has anyone tried one of these mpg's

[dertsap]

New MACH3 CNC Electronic Hand wheel For ModsMach3 Only | eBay

just curious if anyone has bought one of these or if I'm the first sucker to bite the bullet . It arrived in the mail today and it feels ok , its feels a bit more toy like as compared to what found on pro machines but its not near the price either so I can't complain(yet) , I'm too worn out to be bothered hooking it up so it'll be a few days before I go through the chinese instruction manual and get it set up , and yes it's a chinese written manual but its got pictures and looks pretty straight forward which will make this my typical install , besides the reading portion is only to keep others busy so that they aren't asking stupid questions like "why are you doing it like that " or " i don't think its supposed to look that way "
It looks like its set up with led lights to show the velocity and which axis its on , its got start , stop , feed +- , spindle +- and obviously the hand wheel .

So has anyone else tried one of these ?


.

[dertsap]

i figured I'd update this just in case anyone is interested
the manual shows the wrong mod bus settings but there was a disk included with a chinese mach screen set , so i took the configurations from that and it works well .
so if anyone is looking for a low cost hand control that has no support then this thing is worth a look at

[cncnow]

I´m trying to put it to work, but only some keys seems to work like speed override ... the handwheel does not work ...

I´ve carefully followed the crapy manual instructions to no avail ...

Would you mind sharing the configuration steps that worked for you ?

[Al_The_Man]

Can't help with the one shown, but this is the kind of thing you can do with parts off ebay.
The Fanuc H.W. I got for $25.00.
Al.

[dertsap]

Im mobile right now but later i will post the updated configs that i was sent.
I got it working on my own but the update looks the same. Give me a few hours and i'll dig it up

[cncnow]

I´m very grateful dertsap ;-)

[dertsap]

heres a pdf , don't forget to put your macropump into the mach macro folder , its a when they don't give proper instructions , especially since it is made to work with only one software ,
overall its a good deal for what it is and it does the job well enough for my home needs , i just have to be less abusive with it .

Al I don't know where you've found that for 25 bucks (watadeal) but I've looked on ebay so many times for a deal like that and never really came across one

[cncnow]

Thanks a bunch buddy ! I really appreciate your help.

Unfortunately that´s exactly the same instruction I´ve got from the seller and followed thoroughly ... any additional hints whatsoever ? I must be missing something ...

How do you operate the handwheel ?

[dertsap]

you need to hit working mode which selects mpg or constant velocity , the resolution is also set with the working mode , not sure if you've done this but hope it helps , if you can't get it working then let me know and at some point this weekend I'll have a chance to check out my configs and verify whether or not the revised instructions are correct or not , if their not then I'll post some screen shots for you .
I thought that mine was toasted and it wasn't ever going to work but I get a bit overly determined with stuff like this and I eventually got the config figured out , the mach manual was the big help .
In function configs/setup serial modbus in mach , do you get an error message in the status box ? If so then the config is probably wrong

[dertsap]

the config is wrong ,here's the right one

[cncnow]

Originally Posted by dertsap you need to hit working mode which selects mpg or constant velocity , the resolution is also set with the working mode , not sure if you've done this but hope it helps ,

Yes, that´s the way I did.

if you can't get it working then let me know and at some point this weekend I'll have a chance to check out my configs and verify whether or not the revised instructions are correct or not , if their not then I'll post some screen shots for you .

That would be great !

I get a bit overly determined with stuff like this

You´re in my league ! ;-)

... the mach manual was the big help .

Yeap, RTFM ... I did read it, but it´s a bit sparse on Modbus stuff

In function configs/setup serial modbus in mach , do you get an error message in the status box ?

Sort of ... "timeout" ... which means that the slave is not responding ...

If so then the config is probably wrong

That´s my bet ...

UPDATE:

Yesterday I checked with a Modbus monitor and verified that the master [ Mach3 + macropump ] is alive, sending requests. The slave [ MPG ] never responds. It may be due to a misconfigured comm speed, slave adress and so forth ...

UPDATE 2:

I checked your screen shot a second time and now I see the light - Bingo ! - your slave address is different ! It is 6 instead of 1 !

That´s MUST be the problem ! Or at least ONE of the issues ;-)

I´ll try it later on ...


Again, thanks !

[cncnow]

Checked new address [ 6 ] but it still does not work ... ;-(