Z motors not working

[Rtodahl01]

Turned on my machine today and, nothing?
strange.
I can press the buttons on the machine and it shows the torch going up or down.
But it isn't moving.
Going to call The machine manufacturer on Monday.
Sure it is a setting on Mach3 but being a newbie I don't have any idea where to start
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
wright 5 x10 Hypertherm 45
turbocad
sheet cam
mach3

[Rtodahl01]

Oops just realized this is the DIY tables
I still need help though.

[acourtjester]

DIY table are good, Is the reset light flashing? a few first thing to check, is the power on the driver power supply, is there a light on the drive. When all power is OK do the other motors lock up, a clunk or thud should be heard when power is first turned on. can you turn the motors by hand, or can you move any axis by hand. I the other motors act normally then the Z axis has a problem, check for loose connections both electrically and machinal.
Last you may need to swap a motor even just connecting it to another motor cable to see if that axis command will move it.

[Rtodahl01]

Will do thank you

[Rtodahl01]

Checked all wires and connections.
Diconnected then reconnected to be sure everything was snug fit.
No good called manufacturer and easy peasy power source dead.
Shipped back to them they are fixing it and sending back.

[Old Iron]

Glad you found the problem

[hbg]

bringing up this old post, having the same problem. Z axis worked fine before and the next day stop working. checked wires, motor & switched out stepper drivers, all checked out good. What do you mean power source dead? bad breakout board? (all axis work except the Z)

[acourtjester]

Power source dead could mean the driver power supply is not functioning ( no voltage out to the driver), Break out board sends signals to the drivers to move the axis these are separate modules but connected as part of the control electronics.

[hbg]

dumb question...I have a extra axis port on the break out board labeled as Y-motor. Is its possible to switch the Z axis driver to that port and change setting in mach3? Or is that only for Y axis?

[acourtjester]

I am not familiar with that BOB but have you checked the pins assigned to each axis in Mach. each axis has 2 signal pins one for direction and the other for steps (or pulses) to operate the axis. There is also a backup file that Mach creates each time a change is made for the XML file info.
See attached and check the XML file for plasma in the main Mach3 folder to see the last change date, this will tell you if you changed something and that is why it is not working now. In the XML backup folder you will find the last backup file which has the setting before the last change. If you did make a change and need to correct the change you can remove the Plasma XML file from the Mach3 filer and then copy and rename the backup XML file to the Mach 3 main folder (plasma.XML) now if you are using another software package it may have a different name.

motor 3.JPG

XML file in the main Mach3 folder

motor XML.JPG

backup XML file in the backup XML folder

motor pins.JPG

Axis signal pins in Motor driver output