HELP CNC Still Not Running

[Mr.Chips]

My CNC is still not running!

Have a thought, I Would really appreciate it if someone has the time and expertise to help get me past this point.

Live in Tucson AZ will be traveling to Austin TX next Wednesday via I10 through El Paso to San Antonio then I35 to Austin. Will be in Austin for about 3 weeks.

I will bring the steppers, PS, control box, and PC w/keyboard-mouse with me, enough to see the motors spin.

PC is 3.3 Ghz, XP Pro using Mach 3. Xylotex steppers and control boards.

Everything looks OK, it will lock up the steppers but cant make them spin. It might be something simple.

Thanks
Hager

[Mr.Chips]

Bump.

Anyone have some time to lay another set of eyes on this<

Thanks

[epineh]

It does sound like something simple, if the steppers are locking then I would tend to think the power supply, and drivers may be OK. At this point I would be suspecting something simple like pin assignment for step/dir.

Now I don't use Mach so I cannot give you the specifics but I would be checking for the correct parallel port and the step/dir pins. Silly things like the incorrect cable between PC and drivers can be a culprit, you need a straight through cable, I used a parallel port extension cable for my machine when I was running TurboCNC.

Access to a scope would be handy to see if the PC is actually creating the step/dir signals in the first place, maybe the parallel port is cactus. Sometimes the drivers require 5v signals and the PC may be putting out 3v signals, you may need to buffer the PC output, check your driver doc's for that info, as in if that is the case.

Russell.

[LeeWay]

You aren't coming far enough east for me to look at it. It may do you some good to look around the Mach 3 Forum as well. It has helped me with a couple of issues.
When you try to jog the motors, do the dro's move?
Have you done a driver test?
I once had to install the Specialdriver.bat from the Mach 3 folder to get it to do right. I would say that is a last resort though.
These are just a few things to check. There are a lot more.

[Mr.Chips]

Thank you all for your kind suggestions.

Someone near Austin has volunteered to take a look. So I will be taking the bits and pieces over there, and hopefully finding the answer.

Thank you all again.
Hager

[LeeWay]

It is easy to check the things I suggested. It may save you from having to tote it to Texas with you. If you still wanted to meet the Texan, you might could then show him how the motors spin.

[Mr.Chips]

It is easy to check the things I suggested. It may save you from having to tote it to Texas with you. If you still wanted to meet the Texan, you might could then show him how the motors spin.

"do the dro's move?"
Not sure what DRO's" are, but nothing moves, on the screen or with the motors turning.
Thanks

[ger21]

DRO's are the digital read outs on the screen, that show the axis positions. If those don't move when you try to jog, then you have a problem with your Mach setup.

[Mr.Chips]

DRO's are the digital read outs on the screen, that show the axis positions. If those don't move when you try to jog, then you have a problem with your Mach setup.

If I load and run a Gcode I do see the numbers change and the tracing on the screen. But I think that is in simulate mode.

But no movement when jogging.

Have watched the Mach3 online video and I think everything is set correctly. Well I think another set of eyes on the problem might be the best answer.

Thanks anyway.

[ger21]

Make sure the jog keys are set correctly using Configure> Hotkeys.