Mach 3 and Gecko 540 setup


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Thread: Mach 3 and Gecko 540 setup

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    Smile Mach 3 and Gecko 540 setup

    Hey all,

    I am finally ready to start trying to make my router move. I've spent the past few months building and assembling everything. What I have built is a 24x48 gantry style router. I plan to post picks, but I want to make sure this thing works first. I am at the point of trying to interface Mach 3 with the machine. Here is what I have. The machine is a 3 axis running 380 oz steppers, 5mm pitch ball screws, and linear guides. I m using a Gecko 540 to drive everything. I purchased the electronics as a kit from Fine Line Automation. Great people by the way. I have powered up the drive, and the moters locked in and all is well thus far. I just downloaded and installed Mach 3 on the PC I plan to use. Here is my question. I am at the point of setting up Mach 3 for my machine. I just want to make sure I don't miss anything or screw something up at this point. I have set the pinouts for the motors on Mach 3 according to the Gecko manual. I am using a home switch for all 3 axis, and I have set thos pins also. I'm a little unsure as to the pin for the e-stop in Mach 3. My Gecko manual tells how to hook up the e stop to the drive but has no pin number for it on the DB25 plug. Any advise setting this up would be awsome. I am not going to use Mach 3 to ru the spindle motor at this time. So really all I need to do is setup Mach 3 to run the 3 stepper motors and the home switches. I plan on setting soft lmits once I get the machine to home out on the home switches.

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    Gold Member doorknob's Avatar
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    The e-stop pin on the G540 DB-25 connector is supposed to be pin 15.

    There's a good discussion about that topic at http://www.cnczone.com/forums/gecko_...top_mach3.html



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    Hey thanks, that link was very helpfull. Does my plan of using only home switches and soft limits sound feasable? I'm not sure how the soft limits work on Mach 3. I'm hoping it will store the stroke limits so it will never get to the point of overtraveling. I just really didn't want to have to wire and install all of the additional switches needed to do overtravel switches on both ends of each axis. Also does anyone have any experience on chnging the screens on Mach 3. The default mill screen has a lot of buttons and displays that I don't need. I was hoping I could simplify the screen to just what I need.



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    Gold Member doorknob's Avatar
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    I am not the best person to address your other questions.

    You might want to ask them in one of the Mach sections of the forum:

    Mach Software (ArtSoft software) - CNCzone.com-The Largest Machinist Community on the net!



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Mach 3 and Gecko 540 setup

Mach 3 and Gecko 540 setup