New from Stratford, Ontario

[hampstead]

Hi all,

Thanks to all the awesome builds, training videos, .dxf etc. you have shared on here !

I am on the fence, find a good used one or build a 4 x 8, or rather 8 x 4 ?
I do have a forklift so the idea of loading onto a machine with a 8ft wide gantry and storage underneath was a cool idea.

Right now I am trying to get a little 2' x 2' ( ezxycnc.com )
Thought it would be a good way to get my feet wet with Mach3.
My challenge right now is to get a signal out of the parallel port, so I have been busy looking for and finding many helpful ideas on here.

Dan

[acourtjester]

Welcome aboard well the first thing is many PC have parallel printer ports but they will not work (technology marching on). For this reason I have moved to BOB boards that have USB signal communications with the PC and still use Mach 3 or 4 software. Also you can expand the to a larger table still using the parts (axis slider assemblies)from the small table if you built the 2'X2' starter table.
PM sent from here.

[robertspark]

With mach3 for the parallel port to work you must have a 32 bit version of Windows (windows 7 is the last that had both a 32 bit and 64bit version)

Mach3 with a parallel port will not work with any 64bit version of Windows.... You would need to format and reinstall OR install a second operating system on a partitioned drive with a bootloader able to boot a second OS.

Or install a Windows 32 bit session on a second HDD and change your bios boot options

.... You can use (specific) usb to LPT motion controllers that have mach3 plugins.... But I recommend using ethernet with plasma and don't recommend using mach3 as it is no longer developed and there are better alternative softwares available.... Some at much lower cost than $175 for no longer developed software.... If you have it and a licence then ok use it....

[hampstead]

I am adding a little to more info to describe what I have and what I have done.
This is a little table I bought used. 2' x 2' with nema 23 motors
It came with a Dell computer ( 32 bit ) that an IT person had shut off many of the extras to eliminate conflicts.
It does have a parallel port right on motherboard.
My first step was to try that.
Went into bios and changed to EPP as that was an option that I was told would work with Mach3.
0x378 is the address. Mach 3 also set to 0x378 with port enabled checked.
When Mach3 loaded is says "Driver successfully initialised".
Green light comes on the Gecko 540 and motor is holding position.
When I push the up and down or left and right, I get no movement on motors. Numbers are changing in the X and Y on mach screen and I can also hear a faint high pitch noise coming from computer when I push the left arrow key. Makes me think it is sending a signal, yet no motor movement.

Thank-you for the suggestions of the BOB and ethernet .

I would like to try a bit more on this parallel port before I move on to other hardware though.
Also I did try other plug in parallel ports as well with EPP capability.
I do not have this computer hooked up to the internet to keep it clean.

[robertspark]

I don't know if it makes any difference as I never ran an LPT port with Mach3 (I used a USB + Ethernet Smooth Stepper)..... but (we all have an opinion) ....

You should not need to set the bios to EPP

EPP (Enhanced Printer Port) is basically a bi-directional printer port..... you dont need a bidirectional printer port.... what you need is the STD LPT port

https://allpinouts.org/pinouts/connecto ... -parallel/

An EPP is also (sort of) {as far as we are concerned in CNC} also an ECP (extended capabilities port)
https://allpinouts.org/pinouts/connecto ... eee-1284a/

what you want is to set the bios to a STD printer port as shown here which is not bi-directional
https://allpinouts.org/pinouts/connecto ... -parallel/

I've known loads of people to have issues with the G540 (not that there is a problem with it.... just the users of it haha...)
seriously it works great !!!!! but you need to read the manual (it could have been made a BIT more idiot proof!

https://www.geckodrive.com/amfile/file/ ... uct_id/14/

1) have you disabled the charge pump? (for testing you don't need it.... so just to get you going disable it).

2) have you wired up the estop / linked out pin 10 to ground (if you have an estop make sure it is wired to ground and pin 10 or just link / jumper these two pins out (The G540 won't work unless this has a jumper installed).

3)can you post your Mach3 profile (xml file) and I will check that you have setup your ports and pins correctly (it is quicker than typeing it out just to check it for you),

[acourtjester]

There is a video on YouTube about how to check the output of the parallel port with an voltmeter.
Believe me most likely you will not get it to work, I have fought with that same thing I even bought an add on parallel printer port card, $30. in the toilet. Mach can care less if it is getting signal it still will make the DROs up and down count all day long, no motor moving ever.
If the motors get hooked as they should to the drivers they will lock up (holding current) does not mean a thing

[robertspark]

Yes the DROs will always increase / decrease regardless of the ACTUAL motor movement as there is no feedback from the motors. Most cnc applications run open loop.

I do believe that quite a few add on cards don't work with mach3 (or at least most posts I've read said that they don't / won't work).

I think some parallel ports can be temperamental (like in the below post) they can output 3.3V and the G540 does not like it (or a voltage lower than 5V)

https://www.cnczone.com/forums/mach-sof ... works.html

this post may be of benefit to you (+ maybe earching the VAST Mach forum)
https://www.rckeith.co.uk/mach3-parallel-port/

https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index ... &board=1.0