X2 Mini Mill CNC Conversion?

if you have read everything and double checked everything then you have powered it up and it sat there and did nothing
correct?
I have double checked everything but I have not powered it up yet or read any of the mach3 stuff yet gotta go up to my parents. So I will get in touch with you later. Happy Fathers Day
 
thank you
I have a 1:30 lunch at my daughters but I'm going to work on the setting pages for mach3 in here untill i go so it will be easy for you to read it and set it.
have a good day
steve
 
with nothing connected to your pc from the control box
start mach3 mill, dont worry about the flashing reset
upper left of screen open "config" and look at the bottom of the list you will see "save settings" this is very important and if you forget to press it before closing mach3 after setting up everything your settings "will be lost". on a mach3 restart you will have to start over again. when i ask you to save thats it. if I forget you do it before closing mach3 lol
1. open config select "select native units" a note pops up press ok, pick inch press ok. never change this, it is a one time setting for motor tuning. if you ever change it you will have to retune the motors.

now you need to open the mach3 mill setup and config pdf on your other pc and read chapter 5 down thru 5.3.5 table 5-2 thats enough reading for now.
 
as you enter the information you will see "port" number
your pc has only one parallel port and it is "1" if on a port setting you enter anything but a '1" mach3 is looking for a parallel port you dont have.

on figure 5-1 set everything as you see in the pdf the same on your "port setup and axis selection" screen thats the default and a pc parallel port address standard (0x378)
and pick 25000hz ( we can try a higher setting here later if you register your mach3 to get more speed but this is the only setting for demo mode)
click ok and save it by clicking config and then save settings.
go to 5.2.3 in the pdf, then open that screen in mach3 "motor outputs" put a check in the boxes for XYZ enables. no other enables should be a green check.
on XYZ's "dir low... and step low" boxes make them all green arrows. (because we have a lack of documentation i'm setting these low(low means ground the pin#) because when we wired the drives we sent 5v to every signal on the controllers. thats the com red wire looping to all circuits marked with a + sign, so to make the circuit operate we are telling mach3 to ground the return signal)
 
daddy day be back later
save before shutting down
 
ok to continue on the "motor outputs" screen in mach3 ports and pins
we have enabled XYZ, put green arrows on their "dir lowactives" and on their "step lowactives"
(just a note to remember here if your motors move the wrong direction for your mill, change the green checks to X's on the "dir lowactive" column. you wont know untill you build the mill but here is where you change it)
so to finish this screen we need to put in the step and direction pin numbers for each axis. ( the pin numbers are printed on top your breakout board )
but here they are

X step is 2
X dir is 3
y step is 4
y dir is 5
z step is 6
z dir is 7
you have to love this breakout board for easy setup and you dont have to be worried about low power to the pin from your pc because the board is self powered.

close this screen and go to config and save.

reopen "ports and pins" select "input signals" screen and in the "enable" column make sure nothing has a green check mark. use the scroll bar and check the entire list.
that is where you tell mach3 how to set up limit switches and e-stop we dont have them yet.
if you see numbers in a row that is not checked they mean nothing the row is not enabled.
click ok then "config' "save settings"
open ports and pins again go to "output signals" screen
we only have one output signal for now
go to enable1 put a check for enabled it is on port1 the pin# is 17 and put a red X for low active. make sure no others have a green enable check mark and click ok
go to config and save
that was the enable circuit we wired for each controller and they all turn on together with pin 17 the low active means mach3 grounds the pin# 17 to turn them on.
low active means mach3 grounds the pin
high active means mach3 sends voltage to the pin

I know i'm explaining a lot but if you dont know this and you want to add or change something later you wont know how.

e are now ready to go to motor tuning.
 
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motor tuning
select config and then motor tuning
across the bottom your settings are
10000 for steps per
50 in per min to start with max in velocity ( keep the machine slow for now )
30 acceleration
1 for step pulse
1 for dir pulse
these settings will be the same for X Y and Z
press the X axis button enter each setting and press save axis settings
press the Y axis button enter each setting and press save axis settings
press the Z axis button enter each setting and press save axis settings
press ok

we will adjust these settings once the motors are on the mill

dont forget to select config and save your settings
 
ok close mach3 and reboot the pc reopen mach3 and from the "program run" screen
click load g-code in the popup box select roadrunner.tap
press cycle start your motors should be running
you wont see much from z
how did we do?
steve
 
ok close mach3 and reboot the pc reopen mach3 and from the "program run" screen
click load g-code in the popup box select roadrunner.tap
press cycle start your motors should be running
you wont see much from z
how did we do?
steve

She Runs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and perfectly i must say:):)
 
thats great
we need parts for the mill to arrive
have fun run some g-code watch the motors and keep me posted or ask anything you may run across
pm me when you are ready to start on the mill itself
steve
 
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