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Please select the question
that best desrcibes your problem.
- Every time I try to go online I get
the error message:
- DO THIS - Turn the Signal Generator
Off and back on again. When you turn it on watch the
LED's on the front panel. A healthy signal generator
will do the following:
- 401A - The
power light should go on immediately. The Limit Light
should go on immediately if you have any one or all
of hte the input lines open. If they are all closed
then the limit light should not go on until a switch
is tripped open. XYZA Lights will go on simultaneously
after about a 1 second delay. Some Models of the signal
generator will not light up the LED's until you step.
These models will also have a very faint LED, unless
you increase the step pulse width in the Motor Signals
Setup Menu.
- 401A with Lightning
Chip- The power light should go on immediately.
The Limit Light should go on immediately if you have
any one or all of the input lines open. If they are
all closed then the limit light should not go on until
a switch is tripped open. XYZA lights will go on one
at a time with about a 0.5 second delay between each
light.
- POWER CIRCUIT CHECK:
If the power light did not go on - Check the power
circuit for the following:
- Is the Power supply plugged
into the wall and the signal generator properly?
- Is the fuse in the back of
the box in tact?
- Open the signal generator and
see if the three cable pairs are securely plugged
into their sockets on the signal generator. The
order in which they are plugged in or the polarity
in which they are plugged in do not make a difference.
- Still having problems? - Call
FlashCut CNC
- If the XYZA LED's do not light
up properly.
- CHIP SOCKET CHECK:
Open the signal generator to make sure the FlashCut
CNC Microprocessor (The 40 Pin DIP Chip) is plugged
in properly. The notch at the end of the Chip should
face the back panel of the signal generator.
- If you have ZIF Socket make
sure the screw head is all the way clockwise or
the lever is all the way down, thus locking the
chip in via all 40 pins.
- If you have a plain socket,
make sure all 40 pins are seated properly and
the chip is inserted all the way in the socket.
- Still having problems? -
Call FlashCut CNC
- Now try to go Online from your
computer. While you go online, look at the RXD and TXD
Lights on the Signal Generator. A healthy connection
will do the following:
- The RXD light will go on for
a short time.
- Then the TXD light will go on
for a very short time
- Then the RXD light will go on
for about 1-2 seconds.
- If the RXD Light Never went on:
- CABLE CONNECTION:
Check you cable connection from the serial port
on the computer to the Signal Generator. Make sure
both sides are screwed in securely. Make sure that
the cable is a 9 pin Male-Female with 9 wires wired
straight through. There is no need for a null modem.
- COM PORT:
Go into the Setup. System Options Screen and try
a different COM Port. The most common port assigned
to a serial port on the motherboard of your computer
is COM 1. However, there are instances where this
port is COM 2, 3 or 4. If you have a separate serial
card, the COM port might be higher (5, 6, 7, 8,
etc.). You can also find out what COM ports you
have active by going to the Control Panel.. System..
Hardware. Device Manager. Click on the plus sign
next to Ports (COM & LPT). This will tell you the
active ports.
- OTHER DEVICE CHECK:
If you are still having trouble, make sure you do
not have any other device on your computer that
might have control of you serial port, or might
interrupt the serial port. Some of these devices
include:
- Palm computer Hot Sync software
- Serial Mouse
- Infra-Red pointing device
- Modem
If you do have one of these
installed you should first try to disable them though
their own software, the try to disable the through
the hardware manager, then try to disable them via
the Device Manager. If this doesn't work, you can
uninstall the device driver via the Hardware Wizard
in Windows. You should also physically remove any
cards associated with the device as well as the actual
device.
- OTHER COMPTUER CHECK:
If you are still having trouble, try another computer.
This will tell you if the problem is with the computer
itself or with the Signal Generator. If the new
computer works, you might want to try wither using
this new computer, or try getting another serial
port to put in your old computer.
- If the new computer did not
work, then Call FlashCut CNC
- Every So often when I am using the
machine, the system locks up and I get the error message:
- OVERSTEPPING CHECK:
Did this occur after a rapid (G0) move?
- Check and see if one of the X,
Y, Z or A LEDS is illuminated. If so, you probably
tried to overdrive the signal generator.
The top speed of the signal generator with a V0T9L Chip
is about 7,300 steps per second at a timing factor of
3. To calculate your Theoretical Maximum Feedrate in
inches per minute (The second column in the Feedrate
/ Ramping Setup Menu) use the following formula:
- Maximum Feedrate[in/min] =
7,300[steps/sec] * TPR [in/step] *60[sec/min] *
3/TF[] Where: TPR = Tool Positioning Resolution
(The last column in the Machine Tool Setup Menu)
TF = Timing Factor (The bottom Right Corner in the
System Options Setup Menu).
- If your maximum feedrate for
a given axis are higher than this calculated number,
then you will either need to reduce your number,
or you can upgrade your chip to a Lightning Chip.
The Lightning Chip can handle a step rate of up
to 5 times faster than the V0T9L Chip. It has a
top speed of 35,000 steps/second.
- POOR SERIAL PORT CHECK:
You may have a poor quality serial port on your computer.
- To check if you have a poor quality
serial port, you can go to the menu Setup.System Options
and Try a lower baudrate. ( Please note that this
is the only place that you can change the baudrate.
If you go into a Windows System Settings Menu and
change the baudrate there, The settings will still
be overridden by the settings in FlashCut.)
- If the lower baudrate does not
help, please follow the instructions outlined in OTHER
DEVICE CHECK.
- BAD SERIAL CARD:
You may have a bad serial card. Either try another
computer, or install a new serial card on this computer.
If you are buying a new serial card, you should get
a high quality one with just one serial port on the
card. If you have a choice, try not to get a card
with multiple ports such as serial, parallel, game,
etc. on one card as these are usually low quality.
- ELECTRICAL NOISE:
There might be excessive electrical noise in the room,
or on your power line.
- If so, locate the noisy device
as far away from the FlashCut CNC control electronics
as possible.
- Call the manufacturer of the
device to see if they make an RF noise filter. Most
spindle motor and plasma torch manufacturers carry
these
- Plug the FlashCut CNC control
electronics into a separate power strip from the
noise source. It is best if this power strip has
noise filtering capabilities. It is also best if
this power strip protected from power spikes and
surges and had UPS (uninterruptible power supply)
capabilities.
- Make sure you have clean cabling
throughout your entire system.
- All signal and power cables
must be properly shielded and grounded. Note that
a good cable shield is only grounded on one end.
For example the FlashCut CNC Motor Cables are
all shielded with the shield grounded to the Motor
Driver Box. It is not grounded to the motor in
any way. If it were connected to both ends, it
could actually cause a ground loop with current
flowing through the shield.
- The cables should not be
tangled within each other. Especially the power
cables should not be tangled with the signal cables.
- Make sure your cables are not
too long. The longer the cable, the more susceptible
it is to noise. As a rule of thumb, the serial cable
should not exceed 25 feet, and the signal cable
between the signal generator and the Driver box
should not exceed 10 feet.
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