PM-45M-CNC Setup and Configuration with Mach3

It should be IN #8 and yes it should be wired to your E-Stop and possibly Limit (not Home) switches. can't remember if the Limit Switches are just part of the E-Stop circuit or if they have their own circuit. You can test this quickly by manually depressing a Limit Switch, like the one on Z axis 2/3 of the way up the column. if one of the other LED's light then they are separate (this is a good thing). I think they are typically wired in series and because it is a Normaly Closed circuit, if any of the switches gets activated (OPENED) then it breaks the circuit and causes an E-STOP signal.

Step 1. Be sure that Mach3 is looking for E-Stop on Pin 8. See the image I posted above to verify.

Step 2. Disconnect the Pendent. Does this solve the issue ?

Step 3. Disconnect the wire that is currently in I8. Jump I8 to ground. If the Emergency light goes out then you can be pretty sure that it is an E-Stop Switch or the wiring to and from it. I

Step 4. Reconnect the wire in I8 and then access the back of the E-Stop switch. Visually inspect for damage or loose wires. Be sure the E-Stop switch is in the RUN position and then use a jumper to Jump across the switch. There should just be two wires going to the switch and you want to "connect" Them. If the Emergency LED goes out then you know the switch is bad.

It is interesting that you circuit board is different from mine. Where does the smaller ribbon cable got to ? I assume the larger one goes to the Pendent.
 
It should be IN #8 and yes it should be wired to your E-Stop and possibly Limit (not Home) switches. can't remember if the Limit Switches are just part of the E-Stop circuit or if they have their own circuit. You can test this quickly by manually depressing a Limit Switch, like the one on Z axis 2/3 of the way up the column. if one of the other LED's light then they are separate (this is a good thing). I think they are typically wired in series and because it is a Normaly Closed circuit, if any of the switches gets activated (OPENED) then it breaks the circuit and causes an E-STOP signal.

Step 1. Disconnect the Pendent. Does this solve the issue ?

Step 2. Disconnect the wire that is currently in I8. Jump I8 to ground. If the Emergency light goes out then you can be pretty sure that it is an E-Stop Switch or the wiring to and from it. I

Step 3. Reconnect the wire in I8 and then access the back of the E-Stop switch. Visually inspect for damage or loose wires. Be sure the E-Stop switch is in the RUN position and then use a jumper to Jump across the switch. There should just be two wires going to the switch and you want to "connect" Them. If the Emergency LED goes out then you know the switch is bad.

It is interesting that you circuit board is different from mine. Where does the smaller ribbon cable got to ? I assume the larger one goes to the Pendent.

The limit switches are on a different LED's, so that's good.

The Pendent took a short tumble when I first got the machine set up, it ended up in 3 or 4 seperate pieces so I decided I would get a higher quality one eventually and have never plugged it in. It was subsequently dismantled for the magnet and ironically, the E-stop on it...

I don't have any wire running into I8, the angle of that picture makes it look so, but I8 is empty. I'm going to assume this may be the root of my problem?

Both the ribbons run to a smaller board that I would have plugged my pendant into. The smaller one is labeled "MPG" and the larger "EXP".
 
Thanks Jimespvill. At this point you need to confirm where the estop button is wired to and confirm what port Mach3 thinks is the Estop circuit. Just because it is port 8 on my system does not mean that it is Port8 on yours. I would check the Mach3 config first and verify what port Mach3 is looking for the E-Stop, then chase down to see where the Estop is actually wired.

My system does not have the breakout board and I only have a place to directly connect the pendent (that I don't use) I also got a better one.
 
Whoohoo! Looks like my Estop is finally working! Followed your advice Boswell and pulled out the big-boy tools to track down the wire locations. Looks like my Estop port is I11. Which Is odd because I could have swore that my Estop worked when I first set up the machine and haven't changed anything since.

Another odd thing is that It works backwards-- only when I set it to active low, otherwise it is on when I have it pushed in and Estop's when I pull it out.

I sure do like my PM45CNC, but it has a lot of little quirks and idiosyncrasies! Although, perhaps I shouldn't be so quick to blame the machine, I am certainly not an experienced CNC owner. Either way, I'm learning quite a bit.

Quick question though, So the wire coming from the Estop back the the main busbar (Green with all the cover plates, wrong word?) Is then swapped to stranded wire with each one going to a different port on the controller board. Is this so that It independently stops the X, Y, Z, and spindle motors? I ask because this confused me when I was testing for continuity to see where wires were going.

Thanks for all the help Boswell!

Fluke.JPG
 
Glad to hear that you got it working. Are you saying that one wire from the switch goes to I11 and only I11, The other wire goes to the terminal block where it is broken out to 4 different wires that go to which specific ports on the controller? I don't know, but I doubt that the signal needs to go to multiple places. One side of the switch should go to I11 and the other should either go to a voltage source, to ground or to another E-Stop switch if you have multiple but in any of the three cases it would only be 1 destination, not split to multiple ones. did you determine the connection via an ohm meter? If so you might test the connection to Ground. It could be that all these wires just have Ground in common and this would be the most likely connection for the other side of the E-Stop switch.

The important part is that you have it working. I have not had to press the E-Stop on the Mill panel but a couple of times but I was glad it was there when I did.
 
Hey Boswell,

Here is a slightly accurate diagram of the Estop wires, colors not correct. I'll have to do some more checking with the ohm meter for grounded wire. Now I'm just curious. I like playing with electricity, but I lack far too much knowledge to call myself proficient in it in any way.

I'm glad you've never had to use your E-stop! I've managed to snap two 3/8 endmills, and only attempted to use the E-stop during one of those, thus landing me here in this conversation.EstopWire.png
 
James, that's a great looking control panel, very neat and well thought out. I would be embarrassed to show you mine. Bob
 
Hey Boswell,

Here is a slightly accurate diagram of the Estop wires, colors not correct. I'll have to do some more checking with the ohm meter for grounded wire. Now I'm just curious. I like playing with electricity, but I lack far too much knowledge to call myself proficient in it in any way.

I'm glad you've never had to use your E-stop! I've managed to snap two 3/8 endmills, and only attempted to use the E-stop during one of those, thus landing me here in this conversation.View attachment 97445

Just to be clear, I have crashed my Mill many time. Most of the time, it is easier to get to the E-Stop on the Mach3 screen than the big button on the switch box.

As for you wiring. My assumption is that the terminal blocks are electrically connected from top to bottom. In other words, if a wire is connected to the screw on the top then it is electrically connected to any wire that is in the screw directly below it. This is a typical expectation for terminal blocks but I will go and check mine later today just to be sure.
Based on that assumption

Connections 1;2;3;10 are all connected together and then in turn connected to one side of the E-Stop switch ("From Estop"). You show that the wire labeled "To Estop" is not connected to anything. I goes to the bottom of the terminal block but there is no second wire on the same screw and there is no wire on the screw directly above. Not sure what to make of that.

I would be curious if you go into Mach3 "Ports and Pins" config screens and look at the "Input" tab, do you see the entry for pins 1,2 & 3 ? What does Mach3 think these inputs are for?
I don't think it would help for me to check mine as it is clear we have different controller boards.
 
one more thing. Be sure that you have removed power including the USB cable when you are using the ohm meter to check connectivity. :).
 
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