I am quite new to the cnc world so be gentle 

I have just about finished my "joes Hybrid" cnc machine and have been putting the final touches on the setup. currently i have all the home and limit switches setup and working in mach3. i have one switch per axis using a small ramp at each end to trigger the home/limit with the exception of the z axis where i only use the home and softlimits. all the XYZ switches are wired in series and connectected to pin 11, the A axis is connected by itself to another pin (which i don't remember right now) but the diagnostics show the switch activation when pressed.

i am currently slaving teh Y and A axis and want to square it when i do the ref all home button. i have tried some of the recommendations i found on the net but have not had any luck. the last thing i tried was unselecting the master slave checkbox in the general settings but that resulted in the A axis reversing direction just after the switch enabling on the home side then it just kept going while the Y was stopped.

any help in the steps to get this setup would be greatly appreciated.

thanks
James 

Hi

Did you remember to check the function "Home Slave with Master Axis" found in the:

Config -> general config menu ?

Regards
Borge

If you want to "square the gantry" don't check "Home Slave with Master Axis"

Are you using the LPT?   If using another device then it must be approached differently.

I do not use "refcombination"  and I am not sure it works to square the gantry anyway.

You want to home the Y before the A. 

Use this in the macro,

DoOEMButton (1024) 'ref Z
DoOEMButton (1022) 'ref X
DoOEMButton (1023) 'ref Y
DoOEMButton (1025) 'ref A

This is what should happen,

Z will home, followed by X then when Y goes, A will follow along in sync and after that A will do it while Y stays still.

If using a smoothstepper let me know and I will revise the above.

Greg

greg i am using the pmdx-132 via paralell port.

is there anything else in the general settings i need to worry about because the last time i tried unchecking the "Home Slave with Master Axis" option the A axis homed to the switch then backed off and kept on going...

here is my general screen before in uncheck teh "Home Slave with Master Axis" option...

thanks
james

No there is no other setting on that page.  Except "home switch safety" which is checked.

So what you are saying is that Y went on the switch and backed off and stopped.  All the while A mimicked the Y movement.

Then A moved toward the switch, and then backed off, and did not stop when it came off the switch.

Is that correct?  Have you checked the switches on the diagnostics page?

If this all happens too quick to be absolutely sure, then slow down the homing speed to a crawl in "homing and limits".   Try 1% if need be.

Greg

greg yes that is pretty much what happened. i was using the default 20% but i will lower it and try it again.

do i need to put in the macro you wrote earlier? if so how do i put that in mach3?

thanks
James

Hi, James

Un-check the A Angular, It may be causing your problem.

Chip

Un-check the A Angular, It may be causing your problem.

Good pickup Chip. 

However it does not make any difference to my homing routine no matter which way it is selected.  On my setup anyway.


James

OK you have not checked the homing macro you are using I take it. 

Select  "Operator / Edit Button script"  then the refall button will start to blink.

Select the button and the VB editor will come up with your homing macro.

Just paste the homing macro in place of whatever is there and save.

Greg

Chip/Greg thanks for your help, you guys are awesome those settings did the trick.

do you think i still need to uncheck the A Axis angular setting? also is there anything else you might recommend me to set/unset?

thanks again
James

Yeah if A axis is not angular then set it to linear.

Glad it is now working for you.

Was it the revised homing macro that fixed it?

Greg