[shannow]

Hello,
I'm new here and trying to help my father to have his x4+ running . I'm french so pardon my errors ...

First I installed the mach 3 software (following the procedure ,rebooted etc...) no big problems there apart that I fought for a complete day to get rid of vista on the computer (because of it's being too clever to be usefriendly and not compatible with anything ...)
So got that running with a pci card for the 25 pin parrallel ports everything ok got several xml profile from syil website (canade , marican ant the chinese one) got that to run with the loader allright .

And now comes the crunch I fought for several hours already trying to get things to work and I have no answer (no motion) from the x4+ .
I checked that I was using the right port number but that's ok because the physical emergency stop and the home switches work fine the diag screen makes them go on and off when I touch them .
But if i try to make a manual jog (with the tab instrument window) or if I insert a simple code in IMD mode nothing moves (g0 z10) even the spindle doesn't move (m03 s200 ) it is in cnc mode on the x4 .

The machine works fine in manual everything moves happily in continious mode the spindle turn nicely . The steppers motor get warm (perhaps a bit too much... not too hot to touch but hot not warm!)
The only thing that I am suspecting at the moment are the power supply...

Is it normal that the red led is on the controler (three led on each of the four controler)?

Is it normal that the fans on both power supply don't move when the machine is on ? (no dangling wire found)

I'm after any advice

Thank you very much for your help

[gn3dr]

Check that you charge pump is being seen by the machine. When the machine in in CNC mode it will say "READY" on the blue screen but if it is seeing the charge pump signal there should also be a little symbol of a computer on the X4's blue screen.
If this symbol isn't there make sure the charge pump pin is set up in ports and pins in Mach 3. If this is OK you might have to adjust the pot on the board that the charge pump signal goes to.(I had to do this). There is a reference to this in the instructions.

[shannow]

Thanks for the reply.

The screen on the X4 lights up blue but there is absolutely nothing written on it totally empty .

[gn3dr]

Thanks for the reply.

The screen on the X4 lights up blue but there is absolutely nothing written on it totally empty .

Well that's not normal. You said the machine works fine in manual - is the screen working properly in manual?

[shannow]

No even in manual mode i'm playing with it totally blind , all blue screen ,nothing written and never has been . Care was taken when installing and we are certain there was no damage.

[neilw20]

Should be something on the display screen, and you should be able to JOG in non- CNC mode.
Check all the wiring for loose plugs, connections, internal cables etc.
Check emergency stop is not killing it.
Get it to function without the PC attached, then take the next step.
There is a jumper to disable the charge pump, but you should make it work correctly once the fault is found.

[shannow]

The manual Jog works fine , I just click 4 times to be in cont mode and make my way through by guessing in what mode I am .

The emergency button is the only thing working properly and that mach 3 understands very well .

I am actualy looking at the board wiring with the instructions given with the x4 but apart from being very poor quality photos in black and white (very useful to guess what color of the wiring are...) the pictures in the instructions show a quite different version of the boards . I can't verify things are missing on the boards or are not at the same position and hence the connections are not the same . (just an example the cable to the LCD screen is shown as a classic flat wire and what we have is a ethernet cable with a small circuit board in between the original board and the cable , some 3 pin connections are here but in the instruction the two cables are on one side of the conector and in the machine the other side ... )

Don't really know what to do

[gn3dr]

You can download the manual here

http://syil.com.cn/en/Download.asp

[shannow]

I was at 90% of it when I saw your reply

[shannow]

Right the download is finished got it open it's the same instruction as i've got but in colour . So it doesn't solve my problem of my circuits not being the same as the one in the manual

[ataxy]

Did you try contacting Syil on the subject?

[syil canada]

feel free to take some pictures of the "CNC board" and email them to me, i will have a look to see what the issue is.

also if you have not done so yet, check your port address in ports and pins settings. the default address is 0x378, if you have installed a parallel card the address will be different. check in the windows device manager for the parallel card address, make sure it is the same in the ports and pins settings.

[email protected]
or give me a call @ 403-400-7945

i attached a photo how to disable the mach3 charge pump try this and see if you get movement.

[shannow]

I've disabled the charge pump .

Mach 3 now perfectly works the machine moves and accept all the gcodes in IMD mode no problem.

Still nothing on the screen of the miller though.

I'm trying to set mach 3 in mm at the moment .

[neilw20]

Good to see you got it working.
The display/electronics must not be working.
You have disabled the charge pump.
Eventually you want the charge pump signal from Mach3 to do it's intended job of killing the machine if the PC dies.
Fix the charge pump last. Probably programmed to the wrong pin, or not enabled in the config screen.

[shannow]

Just fiddled a bit again and found the contrast on the display but not matter the position is goes full blue to full white nothing written.

The big difference on the display board is that the lead (in the manual) going to the display is a 22pin(or many) flat cable and the one I have on the machine is an ethernet cable .

How should I find the right pin number for the charge pump ? I respected the pins in the manual.

[gn3dr]

Hi Shannow
From memory I think the charge pump is pin 9. (Coolant is pin 3 I think)

If you have that pin set up then do as I suggested in my first post. On Interface Board II there is a pot (numbered 13 in the picture in the manual). Adjust this until the machine can see the charge pump signal from the computer.

[shannow]

My father has found the problem . It's on the main board , there a little circuit on top of it (with pin connectors holding it 3 of them being soldered as supports ) the larger of the two plugs has a broken plastic surround and we supect that poor contact arises from this .
When we wiggle it with the power off sometimes it gives part screen and for one glorious moment it gave all the screen . Then we switched off and it went back to a quarter screen .

[ataxy]

contact syil and get replacement part

[Hillfrog]

I thought my son had followed through but checking the solution to the blank screen problem was the ribbon cable connection between the touch board and LCD screen at the touch board end.

After touching the mother board apparently lighting up part of the screen this proved to be a false lead and I discovered that cleaning the pins on the touch board with a degreasing agent followed by re-assembly and power up resulted in a very brief flash of characters on the screen followed by the Syil logo appearing and closely followed by full screen display. For a start I could have done with knowing this start up sequence as we only had a pure blue screen before.

Syil advised me to change the ribbon cable on a brand new, never used machine that was faulty from delivery. May be I am missing something here but I thought that one buys something that works. It is not up to me to supply new parts to replace faulty ones. If it was not for the size of the machine and distance the solution is simple: I take it back to the Syil agent that sold it to me and get either my money back or a replacement machine and under British law the choice is mine. Ribbon cables are absolutely no problem if you are working or have access to an electronics factory but buying just one made up is quite expensive. As it is I have already bought an RJ45 cable on Syil advice that proved to be unnecessary and an unwanted shopping trip and expense. If the part is so cheap then Syil can send me a new one and if it is very expensive the same applies. I thought trying to solve the problem was a mutual benefit where as it appears that I am on my own in practical terms.

The final outcome was just a poor connection.

I had a wonderful bright light appear in the X axis drive connector near the stepper motor. I saw it switched off and pushed the part of the connector home and the problem did not reoccur.

I also found the Z axis flexible coupling to ball screw loose as the head stayed where it was yet the motor turned with suitable indicated increase it Z.

For those following the thread I apologise for the delay as other activities at this time of the year have taken my attention.

[sharpshooter90]

Back in the 50's there was a movie titled " Earth VS Flying Saucers"- Aliens attacked us and only by uniting against this common enemy, did humanity put aside their petty differences. Perhaps Syil is serving the same purpose by selling their machines all over the world.