Working some quirks out of my 1st homebuild

[salukikev]

Hi again-
So I've finally collected, assembled, and wired up all the components that should enable me to CNC power my tri-power machine. Mostly, I've been lurking here and reading up on all the great info. Now I'm pretty confident that I have my power, Gecko's (G201's) and Motors wired up correctly, but currently nothing moves with the bench test that I'm doing. I'm inclined to blame the Breakout board (well- blame myself for some mistake wiring it) for the current trouble, but it could just as well be misconfigured software at this point. I couldn't find my answers through searches, so here are some questions and symptoms:

1. My motors sit there and get warm/hot as expected.
2. I have only the X & Y hooked up currently to test.
3. They are hooked up bipolar parallel presently.
4. I have a ground wire from my Gecko power to my C10 breakout board. (note links)
5. I have a 5v power lead(s) from my computer's power supply to the C10. This makes the LED brighter, but it was on regardless. I couldn't quite tell if the power from the parallel port was intended to be sufficient or not.
6. I have jumped the leads of the C10 at the E-stop, the limit switches, and at the power on, and tried various combinations of each.
7. In all my configurations, my warm little motors are not holding and can be moved by hand.
8. I have tried various configurations in Mach3 including the assignment of pin outs and toggling the E-switch (which was an earlier problem).
9. I have the C10 jumpers set to +5v as recommended to geckos and also to use pins 2-9 for output.
10. I have 10k resistors setting the current on the geckos to something suitable for a bench test.

Now for some questions-- Is it a correct assumption that the pins numbered on the C10 correspond to the settings in Mach3's ports & pins? What should the other columns in the table be set to?
The only sign of life I could get that indicated that the software was linked to the c10 was the E-switch. I could trigger it by jumping/unjumping the manual enable switch. It there another utility or utility mode that will communicate more info? (or does the LED indicate anything other than power?)

Currently, when in jog mode, the coords will change, but both motors remain still. What else can I try to get some kind of response?

Anyway- thanks for any help. Sorry if these are dumb questions or have been asked already, but I could definately use some tips to get things rolling!
-Kevin

[ger21]

Make sure when you set the output pins, that each pin is assigned to port1 (last column).

If you haven't already, watch the setup tutorial videos at www.machsupport.com

[salukikev]

hi!
Thanks for the reply!
I'm working on the system again right this minute, but having the same troubles. I thought what you (and the 'troubleshoot' video) suggested with setting all the pins to '1' would do it, but nope. Still no movement. Most of the troubleshooting video seems to deal with activating features and inputs. I think I could manage all that if I could just get my motors to respond. So far, still no sign of life.
If possible it would be great if someone would just tell me if they notice anything obviously wrong with my setup, or something else that's lacking. On the C10 for example- should the red LED always just be on, sitting there plugged into the paralell port?
Thanks again, and thanks anyone else for any more help!
-kevin

[ger21]

Don't assign each pin to pin one. Each pin must also have the port assigned to it, and they are set to port 0 by default. They need to be set to port 1. Step and direction pins for 2 axis would typically be 2-5

[salukikev]

Thanks- I think I miswrote that reply. The step port and dir port are set to '1' which is what I understood from the video. Correct? (the last two columns). The step and dir pin #'s are coincidently the same as the narrator described and correspond to the c10 contact #'s. 2-5 just like you said. Still no motor motion.