Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: frankbicknell on February 18, 2013, 08:59:45 PM
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I am having an issue with homing. After a few gcode runs then shutting down for the night then starting up the next day mach 3 will not home all axis (the motors don't move but the indicators turn green). One time the Z axis would home but not x & y, once none of the axis would home, the last time only the x would home not z & y. The dro's for the axis of the motors that do not turn do not change.
I can restore from my backup of the particular custom profile and the homing process works again.
It seems as though mach 3 is the culprit most likely due to my lack of experience with this software.
Does anyone know what would cause this homing problem?
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I can restore from my backup of the particular custom profile and the homing process works again.
Is this not the profile your running all the time? To be clear, the machine homes as it should using one profile and will not home as it should using a different profile. Is that right? If it is, why aren't you using the profile that homes as it should all the time? What has changed to require a different profile?
Brett
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I have one profile that I use CNC_JR. That is the profile in which this situation occurs and that is the profile that I restore.
After further reading the manual this is what it appears is happening, although I am unsure of why.
"Homed true when no Home switches: This option will make the system appear to be Home referenced
(i.e. LEDs green) at all times. It should be used only if no Home switches are defined under
Ports & Pins>Input Signals tab."
My home switch inputs are still showing the correct pins and are enabled.
And some further information about things I have tried. I am using windows vista and I have installed the patch. I have cycled power to the usb controller. I have re-booted.
If I do not run gcode homing works fine after shutting down and restarting.
The only thing I am changing when I run gcode is the xyz zero and regen toolpath.
If this occurs again I will try to disable and then re-enable my home switches.
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USB controller? What is it? Also what version of Mach?
Hood
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It is a KL-CNCUSB-3x-breakout board. Mach 3 R3.043.066.
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Ok never heard of that board but will do a search, in the mean time see if it happens with an older version of Mach. I have had a lot of issues in Turn with 066 and 067 and found one in Mill with these versions as well so I wont use them now.
Hood
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Thank you for your help. I purchased the products from www.automationtechnologiesinc.com. Where can I get an older version?
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You can get older versions on the ftp site, if you go here http://www.machsupport.com/downloads.php you will see a link that says Click Here, it takes a wee while to load but you should see a folder called Mach and you will find the older versions in it.
Hood
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ftp://www.machsupport.com/Mach/Mach3Version3.043.057.exe
ftp://www.machsupport.com/Mach/Mach3Version3.043.062.exe
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Thanks for all the help. I will try the older version and report back. It will take a couple of days.
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Hi again. I downloaded and installed 062. I had the same issue. A quick question though. Is it OK if I use the xml file from the newer version?
I think the problem happens when I go to the the toolpath tab. If I do not go to the toolpath tab it seems to be OK.
I am going to try 057 as soon as I get a chance and I will let you know. I am sorry this is taking so long but I have many projects happening right now. Thanks again.
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So everything homes ok when you are on the main page?
Hood
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At some point something happens that causes the homing sequence to stop and the only way I have found to recover is to replace the xml file with one that was backed up when the homing sequence worked.
Some additional troubleshooting steps I have tried. Disabled and then re-enabled the home switches disabled shut down then re-enabled, disabled shut down rebooted then re-enabled. Reinitialized the usb breakout board. No luck
I have not had a chance to verify this yet but it seems that after I have gone to the toolpath tab, run the road runner gcode a few times, this problem occurs (by the way I have made a few beautiful road runners). If I go back to the main page and the problem exists. I hit ref all home and the leds flash red then green the dros do not change and the axis do not move. If I go to the diagnostics page none of the home switches are active. If I try to home each axis individually I get the same result, the home led flashes and nothing else happens.
Next time this happens I will save the 'defective' xml file and then try to compare it to the working file to see if there is some difference.
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Yes please attach the xml.
Hood
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I am now on ver 057 and the same problem. I have saved the bad xml and compared with the good xml and there are a few differences. I have no encoders so I am thinking that a value other than 0 for the <enc> and <encoder> tags in the bad xml file is causing the issue. I will set those values back to zero this evening and see if the bad xml works OK.
Bad xml
<Dist0>7.2e+002</Dist0>
<Dist1>4.6e+002</Dist1>
<Dist2>1.2e+002</Dist2>
<Enc0>-10.</Enc0>
<Enc1>-5.</Enc1>
<Enc2>-1.</Enc2>
<Enc3>0.</Enc3>
<Encoder0>-10</Encoder0>
<Encoder1>-5</Encoder1>
<Encoder2>-1</Encoder2>
<Encoder3>0</Encoder3>
<Encoder4>0</Encoder4>
<Encoder5>0</Encoder5>
<Encoder6>0</Encoder6>
Good xml
<Dist0>6.1e+002</Dist0>
<Dist1>3.9e+002</Dist1>
<Dist2>1.e+002</Dist2>
<Enc0>0.</Enc0>
<Enc1>0.</Enc1>
<Enc2>0.</Enc2>
<Enc3>0.</Enc3>
<Encoder0>0</Encoder0>
<Encoder1>0</Encoder1>
<Encoder2>0</Encoder2>
<Encoder3>0</Encoder3>
<Encoder4>0</Encoder4>
<Encoder5>0</Encoder5>
<Encoder6>0</Encoder6>
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Setting those vales to 0 made the bad xml good. So the question is where and how are those encoder tags getting changed?
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Can anyone check and see if there is a problem with the xml file hat could be causing my issue?