Here is the F.A.Q. part of this web site. You will be answered your questions here.
Pin Setup
I get a lot of questions about how the pin setup should be. Here the pin setup is given for the interface kit and, 3D 4D step cards. There is a printscreen from mach1. Mach 2 and 3 look very similar.
Check in the bios what the address is of the LPT port. Most common are 278,378,3bc.
Set this port in the port selection menu.
The 3D/4D step driver and interface card (2.1amp and 4amp driver) can be set in sleep mode. Which means that the motor gets only 25% of its nominal current. Which is good if the motors are sitting stationary for a while. Stepper can than get quite hot.
In Mach 1,2,3 this can be set via the parallel port. Pin 17 controls this function. Make sure that you have control over this pin. I have had some laptops that would only be able to control pin 17 when the LPT port was in output only mode.
G-Code
If you are working with CNC machinery for the first time G-code might seem very mystical.
Download the tutorial for Turbocnc at www.dakeng.com.
It has a very good explanation of G-codes.
It actually isn't that hard at all...
