Xylotex + Mach 3: steppers twitching?! help.

[pleasuretool]

i've been trying to set up my new Taig mill the past few days. i have the Xylotex 3 axis kit, xylotex steppers (269 oz/in), xylotex power supply. I have the driver board mounted with nylon screws/nuts in a metal PC powersuppy box. I made a 10ft "extention cord" for the stepper motors with 18ga wire. i have a 12-pin radio shack connector at the machine side of the harness/cord.

I have read the mach3 documentation, and have it set up for my machine as best as i know how. HERE IS THE PROBLEM: as soon as i open mach3, the steppers start jittering, x is actually slowly moving, y and z just kinda jitter in place. i'm pretty sure it's a software problem, since it only starts when mach3 is open. i was also thinking maybe noise from the long extention. i can take pics of my setup, if you need to see how i have it. thanks!

-josh

[ger21]

Are the steppers locked up before Mach3 is running? Are your stepper wires shielded? Grounded?

[pleasuretool]

Originally Posted by ger21 Are the steppers locked up before Mach3 is running? Are your stepper wires shielded? Grounded?

does the xylotex board ground them for me? if not, maybe not? the machine itself should be grounded through the spindle motor.

steppers feel pretty locked up with power on, takes a good bit of force to spin, and they "click"

i've tried running them in mach 2 since mach 3 is beta. same stuff, lots of twitching, although they definately respond when i jog them, i can feel them sort of become more active, twitch a lot more.

the stepper wires are sheilded with rubber/plastic, if thats what you mean. there is no "wire mesh" sheilding stuff, like coaxial cable.

btw, did i mention i'm a n00b?

[ger21]

I would try wiring up 1 stepper only, with short wires, and see if it works better. If it does, then you probably need shielded cable. Shield as in mesh or foil. And the shield needs to be grounded at ONE END ONLY.

WARNING. NEVER attach or remove wires from a Xylotex with the power on.

Also, I'd recommend trying Mach3. Although it's beta, it's reportedly pretty stable, and it adds a lot of features. If you find a problem, you can post it on the Yahoo group and it will usually be fixed for the next release if it's a serious issue. Another reason is that once you set up Mach2, if you want to switch to Mach3, you'll have to do the setup all over again.

[DieGuy]

To eliminate the software how about loading DOS and turboCNC to see what the reaction is. The download contains a default .ini for a Xylotex controller. This will tell you if it is a software setting issue or a controller/wiring issue.

Edit:
PS I think it will all fit on a 3.5 inch floppy

[pleasuretool]

with current setup: hooked up only x-axis, loaded mach 3. same problems.
with only 12" stepper wires, and really long parallel cable, x-axis only, loadeed mach 3. same problem

with 12" stepper wires, loaded turboCNC in "safe mode with command prompt." no movement at all. (yes, i loaded the xylotex INI file)

i don't think safe-mode command prompt is the same as pure msdos mode. how do i get into that from winXP?

should i tap the "COM" line (driver board ground) and ground the driver board enlosure?

someone on another forum said the stepper motor wires aren't what pick up noise, the parallel cable is. but who uses a sheilded parallel cable? and if it was noise, wouldn't the motors twitch all the time?

i DO NOT have a break out board, the driver board is attached directly to the motherboard parallel port. Is this a problem?

thanks all for your help.

[ger21]

You can't get straight DOS form XP, and TurboCNC won't work at all in XP. Try plugging in the Xylotex with the cable it came with, and NOT the really long one.

[rcazwillis]

I had the same issue when I setup my box for the first time. The problem went away with TurboCNC. I think the PC was just not fast enough for Mach2. Mach2 worked great in the house on my newest machine, but would not run on the one I intend to use on my mill.

To make a dos disk in XP, open My Computer, right click on the A drive. Choose Format. In the format window, check the box next to "Create MS-DOS Start-up Disk". Once it is done, reboot the machine with the disk in the A drive. As long as the BIOS is setup to check A first, it will boot to Dos. You can then run TurboCNC or StepTest. Both will fit on a floppy.

[pleasuretool]

Originally Posted by rcazwillis I had the same issue when I setup my box for the first time. The problem went away with TurboCNC. I think the PC was just not fast enough for Mach2. Mach2 worked great in the house on my newest machine, but would not run on the one I intend to use on my mill. To make a dos disk in XP, open My Computer, right click on the A drive. Choose Format. In the format window, check the box next to "Create MS-DOS Start-up Disk". Once it is done, reboot the machine with the disk in the A drive. As long as the BIOS is setup to check A first, it will boot to Dos. You can then run TurboCNC or StepTest. Both will fit on a floppy.

awesome, will try this. i have an athlon 1900+ (1.4ghz i believe), i thought that'd be plenty fast, but i'll try turboCNC and let you know the results.

GER21: yeah i tried connecting it directly as well, with the driver board hanging from the back , hehe, same problem.

[rcazwillis]

Originally Posted by pleasuretool awesome, will try this. i have an athlon 1900+ (1.4ghz i believe), i thought that'd be plenty fast, but i'll try turboCNC and let you know the results.

My 2600 in the house would run it no problem. Motors were still and reacted well. The 400 mhz in the garage would run it, but with the symptoms described. TurboCNC runs great on the 400. Good luck and let us know.

[pminmo]

Did you set the step rate and current limits on the xylotex?

Phil

[strat]

did you use the port on the MB or do you have a seperate portcard? on my machine the onboard port is really really noisey i added another port card to the machine and no probs...............................