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  #1  
Old Fri 14 November 2008, 11:06
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
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Toggling inputs - faulty Campbell BoB

Thanks Guys

There is something strange going on. Now the E-stop keeps activating. After doing some fault finding, I found that I forgot to include a bridge on the e-stop circuit (the link that goes to the future VFD) without that it should not have worked at all, but it did. I was wondering why the BOB was not reacting to the e-stop, only the 220v contactor was jumping out because of the high voltage e-stop circuit.

So somewhere there is an induced positive signal, enough to have made Mach think the e-stop circuit was complete and that is also activating the feedhold circuit. That constant signal is now intermittant as can be seen on the diagnostics Tab - LED that indicates emergency input is flashing on and off. This is preventing Mach from going out of e-stop state.

I have come home for the weekend so will only be able to look at it again on Monday, will be spending the weekend scrtaching my head
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  #2  
Old Mon 17 November 2008, 07:43
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
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I am pulling my hair out...

No joy today at all, I have installed a new PP card and had a new parallel cable made up but still no go - I have no idea why it worked Friday am but since then not again.

My setup is as follows:

Dell GX280 with std onboard parallel port (plus addition of 2nd PCI parallel port)
Sound Logic (Bob Campbell) BOB

I can get Mach to go out of e-stop mode by clicking the onscreen button, (even with the e-stop circuit disconnected, i.e. open) but as soon as I press the drives start button on the control panel to energise the contactor and power supply, it triggers an external e-stop request and switches off the BOB.

On the diagnostics page, some of the leds to indicate the state of the pins are lit even with the cable to the BOB disconnected. Different LED's are lit for the different PP's, see pics below, does anybody else see the same on their diagnostics page?

Attachment 2657
led's with port 1 active

Attachment 2658
led's with both ports active

Attachment 2659
led's with port 2 active

I am sure these led's should not be on until there is a connection to the BOB, one light does go out when the e-stop circuit is connected but it makes no difference to the operation.

My kitchen table project was done with a different "old" computer and that seemed to work fine, that machine was a bit dicey so therefore the upgrade to this unit, I may have to revert back to that unit to see if that makes a difference.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg problem pins.jpg (32.7 KB, 42 views)
File Type: jpg problem pins 2.jpg (33.5 KB, 42 views)
File Type: jpg problem pins 3.jpg (33.4 KB, 41 views)
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  #3  
Old Mon 17 November 2008, 08:15
bradm
Just call me: Brad #10
 
Somerville(MA)
United States of America
Are there any BIOS settings on that computer for the mode that the parallel ports are in? I had to make sure I set mine to EPP mode, and forgetting to do it had me troubleshooting for awhile.
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  #4  
Old Mon 17 November 2008, 08:46
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
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Thanks Brad, tried that but no difference.
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  #5  
Old Mon 17 November 2008, 09:00
William McGuire
Just call me: Bill
 
Weiser, Idaho
United States of America
Alan..
Since it worked the 1st time and then stopped behaving, perhaps vibration or movement caused a bad connection somewhere.

there have been several posts over the past couple of years discussing weird things happening when:
1. the wires talk to each other due to shielding problems and
2. wiring comes loose enough to cause intermittent disconnects.

I like both causes because I work cheap whereas parts are more expensive...

whatever the cause, good luck... hope you're up and running again soon...
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  #6  
Old Mon 17 November 2008, 10:38
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
1. Alan, have you made sure that no part of your BOB is grounded to the control cabinet? (Your other PC may have grounded differently). BOB ground is an extension of the PC's ground (comes via parallel cable).

2. Have you tried increasing Mach's "Debounce" setting to around 10 000?
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  #7  
Old Mon 17 November 2008, 16:55
Doug_Ford
Just call me: Doug #3
 
Conway (Arkansas)
United States of America
Alan,

I just fired up my machine and leds 1-6 and 8 on the top row are lit. The rest are unlit.
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  #8  
Old Tue 18 November 2008, 04:34
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
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She's alive again , swapped out to old computer and almost everything is working as it should. The led indicating the pause input is still toggeling even with the switch wires disconnected (only toggles once the drives are on, before that its steady).

