Hello everyone

I'd really appreciate some help.  I really can't wait to start making stuff but my machine keeps acting up.
I have a taig cnc mill and am currently having some trouble with it, well, i'm not sure if its the controller or mach 3 thats causing the problems .

I seem to have 3 problems (the machine that is not me, i have a lot more than that ) -

1: The X and Y axes are working but i have no response out of the Z or A axes, i've checked the Z and A motors by wiring them up to the X and Y ports and they work fine, i've also checked the pinouts and they seem to be correct also, does mach 3 have some sort of safety mechanism so noobs like myself don't kill ourselves first time round?

2: I also cannot seem to find the jog controls anymore, one day they were there, the next they were gone, where did they jog off to? Did i inadvertently press a hotkey? Oh, and i've tried the control alt + J hotkey, nada.

3:When i cut a circle it goes all wonky and makes S's, do i need to reverse some wiring or something?

Thanks in advance,
Paulie

1. Nope, we like to kill off the noobs so all safety mechanisms are100% disabled Seriously though, you say you swapped the ports, what do you mean by that, did you swap the pins you asigned or physically swap wires around?

2. Jog controls are the arrow keys or are you meaning the flyout screen when you press the Tab key? If the arrow keys are not working then you have possibly deleted or asigned different hotkeys to the axis. If you go to the Config menu then down to hotkeys you can asign them by clciking on for example X++ and when the press a key box pops up press the right arrow on the keyboard.

3. Check that when you command a positive X move the tool travels right in relation to your work(table moves to left), same for a positive Y , tool will be away from you in relation to the work (table towards you) If an axis is moving the wrong way then you can tick the reverse axis box in Homing and Limits, again from the Config menu.

Hood

I'll leave Hood to sort you out on the jogging - but just a quick one or two things to try on your Z and A axis.

Assuming you have the correct pin/wire numbers to your drivers for step and dir -
and I am assuming you are using something like 2,3  - 4,5 - 6,7 - 8,9
1. Have you enabled the axis - sounds daft - but I have done it  - Config/Ports and Pins/Motor Outputs - first column.
2. Is the Port number correctly set - Config/Ports and Pins/Motor Outputs - columns 6 and 7
3. Most driver cards have an enable pin - which requires a 0v connection - is this connected. (Dont try and connect this via the computer - to get going just connect it to ground (check your manual - it might be +5v - but it should be ground)

1. Nope, we like to kill off the noobs so all safety mechanisms are100% disabled Seriously though, you say you swapped the ports, what do you mean by that, did you swap the pins you asigned or physically swap wires around?

2. Jog controls are the arrow keys or are you meaning the flyout screen when you press the Tab key? If the arrow keys are not working then you have possibly deleted or asigned different hotkeys to the axis. If you go to the Config menu then down to hotkeys you can asign them by clciking on for example X++ and when the press a key box pops up press the right arrow on the keyboard.

3. Check that when you command a positive X move the tool travels right in relation to your work(table moves to left), same for a positive Y , tool will be away from you in relation to the work (table towards you) If an axis is moving the wrong way then you can tick the reverse axis box in Homing and Limits, again from the Config menu.

Hood

Hi Hood,


1. I physically swapped the wirng from the X and Y axes to the Z and A and the motors worked, i just wanted to make sure they were not the problem, i suppose i could have swapped the pins around but being a noob i didn't think of that, i like doing things the hard way .

2. Thanks for that, i must have hit the tab key without noticing, i thought it had just disappeared, oops.

3. I've done that now, and the circles are coming out perfect, thanks again.

I'll leave Hood to sort you out on the jogging - but just a quick one or two things to try on your Z and A axis.

Assuming you have the correct pin/wire numbers to your drivers for step and dir -
and I am assuming you are using something like 2,3  - 4,5 - 6,7 - 8,9
1. Have you enabled the axis - sounds daft - but I have done it  - Config/Ports and Pins/Motor Outputs - first column.
2. Is the Port number correctly set - Config/Ports and Pins/Motor Outputs - columns 6 and 7
3. Most driver cards have an enable pin - which requires a 0v connection - is this connected. (Dont try and connect this via the computer - to get going just connect it to ground (check your manual - it might be +5v - but it should be ground)

Hi Jimpinder,

Yes i am using the pinouts as you have shown, the control board manual also says that these are correct.

1. Yes i have all the  axes enabled.

2. As above, i've sorted this problem .

3. Would the x and y axes work if i had not done this, and why would it only stop the z and a axes from working?

Thanks again folks.

Try connecting the drives for Z and A up to the X and Y motors and see if they work, also try swapping the port pins for X and Y and use them on Z and A. Doing these steps will tell whether its a port or drive problem.
Hood

Try connecting the drives for Z and A up to the X and Y motors and see if they work, also try swapping the port pins for X and Y and use them on Z and A. Doing these steps will tell whether its a port or drive problem.
Hood

Hi Hood,

I connected the Z and A up to the X and Y, i can hear A motor trying to move on the X axis, might just need to be tuned. The Z motor moves on the Y axis but only in one direction, downwards?

When i leave the Z and A on their own axes and assign the pins for X and Y to them nothing happens at all, no clicks or sounds?

Strange huh?

Sounds like you may have a few issues, with the motor only moving one direction it sounds like the direction pin may have a bad connection. What happens if you put them back the way they were and then swap all the axis pins around, ie if you asign the X and Y pins to the Z and A and Z and A pins to X and Y.
Hood

Sounds like you may have a few issues, with the motor only moving one direction it sounds like the direction pin may have a bad connection. What happens if you put them back the way they were and then swap all the axis pins around, ie if you asign the X and Y pins to the Z and A and Z and A pins to X and Y.
Hood

Yeah its weird, its been like this since i got it a couple of months ago, i kind of know i have everything set up right. I'll give those things you've said a shot and get back to you,
Thanks.

Also if you have a voltmeter disconnect your parallel cable from the breakout board end and put the meter between ground and each of the Dir pins. Jog each axis and see that the pins go between 5V and 0V when you swap direction. You can also do similar with the Step pins but you will need to set the meter to milli volts range, as you Jog you will see a voltage, the actual voltage is unimportant and it will depend on what speed your rapids are set to. As I said its unim[portant as all you are looking for is a reading when joigginbg and nothing when sitting still. If you have a scope it would be better as you could actuallly look at the pulses but you may not have oone.
Hood

Also if you have a voltmeter disconnect your parallel cable from the breakout board end and put the meter between ground and each of the Dir pins. Jog each axis and see that the pins go between 5V and 0V when you swap direction. You can also do similar with the Step pins but you will need to set the meter to milli volts range, as you Jog you will see a voltage, the actual voltage is unimportant and it will depend on what speed your rapids are set to. As I said its unim[portant as all you are looking for is a reading when joigginbg and nothing when sitting still. If you have a scope it would be better as you could actuallly look at the pulses but you may not have oone.
Hood

No i don't have a scope,i have a multimeter though, i'll give it a blast,
thanks again