Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: moonrunner87 on December 03, 2011, 02:10:26 PM
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have an external e stop request that wont clear. tried all the solutions presented in previous threads (ex. going to inputs and modifying the condition), and the problem persists. any ideas?
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Either you have a pin set wrong or you are getting noise on that pin.
If you attach your xml I can check your config to eliminate that.
Hood
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i just tried it said i could not attach it becouse the file name has already been uploaded or something. i could email it i suppose
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Just make a copy and rename it - most people add their name or some identifier to it, Doesn't really matter, it just has to be unique.
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ok here is my xml
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Do you have an E-Stop button fitted?
If you do is it normally closed type?
Hood
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noexternal buttons or switches have been fitted. i dont believe the controller has one. it has two switches only, a power switch and a green switch. its a gecko g540
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Ok then go to config menu then ports and pins then inputs, scroll down and change the active state of the E-Stop to active low.
Hood
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i tried this already. however i just tried it again to the same effect. it allows me to uncheck the green check mark and clear the active state of the e stop. then when i click apply, and ok and exit out of pins and ports the error is still flashing. down on the message bar it reads "reconfiguration estop". if i click reset. it then reads "external e stop" again and continues flashing...
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The green should be chosen if setting active low, in the xml you attached it was not, it was a red cross.
What kind of hardware do you have (drive, breakout etc)
Hood
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i am a manual machinist by trade, and have only done minor cnc (dos machines and fanuc) in college. so im not sure what u mean, the i can get the exact make on the computer and the video card i installed
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I am meaning the CNC hardware, stepper drives or servo drives and breakout board make or failing that can you give me a link to the make of machine control you have?
Hood
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gotcha http://www.deepgroove1.com/cncmill.htm
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have any of the previous suggested solutions involved manually moving the axis away from your limit switches? or is it even near a limit switch?
you may well have a different problem than what we have had, but every time I get an Estop that really doesn't want to clear, it's solved by exiting and reloading Mach3, and manually forcing the axes away from their limit switches
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this is being set up out of the box. i havent set up any limits yet, this being said is it still possible one of my axis is cranked all the way out and that is the problem?
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Thats strange, seems your mill has a G540 and someone else is having issues with E-Stop, wonder if its a related problem.
Hood
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I'll check and see if ours are G540s, but I don't guess it had occurred to me it was a fault of the drive, since most the time this has happened, we've run into the limit switches at a pretty substantial speed
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I'll check and see if ours are G540s, but I don't guess it had occurred to me it was a fault of the drive, since most the time this has happened, we've run into the limit switches at a pretty substantial speed
Two words, "Soft Limits". Unless your machine looses its way using soft limits will help you prevnet hitting the limits hard. It is a very good feature to make use of :)
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we've run into the limit switches at a pretty substantial speed
Are you still on the limit switches?
If so go to settings page and press auto limit override and then you should be able to reset and back off the switches.
Hood
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hmm, thought I replied to this...
I didn't mean to imply that this is a current problem for me, I was just offering something for moonrunner to try, see if it solved it. It's been quite some time since I've seen this happen on our machine, though I have been meaning to try again to learn how to use soft limits anyway
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i think we are getting off on a tangent here. this machine is just being set up, hasnt even been jogged yet (part of my frustration!!). in fact, the set up instructions recommended i unplug my driver from my pc, so the machine isnt even hooked up. yet still the program will not run. it passed the driver test with excellent results...my pc is used, and has other ppls garbage on it, should i labotomize it completely clean and re install mach?
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my pc is used, and has other ppls garbage on it, should i labotomize it completely clean and re install mach?
YES! Reinstall Windows and start from scratch. I had a customer try installing Mach on a second hand PC without starting from scratch and he had all sorts of strange issues. Just heard back from him yesterday that things are running fine now that he started from scratch with a fresh install of Windows.
