Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => Mach4 General Discussion => Topic started by: ChrisM on January 30, 2016, 08:10:14 PM
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I have had numerous issues getting the Z probing to work correctly and I feel at this point I'm just changing and clicking for no apparent reason. I've attached some screen shots of my current settings. The probing seems to change what it is doing even when changes are not made. I'm only trying to zero the z at this point, not doing any bit change routines. It has seemed to work a couple times in the past, although it did not properly set the Z height, but the routine went through the proper motions. I am using a cncrouterparts spring loaded probing fixture hooked into my PMDX-126 bob. I am getting the proper probe light indicated in Mach and have gone through the settings over and over, although some I don't clearly understand. The current issue is that the probe goes down, contacts my block, then starts to go down again and stops with the error about continuous contact with probe, etc.
I appreciate any help that someone can provide to help me better understand the workings of the probing setup and screens.
Thanks for all your help and time in helping me get my machine up and running. Let me know if you have any further questions on setup and I will respond promptly.
Chris...
Bakersfield, CA.
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pics
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pics
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I see from the pictures that you are using an ESS as the motion controller. And the screen set is "wx4". Whcih version of Mach4 are you running? The newest public version is build 2803. The probing Lua code has changed (significantly) in the past couple of Mach4 releases.
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Bob, I am using 4.2.0.2803
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Do you have soft limits enabled?
If so, turn them off and try again. That was the cause of my "constant contact" problems... among many others. Hell, my limit switches domn't even work with soft limits enabled. Unreal!
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Jarhead,
I had read some of the previous posts and tried it both ways. This morning I broke an expensive carbide bit I had chucked up in it. Guess I should have been using an el cheapo. I'm going to keep trying and see what happens. I had it work a few times, but it didn't set the z height properly in my dro. Where is the "one" proper place to set gauge block height?
Chris...
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Hi Chris,
I notice in your 2nd pic the TYPE is set to Measure Only.
Is that intentional ?
Just a shot ... till help comes along. :)
Russ
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Overloaded,
I have tried it both ways. So now what's going on is....
If I have soft limits set my keyboard commands for the Z are reversed. By simply clicking soft limits on, up is down and down is up. Also no matter whether soft limits are off or on when I try to zero probe, the z axis travels upwards instead of down.
My referencing all home works correctly as well as other jogging functions.
Chris...
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If I have soft limits set my keyboard commands for the Z are reversed. By simply clicking soft limits on, up is down and down is up. Also no matter whether soft limits are off or on when I try to zero probe, the z axis travels upwards instead of down.
This is a known issue with Mach4 and the configuration screen. Double check your soft limit values and note that the soft limit **MAX** is the first column and the **MIN** is the second column. If you enter, as a lot of people presume, the smaller value in the first column (which is actually the "MAX" column) and the larger value in the second column (which is actually the "MIN" column), Mach4 will not complain or warn you that you've entered nonsensical data. It *WILL* however, jog the motor in the opposite direction as you have noticed.
[EDIT] I just looked back at the pictures you posted. You do indeed have the Z axis soft limits backwards. The X and Y axis look OK. [END EDIT]
[shameless plug] Note that an upcoming version of the PMDX SmartBOB plug-in *will* check this and warn the user about it.
Bob
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Thanks for that info Bob. That did indeed take care of the jogging being reversed with soft limits on. Any idea why my Z travels up now when I try to probe z zero? Also if I switch stuff around to where it does go down and run the routine the values on the DRO still aren'r correct.
Chris...
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If your talking about the probing screen then your dro is showing 1 which is in the plus direction, change to -1
DazTheGas
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From Artsoft support:
With your probe (or whatever you are using for one).....in the rub screen manually jog down to a reasonable height over the piece you wish to probe. you should set the Z to zero in the dro, as the probe move is an absolute move. Next click on the probing tab....enter in a value in the z position that you know will have the probe travel far enough to contact the work piece...If you zeroed the z this value should be a negative number. Next click on the measurement type so that the set fixture (G54) is lit up... this will inevitably set your z offset. Next you are ready to probe.. click the measure Z button.. this will start the probe cycle... When cycle is done the number that is put into your Z dro will be the absolute distance above the work piece you actually are...thus making the top of the part Z zero. You can double check this by jogging down to the top of the piece. Your DRO should be at Zero.
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Ok...
So it's been running the probing routine correctly for about 20 times now. Daz I did the + and - before but I was getting mixed results. I think part of the problem troubleshooting is that it seems to behave differently at times and also if you close and re-open the program. So at one point it went down then stopped... Then I tried to probe again and it just kept going up. I closed and reopened mach4 and then it probed down again. lol So it appears to sets the DRO (only if set Fixture G54 is selected, other have said not to select it) to the height that you had the bit above the gauge block before kicking off the zero routine. Is there a way for it to add the 1" that is my gauge block or am I on my now to edit the DRO to that value? Mach4 will also not run the probing routine at all if the soft limits are enabled. It will make you think it's going to but the machine never moves and you get the error about no contact with probe.
Thanks guys for all the help thus far...
Chris...
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Hello,
I just bought license for Mach 4 and for Darwin plugin.
I want to mention that I am new on this, so please do not get me wrong if I will say something stupid.
The the machine is working, I forgot to mention, I am using Mach4 version 2.2872 and Darwin plugin version 2.2763.
What I would need is two things:
First, I need to know if there is an “Auto Tool Zero” script that allows me to check the height of each mill I am changing the mills manually. So if there is, I home someone can provide it.
Second, I need to turn the piece and to mill it also on one side. To do this this, I would need to setup again the X, Y and Z but taking in consideration the new position of the piece. So, I need to do a probe and to find out the new X, the new Y and the new Z coordinates. More than this, I need to use the tool itself as a touch probe. So does know somebody how to do it?
If there is someone that can help me, I need explanation step by step, as I mentioned I am new with Mach4.