Only 1 axis responds after initial setup

Sounds like the drive is not getting the direction pin change for Z. On X when you try to move it does it move one step? Or when you try and change directions does it move one step? You might have step and direction backwards on it. Basically your just turning on and off the pins to the parallel port so you could go to Show Hal Configuration from the Machine menu and turn on and off each one to see if you get a step and or a direction change.

www.linuxcnc.org/docview/html//common_Stepper_Diagnostics.html

John

Razorbackhog wrote:

Being new to this, I am reluctant to just go blundering around for fear of burning out the controller or motors.

There is no risk of damaging the controller or motors by getting the pin allocation wrong in EMC2. There is a significant risk of doing so if you get the motor-to-board wiring wrong, or disconnect/connect a motor with the drive powered up (I have the scrapped board to prove it)

On a 6 wire motor (2 phase 2amp), is it common to not to use 2 of the wires?

Yes. The extra wires are centre-taps on each winding. This allows you to use unipolar drives where either one or the other of the ends of the winding are connected to +V and the centre is permanently at 0v. This is approximately half as efficient as a Bipolar arrangement, where the +V and 0V are connected to the ends of the windings, and swap places to reverse the current.
Your board is Bipolar.

> In that solution I noticed he has a home/limit switch cable included. Mine does not. What does it take to put a home and/or limit switch on you machine? Does that require adding equipment? Or just a software solution?[/quote]

There is an extra connector on your board is for limit switches, they probably connect straight through to pins on the parallel port connector. You would simply wire switches between the limit pins and earth/ground on the same connector (linked to some of the 0V pins on the P-port connector)

If you look at the datasheet for the TB6560:
www.semicon.toshiba.co.jp/openb2b/relate...6560AHQ&returnFlag=1
You will see that there is almost nothing clever happening on the board, it basically connects P-Port pins direct to the chip, and so you should be able to trace the signals and work out the pinout yourself. (I ended up doing this with my rather different board)
(You can probably trace each P-Port pin to an opto-isolator and then each opto to a TB6560 pin using a multimeter)

The manual interface shown on the picture probably connects the output of a 555 timer oscillator circuit to the relevant pins. simple wire links between the pulse output and other pins in that connector should make things move.

Razorbackhog wrote:

John - The X doesn't move at all. The Y moves the directed distance and then reverses direction the same distance and continues until I stop the test. Is this normal in the step config test? The Z moves the directed distance, pauses, and then does the directed distance again all in the same direction. I tried swapping the step and direction for the Z axis, but it didn't work.

I tried the following combinations:
COMBO 1 2 3 4 5 6
PIN 4 - Z step Z step Z direction Z direction amplifier enable amplifier enable
PIN 5 - Z direction amplifier enable amplifier enable Z step Z step Z direction
PIN 6 - amplifier enable Z direction Z step amplifier enable Z direction Z step

Results from combos:
1 - Nothing
2 - Made noise like the motor was engaging but did not move
3 - Same as 2 but barely made the same noise
4 - Nothing
5 - Turns the motor, but in only one direction. Will not turn or job the other direction. Seems to go the directed distance or revolutions
6 - Responded the same as 2, but made less noise. Still more than 3.

You won't get any movement at all unless the step pin is correct.
You will get movement in one direction but not in the other, with a "live" amp and motor if you have amp-enable wired correctly but no direction connection.
You will get movement in one direction and a "dead" amp and motor in the other if you have direction wired to amp enable.
You will get one step every time you change direction if you have the direction pin wired to the step input.

5 looks best so far, you just need to find which connector pin is the direction input. I am surprised that 4 is a blank, I would expect movement in one direction and a dead amp in the other. However, I think you can determine that Pin5 has to be the step input.

Razorbackhog wrote:

I assumed without the board energized I would not get an end-to-end circuit.

Even with the board energised you won't get multimeter continuity through the opto-isolators (that is rather the point of them

However, each pin on the p-port socket will connect to one of the 4 pins on one of the optos, and then one of the other pins on the _same_ opto will link to a pin on the driver IC.

I have just noticed a huge oversight in all the comments to far though....

Have you checked the P-Port cable? Many of them (especially cheap ones) are not fully wired, having only enough contacts to run a printer. Also, some P-port cables are laplink cables, and those are totally useless.

andypugh wrote:

I have just noticed a huge oversight in all the comments to far though....

Have you checked the P-Port cable? Many of them (especially cheap ones) are not fully wired, having only enough contacts to run a printer. Also, some P-port cables are laplink cables, and those are totally useless.

Good catch Andy! I had totally forgot about those cheap cables...

John