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  #31  
Old Wed 31 August 2011, 05:09
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
I do not think there is anything wrong with wiring or power supplies......

Mach runs in two modes:
- motor tuning, via pulse streams generated by the PC and then it runs good and strong
- actual cutting, also via pulse streams generated by the PC and then it runs bad

So the fault lies in how the PC makes those pulse streams for the 2 modes of Mach
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  #32  
Old Wed 31 August 2011, 05:21
rival
Just call me: rival
 
vic
Australia
All the cables to and from the geckos are shielded cables.
The red wires are the ground terminations for the shields for the cables from the machine to the geckos.
The input signal cable shields are also grounded to the same point.
The wires from the pmdx to the geckos are shielded cables but I have not ground those.
I think the explanation from the mach3 forum seems the most likely.
I did individually test each motor / gecko today by detaching all the relevant wiring to each motor / gecko.
No change and all motors performed the same fashion.

Motors are wired bipolar.
Checked the connections any number of times.

Thanks Andrew
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  #33  
Old Wed 31 August 2011, 05:29
rival
Just call me: rival
 
vic
Australia
Thanks Gerald , I am pretty sure ( hoping like hell ) that the pc is the cause of my woes.
Going to try and beg borrow or buy another buy the end of the week.
Watch this space.

If any one else has any suggestions though , would appreciate the input.

Need to get this puppy up and going as have at least 2 paying jobs lined up !

Andrew
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  #34  
Old Wed 31 August 2011, 06:21
bradm
Just call me: Brad #10
 
Somerville(MA)
United States of America
Given that the entire setup works fine in tuning, but doesn't in normal mode, I agree with the assessments that it is a software / computer issue.

Note that if there is an expansion slot (PCI, etc) in the computer, you can still add a video card even if there is onboard video. The BIOS will have an option as to which card it defaults to. So if access to a video card is easier than a new computer, you could try that.

Can you tell us anything about the computer you are using? processor, motherboard, memory?
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  #35  
Old Wed 31 August 2011, 06:35
rival
Just call me: rival
 
vic
Australia
Brad

As below for specs on computer, was thinking about adding a video card.
But only paid under a 100 aussie dollars for the tower. going to cost me almost that for a video card. Might see if I can get another tower with a seperate video card. Then I can swap the video card to give me a third configuration.

Existing computer as below
Make/Model
HP/DX2000
Processor/Speed
Pentium 4/3.0GHz
Motherboard/Chipset HP/865G Chipset
Memory slots
2 DIMM sockets
1024mb/2Gb maximum
PC3200, 400MHz, DDR1 SDRAM memory supported
Installed memory 1024mb
Storage 40gb Hard Disk Drive
Optical devices CDRW
Modem None
Operating system Windows XP Pro (no media supplied)
Video Intel Extreme Graphics 2 (integrated with the 865GV chipset)
Sound
Integrated Intel® Audio with Premier Internal Speaker
Network
Integrated Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet NIC
On board I/O
6 USB ports (two in front, four in back), USB 2.0
One 9-pin 16550 serial ports
One 25-pin parallel port port, support EPP and ECP operation
Keyboard, monitor, and mouse ports
Microphone input, line-out, line in audio jacks
Other
PCI 2.3 Three (3) full-height slots on PCA
Expansion bays
Two (2) 3.50" half-height
Two (2) 5.25" half-height
Physical
355 x 180 x 410 mm
Weight fully loaded - approximately 10Kgs
Case condition Some minor marks
Warranty 30 Day


I think the logic of the movement in tuning proving the hardware / wiring is sound = the computer at fault

Andrew
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  #36  
Old Wed 31 August 2011, 07:01
Surfcnc
Just call me: Ross #74
 
Queensland
Australia
Hi Andrew

I have read the mach support posts here for anyone who is following.
My reading of this is that it is hardly conclusive, however at this stage just like PC repair it is time just start swapping out bits (including trialing another PC).
Even a laptop might be the go for a quick test if it has a LPT port.
You have not mentioned an operating system clean install as part of your diagnostics, sometimes this can be useful.
Ensure the drivers esp the onboard video drivers are correctly loaded.

Read your PC spec and it is considerably more powerful than what many others are using to run Mach.
If I was to say one thing it is a little short on memory particularly as it has shared memory for the onboard video.
The fact remains however, many machine controllers use onboard graphics quite successfully - including mine!
So a quick swap out with any PC you can get your hands on, then install mach still might be the quickest way to see where you stand.

Regards
Ross
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  #37  
Old Wed 31 August 2011, 07:06
bradm
Just call me: Brad #10
 
Somerville(MA)
United States of America
Try this: Go into the BIOS and disable the audio, and the network card.
In XP, set the video to the lowest resolution you can stand (Think recovery mode).

