Help with configuration for new Breakout board

Why is every one here so quick to blame Bob, what did he ever do to you.

The original poster hasn't even described what his real problem(s) is(are). If the original poster would kindly, better describe his issues, perhaps we could actually diagnose them.

The machine is an 8ft x 4ft router with two steppers driving the x axis.
It seems there is power going to the stepper motors, because Icannot move them, but I am unable to activate the machine from the screen.
Also, when the BOB is connected to usb there does not seem to be any power going to any of the input connections - p15, p13, p12, p11, p10 GN or vcc (in).
Thanks once again
Aaron

In your circuit drawings there is shown a jumper wire going from the 5v+ terminal beside the X-axis outputs over to the VCC-in pin beside the inputs. Do you have that wire there? It looks like that VCC-in terminal is where the bob gets the power that supplies the other input pins.

It is entirely possible that the USB port can't supply enough power to run your inputs, you may need a better voltage source.

the Green china 5axis bob needs 12-24V to run the inputs and the Spindle

aaron wrote:

The machine is an 8ft x 4ft router with two steppers driving the x axis.
It seems there is power going to the stepper motors, because Icannot move them, but I am unable to activate the machine from the screen.
Also, when the BOB is connected to usb there does not seem to be any power going to any of the input connections - p15, p13, p12, p11, p10 GN or vcc (in).
Thanks once again
Aaron

To further expand on what you are describing, You should not be able to bring Linuxcnc out of E-stop if your inputs are not working. If the inputs have 5v power applied to VCC-in you should be able to measure voltage between each input terminal and ground. If you are not getting 5v+ at the 5v+ pin beside the X step/dir pins, and you have the USB cord plugged in, check that you have the jumper beside the USB plug on the bob set to the 1-2 side. If you still can't get voltage there you might want to try switching the jumper and connecting an external 5v power supply.

Once you have your inputs powered and working, Open Linuxcnc, you might still have trouble bringing the machine out of E-stop or enabling the machine if your E-stop or limit switches need to be inverted. Check to see if you can see the inputs change state using either Halmeter or the watch tab in Show Hal Configuration. If you need to invert some of your input signals you can do so by using the pin "parport.0.pin.NN-in-not" rather than the regular in pin. You can make those changes by simply editing your hal file or rerunning stepconfig and checking the invert check boxes.

Hi Todd

Thanks for you excellent explanations.

I have connected together 0 volts and GND on the BOB and I have now got inputs working. good shout!

If I edit the estop line in .hal from in-not to in the estop seems to work. good shout!

X and Y axis are running backwards, However when I home them they move to the proximity switches, but move to final position in the wrong direction and crash (I dare no try the x axis for fear of a crash). I imagine this will be fixed once the motors run in the correct direction. Could you please tell me how to invert the direction of the steppers in .hal.

My big worry is that in one of the states I tested the machine in I was getting the original problem: noisey, clincky sounding stepper motors with flickering green lights on two of the micro stepper driver units. So I am not so sure the BOB was the problem. This seems to be an intermittent fault and only happened once, in the last testing session

Many thanks

Aaron.

xy backwards
hi you can easy change in the INI file the signes from PLUS to Minus
i recomend as for better workaround to invert the wire on the Drive
change B+ and B- wirerof the stepper
then it runs in right direction
if homing fails now direction
change in ini file
fromto

Thanks everyone.

Motors are rotating correctly, But I still have problems!

The estop does not seem to work properly. The stepper motors power up no matter what state the estop is in, and only activates the screen estop when the mechanical one is pushed in for off. Is this something to do with the replacement BOB or the wiring to the estop? It worked perfect with the old BOB.

However the initial problem still persists so I am in the process of stripping the thing down and checking every component.

I'll be back here soon no doubt

Thanks again