[Guido666]

I have a SmoothStepper connected to a G540, using the G540 standard XML.

When I load Mach3, I get the error "spindle-axis dir port = 0, dir pin = 0. valid pin values are 1, 2, 3, 4..."

I don't really understand the error, but assume it doesn't like the pin # being 0. (Why?) I have 4 axes, and a VFD, so I *think* all the pins are used up, and I don't have any extra empty pins to stick in there just to shut it up. Is there a way around this, or something I'm misunderstanding?

Thanks for the help!

[RCaffin]

There is NO pin 0 and NO port 0.

What all that means is that you have not set up the ports&pins page properly.
You should be able to get 4 axes out of one LPT port, and the SS has 2 LPT ports. Pretty common config.
Read the set uppart of the Mach manual again, a bit more slowly. (Really.)
And then write it all down and check it on a bit of paper, and keep the bit of paper!

Cheers
Roger

[Guido666]

Ok, the part I didn't understand was that the SS had 2 parallel ports. (The "draft" manual for it hasn't ever been updated since it was made in 2009, and the only way you'd really know that from it was the picture of the board.)

I enabled the second LPT port in Mach3, and gave the direction pin the "Port 2, Pin 1" setting, and now it's quiet. I was thinking of ports in the sense of ethernet, that they were communication lanes on a single digital pin output, not as a number of which parallel port to come from.

When Mach3 is giving this error, does it also not function? Or will it continue to work stil?

[RCaffin]

> When Mach3 is giving this error, does it also not function?
Dunno. If I was to get such an error I would fix it FIRST. Does not seem sensible to me to expect Mach to work in the face of such an error.

Cheers
Roger

[daniellyall]

reload the G540 xml there is a new manual for the ESS I will post it when I find it

[daniellyall]

http://www.soigeneris.com/Document/W...othStepper.pdf

[Guido666]

> When Mach3 is giving this error, does it also not function?
Dunno. If I was to get such an error I would fix it FIRST. Does not seem sensible to me to expect Mach to work in the face of such an error.

Cheers
Roger

You're assuming it's a real error, but you're wrong. When you have a SmoothStepper, it handles all the spindle PWM, so the fact that Mach3 is complaining about it not having pins assigned is meaningless. Essentially, now I have to assign pins just to shut it up, not because it really does anything. That's why I was asking if I really need to.

[RCaffin]

Oh, it's a real error all right. The author of the Mach software is the one who defines 'errors', and that is what he calls this. The users have to go along with that IF they want to use Mach.

However, all is not lost. What Mach is actually objecting to is the full string 'port=0, pin=0', which usually means the user has not been through the config properly. You can fix this quite easily. But first, it is worth noting that the g-code system includes two macros, M3 and M4, which control the direction of the spin. Mach must include ways to handle this, even if a particular user does not want to ever use M4 (reverse spin). Fortunately, Mach does allow for several ways to control the spindle.

Yes, you can use the DIR pin to control the direction, in which case it needs a valid pin assingment. Alternately, you can use M3 and M4 to control forward and reverse relays. In that case the DIR signal does not need a valid port/pin combination. But it does need a valid port number.

In my case, because my CNC is a machining centre with two spindles, I use M3 and M4 for direction, another TWO relays to select which spindle (that's a safety feature), and (this is the bit you want) I assign DIR to port 1 and pin ZERO. That tells Mach that I have made a deliberate choice in my assignment, but that I am not using the DIR control.

I could probably (possibly? maybe?) also assign STEP to port 1 pin 0, but that would not enable the ESS to send out a PWM signal on any pin. If you want to control the speed via an external controller, you could experiment with the assignment for the Step pulses. Some router users do this I believe. I use the PWM signal (aka the Step signal), which I put on port 1 pin 16. I think that is a fairly common assignment.

So, change the port number to 1 and put the pin number to 0 for DIR, and see if that works.

Cheers
Roger