Messages

531

General Mach Discussion / Re: Strange Z Axis problem only with MeshCAM generated G code

« on: September 15, 2020, 10:07:41 AM »

Are you using a ball nosed cutter?

532

General Mach Discussion / Re: how to connect/wire a rotary encoder?

« on: September 13, 2020, 07:20:00 PM »

you could use one of these with a small magnet glued to the spindle.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hall-Effect-KY-003-Magnetic-Sensor-Module-DC-5V-For-Arduino-PIC-AVR-Smart-v-edLD/184366055177?epid=0&hash=item2aed12bf09:g:sqYAAOSw1fJa9mSG

533

General Mach Discussion / Re: how to connect/wire a rotary encoder?

« on: September 11, 2020, 05:23:18 PM »

This might be worth a read.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incremental_encoder#Differential_pair

534

General Mach Discussion / Re: how to connect/wire a rotary encoder?

« on: September 11, 2020, 04:30:06 PM »

The encode may have an index pulse, called the Z channel on some that you could put into a normal input on the PMDX-122.

The smoothstepper has port 3 for this use or CS-Labs can do it as can Hicon some of the later PMDX boards too, you need boards that can read high input rates most spindle encoders are 1000 PPR and more so that x RPM is way above most basic boards, you need one with on board processing.

535

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: cv not staying on

« on: September 11, 2020, 04:21:28 PM »

You could add the G64 into the initialisation string in the config screen or put it at the start of your code.

536

General Mach Discussion / Re: Lose the contact trigger intermittently

« on: September 10, 2020, 08:19:13 PM »

The next time this happens you need to check the diagnostic leds to see if the switch is signalling the control, it could just be a bad connection or a broken wire in the cable.

537

General Mach Discussion / Re: how to connect/wire a rotary encoder?

« on: September 10, 2020, 05:51:54 PM »

The PMDX-122 has no input for a high speed encoder, you are best to put a single pulse input from a hall effect sensor and set the index input active.

538

General Mach Discussion / Re: Z axis inconsistent movement

« on: September 08, 2020, 08:30:37 PM »

This may not be useful information but some time back we had a similar problem to this and it turned out to be this:-

The machine was setup with 10 microsteps and low power standby, when the axis stopped moving it instantly went into low power mode and the motor snapped to the nearest full step. on restarting the motor continued from the full step point, we killed the power down mode and everything went back to working properly.

539

General Mach Discussion / Re: Communication Mach3 external software

« on: September 08, 2020, 10:48:20 AM »

You can put a pokeys on and check signals from that with the plugin.

540

General Mach Discussion / Re: Sharing home limit switches not working

« on: September 08, 2020, 10:36:28 AM »

 Try setting the Home off in homing and limits or go to section 4.5.4 of the Mach3 installation guide.