[eartaker]

Thought I would start a new thread for this since the topic is different.

While building my power supply everything was going fine until I guess I shorted something out on my low voltage side and didn't know it. I ended up applying 20V to the C11 and now when apply 5V I get 4 LEDS that light but and one of the chips near the parallel port just heats up. Anyone thing getting a replacement set of Buffers and optoisolators world get the board running again?

[sansbury]

Where on the board did you apply the 20V, and why?

[eartaker]

where you power the board. My power supply I built died when I connected it to the board because I guess my chips weren't rated for 2A. It cause a short and supplied the 20V to the board that I was powered the chip with.

[nocashvalue]

I did something similar with my C11 when I got it running. I was wiring everything up on a bench for testing, and then moved everything to an enclosure. In the process of moving everything to the enclosure, I swapped some wires on the power input pins and fried the board.

I did end up replacing the opto-isolators, and the board works great now. I picked mine up at a local electronics shop, just because I didn't want to wait for the mail. I think CNC4PC's price for an entire set of replacements is hard to beat, so I would definitely say its worth it.

Eric

[eartaker]

Eric,

Thanks I didn't know if this would get it going or not. I will place the order now.

[eartaker]

Talked to Art and he said I may have more issues then the chips will fix but im going to try and hope for the best. He suggested to just replace the board. Also went ahead and ordered the MPG2 - Pendant.

[eartaker]

Any thoughts on the PMDX-126 with PMDX-107 VS the C11T? If i cant get the C11 going I will not replace it with another C11.

[eartaker]

Well the new chips did nothing so if anyone needs them I have a new set of them I can send to anyone if ever needed. I REALLY dont want to buy another C11T board. I have been looking at the PMDX-126 with the PMDX-107 for spindle control. This board seems like it will allow for a lot of expansion in the future if needed.

Anyone use this setup? Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

[sansbury]

Why do you not want another C11? I've had good luck with mine and wouldn't hesitate to buy another or anything else of the sort from Art.

[eartaker]

Well it seems also of the people are having issues with the new revision. Also I just got my MPG4 and it is not working right.... it wont recognize every detent and makes the axis go crazy. Every switch and button works though.

[rwskinner]

Much nicer and professional looking setup in my opinion. I'm having second thoughts on the C11T as well although I haven't had time to test the "revised" firmware. It was all laid out out my work bench and wired up for a couple weeks waiting on the new chip and I finally had to put it all away for another project. When I get time I'll try it and see how it does and report back.

Well the new chips did nothing so if anyone needs them I have a new set of them I can send to anyone if ever needed. I REALLY dont want to buy another C11T board. I have been looking at the PMDX-126 with the PMDX-107 for spindle control. This board seems like it will allow for a lot of expansion in the future if needed.

Anyone use this setup? Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

[eartaker]

Richard,

They do seem to look more professional. I also like how you can directly interface the smooth stepper board with them as well as other boards. I am going to call both Art from CNC4PC and Steve from PMDX tomorrow and make a decision. I am leaning more toward the PMDX right now though. I mainly want to find out whats going on with this MPG, I think it is broke and was when it was shipped. Kind of odd how every button and switch will interface with Mach3 but the MPG will not act as it should. It detects about ever 4-6 detents and only runs in one direction, also if I rotate it faster than 4 detents per second it wont move the axis at all. I have had a bad week with all things electronic.

[rwskinner]

Do you have the MPG setup and calibrated in Mach? You don't by any chance have it in Single Step mode do you? If you do try Velocity Mode.

[sansbury]

I mainly want to find out whats going on with this MPG, I think it is broke and was when it was shipped. Kind of odd how every button and switch will interface with Mach3 but the MPG will not act as it should. It detects about ever 4-6 detents and only runs in one direction, also if I rotate it faster than 4 detents per second it wont move the axis at all. I have had a bad week with all things electronic.

I've heard good things about PMDX but never used them. Have bought from Arturo and he has always taken good care of me, and I like the product.

The MPG problem sounds like a Mach/PC issue more than anything else. The CNC4PC pendant is pretty much just a few switches and an encoder. You could try turning the encoder real slow through one full rotation. If the machine moves through the whole rotation, then it ain't broken. Beyond that, all the intelligence of how it drives the machine lives in Mach, not the MPG, so it's more likely your problems are higher up the food chain.

How smoothly an MPG moves a machine is a function of a couple things, including encoder resolution and step resolution. The only machines where they are anywhere near as smooth as a manual machine are ones with very high resolution encoders (like 1000+ lines, or 10x the MPG2) or full servo drive. The issue is that it is tricky to match the rate of rotation of the MPG with the rate of rotation of the motor when the scales for each are different. The tendency is for it to cog somewhat as the motor accelerates and decelerates to try and stay in sync with the MPG. I suspect you'll see the smoothest operation where 1 encoder pulse equals one step.

When I built my pendant, I chose to add continuous jog buttons for the X and Y axis for this reason. The MPG works great for things like touching off, where you want to bump the machine one step at a time, while if you're making large movements, the continuous feed works much better. Given the choice, I definitely think a pendant is worth having even without the continuous feed.

[eartaker]

About to make a video so you guys can see what I'm talking about. It is almost like the encoder only sends out a few pulses every so often and random directions.

Also placed an order for the PMDX-126 and the PMDX-107 boards. $100 more than the C11T but later on I can plug the Smoothstepper board directly into it if I need.

[eartaker]

Talked to Art, I am sending the MPG4 back, he also thinks it is something with the encoder.