Touch off

[Alan B]

Hi Dave
I am experiencing two problems at the moment , the first one does relate to touching off every time I try to use the Set Z zero on the touch off screen I get the message ( Can't set Z0 in master mode w/o master tool ) now I do have a master tool set up so I have tried all ways that I can think of to overcome this problem without any luck , tried without master tool , turning master mode off /on does not seem to make any difference , if I use my probe it works every time , the other problem that I am getting may be down to Mach itself not sure so I am sure you will point me in the correct direction , everything seems to be running fine including the auto tool changer but every now and again when I am on the RUN screen you have the DRO's on the left of screen on the "X" axis DRO just below the Zero DRO button there is a small DRO which I think is the scale reading it should read +1.0000 but every now and again it changes to -1.0000 which causes the yellow LED to come on , I did think it may be caused by noise but have eliminated that , have tried changing over stepper drives , stepper motors and wiring etc but I still get the same problem and it only happens on the "X" axis , now I never had this problem with Mach version 40 so again not sure where to look , I am at the moment using version 19 of Mach and beta 9 of MSM , thanks
in advance for any help
Alan

[DaveCVI]

Hi Alan,
Sorry if this seems a bit rushed, I'm traveling the rest of this week.

Issue 1 (MT touch off):
From my tired brain's memory, if you have MT mode on, then the only tool that can be used to set Z zero is the MT. The T# of the MT is set on the tooling page, master tool mode options. The message "Can't set Z0 in master mode w/o master tool" tells me MT mode is on, but the MT T# is not mounted at the time the button is clicked.
I did modify the code in beta 9 for touch plates - perhaps something happened....
please make the problem happen and then get the probing log file and email it to me to look at.
(C:\mach3\MachStdMill\Logs\MSMProbingDebugLog.txt)

Issue 2 (scaling DROs):
The DROs i think you are you referring to are the scale factor DROs for each axis. The LED next to them turns on whenever the scale factor is not equal 1 (i.e. the axis is being scaled).
If an axis DRO value is -1, that indicates that the axis is being reversed + for -
I can't think of any way MSM could change those DRO values on it's own. They are just Mach's DROs.

Electrical noise seems an unlikely candidate to change a DRO value. A input signal bit yes, but not a DRO value.

When the scale is -1, is the axis motion in fact reversed from "normal" for your machine?
Do you have any G-Ccode doing G51? That is how scaling factors get set via G-Code.

Dave

 

[Alan B]

Hi Dave
Issue 1 (MT touch off)
Done exactly what you said but still get the same message ( "Can't set Z0 in master mode w/o master tool" ) I started from the beginning remeasured PTL of Master tool etc touched off and got my reading of Zero then went straight over to the touch off screen and clicked on the "Z"0 arrow and got the same message .
Issue 2
(Scaling DRO's)
This problem sometimes happens when I am just pressing buttons ie: I could be homing machine or just pressing the Mach3 ready/not ready button , it just happens for no reason , I will check over machine again and see if I can find anything else which might be causing this problem
Thanks
Alan

[DaveCVI]

Alan,
I inquired about this issue with the guys at Newfangled - they asked that I have you contact them directly.
Please email Scott (scottn@machsupport.com), tell him that you are the fellow I talked to them about re the axis scaling flipping.

Dave

[Alan B]

Hi Dave
will contact Scott and see if he can help me , have you got any idea's on the problem with the Master tool and touch off problem ??
Thanks
Alan

[DaveCVI]

Alan,
I'm traveling and can't do any hands on testing as I'm away from the shop.

In MT mode, the master tool has to be the tool used to touch and set Z Zero.

Looking at the code, I'm thinking that the issue is that the Master Tool is not mounted when the WC Offset page, Touch tab, Set Z zero button is clicked.

Here is the relevant code from the "Set Z Zero" button:

Code:

'
Code "G92.2"

If Not (GetUserDRO(MasterToolModeLED) = 1 ) Then
' we are not in Master tool mode
Call SetOEMDRO(MachMultiModeZAxisWCOEMDRO , Abs(GetUserDRO(TLOGageBlockHeightDRO )))
Else
' we are in master tool mode
' do we have the master tool mounted?
If GetCurrentTool() = GetUserDRO(MasterToolNumberDRO) Then
' we have the master tool

<<< here is where the MT Set Z Zero action is done - you don't get here>

Else

<<<< here is the message you are seeing >>>>>>

' can't do it - need master tool, tell user
MsgBox "Can't set Z0 in master tool mode w/o master tool",0,"Master Tool Mode"
End If
End If

What is the # of the master tool set to on the Tooling page?
(TC and master tool mode options panel)

What is the value of the Current Tool DRO when you click the Set Z zero button?

You will get the message when they are not the same number - i.e. when the currently mounted tool is not the master tool.

Dave

[Alan B]

Hi Dave
I have attached a new probe log for you to take a look at , Tool #1 is the master tool , on the Tooling screen it is shown as the current tool and when I go to the WC Touch off screen it shows tool#1 and that it is set as the master tool , I cannot see what else there is every thing is done as you have advised but I still get the same message as before  ( "Can't set Z0 in master mode w/o master tool" ) , I appreciate that you are away this matter is not a case of life and death , see if you can see anything when you return
Thanks
Alan

[DaveCVI]

Alan,
I think I found the problem: the GetCurrentTool() API for scripts is broken.
When the script calls it to get the current tool number an incorrect value is being returned.
The bad value is compared to the MT # and things fail rapidly from there.

This is a Mach bug - I'll have to get Brian to look at it.

Dave
 

[Alan B]

Hi Dave
thanks for the info , spent hours trying different ways of doing things and kept getting the same message but I am pleased that you have been able to track down the problem , Brian is now also trying to sort out my problem with the scaling , anyway thanks again for all your help will wait for the next Mach update
Cheers
Alan

[DaveCVI]

Alan,
I'll put a code "work around" into MSM for the GetCurrentTool() API bug until the API is fixed in Mach.
It will be in the next MSM release (Beta 10).

Dave