Note that when looking for a replacement video card you're not looking for the latest fastest; the oldest, basic PCI slot simple video card is desirable. If it doesn't have a fan, it's perfect. The kind of thing a PC enthusiast put in a scrap pile after an upgrade; street value around $10. Anybody around you repair PCs?
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  #38  
Old Wed 31 August 2011, 07:46
rival
Just call me: rival
 
vic
Australia
Ross / Brad

Thanks for following the thread and giving a fresh look at things.
The Computer was bought as a reconditioned pc.
Was a very basic install with just window xp.

Hope it is the computer, as otherwise i'll be pulling wires !


Thanks Andrew
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  #39  
Old Wed 31 August 2011, 10:52
MetalHead
Just call me: Mike
 
Columbiana AL
United States of America
One thing to consider if XP was already loaded you do not know what was loaded with it. They usally use univeral type images that may have drivers for many devices installed that could conflict somewhere. A fresh load would be a good test also, even on the second PC your buying. Also as with a cheap stand alone video board you can also buy a cheap stand alone LPT Port.
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  #40  
Old Wed 31 August 2011, 11:37
bradm
Just call me: Brad #10
 
Somerville(MA)
United States of America
Note that the issue here isn't the overall processor speed; it's the latency of the interrupt response of the machine, which is affected much more by the peripherals and memory bus than the processor. The issue with machines with integrated video, and in particular machines with certain generations of Intel video, is that the video accesses to main memory starve the CPU. So the very fast CPU is ready to context switch and respond to the timer interrupt, and suddenly it can't access main memory to do so and has to wait. I believe the 865 platforms are one of those.

Other peripherals can also cause this effect, which is why you troubleshoot by disabling as many of them as you can. Also, any power management settings should generally be turned off, except you may want ACPI in general enabled, even though all the subsettings are off. Reducing the display resolution, and in particular the number of colors, reduces the amount of bandwidth video is using, and might get you past the latency problem, although adding a display card is the solution you need for this symptom.

Good luck locating a PC to comparison test with.
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  #41  
Old Thu 01 September 2011, 03:20
rival
Just call me: rival
 
vic
Australia
Brad , Mike

Thanks for the extra info. Just got to find the time to find another computer.
Just got busy with work, didn,t get a chance to even look at the mechmate today.

I will be sure to update this post when I get another pc up and connected.

Andrew
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  #42  
Old Sat 03 September 2011, 01:08
Belli
Just call me: Greg
 
Johannesburg
South Africa
Do you have 'Max NC mode' checked under 'Config -> Ports and pins'?
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  #43  
Old Sat 03 September 2011, 02:54
rival
Just call me: rival
 
vic
Australia
Problem resolved !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello to everybody who has been following this thread.

Success ! Success !

Managed to get myself another computer today.
Made sure it had a seperate video card.
Upped the ram from the last one to 2 gb.
XP pro.

First thing I did was , remove as many unwanted stuff / power saving settings / startup programs. Ran a system registry cleaner.
Did all the things on the Mach3 optimisation list.

As soon as I fired mach3 up and jogged the gantry the difference was amazing. Full speed jogging not an issue either.

If I get the time sometime in the future I will put the graphics card out of the new computer into the old one, will be an interesting experiment and will confirm it as the culprit.

I should have read the mach3 computer spec better off their website , as it does clearly state no integrated video !


I was so enthused by the sudden lack of problems , that I wired up and got the spindle going under mach3 control ( thanks Matty Zee for the plug in ).
Well it wasn't that trouble free as I forgot to install the drivers for the usb-rs converter . Still need to configure speed settings and acceleration for the spindle. But ran code with no interferance . BONUS.

Got some wires to tidy up , run the coolant lines for the spindle. Then I will be far enough along to actually cut something !!


I am planning on running my coolant lines along the extraction hose rather than thru the cable chains, any one see any issues with this.
I will be putting the pump / tank up on a level with the hose , so it doesn't have much of a "head" to pump.


Thanks for all the suggestions on the tuning issue, one of which led me to the mach3 forums and a link on there to someone who had an almost identical issue , led to a fix.


Andrew
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  #44  
Old Sat 03 September 2011, 03:41
KenC
Just call me: Ken
 
Klang
Malaysia
Quote:
Originally Posted by rival View Post
。。。。。。。

I was so enthused by the sudden lack of problems , 。。。。。。

Andrew
No worries, you will have plenty problems solving opportunity ahead.

That's where the real fun are.

Congrats, one down plenty more to go

Hope to see some saw dust soon!
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  #45  
Old Sat 03 September 2011, 04:37
MetalHead
Just call me: Mike
 
Columbiana AL
United States of America
Glad to hear you got it fixed !!!!
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  #46  
Old Sat 03 September 2011, 05:03
Surfcnc
Just call me: Ross #74
 
Queensland
Australia
Andrew

Persistence pays off - someone is grinning today

Regards
Ross
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