XP and Ubuntu on it so I can test use EMC2.

Look here to put DOS on an Windows machine:
Frame

[wjbzone]

My w2k computer was having problems so I swithched to Windows Vista machine. I loaded Mach3 and set the pins step and direction configuration.
- Step -Dir
X-2-3
Y-4-5
z-6-7
I could get some motor movement but it wasn't right.

I notice on Artsoft website there is a fix for using Windows Vista...
Getting up and running in Vista

I'll test that next. I do like the Mach3 GUI.

Gerry, Thanks, good to see you are still here. I bet you've done a lot with the gcode macro.

[Walky]

Check if the step-dir signals from the HobbyCNC board are active low or high, and set them accordingly in Mach3.

If you really, really need Vista (or Win7), I recommend you to format, install XP, make a new partition, install Vista/7 and then keep XP only for CNC (it gives you the choice at startup). For CNC it's always good to keep a clean OS (no antivirus or other software on the background, no power saving options, no screensaver, etc) so there are no unexpected latency problems.

[ger21]

Bill, is it a dual core processor?

[wjbzone]

It's a AMD 64 processor -I don't think it is dual core.

I tried the Mach3 Vista Memory Override fix, but it did not work. Does the same thing it did before. The instructions said right click drivertest.exe , select"Run as Adminstrator.". It should tell you to reboot

I right clicked the drivertest.exe, but it did not have a way to select Run as admin. Did not tell me to reboot.

I think I will install XP on this machine or get a used one from ebay.

[wjbzone]

Bought a XP pro computer from ebay ($80 including shipping). Loaded Mach3, and got it running!!!

Couple of things need some attention due to the moisture problems in storage:
My X axis guide bar (Ø1.0 drill rod) has some rusty areas. I either need to get a new bar or polish the old one.
My MDF table top has some swelling on the edges. Will have to replace this sometime.