Supermax KMC-40 w/MicroPath Series 40 control

[Verell]

I absolutely agree, I need the PEwin DPRAM tests to work before anything else. Actually I strongly expect that once DPRAM works, the higher level software will work also.

While things are set to defaults, I'm going to swap the other DPRAM card in to see if it makes any difference.

I'll also continuity check the two DPRAM cable sets while I'm at it.

I've been suspecting it's one of the cards for quite a while. Is there any way to definitely tell whether it's the DPRAM vs the PMAC-LITE?

Any chance you have the ability to test the PMAC-LITE & DPRAMS in an ISA machine? At this point I'd be willing to pay a reasonable fee for the checks.

If you can't test them, as a DeltaTau distributor, can you eMAIL me a quote for sending in my original PMAC-LITE and DPRAM card to Delta Tau for test & repair?
My eMAIL is:
Verell@UnobtainiumSupply.com


I've got AUTOEXEC.BAT down to things that really shouldn't matter such as setting up the graphics card & mouse. Probably a couple of things I can turn off in CONFIG.SYS tho. Easy enough to try.

However, I really don't think this is a DOS setup problem. After all, the original DPRAM & original PMAC-LITE were running before I tried to change the PMAC's CMOS battery.

[Ron22]

Verell,

Sorry I have been busy and not been able to look here lately.
I sent you a PM.

Any progress?

Ron

[Verell]

Hi Ron,
I'm traveling on vacation till 14 Sep. with intermittent internet access.
.
Just before I left I tested another PMAC-LITE & DPRAM with encouraging results. The DPRAM diagnostic test would run & not get the 'DPRAM CHECKSUM' error. It would report 6 to 12 errors in the clipboard tho. I'm somewhat inclined to overlook them. I found that I had to go thru a specific sequence of PEwin commands to get the tests to run.

I'm wondering if I went back & tried that command sequence I'd get similar results with the other board that was supposed to be good.

When I get back I'm going to try loading the mill's MPATH2.DAT firmware & running the windows based MICRO2 application to see if it likes this set of boards better.

I think I've narrowed the Y-axis problem to the servo amplifier, and just picked up 4 of them on eBAY. Theyll be waiting for me to test when I get back.

Only other possibility is the Y-axis servo motor. Any tips on how to check the armature? I've verified that it does have continuity,can't recall the resistance I measured right now tho.

[lancut]

Hey Verell, did you ever got the Y axis going?. I'm looking the same machine as you and thinking of converting it to the Mach3 and Gecko servo controllers.

[Verell]

No, got frustrated as I absolutely couldn't get the PMAC firmware to talk to the windows app. The windows APP kept giving me a 'Hardware Error' dialog box.

I finally decided that the MPATH2.DAT firmware from the .ZIP file needed some constant edited in order enable it but didn't have anything to give me a clue what to patch.


I haven't tried to fix the Y-AXIS, but don't believe it would take a lot to get it sorted out. Have been focusing on the main controller problem.

If you've got exactly the same mill, is the controller working, at least enough so the controller talks to the windows app?

If so, I'd like to give you the commands to save the PMAC's current firmware to a file so you could eMAIL it to me. I think that just might get me back to only having a Y-AXIS problem which I"m pretty confident I can sort out, or find someone who can sort it out for me as I have spare servo amps & the mfg will service them for a reasonable fee as well.