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SCU (System Configuration Utility)

 

This utility helps you to easily and quickly configure your Windows PC to communicate with your Ethernet SmoothStepper (ESS). 

 

The SCU documentation has moved to here.

 

 

 

Documentation for the SCU is available here.

 

 



Mach4 Plugin for ESS (Ethernet SmoothStepper)

 

To install the ESS plugin please follow our Getting Started guide, here.  This guide contains the links to the ESS Plugin and the Mach4 download page.

 

Our Mach4 plugins consist of 2 parts.  The large file is the plugin software, and the 2nd file is a signature file that lets Mach know it was signed by the plugin developer.  Mach will not run the plugin without both files being present.  These files should be placed in the "C:\Mach4Hobby\Plugins\" folder.  The extension "m4pw" stands for "Mach 4 Plugin Windows".

 



Mach3 Plugin for ESS (Ethernet SmoothStepper)

 

Are you running the recommended version of Mach3 (.062)? Please click  to find out.

 

For setup instructions, please follow our Getting Started guide!

 

Download the current Mach3 ESS plugin(s). Either version will support Mills, Routers, Lathes and Lasers, but 2019_11_06 is recommended since it has some additional improvements..  For THC there is a difference between the two versions:

  • ESS_Mach3_2019 11 06_v10w2a 10f1.zip (Released Nov 06th, 2019) Everyone one should use this plugin, especially if you are using a TMC3in1 (or WarpRunner) THC.  This plugin will NOT work for Proma style Up/Down THC or Oxy/Acetylene cutting, please use the next plugin instead.
  • ESS_Mach3_180220 u4f1L (Released Feb 20th, 2018) This is the last version that supports Proma style Up/Down THC or manual (Oxy/Acetylene) cutting! Click here for details.  This plugin will NOT work for a TMC3in1 or WarpRunner, please use the previous plugin instead. While you can use this for Mills, Routers, Lathes and Lasers, it is recommended that those users should use 2019_11_06 instead.

 

Here is a video showing you how to Install Mach3 and the ESS Plugin.

 

 

You will find the latest Beta release of the ESS Mach3 plugin and the change logs in this forum thread.

Previous Plugin Versions (Yes, I have the latest version listed at the top of the previous releases, because there were multiple cases of people missing the current release in the section above, and using older releases by mistake.  I had to add this disclaimer because multiple people started asking why I had the current release listed in multiple places, and what the difference was.): 

ESS_Mach3_2019 11 06_v10w2a 10f1.zip (Released Nov 06th, 2019) This is the TMC3in1 style THC!

ESS_Mach3_2019 02 25_v10w2a 10f1.zip (Released Feb 25th, 2019) This is the TMC3in1 style THC!  Click here for details.

ESS_Mach3_181218_v10f1O.zip (Released December 18th, 2018) Click here for details.

ESS_Mach3_180220 u4f1L (Released Feb 20th, 2018) This was the last version that supported Up/Down THC! Click here for details.

Mach3 ESS 170807 u4f1J (Released August 7th, 2017)  Click here for details

ESS_Mach3_170328_u4f1H  (Released March 28th, 2017)

View Archived versions of the Mach3 Plugin for ESS (Ethernet SmoothStepper)

 

 
If you have an existing ESS plugin in "C:\Mach3\Plugins\", you need to close Mach3 and delete the old ESS plugin first (ESS_Mach3.dll or anything that has ESS in it and ends with .dll).

Once the old ESS plugin is gone, you can double click on the new plugin, (ESS_Mach3.m3p), and a Mach3 helper application will copy the file to "C:\Mach3\Plugins\" and rename the plugin extension to ESS_Mach3.dll

 

If you can't get Mach to communicate with the ESS:

1) Close Mach,

2) Power Cycle the ESS

3) Right click on the Mach icon and select “Run as Administrator”.  Mach should then connect to the ESS again.

 

 



Configurator

 

This will not setup your PC.  The SCU found at the top of this page is the software that sets up your PC.  The Configurator only changes the IP address of the ESS - most people will NOT need to run this application. 

The Configurator and its documentation may be found here.

 



Windows Driver for the USS (USB SmoothStepper)

 

You need to use a Window's USB driver and a Mach plugin for the USS.

 


 

USB Driver Installation:  If you are having problems, please watch this short video (less than 2 minutes) on how to install the USB Drivers for windows.    

If Windows did not give you the option to select the driver for the USS in the "New Hardware Found Wizard", here is how to do it manually:

  1. Unzip the USB Driver you downloaded (above).
  2. Open the device manager by pressing the “WINDOWS” key and the “R” key at the same time. 
  3. When the "Run" box opens up, type in "devmgmt.msc". 
  4. Find the USB SmoothStepper in the list of "Other Devices". 
  5. Right-click on the SmoothStepper, select "Properties", and there will be an option for "Update Driver Software...". 
  6.  Browse to the unzipped USB Driver files, and it will install the USB driver for you.

 

The USS Mach Plugins are in the following sections.

 



Mach4 Plugin for the USS (USB SmoothStepper)

 

The USS will not run satisfactorily with Mach4, and so there will never be a Mach4 plugin.

 



 Mach3 Plugin for the USS (USB SmoothStepper)

 

Are you running the recommended version of Mach3? Please click to find out.

Please use the current USS Mach3 PlugIn 2014-01-04  : SmoothStepper_v17fe.zip

An "m3p" file is a "Mach 3 Plugin" file. Once downloaded, double-click the file and it will self install itself as a dll in the PlugIns directory of your Mach3 installation.

Note: When you run Mach and choose a motion control device, there is a box you can check that says "Don't ask me again". Next time you run Mach it won't ask you which plugin you want to use, and it will automatically run the same one. This has caused a lot of headaches for users in the past, so please be aware of it. What you will need to do is reset this option. In Mach, go to the pull-down menus and choose "Function Cfg's". Under this menu you will find an option named "Reset Device Sel...". If you choose this, then next time you run Mach with the same profile it will ask you which device you want to use. A lot of users have banged their heads against the wall trying to figure out why the features of the new plugin weren't working. It was because they weren't running it... Another note to make is that it isn't a good idea to have more than one SmoothStepper plugin active in the plugins directory. It might be more broad than that, in that you should only have one motion control device plugin in the folder at the same time. I don't know that for a fact but it would not surprise me. For some reason the files interact with each other because Mach loads all of them at startup. The best way to manage plugins is to rename the ones that you are not using. If you change the extension from ".dll" to ".m3p" (Mach 3 Plugin), Mach will leave them alone. If you ever want to reinstall a plugin, simply double-click it and Mach will rename the file from .m3p to .dll.   If you double click on the .M3P file while it is still inside the zip file folder, you will get an error saying that it can't be deleted.  This is okay, since the file should already be copied to  "c:\Mach3\plugins" and renamed to have  a .dll extension.

 

View Archived versions of the Mach3 Plugin for USS (USB SmoothStepper)

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