Need Help!- Just got an EasyDriver, Issues..?

[Killa-X]

I'm new to the forum, as I thought this would be a great place to get nice help/feedback. I recently got into the world of CNC, and working on a Laser engraving CNC machine. For ease of control, I want to drive my motors using Mach 3, a parallel port, and an EasyDriver 4.3. I understand people may say "You should get the audrino to drive the driver" But for now, I wish to do direct-port connections.

So far, I'm failing. I'd like to know a few things. Do I HAVE to wire the sleep/enable pins on the EasyDriver? I figured all I had to do, was connect my motor, connect the power, Direction, step, and hook all 3 ground pins together. I did this, nothing. Couldn't get anything to work. When I connected Sleep / Enable to Mach 3, I had my motor standing still vibrating. I figured it must be locking it self and trying to run. No luck fixing.

So could someone be kind enough to give me a little direction on how I can properly connect this to a serial port? I put the rright data into Mach 3...Maybe I didnt do it correctly.

For anyone who has a similar setup, A picture of the connections would be lovely. Maybe a picture with just simple paint-wire connections just so I can verify?

I'm sorry if this in anyway is a result of me not searching the forums first...or some other rule, but I did search google for EasyDriver Mach 3 and just kept seeing audrinos being used...But I was told you don't HAVE to. I just want to see my NEMA 23 (4 wire) motors spin!!!!

[vger]

The enable / sleep pins and the MS pins are all defaulted correctly on the board. You can override their default conditions by connecting them, but you don't need to.
What power do you have connected to the board? You said "hook all 3 ground pins together" did you also connect the grounds to one of the ground pins from the parallel port?

Steve

[jschmitt]

Originally Posted by Killa-X So could someone be kind enough to give me a little direction on how I can properly connect this to a serial port? I put the rright data into Mach 3...Maybe I didnt do it correctly.

Do you mean parallel port or are you trying to hook up to a serial port?

[Killa-X]

Yes, I ment parallel port. The EasyDriver has 3 contacts on it labeled ground. One by the M+, one next to Step, and one under the pot, next to +5V. So I just connected all 3 of those grounds to the power supply unit and yes, the parallel ports grounds.

I connected my motor according to what the board says, using my motors datasheet to make sure its in the correct order. I feed the board with a 24V 4A power supply, and adjust the pot to put out 700mA.

Then, I put Parallel port pin 3, to Direction. Parallel port pin 2 to Step. Then in Mach 3, under the X-Axis going across I have it...

X-Axis -- Enable Checked -- 2 --- 3 --- X --- X --- 1 --- 1
(http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/9...windowcopy.jpg Example)

And i've tryed many other combinations to get my motor to step...So far, when I leave SLP and ENABLE alone, I cant get the motor to make any sounds...When I put MACH 3 enable to pin 4, and put it to either sleep/enable, it makes noises that change pitch (using a G-Code), but no movements. So, I'm not sure if it's possible that the program it self is set up wrong...

[Killa-X]

Well, I tried waiting for help, I got an email from sparkfun saying all you need is Step, Direction, main power, and one single ground connection out of any of the 3.

Seeing no one responded here, I take things are too confusing, So I did scoping and got it working. Now I have one issue.

When I change the ports in MACH 3, to any number I want, the motor still works. This means I cant run 2 motors because I cant change the ports. the motor is ALWAYS on the same exact pins (for step and direction) no matter what I do. Am I missing something???

YouTube- Mach 3 first run
Oh...Forgot... It turns out STEP is pin 6, DIRECTION is pin 8. At the video, you see I did 2 and 3. And it still ran.

EDIT
Figured part of it out. When I turned off the Max CL mode, I was able to control what ports the motor was on (For once I got 2 motors running)

HOWEVER. The waveform wasn't 50% duty like MAX CL mode, it looked like 5-10% duty. I couldnt get my motor to spin fast at all when I turned off MAX CL mode. I finally was able to control what ports are what, but due to the lower duty, The motor had issues spinning anywhere near as fast as Max CL.

Ideas?