First test - no movement - help?

[pixel8tryx]

I know a laptop is not recommended, but I'm waiting for a very busy person to back up the spare PC that was originally intended for this. So I decided to try running my inherited 2019CR with mystery Xylotex-based controller on my laptop. It did not come with an .xml file.

I got my PCMCIA parallel card today. I installed it and ran the Mach DriverTest utility. I hope it doesn't need to be connected to the controller box for that? It worked great! Almost a smooth line. A little +/- 1 pixel jitter.

Then I took the laptop out to the machine and did the configuration Art discussed in the first video. On the good side, when I turned the controller on the fan came on and no smoke appeared. The steppers did lock. When I tried to jog with the arrow keys however... no movement!

Ok, so maybe I need to start with a .xml file. I hope I'm doing this the right way: I ran something called Mach Loader and selected Mach3Taig2000.xml. It loaded but the screen was white. The usual interface screen was gone. So I loaded Mach2Mill_Taig_Xylotex.xml. That one looked better. I added my ports & pins to that.

Still no movement. Any ideas on where to start debugging?

Thanks,
...Ath

___________________
www.AthenaInlay.com

[ChrisPDX]

Does your laptop have the separate number pad? I ask because if that is what you are using and num lock is toggled in the wrong position, the arrow keys won't work. You may have already checked this, but it would be nice if the fix was simple.

Also, when you arrow over, does the DRO in Mach change?

[ger21]

When I tried to jog with the arrow keys however... no movement!

Do the DRO's change? If they do, then there's a good chance, that you have the wrong port address, or possibly that the port isn't working. I don't think the drivertest will tell you if the port is actually working.

[pixel8tryx]

The DROs do change. I even tried using the arrow buttons on that fly-out dialog the tab key brings up (with the MPG jog dial on it).

I'd have LOVED it just being some num lock issue. But this keyboard has dedicated arrow keys.

I'll double check the port address, but I wrote down FC98.

I have a util here called "parmon" that I've never used. It's supposed to monitor the parallel port. I'll take that out there too and see what it says.

Another source has suggested that my controller might be an early DeepGroove box... which gives me another .xml to try... and not warm feelings about it. It's definitely an early... something, by the looks of it.

http://home.comcast.net/~ath3na/Taig5.jpg

Thanks guys!

...Ath

[ger21]

If the DRO's change, it's either the port, or the pins. Also, make sure the pins are assigned to the correct port.

[pixel8tryx]

I got the DeepGroove.xml file. There was an option to select LPT# I didn't see before. It was set to 3, I changed it to 1. I suspect Art does not address the port this way, however... it did cause me to notice the address. It was FCD8. No blushing smiley of embarassment? Hey I typed what I wrote down. I just wrote down the wrong number. Several things in the DeepGroove file are different than I had set anyway.

So now I'm talking to the box! The Y axis sounds okish. I was just so happy to see it move. The X axis has issues. I thought it made an ugly screech at first, then I noticed that it was the handle on the end of the encoder vibrating. No real apparent movement of the table but it sounded bad enough that I didn't play with it a lot.

When I looked at the motor tuning section it had wacky (to me) numbers in there. Steps per unit had some long number after the decimal. I changed it to 32000. I set max speed to 20 ipm. The Y is working with accel of 0.5. I tried that and 0.8 on X and it didn't seem to be a difference.

I'm getting the sinking feeling it might not be a Mach parameter issue... but then what do I know?

I had to cut the session short because I got a rush request, so I thought I'd post my results here before flogging that poor X axis anymore. Or trying the Z with motor/spindle hanging on it.

...Ath

[awetmore]

Try turning down your IPM and try the X again. It sounds like you are trying to move it to fast, which can cause the motor to stall.

20ipm should be easy with a Taig, but start slow and work your way up there. Does it run at 5ipm? I find that my X runs smoothly at 20ipm, pretty reliabily at 30ipm, and stalls pretty commonly around 40ipm. I use 24ipm as my rapid rate. I'm using a different controller and stepper motors than you, so you might have different results.

This page has good instructions for setting up the mill:
http://www.cartertools.com/millset2.html

If 20ipm isn't good and 5ipm is then you probably have the X axis gib too tight or the nut on the X leadscrew could be too tight. With a new mill I think it is worth tearing it apart and cleaning and lubing everything.

[pixel8tryx]

Try turning down your IPM and try the X again. It sounds like you are trying to move it to fast, which can cause the motor to stall.

