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-   -   Mach 3 install (http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5438)

ekdenton Mon 19 December 2016 21:16

Mach 3 install
 
Hey Guys, I had a fatal computer HD and PS crash on my MM computer. We may have had a lightning strike, or a bad power surge. At any rate I replaced all the bad computer parts and I had to reinstall Mach3. Now I cant remember or find the information for the initial set up for the MM. Can someone point me in the right direction for some help with the Config. settings? It's been so long since I built it I cant remember much about the set up except I do remember it was a bit difficult to get operating the first time.:)

ekdenton Fri 23 December 2016 06:45

Hey guys is Doug or anyone still here on this forum that can answer my previous post? I haven't been on in about 7 years so I do not recognize any of the people now doing builds. Need a little help with initial set up of Mach3. I didn't save any of the ports and pins settings and I can not find the video that I watched that explained all that years back. Kinds stuck here and I have some customers that are waiting on orders. Been down since last October.

danilom Fri 23 December 2016 12:19

which breakout board you have installed? it should contain all pinout in its manual

danilom Fri 23 December 2016 12:23

Looking at your build thread its PMDX 122

there seem to be couple of revisions but try this PDF

http://www.pmdx.com/Doc/Archive/PMDX-122_Manual_111.pdf

bradm Fri 23 December 2016 12:45

Searching the forum for 'mach 3 config' and 'mach3 config' seems to give a reasonable sized set of results to look through, including http://mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=218&page=2
I did not find any complete configurations. I'm a linuxcnc / machinekit guy, so I don't have a config to send you, but maybe another Mach3 user can do that?

ekdenton Wed 28 December 2016 19:45

okay thanks for the info! :)

Robert M Sun 01 January 2017 13:16

Ed....maybe I can assist you some ?!
I'm still running mine with a PMDX-122 & Mach 3 & Gerry 2010 screen set!
What would you like to know ?

ekdenton Sun 01 January 2017 17:15

I had a fatal computer crash, possibly a lightning strike. It even killed the CD drive on the computer, but amazing enough the motherboard was still good. I have the computer fixed and Mach3 reloaded and ready to go. It's been 8 or 9 years ago since I built it and I forgot pretty much everything about setting it up. Anyway Danilo posted the PDX user manual. So soon as I get time I will go out and see which motor drivers are wired to which pins on the PDX and then set those up in the Mach3 ports and pins. Seems like there are several other things to set up to get the router to spin, and the gantry to travel in the correct direction? Also I remember last time I set up the mechmate the first time it took forever to get home set up. I am using the capacitive proximity sensors also for home positioning. I cant remember how those are wired or if they are set up in the ports and pins also?

ekdenton Wed 22 February 2017 11:50

Okay i am finally getting a moment to work on setting up Mach 3 again. Watching the set up video it says to go to the computer device manager to find the printer port number. I think this is what took me about 3 weeks last time to figure out. This computer has no printer ports in the device manager. I have a parallel port that i added because this computer did not come with one. When I go to parallel port and then to details i see a long string of numbers. Their is not a 3 digit number as in the set up window that you have with a printer port. Am i looking in the wrong place for a port number? Also on motor tuning the default setting is 2000 steps per unit. I will be using inches rather than mm so what will be the setting for the steps per unit?

Also for X-2 motor the choices on mach 3 are X, Y, Z, A, B, C SO X,Y,Z are already used so i am using A for X-2 and set my pins accordingly. It seems like their was something i set before that Mates X-1 and X-2 together but i can not remember what that was LOL the guy in this video did not say about two motors of the same axis.

ekdenton Wed 22 February 2017 14:29

Okay I figured out how to slave A axis with X axis so i should have the two gantry motors i union with each other. I still need to figure out what to set the steps at and what the port number is that i need to plug in.

https://1drv.ms/i/s!AhVqURLDw5_Ri9U-exkbmeSdVwDihQ

https://1drv.ms/i/s!AhVqURLDw5_Ri9U-exkbmeSdVwDihQ

ekdenton Thu 23 February 2017 11:04

I think i have everything set except the port number. So Mach3 is not communicating with the PMDX board. Kinda stuck here. I did an online search and although there are hundreds of people with the same issue i do not see an answer. I tried the 378 and that doesn't work.

ekdenton Thu 23 February 2017 13:20

I think i may have found the problem. with the install of windows after the new hard drive was installed the driver for the parallel port now needs to be re installed. I will have to order another parallel port or find a driver for this one, before i can proceed any further.

MarkRH Tue 28 February 2017 17:17

https://youtu.be/KiCLoQmuJ3g
If you haven't figur3d it out yet this is a great video. I ran I into a similar problem with mach not recognizing the parallel card , I had to go to device manager, ports (different name on mine), then open properties and you will see what letter number combination or numbers to put in mach port, hope that helped

IamDave Sun 25 February 2018 09:00

I see a lot of my questions asked, and never answered. Here read this is not an answer.
That is the same as go ask Bobby he will know.

ekdenton Mon 26 February 2018 06:12

I got it to work eventually. I wound up having to get another computer. I never could get my original computer to work again. We have too many power issues here. It's best to unplug everything when not in use. It's been too cold here for me to run mine lately.

domino11 Fri 02 March 2018 22:25

Hey Ed,
Maybe you should look into whole house surge protectors. I have one
at my place and it covers the house and the shop.Whole House Surge Protector

ekdenton Sat 03 March 2018 07:18

Probably should do that this summer. The only thing I couldn't get back like I had it yet is starting and stopping the router motor automatically. I've been just using the switch I mounted on the z car. I need to figure out how I programmed that. I'm old and memory is short


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