Mach 3, steppers grinding, yuck

[yukonho]

My machine runs fine on Mach2, but with mach 3 the steppers grind away and move very slowly with almost no torque. I have searched and read and tried everything to no avail. Any ideas?
Another thing is that I can't find motor reversals in Mach3. Where did they go?
Cheers,
Colin

[yukonho]

OK, just loaded up mach2 and I get the same thing. I did a re-format of the computer, re-installed everything, and now I get this. Is there something I am missing? Always at the worst time these things happen, sheesh.
Colin

[ger21]

Run the driver test. Does it look OK? Mach3 uses different settings than Mach2, did you set it up the same?

[yukonho]

Will run OCX driver test.
I am not sure what settings would be different. All ports and pins are set up the same. Any word on the missing "motor reversals" tab. It is not in config.
Thanks guys,
Colin

[eman5oh]

Originally Posted by yukonho Will run OCX driver test. I am not sure what settings would be different. All ports and pins are set up the same. Any word on the missing "motor reversals" tab. It is not in config. Thanks guys, Colin

The reverse motors it is in the home and limits menu.

[ger21]

Originally Posted by yukonho Will run OCX driver test. I am not sure what settings would be different. All ports and pins are set up the same. Any word on the missing "motor reversals" tab. It is not in config. Thanks guys, Colin

steps per unit are setup differently, and accel and velocity are dependant on steps per unit.

[yukonho]

OK, Thanks for the help thus far guys. I will email Art and let him know that the instrictions say motor reversals are under config, when in fact they have moved.
I did the OCX driver test and it is ugly. With Mach3 it looks rather jumpy. When I run Mach2, the little spectrum analyser goes crazy and the pulse per second is everywhere.
Now, do I go and re-install the drivers? As far as I can tell, that is the next step.
You guys are fantastic, and Ger21, I must say that I am surely not the only one who appreciates all the time and effort you put into this little community. Cheers to you.
Colin

[yukonho]

I am also having spindle relay issues with MAch3. It is working fine in Mach2, but wont switch on and off in Mach3. It does turn on when I change the set-up to "active low" but will not toggle when I use f5 or click the switch on screen. (using my "good" computer now because I need to get cutting)
Colin

[ger21]

I'd say do a complete uninstall of Mach3. Reboot. Re Install. Reboot. Try the driver test.
If it's still bad, check a few things.

Is it on a network? If yes, make sure the card is not set to "auto" for speed.
Is quicktime installed? If yes, use msconfig to get rid of qttask, or something like that.

There is an optimisation guide at www.machsupport.com that might help. bottom of the page.

[yukonho]

OK, I have uninstalled, rebooted, updated motherboard driver, reinstalled, rebooted and.............. Same thing, the bar graph is mostly grey and black lines, speed is everywhere from 9000 to 24000.
Quicktime not installed ever, not on a network.
Now this machine did work fine for Mach2 before I formatted. I have installed SP2, running XP Pro.
Going to try the optimizations now.
Cheers,
Colin

[JFettig]

Are your motors wired to the drives correct? I have had similar problems and my wires were not hooked up right.

Jon

[yukonho]

Completed all the optimizations.
Installed MAch2, same thing, wildly varying pulse per second, spectrum is nearly all grey/black,
Uninstalled mach2, installed mach3. Reboot...
pulse per second is reasonably steady around 19600, some big vertical lines on the display. This is essentially what I had before, so no improvement.
Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I will keep on trying...
Cheers,
colin