Kobus, you are Steps Per Millimeter, while John is probably Steps Per Inch

I had similiar problems, I wired mine Bipolar parallel then corrected my pins and ports.

Jason

@Kobus and Gerald
I'm fairly confident on the wiring, but i did do half the stepper winding with no results. I believe Mike also had his motors wired up the same way and I checked against his pictures to make sure. I am doing this in steps per Inch as well. I tried changing the settings for pins 8 and 9 and reversed their step and directions with no luck this morning.

@JasonC
what was your procedure for correcting your pins and ports?

again guys, thanks for the continued help.

Yes I wired mine the same. So that should be ok.

http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showt...14&postcount=1

Look at the red jumper block. You need to enable the charge pump.

Also disable Step Active low.

Let us see the port setup also. If your at 45Khz you can run at 3000 Steps, 750 Velocity and 80 on the acceleration for testing.

@Mike
enabled the charge pump, disabled step active low and here is the pic of the port setup. After the changes I've still got no movement. On the board before, I had multiple lights light up, I think the output ports were lit up as well as the light saying outputs enabled. After flipping on the charge pump, and restarting the computer, the only light that comes on is the power on button, is this behavior indicative of anything?
Attachment 12704

Did you change the Parallel LPT port settings in the BIOS of your computer per the Mach 3 instructions?

What section is that under? 2.2.1 just deals with the drivertest (which it passed) and 5.2.1 is just the windows settings (which I believe to be correct. can you give me the section number to which part you are referring to?

i verified that the parallel port is the correct one. Before when the charge pump wasn't enabled, the board would make a clicking sound when power was first applied, I assume that was a small breaker tripping, or is that normal? Also when the charge pump wasn't enabled the light for pin 8 was lit up. Now that the charge pump is enabled, the only light on the board that lights up is the Power one.

http://www.pmdx.com/PMDX-122, page 5 of the manual.

Are you using the PMDX 122? If so, check to see if it matches this guide.

I'm using the pmdx-126, but i'll give that guide a look when i get back tonight.

next step is to rotate between pin numbers. Even though the PMDX says 8,9 try 1,2 just to see if that is the issue.

Also need to be sure your wires that have the crimped ends have been stripped.

So the BIOS is set to a EPP state for the printer port? If so look at post #2 http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2750. It's a long shot but solved my problem. Ignor the fact I have the G-540, the problem would be the same.

Steve,
Thank you. That is what I was trying to convey with respect to EPP mode. It was evading me while I was typing.

One other thing i noticed is Im using a Smoothstepper USB. My computer wouldnt move the motors without it.

Also my pins and ports I had to follow the manual that Mike suggested and I also reinstalled Mach3.

I can look at my setup this weekend when time permits.

Jason

I think that focusing on the PC at this point is the correct palce to be looking. Reload of Mach and checkking EPP in the BIOS are easy and should be done.

Any luck? Ill check my pins and ports today. Also if you can use the SmoothStepper, everything you said sounds just like what I went through to a T.

Jas

Have you tried another computer? Happened to me already.

Hey guys, So I checked my parallel port, it was set to bi-directional, changed it to EPP, still no dice. Right now, I'm reinstalling a fresh version of windows XP and reinstalling mach3. If that doesn't work, I'll try and frankenstein another computer together to test that out. Thanks guys for the support so far, I'll let you know how it goes here in a few.

John,

What version of Mach are you using? It looks like you have a very old version.

Ok so, fresh install of mach3 directly from the website (I was using a copy I had downloaded in '07 when i started this shindig- Doh!) and no luck. I also tried it on another computer I had in the house, and made sure to verify the EPP state, and still nothing. In both cases, when i try and jog the x-axis, the step light on the board lights up, but nothing else, thats the only activity I have on the whole setup. no noise from the motor or anything at all.

I'm going to recheck my wiring, but I'm not entirely sure what to try next, any ideas?

Recap to this point: 1 motor and gecko wired up, to a pmdx 126, using a parallel cable. computer with fresh install of mach 3 and windows xp, latest of each. computer has parallel set to EPP and enabled. pins are set to the correct step and direction, port is set correctly. jogging settings are 3000 Steps, 750 Velocity and 80 on the acceleration for testing. power light is green on gecko. power light is lit on pmdx, steps light up when tested, but pin lights aren't lit and motor does nothing.

what are your output signal settings set at?

none of them are set? all are disabled and set at 0.

Sorry John, that was a stupid question as it doesn't have anything to do with this type of problem.:o

I do know one thing though, it could still be the computer, even though you tried it on another one. It happened to me on two separate occasions. For some reason mach3 will not work on certain computers. Anyway I hope you can resolve this issue and get cutting soon. It's just a matter of time till someone figures it out.:)

Good Luck

Don

Im pretty sure that my setup had the same problem with the comunication via the printer port. Everything still sound the same as what I went through. Is it possible to borrow a Smoothstepper just to test it out? I have a old Emachine T6410 computer.

