XY dropout while running in Mach 3.

[greggarriss]

I have a 10 year old closed loop WD-1. I was working on a big job last week and, surprisingly, lost a couple of parts when the X and Y axes stopped during the program run. Mach 3 kept running but the axes froze. Both axes picked up an inch or so offset. I re-zeroed and got through the job. Now, with a little more time to look before the next job, it now seems to occur during most program runs. Manual moves via the keyboard or the MPG seem fine. I notice the Estop relay is " telegraphing " occasionally as well. I suspect itʻs a comm issue but I donʻt have a spare computer with two parallel ports to test with. Ditto for spare DB-25 cables. Thoughts?

[romaxxcnc]

Hi Greg,

You're running the old closed loop system so it must be a 32 bit PC. On these older PC's, a good diagnostic tool to test the stability of the CPU is the "drivertest.exe" which is located in the main Mach3 folder. A good computer should produce a graph that is a fine line down the middle with tiny pikes up and down, if it looks like piano key blocks, lines that go up and then sideways etc, the CPU is stalling and will cause all sorts of problems. Another good indicator is by the sound of the motors. If they sound like they have gravel in them or making a hissing sound at rest etc., that is also a good indicator. It is getting increasingly difficult to find good stable older PC's that are 32 bit and have parallel support, and why we now suggest using the UC100 USB to Parallel converter made by "CNCDrive", if it does not say CNCdrive on it, it is a knock-off copy and it will not work with Mach3. The UC100 permits any Windows PC to be used, 32 bit, 64 bit, WIN XP - 7 and 10.

We were unable to get our closed loop system working with USB or Ethernet, these are packet devices and there is too much lag for real time monitoring.

Thanks, Ron