Although I reported this problem under another thread , I decided to make a new thread because it is a serious problem for me.

I’m advancing slowly with my first CNC router machine and I’m at the stage where I want to home my three axes and set the soft limits in mach3.

The problem I have however is that holding a keyboard arrow key to jog an axis works fine but is not consistent. Like if I press and hold down the up or down arrow key the Y axis moves fine in one direction but if I let go and press again the same key “sometimes” moves in the opposite direction. So I keep pressing the arrow key and hitting it to approach the home position slowly and all of a sudden it will start going in the opposite direction. Same for the X axis.

My Z axis is not working presently due to a bad driver board – I’m expecting a new one shortly. But switching cables around I have the same problem with the up / down keys.

I have checked the arrow keys in a Word document and Excel and they work fine. 

Anyone had a similar problem? Any ideas for a solution?
Nicolas

I have not seen that before. What kind of keyboard you using? Silicone by chance? Any ps2 to usb or usb to ps2 adapters? Have you tried another keyboard yet?

Brett

I have not seen that before. What kind of keyboard you using? Silicone by chance? Any ps2 to usb or usb to ps2 adapters? Have you tried another keyboard yet?

Brett

That is the keyboard of a Dell Latitude laptop (C600). It is an old laptop build in 2000 but works great and perfect for a CNC in a small workshop. No ps2 to usb adapters. I have installed windows XP home and nothing else. I have 2 other computers but non with printer port. I will see if I can borough one from a friend
Nicolas

I would try a different KEYBOARD as I don't see that problem here.Jogging is rock solid here.
 Could be a keyboard setting in XP??

Just a thought , (;-) TP

I would try a different KEYBOARD as I don't see that problem here.Jogging is rock solid here.
 Could be a keyboard setting in XP??

Just a thought , (;-) TP

Don't think it is an XP setting, as I said keyboard works fine in other apps.

Perhaps re installing mach3? I might do that
Nicolas

Hi Nicolas,

I actually had a very similar thing happen to me but it turned out I had my wiring screwed up at the connector that mated to my control box.

I was getting random direction jogs when hitting only one direction on the keyboard. Once I looked into my wiring, it worked like a charm. Just something else to think about-

Dave

Hi Nicolas,

I actually had a very similar thing happen to me but it turned out I had my wiring screwed up at the connector that mated to my control box.

I was getting random direction jogs when hitting only one direction on the keyboard. Once I looked into my wiring, it worked like a charm. Just something else to think about-

Dave

Which wiring you are talking Dave? I will assume it is the motors wiring?

If that is yes you just switched the +A -A, +B -B motor wiring? Can you please elaborate what you actually did?

I checked today the System Hotkeys Setup and found that all jogkeys were set to 999. I change them to what they supposed to be but did not make any difference
Nicolas

Hi Nicolas,

Yes, it was the motor cable and I would have been more specific but I actually think I had a strand from one of the direction signals shorting out with another.

It was not a just a stupid wiring mistake, it was just a "sloppy" mistake as I had the individual wires in the correct places, just not a clean and tidy job. 

If I were you, I'd have a look at the wiring again just to be sure.

Dave

Thank you Dave, I will have a look
Nicolas

Put a voltmeter on the Dir pin and do your jogging and note whether its 5v or 0v then when it does its strange reversal thing have a look at the voltmeter and see if its swapped. Obviously this will have to be on the parallel cable side of your breakout board as you are wanting to check the signal direct from Mach, not sure how easy it will be to get that pin, will depend on the makeup of the board.
Hood