Motor reverses direction on its own from keyboard

[BrassBuilder]

I'm not sure if this is a Mach3 issue. I've looked through the manual and I am not finding an answer. Here is what is happening:

I am running a Pacific Scientific NEMA 42 motor on a lathe conversion. If I press the arrow key to jog the carriage over, let up the key, and then press it back down, about 50-75% of the time, the motor will rotate in the opposite direction. If I let up the key, press down, it will usually go back to the original direction. Sometimes I have to press the key 2-3 times before it will change directions.

I ran this from the lathe module. I tried to run the motor from the mill module and it does the same thing.

Any ideas on this?

Thanks

Mike

[awilcox]

Mike,
I am experiencing the same problem with my z-axis. I have a Gecko drive (gel210a) on this axis. Any answers or solutions yet?

Adrian

[MrWild]

Yes. I had the same problem. it was a broken solder joint under some shrink wrap. The contact wasn't always being made and was causing very strange and erratic behavior on my Z axis. Naturally it only happened at some Y positions (on a router) as the Z axis motor cable was moved back and forth. Geckos are so good that any other drive that'd blow from the intermittent loads just make them keep the motor moving even if it is + when you want -. Check your cables and all connections.

[BrassBuilder]

Interesting. I haven't found the answer to my problem yet, but I will definately recheck the connections. I soldered all the wires together or to individual connections.

I just got a Contour Shuttle Pro in and I was going to hook that up and see if the problem still exists. I'll post back what I find.

Thanks
Mike

[awilcox]

Mike,
Thanks! I will check my connections tonight.

Adrian