I have no explanation as to why it worked for me on Friday morning, but that Dell parallel port (or internal bus) is most certainly at fault... I will need to find a "good" old computer to run the machine, the new ones architecture seems too refined/optimsed for current usage.
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  #9  
Old Thu 20 November 2008, 14:02
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
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The ongoing saga continues...

Tried another machine today (my son wants his computer back ) and everything is working including the errant "Start" button on pin 13, however I now have another problem showing its head. Sometimes when I switch between screens, the charge pump has a little falter, not long enough to switch off the watchdog most times, but sometimes it does. Also if a program is loaded and I switch between Mach 3 and the desktop, the program starts to run - not a safe situation. I suspect it could be caused by insufficient memory (only has 120Mb RAM), I will get more and see what the result is. This is becoming very frustrating...
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  #10  
Old Thu 20 November 2008, 19:34
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Sorry to hear that you are having a rough time with these issues.
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  #11  
Old Thu 20 November 2008, 19:55
bradm
Just call me: Brad #10
 
Somerville(MA)
United States of America
As per a Gerald post above, this "smells" like a ground issue to me. I notice from the Bob Campbell web site that your BOB may have a switch on it to either isolate or not isolate the PC ground from the gecko ground. I think I'd check on that very carefully. Given the weird behavior, though, I'd meter out the PC ground to the control box / gecko ground before changing that switch setting - make sure there's no DC or AC voltage there. My suspicion is that it's set to not isolate, and you're introducing a bias, noise, or both - and disabling one of the nicer features of your board. Also, if it got bumped, it could explain the change in your machine's behavior.
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  #12  
Old Fri 21 November 2008, 21:47
tpworks
Just call me: Tom
 
Atlanta, GA
United States of America
Maybe you could use a dual port printer card in that Dell, This is similar to the one that I use for Mach.
Just a thought.
You would have to disable the onboard lpt port and turn off the power save features.
Tom

http://cgi.ebay.com/PCI-PARALLEL-PRI...1%7C240%3A1318
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  #13  
Old Sat 06 December 2008, 09:26
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
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Progress report: well not much to report other than still having problems with the computers and input 13, tried 4 different computers and the problem keeps raising its head. Busy changing over to the CNCDirect board while waiting for the router mount brackets to come back from the laser cutters. Decided to go with the new (in SA) Bosch 1400 watt round body router (GMF 1400CE) as a proving unit before getting a spindle.

Getting parallel port cards, cables or anything over six months old is proving absolutely impossible in this town, I have managed to find a company that can make up parallel cables for me but any part that fits into a computer is just not available - and the sales staff at the computer suppliers are Sooooo Helpful??? - makes you think they have all only been working in the industry six months because if it doesnt have a USB port or contains the most up to date technology, it doesnt exist
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  #14  
Old Sat 06 December 2008, 11:31
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
How can I try and help you Alan? Want to phone me Monday at the office?
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  #15  
Old Sat 06 December 2008, 13:19
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
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Thanks Gerald, will do.
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  #16  
Old Mon 08 December 2008, 10:30
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
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EUREKA , its working at last (well at least for now - can you tell my positivity has taken a bit of a dive?)

Changed over to the CNC Direct BOB and there is no more toggeling input, it starts by remote switch and pauses by remote switch. One small problem, the on board relay on pin 17 is not switching the load - the relay is activating as I can see the coil move the contact arm, but the contacts must not be making propper contact, no biggie, moved that line to another relay, changed pin settings and the router output now switches on and off on command (on board relay is only switching a bigger remote relay that actually handles the current to the router)

Thanks to all who came with suggestions and help, especially Greg (Belli) of JHB.
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