Home and limit pins?

[on7tim7]

My 4 axix board from Hobbycnc does not have any connector to home and limit pins. My board was bought back behind 2004. I use it without any home or limit switches till now that I upgrade my router. On my original instructions is stated that the pins 10,11,12,13 and 17 are available for that purpose but I can't find a connector or any indication that they are there. Please help me find these pins on the board. I am attaching some pics so you can have a better idea of what I am saying. Thanks for any help..

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[john-100]

hi on7tim7


I can't find the missing pin connections in the pictures posted
can you take a photo of the under side of the board ?

John

[on7tim7]

Sure, I'll. Here its.

[john-100]

hi on7tim7


I've not found them all but it looks like pin 7 of the 8 pin IC (U7) is connected to the printer port pin 10

connection points for pins 13 and 15 are next to the 25 pin D-Type and
pin 11 is connected to pin 8 of the 13 pin connector J1

I can't see printer port pin 12 but I'd expect it is connected to J1 ( possibly pin 2 ? )





John

[on7tim7]

Thank you John-100, I’ll follow your findings and trace the rest of them. Looks like the documentation doesn’t agree with the hardware! The best way to go I think would be traced and wire them out of the board to a home made optical isolation board to protect the PC port. I really appreciate your time and help. As I have it ready I’ll post it to you. Thanks

[john-100]

hi on7tim7

it could be the text was taken from the manual for a 4 axis board with out the hot wire cutter control

as the PCB does not have a single connector for all of the inputs

you could make Y adaptor cable from a 25 way IDC ribbon cable fitted with a 25 pin IDC D-type plug and two 25 way IDC D-type sockets ( IDC = insulation-displacement contact)



that way you only need a cable with just the ground wire and the 3 or 4 available inputs connected to a 25 pin D type plug wired to your optical isolator board

(this avoids soldering wires to the Hobby CNC board)

john

[on7tim7]

That's a good idea but I need some understanding before I do anything. I have a doubt. I found the parallel 12 pin connected to the J1 pin 2. You found the parallel 11 pin connected to the J1 pin 8 and both are in use, they are not free. The full J1 connector is labeled on the board as “Auto/Man, On/off, and Up/Dn" (13 pins in total). On the documentation the same strip is referred as the “micro stepping jumper setup strip”. I am not sure what that connector its used for. Would you help me understand? It is as labeled on the board or it is as the documentation said? I need to know because the parallel pins 11 and 12 are jumped into that strip connector. So many years I forgot how I used it. Thanks

[john-100]

hi on7tim7

the part number of the stepper drivers is not very clear but if its SLA7051M as I think it is

pin 12 is used to select half or full step and does not appear to connect to any pin on J1 to select the micro stepping used

J1 pin 6 could of been used to trigger / control U7 ( the 8 pin IC - possibly a Microchip Pic Chip)



what software did you use ?

I expect the auto/manual and on off switches state was monitored by the software
using printer port input pins 11 and 12 and U7 via printer port pin 10

leaving printer port pins 13 and 15 for possible use for limit switches

the first 9 pins on J1 look like they are for 3 wire to each of the 3 switches for the auto/manual and on off control

the last 4 pins (10 to 13) labelled up / down are connected to 2 pins on U7 and 2 ground connections
and must be used to control the hot wire current ( use 2 normally open push buttons)



John

[on7tim7]

Yes the stepper drivers are SLA7051m as you said and the pin 12 is connected to J1 pin 2 to control the half or full steps so the 12 pin in not free to use. Software, Mach3. So I can’t use pin 11. So, which pins do you think are really free to be used. I will need three input pins to home the three axis at least one for limits and panic “and “connected. Looks like I have available with this board only pins 10,13,14 & 15 and that’s good enough for me. Thank you Mr.John-100 for your assistance and your time. Thanks.

[EAAguy]

The instructions shown in the left most picture are NOT for the driver board you show in the middle picture. The "foam cutting board" you show does not support home/limit switches as the foam cutting software available at that time did not have these (home/limit) functions. You cannot have home/limit functions with this driver board. Plain and simple.

My 4 axix board from Hobbycnc does not have any connector to home and limit pins. My board was bought back behind 2004. I use it without any home or limit switches till now that I upgrade my router. On my original instructions is stated that the pins 10,11,12,13 and 17 are available for that purpose but I can't find a connector or any indication that they are there. Please help me find these pins on the board. I am attaching some pics so you can have a better idea of what I am saying. Thanks for any help..

[on7tim7]

It was bought as a four axis controller board and that documentation came with it. It reads “4 axis HobbyCNC PRO Rev1 Chopper Driver Board Kit” I remember the ad was stating that it has the limits, panic and home capabilities, the documentation read this also. Of course, there is no way that I can get that ad information from 11 years back. They sent me the wrong board!
I need these capabilities on my machine now so I’ll look for a board that support also the unipolar motors. I am attaching the documentation’s first page so you can read it for yourself. Thanks for your great help.

[john-100]

hi on7tim7

first an error in post 9 - printer port pin 14 is an out put pin

I didn't get time to review the photos to see if you can re-allocate input pins 11 and 12 in mach 3 to be used in addition to pins 13 and 15 as limit switches and E-stop

if you don't need U7 to control a hot wire cutter
you could remove U7 from the IC socket and then you will be able to use printer port pin 10

there is a post on cnczone to mod the 4 axis HobbyCNC PRO

John


update --

mods to hobby cnc ez and pro boards

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/joes-c...e-forum-2.html

schematic of hobby cnc boards


HobbyCNC ez-M3 Schematic


HobbyCNC PRO-M3 Schematic

[on7tim7]

That's is a solution to this mess. Thank you Mr. John-100. I'll let you know if everything works.

[on7tim7]

Thanks to all of you for your help! I want to apologize on thread 11, I shouldn’t say“ they sent me the wrong board” The board was the right one, but due to my lack of knowledge at that time I picked the board that was not the specific for the job I wanted. Again, thanks for your unconditional help.