[gone4pepsi]

This gentleman has developed some spindle setups with 3 ceramic that will up to 60000 rpms bearingshttp://cgi.ebay.com/TB-350S-High-Speed-Precision-CNC-Router-Spindle_W0QQitemZ170022306647QQihZ007QQcategoryZ25 94QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

He has other configurations also check out his other spindles

When i booted up my pc, xp told me I had new hardware and was looking for the drivers. i unplugged the paralell cable, rebooted, and now i don't see xp looking for the drivers. any ideas? Does minitech require it's own drivers,or do you think this is a glitch in mach3 or my pc?
Thanks
Mark

[finance]

Hi Mark,
MiniTech only sell the base, manual machine. What you have is one that has been modified by someone.
You don't need 'minitech drivers' there is no such thing. So the Minitech guys, even though they are very helpful, cannot help you at all.

Get onto the Artsoft Mach3 site (http://www.machsupport.com) and check out their tutorials, they will give you information on how to set Mach3 up and also info on setting up the port pins etc.

If your steppers are locking up when you have power to the drivers then it sounds like you're half way there, you just need to get the PC/Mach3/Driver interface working - which should not be too hard (I note you are a complete noob, but trust me) .
Whatever you do, do not rush into this, take the time to ask as many questions as it takes before you know what you are doing or you may fry your driver(s) and/or PC.:nono:

What driver(s) do you have to drive the stepper motors (I'm assuming they are steppers and not servo motors). Some common ones are Xylotex and Gecko - or in your case someone may have built a driver from an Oatley Electronics kit (check out www.oatleyelectronics.com and look for stepper motors/kits).

Mach3 does some things that Windows doesn't know about, so look on the Artsoft web site for instructions about optimising XP to let Mach3 run correctly - if you have other things running that clash with Mach3 Windows won't know what is going on. Basically you can't have anything else (even a screen saver) running while you have Mach3 running, it's best to have a dedicated PC for Mach3 (ie don't use the PC for anything else). Also check out the minimum PC requirements for running Mach3, you'll find that on the Artsoft site too.

Getting back to your question, it sounds like XP has detected that signals are getting to the PC from the driver board(s) and thinks you have some sort of printer attached, this indicates that it may require rewiring the connection between driver and parallel cable - one thing to check is that you have a straight through parallel cable with all pins connected, some cables don't have all wires connected and some cross a wire or two getting from one end to the other. Check for continuity with a multimeter (set on Ohms) between pin one of one end to pin one of the other end - do that for all pins, you should see zero Ohms in each case - if you don't, get another cable.
You will need to get info from the driver maker to be sure that the connections to the parallel cable are correct, if they are OK and your cable is OK then it should be easy to set up the port pins in Mach3 - and away you go.

Good luck and Cheers,
Dave.


drivers

When i booted up my pc, xp told me I had new hardware and was looking for the drivers. i unplugged the paralell cable, rebooted, and now i don't see xp looking for the drivers. any ideas? Does minitech require it's own drivers,or do you think this is a glitch in mach3 or my pc?
Thanks
Mark

[rustfinger]

Mark,

If what finance says is correct, you are left with no other choice than to open up the controller box and look at the circuit board. Hopefully you will find a name on it, maybe also a model number, and you can "Google" it to get information on the internet.

Then maybe you can get the manual. Just be sure to unplug it first and groung yourself by keeping one hand on the metal of the box, or by not touching anything- basically the same static electricity precautions you would have while working on your PC.

If you cannot fins a name - you can take a good picture of it and post it on this thread- or start a new one.

Rustfinger.

[gone4pepsi]

Hi Mark,
MiniTech only sell the base, manual machine. What you have is one that has been modified by someone.
You don't need 'minitech drivers' there is no such thing. So the Minitech guys, even though they are very helpful, cannot help you at all.

Get onto the Artsoft Mach3 site (http://www.machsupport.com) and check out their tutorials, they will give you information on how to set Mach3 up and also info on setting up the port pins etc.

If your steppers are locking up when you have power to the drivers then it sounds like you're half way there, you just need to get the PC/Mach3/Driver interface working - which should not be too hard (I note you are a complete noob, but trust me) .
Whatever you do, do not rush into this, take the time to ask as many questions as it takes before you know what you are doing or you may fry your driver(s) and/or PC.:nono:

What driver(s) do you have to drive the stepper motors (I'm assuming they are steppers and not servo motors). Some common ones are Xylotex and Gecko - or in your case someone may have built a driver from an Oatley Electronics kit (check out www.oatleyelectronics.com and look for stepper motors/kits).

Mach3 does some things that Windows doesn't know about, so look on the Artsoft web site for instructions about optimising XP to let Mach3 run correctly - if you have other things running that clash with Mach3 Windows won't know what is going on. Basically you can't have anything else (even a screen saver) running while you have Mach3 running, it's best to have a dedicated PC for Mach3 (ie don't use the PC for anything else). Also check out the minimum PC requirements for running Mach3, you'll find that on the Artsoft site too.

Getting back to your question, it sounds like XP has detected that signals are getting to the PC from the driver board(s) and thinks you have some sort of printer attached, this indicates that it may require rewiring the connection between driver and parallel cable - one thing to check is that you have a straight through parallel cable with all pins connected, some cables don't have all wires connected and some cross a wire or two getting from one end to the other. Check for continuity with a multimeter (set on Ohms) between pin one of one end to pin one of the other end - do that for all pins, you should see zero Ohms in each case - if you don't, get another cable.
You will need to get info from the driver maker to be sure that the connections to the parallel cable are correct, if they are OK and your cable is OK then it should be easy to set up the port pins in Mach3 - and away you go.

Good luck and Cheers,
Dave.


drivers

I beg to differ. Yuo are wrong, everything on this mill is minitech.
Jack has contatced me everyday since i posted at the forum for mach 3 software. Art tried to help, but had no idea about Jack's machines.


Jack walked me throuhg everything and after trouble shooting, we have come to realize that the board was bad.

FYI the board says Mini tech right on it.

After configuring the pins, it came down to me isolating the drives whith each motor..

There was no one at the mach 3 forum that was of any help , with the exception Of Jack from Minitech.

Art tried to help, but had no idea where the problem could have been..

The original problem was in the software.
Jack researched it for me and emailed me the information , and finally after days of deliberating we unchecked all of the active lows to all the axis and bingo we had a response.


Jack offered to salvage a board from an older machine.

I've decided that i'm just going to upgrade to a bipolar controller and higher torque motors.

If anyone is inteested, These motors are the oriiginal and have been tested. I've have no idea what the holding torque is, but they are all equal and in excellent condition
They are unipolar, six wire and i'll let them go real cheap.


If anyone needs help with an older minitech, i'm sure Jack will be more than happy to hear from you. Just email him.
Mark

[finance]

Well,
I'm glad that you seem to have sorted out your problem.

For everyone's info, there is a bunch in Australia called MiniTech - it was them I thought gone4pepsi was referring to - I was unaware he is in the USA and he obviously didn't know I'm in Australia.
:withstupi
Check out www.minitech.com.au they are excellent to buy from/deal with.

Cheers,
Dave.

I beg to differ. Yuo are wrong, everything on this mill is minitech.
Jack has contatced me everyday since i posted at the forum for mach 3 software. Art tried to help, but had no idea about Jack's machines.


Jack walked me throuhg everything and after trouble shooting, we have come to realize that the board was bad.

FYI the board says Mini tech right on it.Mark