Machine Catastrophy

[OLDMAN]

Don't know what or why this happened: I place a sample piece of material for trial and was using the page down button on the keyboard to zero my Z axis. It started to lower towards material and did NOT stop when I released the key. The router was not running yet as I had not loaded program. Okay so I panic and did not immediately reach for the E Stop but when i did that did nothing. So I grabbed power plug and yanked it out of outlet. By then the damage had been done to both the Z axis and Y axis carriages. I know I'm at fault for not killing power sooner but my question is what the xxll happened. I'm using Mach3 as post processor and Vectric V Carve Pro which as far as i can see had nothing to do with the issue. If there is anyone out there that has had this issue or has an answer to the problem I'll appreciate and answer. Thank you

[Leo]

Have you tested the Estop to see that is in fact actually operates properly?

Sounds like a sticky page down key - but the estop should have worked.

[signmarketingman]

Ive observed that happening with Mach 3 myself. For some reason a rapid travel will not stop when the key is released.

This seems to happen after letting the computer sit idle for a day or two. Or when the driver boards is shut off for a few hours.

So, the fix seems to reboot the cnc computer if it sits idle for more than a few hours.

[OLDMAN]

Thanks guys for the input. My E Stop had been working but????? And my keyboard does set out where a lot of sawdust is available. Checked with Mach3 support and they said possible outside noise????. I'll certainly check out ALL home and E stop wiring and blow out my keyboard. Again thanks

[glenninvb]

OLDMAN,

Sorry to hear that, hope not too much damage.

I installed an extra Z limit switch at bottom of travel which is easily adjustable w/ any cutter, it wouldn't have helped you if the E-stop wasn't working as the limits probably didn't either.

But its great for operator error, not sure why more guys don't consider? only takes a couple extra seconds to adjust.

Does your b/o board or controller use a charge pump? If your not familiar here is a link to one with brief explanation. My servo system uses a safety charge pump and shuts down system if it losses communication with computer.
http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/product ... ucts_id=51

[martin54]

Shouldn't be any reason why the estop failed to work, I would go back & check that out as part of repairing the machine, for your own safety as much as the machines. You could also have hit the reset button on the mach3 screen, as soon as I hit cycle start I move the curser close to the button just incase I need to stop things quickly. I would also move the keyboard somewhere it is not going to get as much sawdust, use an extension if needed, I have one hooked up for my keyboard so I can move it about freely.

Just noticed you have a self build machine, have you used shielded cable for all your input & output connections, motors etc etc.

[rdean33422]

Since you said you hit the E-Stop and it did nothing I would have to question how your e-stop circuit is wired. The e-stop circuit should be wired through the normally closed contacts of the switch and that circuit supplies voltage to the bob in effect to say everything is OK.
If your circuit is wired as to supply voltage to the bob when the stop is hit in effect saying STOP and there is noise or even a loose wire that signal will not get there to stop the machine.

Ideally the E-Stop circuit should not only control the signal to the bob but also control the main relay to kill all power to the machine if it is pressed. This would be the same as unplugging the machine.

Ray

[HerbE]

OLDMAN...
I bought one of the rubber roll up keyboards about four years ago. Made a tray to fit it and elevated the rear to a comfortable angle, contact cement to tray and back of keyboard and pressed them together. Been using it for about four years with no problems. It's sealed so sawdust, plastics and plasma dust don't get in it. Seems funny at first because of the rubber over the keys.

Question.....how did the folks at Mach support know you had dogs??? (outside noise)

Herb

[PaulRowntree]

OLDMAN...
I bought one of the rubber roll up keyboards about four years ago. Made a tray to fit it and elevated the rear to a comfortable angle, contact cement to tray and back of keyboard and pressed them together. Been using it for about four years with no problems. It's sealed so sawdust, plastics and plasma dust don't get in it.

Herb

This is a great idea. Thanks!

[martin54]

OLDMAN...
I bought one of the rubber roll up keyboards about four years ago. Made a tray to fit it and elevated the rear to a comfortable angle, contact cement to tray and back of keyboard and pressed them together. Been using it for about four years with no problems. It's sealed so sawdust, plastics and plasma dust don't get in it.

Herb

This is a great idea. Thanks!

I will plus one that

Off to see if I can find a PS2 rubber keyboard now

[ChrisInEstes]

Here's a couple things rolling around in my head...

The E-Stop you hit... Was that the red STOP button on the Mach 3 screen, or an actual physical E-Stop switch on your controller?

Mach 3 is very picky about the computer it runs on. I have Mach 3 running on an XP machine. It doesn't take much to interrupt it and cause it to crash. If it Mach 3 crashes, it's done and won't work correctly if it even works at all. I have everything that can happen automatically with Windows shut down. So, it's not connected to my shop's computer network because windows can automatically check for updates for itself or for other software that's on the system. I've got it set to NEVER sleep, NEVER shut down the Hard Drive, NEVER go to a screen saver, NEVER do anything like that. You can find those settings in the Power Saver settings. Oh yeah... Also, there's a place somewhere in Windows to tell the USB hubs to NEVER go into a power saver mode. So, what you want Windows to do is to keep everything powered on all the time... nothing automatic.

Maybe you can get something useful from my post, or maybe it's just how my system works.

Chris

[martin54]

Chris, how have you got mach3 connected to the machine ? Via Parallel port or via USB/Ethernet controller.

Can't speak from personal experience as I am still connected via parallel port but from all the stuff I have read on other forums & the mach support forum switching to either USB or Ethernet will eliminate most of the problems you have mentioned, plus you are not limited to running it on a machine using xp. Still not got round to doing it myself but will one day.

Oldman, Would be good to hear what sort of set up you have & how you have the E=stop set up, perhaps we can help avoid future mishaps

[ChrisInEstes]

Mine is connected using Smooth Stepper and USB. The controller uses a Gecko Stepper drivers... a G540 if I recall correctly. It's a gang of 4 stepper drivers in one unit. At the time I put mine together, Mach 3 was stable only on XP. I know now they have stable Mach 3 versions for Windows 7, and maybe even Window 8. I just haven't had the bucks to switch to a Windows 7 computer.

Another thing I just remembered about setting mine up... You're supposed to have a separate graphics card, and not use the onboard (CPU chip) graphics chip. Maybe that's not an issue with the Windows 7 stable version of Mach 3.

I really don't understand Mach 3 and how it works... It's so complicated... A little embarrassing for me, actually. I'm super lucky somebody saw me drowning in a forum when my old controller died and wasn't repairable. They set me up with one of their controllers, and they use Mach 3, so they sent me their Mach 3 XML profile and it took only a few mods to it to get it working on my router.

Chris

[martin54]

Chris, your system should be pretty stable, smoothsteppers get good reviews & loads of people swear by Gecko so they have to be good. As for windows xp most of the problems as I said were down to parallel port connection, apparently mach3 does a lot of things the parallel port wasn't designed to do. At most when you have some spare dollars you could look at putting in a separate graphics card, should be able to pick one up for next to nothing for older computers. Upgrading the operating system won't give you any real advantage so I would just stick with xp as the machine is separate from your network & has no connection to the net.
Unless you are a computer programmer there is no real reason for you to understand how mach3 works, I have said in other threads that I know little about mach3, should really learn how to make better use of it but you can't do everything at once.

Hope this isn't counted as a hijack It is all relevant being to do with mach3.

[MarcosDad]

OLDMAN,
You may also want to check your PC's BIOS setting for "typematic rate". If you're holding down a key for any length of time, the pc may be "storing" keystrokes that will keep typing after you've released the key.