Mach3 - Jogging - strange things happen

[Smirkin]

Hi folks

A strange thing happens when I jog ( not me personally, my CNC ) in Mach3.

I am loosing steps when jogging using the keyboard arrows, although, When I have the jogging fly out open (tab key) I can jog without any issues.

The motors make a clunk sound about once per revolution. It is missing steps! At first I thought the ball screw may be binding but when I disconnected the stepper from the ball screw, the sound remained (so it happens even under no loading). In addition, I reduced the velocity and acceleration in the motor tuning thinking I was pushing the limits with one or the other – did not help! This is the same for X, Y and Z axis.

I am not sure where to turn to to resolve my problem so any assistance would be appreciated.I have searched the web for solutions but have not found one as yet.

Is anyone aware of others that may have had similar issues? Do you have any recommendations to resolve my problem or able to direct me to a forum that may assist? What information should I gather that could assist?

I have been using the CNC router for six months and have had no problems with jogging in the past. The only change that I can recall to the PC is the install of a USB wireless network card and the usual windows updates.

your feedback is most welcomed.

Craig

[RustyArc]

I just got my 6040 machine going and was getting regular "chunks" from the steppers - about twice a second in my case, even with the stepper disconnected from the axis - typically this is meant to be due to some process on the PC interrupting the flow of steps, so yeah, I'd be looking the USB Wireless thing first - maybe try disabling it in device manager.

In my case, I ended up downgrading my XP kernel to "Standard PC" rather than "Multiprocessor ACPI PC" - after that, smooth feeds.

[Smirkin]

I just got my 6040 machine going and was getting regular "chunks" from the steppers - about twice a second in my case, even with the stepper disconnected from the axis - typically this is meant to be due to some process on the PC interrupting the flow of steps, so yeah, I'd be looking the USB Wireless thing first - maybe try disabling it in device manager.

In my case, I ended up downgrading my XP kernel to "Standard PC" rather than "Multiprocessor ACPI PC" - after that, smooth feeds.

Thanks for the reply Rusty. It sounds very similar to the issue I am having.

This is what I have done so far in an attempt to rectify the problem......

I uninstall the wireless USB adapter and in addition cleaned the HDD of all unnecessary software, defragmented the drive, ran a check disk after I uninstalled the Mach3 software, reinstalled the latest stable version of Mach3 and reran the driver test with the same results.


I the jogged the machine and had the same issue with the motors missing steps AND stalling. As soon as I hit the tab key to open the jogging fly-out, the steppers jog without missing a step.

When you say you down graded to "standard PC" how do you do that?

Craig

[RustyArc]

As soon as I hit the tab key to open the jogging fly-out, the steppers jog without missing a step.

I must say I can't remember if the behaviour was different using the triangles on that MDI thing, I always just open that thing and switch it to "jog" and use the arrow/pg up/pg dow keys on the keyboard, however I also heard the rhythmical chunking during rapids when running G-code. I was also able to increase the rapid & feed rates after I got rid of the chunking noise, as I think it causes a momentary change in velocity that can cause a stall or missed steps.

Bottom line, I think your problem might be a bit different to mine - are you using a wireless keyboard perhaps, or some kind of fancy keyboard with its own driver?

As for converting to Standard PC, in XP you go device manager, Computer, ACPI PC, Update Driver, Install from list, Don't search and then select Standard PC. Be warned, it's a painful process as on next boot it'll re-detect and re-install drivers for *all* your hardware.

[Smirkin]

As for converting to Standard PC, in XP you go device manager, Computer, ACPI PC, Update Driver, Install from list, Don't search and then select Standard PC. Be warned, it's a painful process as on next boot it'll re-detect and re-install drivers for *all* your hardware.

Mmmmm that almost sounds like a challenge

maybe I'll try a few other options first!

I have sent a few email to ArtSoft to see if they have a solution. They have requested a bit of info from me, lets wait and see.

I did propose the question of converting to a std PC and this is the response I received.

Quote "Changing the computer type to "Standard PC" is a work-around to resolve issues with the CPU/chipset and how they handle the driver, but it is not something that we ever tell people to do (that setting is beyond the scope of the software)" end quote.

And I agree that how a PC is set up is not the responsibility of software developer.

I just don't understand what - if anything - has changed in two weeks since I last used the machine.

I will keep you posted.

Craig

[SawDustSniffer]

try 1/2ing your acceleration , it might run fine at top speed but if its accelerating too hard , it might be missing steps there

[RustyArc]

try 1/2ing your acceleration , it might run fine at top speed but if its accelerating too hard , it might be missing steps there

Except there appears to be a distinct difference in this case between using the keyboard arrow keys to jog versus the triangle buttons on the Mach 3 MDI thing, ie. the former has interruptions, the latter is smooth. That suggests some keyboard, mouse or other input driver is messing with things.

[Smirkin]

try 1/2ing your acceleration , it might run fine at top speed but if its accelerating too hard , it might be missing steps there

Thank you for your input. I have reduced the acceleration but unfortunately it the problem remained - just took a bit longer to get there. Lol

I then reset it to my previous setting.

Craig

[Smirkin]

Except there appears to be a distinct difference in this case between using the keyboard arrow keys to jog versus the triangle buttons on the Mach 3 MDI thing, ie. the former has interruptions, the latter is smooth. That suggests some keyboard, mouse or other input driver is messing with things.

I tried your previous suggestion of changing the PC to a 'standards PC' but the only noticable difference was some of the timings in the diagnostic screen. Needless to say I undid the changes.

Well, I did another cleanup of the PC fully removed the mach3 software, reinstalled and rebooted and with high expectations, started the Mach3 software with my profile and guess what! It made no difference to the problem I am having.

So I have come to the conclusion that either my profile is causing the problem (which I will address later today - after work), or the LPT port on the PC has gone faulty. I will build a simple PC tonight and give it a test - I hate installing the OS on PC's.

Does anyone know if a small video can be attached to these posts?

Craig

[Smirkin]

So I have come to the conclusion that either my profile is causing the problem (which I will address later today - after work), or the LPT port on the PC has gone faulty. I will build a simple PC tonight and give it a test - I hate installing the OS on PC's.

OK! Today I created a new profile in Mach3 with the basicrequirements for axis movements and the issue remains.

At this stage I am eliminating the Mach3 software from my focus and will builda basic PC tonight.

I am hoping for some reason that the LPT port on the current PC has gonefaulty. If the missing steps remain after this build, logic tells me I shouldstart looking at the G540 controller.

Does this logic make any sense to anyone?

Craig

[RustyArc]

If the missing steps remain after this build, logic tells me I should start looking at the G540 controller.

The G540 is a stepper drive unit, which is a stage beyond the Mach 3 -> parallel port interface where you are having problems (unless it is actually related to the drive units). I think you'd probably want to look at a USB or Ethernet interface unit, like a Smoothstepper.

[Bob Willson]

Before you do that, try using a PS2 keyboard.

[Smirkin]

Before you do that, try using a PS2 keyboard.

Interesting!

I'll give it a go when I get home from work.

Thanks Bob

[Prle77]

I've got a feeling that one of windows updates might have upgraded drivers for either motherboard, ports, chipsets etc...

have you tried undoing the updates????

When you done change to Standard PC... it still kept updated drivers.. thus problem would still persist...

Two options.. do system restore to before updates.. (I might recommend disabling updates on such pc due to other possible issues)
Or (the worse case scenario)
Reinstall windows... (shivers..)

My thinking would be... dedicate the machine for cnc and once all running... no updates or change of hardware...

[snowyskiesau]

Reinstall the Mach 3 parallel port driver and disable future Windows updates.