Progress today on the router...
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David Hempy
May 5, 2012, 11:52:29 PM5/5/12
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James, John and I made some progress today. We got the three fixed limit switches wired up with the existing CAT5 wire that David D. installed. The three switches on the gantry (X+, X-, Z+) are yet to be done...I think we should use the shielded, stranded wire for those. It's by the MakerBot.
We fired up the power supply, Gecko driver, and steppers. We didn't do any wiring beyond that without David's wiring diagram.
We installed Mach3 on my laptop. We were going to put it on the touchscreen computer, but it is running Linux. Are there any desktop machines at the space running Windows? We got Mach talking to the driver, and saw on-screen when the e-stop circuit was shorted with a jumper, confirming that the PC is talking to the Gecko. Oddly, when we actually hit the e-stop button (at the far end of the table), it isn't showing up. We'll need to trace that wire and confirm it's hooked up correctly.
We got the steppers to energize and hold torque, but never did get them to move under computer control. We're pretty sure the wiring is good, and suspect the config of Mach3. Could be the laptop's parallel port being a bit non-standard, (everyone warns against using a laptop for CNC control) but we should have gotten *some* action out of it, regardless. I asked James if he would take the Gecko, power supply, and a motor home to continue debugging. He's going to try it on his desktop and see how that goes.
If he gets control of the motor by mid-week, we'll pick up there when we meet again. If not, I'm thinking of declaring our next meeting as paint day. This will be a great day for anyone interested in the router to come out and get familiar with it, even if they've not yet come out to a work day. All it will require is working knowledge of a screwdriver to be useful. I'm really hoping someone with a clue about painting bare steel will come lead the actual prep and paint part of the day. (Volunteers?) I bought a half-dozen cans of navy blue spray paint to use, sitting on the back shelf.
The router mount is complete and mounted, and it kicks ass. Admire its dual-clamp machined glory next time you're at the space.
Well, that's about all the news that fits...
-dave
We fired up the power supply, Gecko driver, and steppers. We didn't do any wiring beyond that without David's wiring diagram.
We installed Mach3 on my laptop. We were going to put it on the touchscreen computer, but it is running Linux. Are there any desktop machines at the space running Windows? We got Mach talking to the driver, and saw on-screen when the e-stop circuit was shorted with a jumper, confirming that the PC is talking to the Gecko. Oddly, when we actually hit the e-stop button (at the far end of the table), it isn't showing up. We'll need to trace that wire and confirm it's hooked up correctly.
We got the steppers to energize and hold torque, but never did get them to move under computer control. We're pretty sure the wiring is good, and suspect the config of Mach3. Could be the laptop's parallel port being a bit non-standard, (everyone warns against using a laptop for CNC control) but we should have gotten *some* action out of it, regardless. I asked James if he would take the Gecko, power supply, and a motor home to continue debugging. He's going to try it on his desktop and see how that goes.
If he gets control of the motor by mid-week, we'll pick up there when we meet again. If not, I'm thinking of declaring our next meeting as paint day. This will be a great day for anyone interested in the router to come out and get familiar with it, even if they've not yet come out to a work day. All it will require is working knowledge of a screwdriver to be useful. I'm really hoping someone with a clue about painting bare steel will come lead the actual prep and paint part of the day. (Volunteers?) I bought a half-dozen cans of navy blue spray paint to use, sitting on the back shelf.
The router mount is complete and mounted, and it kicks ass. Admire its dual-clamp machined glory next time you're at the space.
Well, that's about all the news that fits...
-dave
Derek Eggers
May 6, 2012, 10:49:12 AM5/6/12
to collex...@googlegroups.com
Dave, Thanks for the update and all of you and others dedicated work on this. -Derek
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Derek Eggers
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James Lindsay
May 6, 2012, 12:56:42 PM5/6/12
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Well, I went to hook up the parallel port to my desktop computer at home and guess what, no port. I thought for sure it had one, I must be losing it. So my debugging officially stopped before I even got started.
Any possibility we can get the donated pc at the space running windows? I could try but that's starting to stretch my abilities. If we get it installed, I should be able to continue troubleshooting. It then won't be long before motors start spinning!
James
David Hempy
May 7, 2012, 1:35:33 PM5/7/12
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Sonova gun...I didn't realize they'd started deleting parallel ports from desktops these days. I'm getting too old for this business...
-dave
-dave
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