20ipm should be easy with a Taig, but start slow and work your way up there. Does it run at 5ipm? I find that my X runs smoothly at 20ipm, pretty reliabily at 30ipm, and stalls pretty commonly around 40ipm. I use 24ipm as my rapid rate. I'm using a different controller and stepper motors than you, so you might have different results.

This page has good instructions for setting up the mill:
http://www.cartertools.com/millset2.html

If 20ipm isn't good and 5ipm is then you probably have the X axis gib too tight or the nut on the X leadscrew could be too tight. With a new mill I think it is worth tearing it apart and cleaning and lubing everything.

We don't know if it's new or not. The original owner is deceased. It looks reasonably new to me, but I've never seen one in person before. Maybe he took good care of it. It was all connected when my friend came to pick it up.

I have handwheels on all axes. I was able to turn the X axis by hand ok. I made sure both X and Y moved before I unleashed the controller on it. It's slow - it takes a lot of turns to move it a significant distance compared to the old cross-slide table I had on my drill press. But that had larger wheels.

I'll try 5 ipm tomorrow. What about the acceleration? I have no reference for extreme or good values there. Art's set up video mentioned tweaking it until it sounded good.

Thanks,
...Ath

[awetmore]

Sorry, I meant new to you. I bought my mill used on Craigslist. It had pretty low wear, but had been used to cut wood and there was wood guck everywhere which caused issues. My first task was to take it apart and clean it.

A good reason to take it apart and clean it is that you'll understand how to adjust it. When things don't work properly you'll be much more likely to understand why. Manual or CNC...I think at least a partial teardown of new to you equipment is useful.

I use EMC2, not Mach3, but I run my acceleration at 2. Max velocity is 0.5 (30ipm, since they measure in ips). I don't know if Mach3 uses ips^2 or ipm^2for acceleration.

I figured out the maximum ipm that would work for the motors with no load by disconnecting them from the Taig and running them in that state. My motors stall pretty easily around 40ipm. You are using a lower voltage power supply (12v vs 24v) so I wouldn't be surprised if they stalled earlier.

[pixel8tryx]

Results of the the morning test session:

5 ipm on X didn't help it. It's mostly not moving. Sometimes it will lurch a little forward or backward. Mostly it just sits there vibrating and making an unpleasant noise. I did try the Z axis and it moved quietly and smoothly. I have no idea if they're accurate at all, but at least the Y and Z sound ok...lol.

I realized that I needed a smaller acceleration value in order to get a longer ramp up time. I have it down to 0.3 right now to be ultra easy on the thing but it doesn't help the X.

I don't want people to overly dwell on my laptop as the culprit, so I decided to do even more pruning. I thought it was pretty lean to begin with and I'd already defragged the drive. So I turned ACPI off. This didn't help anything.

Could it be the motor? The X axis driver on the Xylo board? The X axis turns fine by hand, in fact it almost feels a little easier than the Y. BTW, I'm a girl - not a guy who bench presses 250lbs. ;-> I have twigs for arms. The best I can do now is surf for people with similar problems and see what they did.

Anyone know about the G's field? Am I supposed to enter that or is it calculated? The doc I have ignores this field. Searching hits too many things on G code.

The motors hiss a bit. Is this ok? It seemed the X was louder and almost crackled a little... but it could be psychosomatic. ;-> Something's wrong in that axis so I'm more suspicious of it. I'd replace the motor if I had a spare. Wait a minute... do I? Oh crap- thought I had a spare on the rotary table but it's a shorty. Not the same size as the X motor. I guess if I really wanted to start taking things apart I could possibly swap the motors on the X and Y axis???

My Kernal speed is still the slowest (25k?) Is this a problem?

...Athena

[ger21]

You might want to make sure the VREF pots on the Xylotex are adjusted correctly. If not set to the correct current, you won't have any torque. I've seen this before.

[pixel8tryx]

You might want to make sure the VREF pots on the Xylotex are adjusted correctly. If not set to the correct current, you won't have any torque. I've seen this before.

Hmmm... I'll have to read up on that.

I just swapped the X and Y cables today and the problem shifted to the Y axis. I suppose I have a blown X axis driver on my Xylo? Or it's configured in such a way to make it useless (since you brought up the point about the VREF).

I'm going to try to set up Mach to use my 4th axis to drive X now.

Both my Z and my A have DirLowActive checked. I haven't figured out if I select that on the X axis or not. It does seem to work though.

...Ath