do the steppers lock up when you turn the power supply on?
Just finished building my KRMx02 and having problems. My steppers are not engaging. I've triple checked my settings, re-routed all my wiring, etc. but when I turn everything on and try to jog the motors nothing happens. I'm a novice with computers, but was thinking it might have something to do with my processor. It is a 64 bit, but I changed the operating system to a 32 bit (windows 7). Could this be my problem? Should the processor also be 32bit? Any help would be appreciated, thank you.
do the steppers lock up when you turn the power supply on?
No, they do not. Nothing happens.
Either your drivers are not getting powered, the steppers are wired incorrectly, or the drivers need an enable signal to activate.
Thank you very much Alan. The steppers are wired exactly like the book, so I'm pretty sure that's not my problem. How can I check if my drivers are not getting powered, or if I'm not getting an enable signal? Sorry for all the questions, I'm running kind of blind!
what kind of drivers are they?
You can use a voltmeter at the driver to verify power is getting there.
The driver manual will show if they need an enable signal, and how to wire it.
I'm using a G540 controller with Nema 23 stepper motors. The light on the controller is red when I turn it on (per the Kronos book) but in the Gecko controller manual it says it should be green. I will verify power at the driver tonite. Thanks
try turning the charge pump switch off and see if it goes green.
If that works, you have the charge pump set up incorrectly in mach3. sorry I can't be any help with that but I'm sure there is some info out there.
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charge pump switch on the g540 itself
or you may need to invert the e-stop input to the g540 in the mach3 settings.
I will give that a try, thanks.
I turned the charge pump switch off and the green light did go on, also the motors clicked and were humming. When I ran the test driver though, I still only got a white screen without a pulse and the motors still did not move when I tried to jog it. I tried switching the e-stop setting to red in Mach3 but this didn't work. Is that what you mean by inverting? In a Mach3 installation guide I found it discusses manually installing the driver, I guess I will try this next.
If the driver test doesn't work, then you won't be getting any movement.
Are you sure the OS is 32 bit?
I don't know if I've heard of the drivertest not working?
Gerry
UCCNC 2017 Screenset
[URL]http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2017.html[/URL]
Mach3 2010 Screenset
[URL]http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html[/URL]
JointCAM - CNC Dovetails & Box Joints
[URL]http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html[/URL]
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yes, the OS is 32 bit (windows 7), but the processor is 64. I loaded a 32 bit os onto a 64 bit computer basically. Hope that's not what's causing my issues.
The processor has nothing to do with it.
I'd follow the instructions in the manual to completely uninstall Mach3, then reboot the PC and reinstall it. Make sure you reboot the PC during the install when prompted, or it won't work.
Gerry
UCCNC 2017 Screenset
[URL]http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2017.html[/URL]
Mach3 2010 Screenset
[URL]http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html[/URL]
JointCAM - CNC Dovetails & Box Joints
[URL]http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html[/URL]
(Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)
Thanks, re-installing Mach3 is about the only thing I haven't tried yet. Will give it a shot.
Thanks for all your help. Re-installed Mach3 and everything so far works now, was able to jog the machine and now my hangover is also gone from the celebration after, so good times! Don't know what happened originally, maybe the driver didn't install properly.
Its possible the parallel port driver did not get installed the first time.
Author of: The CNC Construction Set Books, the KRMx01, KRMx02, KRmc01, and KRmf70 CNC Books, the HANS Electric gear clock book. All available at www.kronosrobotics.com.