Jas

I tested it out on a reasonably old, and then a reasonably new computer with the same results. Next step is to try and find a newer bios version and then maybe a different motor and gecko as maybe something is wrong with my wiring and maybe a whole new setup in will work. I wish I could get ahold of a smoothstepper around here but 95% of the people I tell about my project ask "what is a cnc machine?" so parts aren't too readily available for me to borrow :/ If all else fails I might have to fork over the money for one though.

I think Gerald nailed this back in post #38. Looking at your photos, you appear
to have a brown wire on DIR, wired to pin 8; red wire on STEP, wired to pin 9. However, your Mach screen has Step on pin 8 and Dir on pin 9.

Either flip the two wires (preferred), or change the Mach configuration. Also, you should be able to use the Test Modes shown in section 5.4 of the manual to prove that the PMDX and drives are working independent of the computer. Then move on to the computer.

Did your printer cable come from PMDX? Is it by-directional? Also I would like a screen shot of your control panel showing your LPT1 settings.

I don't know if I missed it, but are you using XP 64 or XP 32? In Win 7 Mach tech support really!! want me to use Win 7 32 bit, on my computer. Win 7 64 bit does not crash my computer as it is said it is supposed to and things do not work. I use Win 7 64 on most everything, unfortunate about the 32 bit requirement. I am assuming about same issue with XP 32 and 64 and I really do not know for certain. Others may.

Hey guys, sorry I've taken so long to reply, I had finals week hit me, and everything had to go on the backburner, but i'm back at it now. I've got some more parts in, cable carrier, pinions, and tool steel, should be almost done buying things. I also went out and got another computer to test my electronics with, as i found the one i had was far too old and out of shape for the job.

I've done some more tinkering over the last 24 hours with my electronics and still no turning (but also no smoke) and I've ruled out the computer being an issue. A big help was brad reminding me about the testing features of the PMDX. I haven't been able to get the motor turning with just the PMDX in test mode, so i know it hasn't been a computer issue. But unfortunately thats all I've determined. I've gone and triple checked my wiring, I've measured and received a correct voltage from the power supply to the gecko. I've tried measuring the ohms on my resistor, but I got a value of around 130K when its a 422K resistor, so I've identified that as a possible problem. I've swapped out drives, and motors, and still no dice. Any thoughts on this very frustrating problem?

Also to answer further questions, I'm using windows xp 32 bit, my parallel cable is bi-directional, and it is not a pmdx cable. I dont have a pic of the LPT1 settings yet cause the computer is not plugged in.

also to further clarify, I tested the PMDX in test mode, and the proper lights came on both the PMDX and the gecko, but when I pressed the test button, the motor did not move, although the light came on the PMDX saying steps were being sent.

I am interested also. How are the motors wired? Bi polar parallel, bi polar series, 1/2 coil? Is there continuity between the Gecko and the motor on all leads?

John, could you confirm that you've corrected the apparent wiring error identified in post #70 (and mentioned as a possibility in #38)?

my motors are wired bi-polar parallel. can you elaborate on the correct method to check for continuity between the gecko and the leads?

@bradm yellow is step and brown is dir on gecko. yellow is connected to 8, brown is connected to 9. 8 is step and 9 is direction. I think the wiring in the pictures is correct?

I would disconnect each wire at the gecko and at the stepper and use the continuity test feature on your volt meter (the tone), if it is a long run, get a jumper from one end and hook to the meter and touch the other end of the wire. You should get a tone if the wiring is OK. I do not think you will get a reliable result if you leave the stepper wired in. If you have plugs/connectors, make certain that they are fully engaged and or wired correctly. Also included is a wiring diagram from Keling to verify the connections. Good luck.

alright, did a little more testing, fresh motor and drive, no ferrules. connected and pressed the test button and got a response from the motor....which was just humming :/ i reversed the settings so that it would change step and direction pin and i got no sound at all. I'm a little excited because before, i got no sound, so at least i know something is being sent to the motors... not sure what to try next.

alright! so i have movement on a motor finally, although i'm very perturbed at the method which movement was obtained. basically, I removed the resistor, and the motor instantly started happily turning. I'm very scared of this as I assume a resistor is always needed with the gecko so once I tested it I turned it off. I've attached a picture of my resistors and a a link to the motor I am using. based on the formula 47*I / (7-I) and a value of I being 6.3, I found my resistor value to be 423, I had purchased the closest value to that of 422. What am I missing in this scenario, and should I be worried about running the gecko without a resistor?

http://kelinginc.net/KL34H280-45-8A.pdf
Attachment 12759