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noexternal buttons or switches have been fitted. i dont believe the controller has one. it has two switches only, a power switch and a green switch. its a gecko g540
Hey moonrunner,
if you dont have an e-stop yet you can just use a wire to jump from terminal 10 to 12 on your G540. Otherwise mach will always think you have the E-stop active. I do recommend getting a real e-stop ASAP for safety though.
From the G540 Manual:
"The G540 is designed to fault unless there is a normally closed switch (functionally identical to a jumper wire) between TERMINAL 10 and TERMINAL 12 on the 12-PIN TERMINAL BLOCK. Without TERMINAL 10 shorted to ground the G540 will remain disengaged to the motors and will not respond to commands. The red LED will be illuminated if there is no jumper connecting these two terminals."
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OK my helpful friends, by following the instructions on the gecko support page i have successfully cleared the e stop condition!! on to the next issue now lol i succeeded in jogging the machine, but the motors would only jog one direction, any ideas?
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Sounds like your dir pin is not set correctly in Mach or your wiring to the Gecko is wrong.
Hood
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Perhaps a limit switch is active. That would result in only being able to move in one direction.
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set up all my ports and im bangin on all cylinders now, jogging both directions, motors reversed so + - are all working properly. just trammed my head with my Indic-all (took some thinking, took it apart and put one of the rods in the 1/4" collet). if anyone is curious how to indicate the head on a taig mill (cnc or manual) i have an easy way!
for tonight or tomorrow i plan on mounting and indicating my vice, setting machine home and limits, and then setting up the vice as a fixture within my mach3 profile. if this is simple enough i will set up my second vice as well. i believe the manual (which i wisely printed) should cover the vice aspect well enough. u have all been incredibly helpful. many thanks again ;D
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im having a new problem....trying to import dxf files, and generate g code off them. problem is, the instructions say to go to "file, import" but when i open the drop down menu, import is not there. except import g code. any suggestions?
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What version of Mach are you using?
RICH
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the download version available now
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lockdown or beta?
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lockdown i believe.
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Only options provided under File tab....Load g code , Lazycam, CLose file, Exit
There is no option to import a DXF...... ???
Click the Help tab and then About ......, what version does it say you are using?
RICH
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The 540 drive I have requires that pulse pump be set active during reset on the general conf. in order to clear resets.
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my version is R3.034.022
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correction R3.043.022* typo
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any ideas why the option for importation of dxf isnt present on my drop down menu?
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moonrunner87,
That option, from very old versions of mach, was replaced by Lazycam.
RICH
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i see. that makes sense. i have the lazycam option, it seemed fairly complicated but i have all the manuals, n will play with it more. reminds me of the fanuc cam programs i used in college to import n run 2d cad files. is there a manual specifically for lazycam? i didnt see one labeled as such
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Yes there is a nanual for LC and can be found in Members Docs.
RICH
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Hi Seem to be getting a similiar problem, when running a program at any point in the program machine will stop saying "external estop requested"
I am almost certain this is down to noise on the pin because it is so random, any ideas how to stop this
many thanks
gary
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Definitely sounds like noise, noise can be very random and only happen occasionally.
Have you tried increasing the Debounce Interval a bit?
Could also be a loose connection on a limit switch or E-Stop switch that only occasionally gets the right conditions to break contact for a split second but that is enough for Mach to see.
Hood
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Hi Hood, checked all connections, at present have got all the e-stops wired out except on/off button, debounce now set at 3500, could noise be generated by static on the plastic dust extractor pipe, maybe run a ground wire in parallel with the extractor pipe to ground the machine head to the strap ground on the dust extractor, any thoughts
gary
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Proper shielding and grounding is always a good idea.
Although you didnt mention it, next time make ure there is not a watchdog error, if there is then disable watchdogs in General Config
Hood
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sorry to sound thick, where do i see watchdog error
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It would be in the error message line.
Hood
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never seen anything in error message about watchdog, it was active in general config, have disabled just to try
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still not worked, going to get to work earth strapping everything
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Hood
Thanks for your help, i'll post how i go on
regards
gary