I have been trying to run my PhlatPrinter from my Dell Latitude D800 laptop, so I thought I'd give y'all an update. I've gone through the configuration and setup files at least a half-dozen times, including 2 complete removals and re-installations of Mach, and here's what I found.
First of all, I KNOW there are dire warnings about running Mach from a laptop - I chose to ignore them.
After going through setup and motor tunings, the best settings I could get without any audible skipped steps were:
X= 1033.792, 25, 10 (accel)
Y= 31819.209, 10, 10
Z= 31620.553, 12, 10
so I decided to run a part, the "santa1.cnc" file. The motor run sounded good, but one of the long parts is about 1/2" shorter than the other, with the tabs on the "first" side offset by a similar 1/2", but with the tabs on the "second" side only off by 1/4". That means I lost over 500 steps going one direction, but only about 250 coming back - but I never heard a thing! There were some errors also in "Y", but those really showed up when cutting the center part - one side was 2" narrower than the other (that's almost 64000 missed steps). These aren't missed steps you can hear - they are steps that never got out of my fubar parallel port to the controller card. In other words, trash.
I had noticed on the "Diagnostics Alt-7" tab that the Pulse Frequency had been jumping from 16,000 to 23,000, so I decided to do the unthinkable and READ THE MANUAL for Mach3! I know, it WAS kinda scary, but I don't see any hairs growing on my palms yet, so I think I'll be okay. Anyway, I learned a few things.
There is a file included in your Mach3 folder called DriverTest.exe - did you know that? When you run that file, it performs a 60 second test on the performance of your parallel port. Here's what I got:
All those black sections of the graph are actually a bazillion black lines showing signal interruptions, before they get out of the parallel port. That sux! btw, running the "Specialdriver.bat" file made no discernable difference at all! So, "Originaldriver.bat" it was. (rtfm, you'll know why you MUST do that).
So I dragged my PhlatPrinter into the house so I could plug it into my desktop and see how it ran there. O. M. G! What a difference! The settings on my desktop machine (a Pentium 4, 2.6GHz w/2G RAM) are:
X= 1049.396, 45, 18.75 (accel)(belt was too tight)
Y= 31901.106, 25, 15
Z= 31746.032, 25, 25 (All 3 will run faster, but I don't want to push my luck)
and running DriverTest.exe on the desktop machine, I got this:
So, the problem with the laptop IS the parallel port - the Pulse Frequency is too unstable to drive the stepper controller board, despite the fact I had slowed the motors down SOOOOOOO much!
After much investigation on the 'net, the only viable solution seems to buy a SmoothStepper board from http://www.warp9td.com/ , but they are on a 4-week backorder. Buying a good PCMCIA/Parallel port card will cost nearly half as much anyway, and the SmoothStepper will provide the ultimate solution to my problem, so I'm on a month-long waiting list before I'll bother making any more blue scrap.
And I prefer sleeping in the bedroom, so I won't be running the PP in the house - thank you very much. :roll: Attached files

 

Well, I got that Dell for $165 on eBay so if I can get the SmoothStepper to solve the port problems, it will still be cheaper (and a lot smaller) than a desktop, keyboard and monitor. Just finding enough uncluttered flat space in the garage to put the laptop is all the challenge I need - I have no idea where I'd put a desktop system. :roll:
btw, it's a 3-car garage, with 2 cars that will always have parking space, 'cause I hate going thru the rain to get into my car. :x

 

hmmm - http://tinyurl.com/5pljmj - many options, not too expensive, just be sure you can get the driver software for any model you bid on.

 

*APB*
Is anyone out there using one of those PCMCIA-to-Parallel_Port cards to drive their PP? If so, would you please run the "drivertest.exe" file found in your Mach3 directory, and post a screenshot of the results?
I'd really like to know if those cards have the poop to run this software and driver card.

 

Mark - jBourdon posted results "over there" at http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11134282 look for POST#581. Down at POST#594 I discuss the possible reason his card works so well for him.