# mach 3 trouble



## ken in minnesota (Apr 5, 2021)

i purchased a used cnc router that i know nothing about. firs one i have seen not on you tube. any way have hours watching videos and they seem to
skip some things that they must assume i would know. the machine has mach 3 and 4 on it. v carve pro also. when in mach 3 videos say to jog machine
to various locations to set offset starting point. do you have to select jog on? my emergency light is flashing and wont reset. went to diagnostic tab and under input's
emergency is flashing. not being able to move any axis i set soft limits large so machine doesn't think its beyond them. I don't know where to start. 
i called art soft and opened a account. Tried help from there tech, only got suggestion to license the program myself. That is fine but i still will have the same problem.


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## TimPa (Jan 4, 2011)

your emergency stop (e-stop) button may be pushed in. try rotating it to see if it will pop out. that may get rid of that ...


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## ger21 (Feb 10, 2019)

Did you click the Reset button? If you don't get it out of reset, nothing else is going to work. You need to figure that out first before messing with anything else.


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## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

Welcome to the forum Ken.


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## ken in minnesota (Apr 5, 2021)

ger21 said:


> Did you click the Reset button? If you don't get it out of reset, nothing else is going to work. You need to figure that out first before messing with anything else.


the machine doesent have a emergency stop switch. the company that moved it to storage disconnected some wiring.
i know i need one, will figure out where to connect to circuit board.


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## marecat3 (Nov 30, 2010)

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your cnc


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## AutomatedIngenuities (Aug 19, 2020)

ken in minnesota said:


> the machine doesent have a emergency stop switch. the company that moved it to storage disconnected some wiring.
> i know i need one, will figure out where to connect to circuit board.



I believe Mach requires an input for the estop in order to reset. If you don't have an estop you can short out the pins on your breakout board, but you will have to identify in the settings which pin is associated with the estop. 

It may be good to identify your breakout board manufacturer and read up on a guide of setting up Mach3. Also keep in mind, Mach3 is littered with bugs and is not supported with updates anymore. Some find it stable but others have problems.


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## beltramidave (Jan 6, 2016)

Where in MN are you located? I am "up north". I don't run Mach but may be able to help you. Send me a PM if interested.


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## ger21 (Feb 10, 2019)

AutomatedIngenuities said:


> I believe Mach requires an input for the estop in order to reset.


No, it does not. You may just need to toggle the active low setting of the estop input to get it to reset with no switch attached.


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## ken in minnesota (Apr 5, 2021)

i changed the e stop pin setting to active low and now i can reset. when i jog the machine the dro values move but not the spindle.
the status message says APPLICATION WATCHDOG TRIGGERED i hit the soft limit button and i get OUT OF LIM ITS FOR SOFT
LIMIT ACTIVATION i have tried to set the soft limits without success. my work area is 20 by 30 inches and i make Shure the dro
isnt higher than that. i just printed the 106 page


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## ken in minnesota (Apr 5, 2021)

started to say i printed the 106 page install and setup manual for mach 3 and will try to get the soft limit and home settings set.
watched video and it looks tricky, any advice?


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## ger21 (Feb 10, 2019)

Disable the softlimits, and worry about them later.

You can also disable the watchdog messages, which I'd recommend.

You need to make sure all the port and pin settings are correct, and the axis are enabled.


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## ken in minnesota (Apr 5, 2021)

when setting up mach 3 it ask's if i am using a parallel port and if so the # of the port. i am using a minix nok type computer without
a parallel port, has a ethernet cable going to smooth stepper board. should i answer setup question no? does ethernet port have a
id #


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## ger21 (Feb 10, 2019)

If you have the smoothstepper plugin installed, you should have an option for Smoothstepper in addition to the parallel port.


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## ken in minnesota (Apr 5, 2021)

i ordered a new ess board, when it gets here i have a it guy that will help me delete mach 3 and reinstall it correctly and
configure for ess board. than will have license code resent. at that point i should be able to go foreword with the
setup.should know within the week.


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## smanzer (May 22, 2021)

ken in minnesota said:


> i ordered a new ess board, when it gets here i have a it guy that will help me delete mach 3 and reinstall it correctly and
> configure for ess board. than will have license code resent. at that point i should be able to go foreword with the
> setup.should know within the week.


Hi Ken, take it one step at a time, Mach3 is a little confusing at first but you will get the hang of it. After you start getting progress, back up the entire Mach3 directory to a USB drive. Keep copying the directory as you improve the setup. Also write down motor control settings, the Step/Dir/Port settings etc. The last thing you want to do is to redo everything should the PC crash...

Good luck with the new machine - fun and frustrating, been there, still there LOL.

Regards,

Steven


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## ken in minnesota (Apr 5, 2021)

finally got mach 3 installed with my own license, also got ess working,communicating so i believe it should be going soon.
the original builder wires the ess board to the motor controlers with two wire shielded wire and used the shield as a connection?
dont like that idea, going to change it. also has 5,12,24,36 and 48 volt power supplies? 5 for the ess board. 12 and 24 to nothing.
36 to z and 48 to x/y. this is a 24 by 36 machine. i would thing the 48 should cover all three stepper motors? any thoughts there?


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

ken in minnesota said:


> used the shield as a connection


That's not a good idea at all, good that you're going to change it. I guess it depends on how robust the 48v power supply is relative to the current draw of the steppers as to whether it will handle all three steppers. Z typically doesn't run as fast as X and Y so is there a problem with the Z axis as it is now on 36v?


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## ken in minnesota (Apr 5, 2021)

i havent seen it run yet, i will probably leave the power supply as is until i see how it works.still have a lot of setup to do
but will get there


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## ken in minnesota (Apr 5, 2021)

the terminal on the ess break out board labeled 5v has no voltage on it. tried contacting seller and got same result as all last month,
go to site 
*C25S - Smooth Stepper Terminal Board*
doesent work, have told them dozen times and still same response. don't think this company has any customer support.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Do you have 5v here?


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## ken in minnesota (Apr 5, 2021)

yes i do. i dont have at the break out board. tried moving config jumper and lost communication with ess.


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## ken in minnesota (Apr 5, 2021)

the ess and bob you have shown are exactly what i have. please turn the view to the grey connector and show what terminals you would
use for the ess, probe, xyz driver's


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

I'm attaching the schematic I drew when I designed and built my CNC. *Disclaimer *- I am not an electrician or engineer but I drew this almost 5 years ago and it worked the first time and is still working, so take this as a guide only.


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## ken in minnesota (Apr 5, 2021)

thank david. i was wondering about the 12v enable connections to the motor drivers? i am working with a used setup and
there doesn't appear to have had any wiring to those terminals? is that optional? my three drivers are the same as shown


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Enable is optional and even though it's on my schematic I chose not to wire those terminals. I don't even recall what they do or why I chose not to use that function.


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