Machsupport Forum

Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: Knotsaboutwood on April 16, 2012, 05:45:44 PM

Title: Ref All and Ref Z not working
Post by: Knotsaboutwood on April 16, 2012, 05:45:44 PM

Hi,

I've been trying to be a Z zero plate wired up now for a couple of days and I've ran into a new problem. I've wired my plate to pin 12 and used the auto configure settings option to set up my Z home. I then configured homing / limit switches screen for my Z axis.

Here's the problem, hoping to just be able to hit ref Z and have the machine drop until it encounters the plate, when I hit ref Z nothing happens, nor does anything happen when I hit ref all.

Anybody with more experience with Mach3 have any ideas why nothing would happen?

Thanks for your help,

Title: Re: Ref All and Ref Z not working
Post by: ger21 on April 16, 2012, 06:06:14 PM

Sounds like you don't have any home switches enabled. Do the axis Ref'd LED's turn green?

Also, if you try to home to a plate, the axis won't be zeroed if you have any offsets set, unless you use a custom Ref Z macro.

Title: Re: Ref All and Ref Z not working
Post by: Knotsaboutwood on April 16, 2012, 07:54:44 PM

Gerry,

All I have set up is the Z plate. Am I correct that if I initialize a home plate in homing / limit switches that when I press ref Z in Diagnostics that the spindle should lower until the homing plate is contacted?
I can understand why the ref All doesn't work, but not why the ref Z.

Thanks

Title: Re: Ref All and Ref Z not working
Post by: Knotsaboutwood on April 16, 2012, 08:45:51 PM

I'm back in front of the machine staring at the Diagnostic page, when I notice that when I don't have the alligator clip on the bit, I have no yellow lights on the right hand side of the screen. When I hook up the clip, the M3 light flickers intermittently.
Not certain if this changes anything but it does seem odd, I would think I would only get that light when the bit touched the plate.
Could that be caused by noise, and if so would that noise cause the ref Z button to not work?

Thanks,

Title: Re: Ref All and Ref Z not working
Post by: ger21 on April 16, 2012, 09:00:13 PM

Again, does the Z axis Ref'd LED turn green? If it does, than noise is triggering the input

Title: Re: Ref All and Ref Z not working
Post by: Knotsaboutwood on April 16, 2012, 09:36:19 PM

Ger21,

Yes the light does turn green. This is where I'm assuming I'm going to need to learn how to wire a capacitor to reduce the noise? Would I wire it in-line?

Like existing wire into BOB connect to capacitor, through capacitor back to wire then the plate?

Thanks,

Title: Re: Ref All and Ref Z not working
Post by: ger21 on April 16, 2012, 10:11:11 PM

Just did some googling and it looks like you wire a .01uf capacitor between the input pin and ground.

Title: Re: Ref All and Ref Z not working
Post by: Knotsaboutwood on April 16, 2012, 10:43:46 PM

Ger21,

A user on another forum was nice enough to help me find the manual for my BOB.

http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/product_info.php?cPath=33&products_id=45&osCsid=def66f9ad4e14ec044d02cab3413b19c

Looking at page 15/18 it shows a diagram of what I'm wanting to do. Now the only problem is the wiring diagram to me isn't 100% clear, it shows the plate being grounded but does it also go to the 5V side?

Thanks