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Third party software and hardware support forums. => Mach3 and G-Rex => Topic started by: Monty on May 30, 2007, 10:08:15 PM

Title: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Monty on May 30, 2007, 10:08:15 PM
I have my G100 for my mill connected and talking to Mach3. Also talking to the AH-HA box that drives the motors. Jog works fine. Have a license file for G100 and mach both in the mach folder.

How the #$*#))@@&&%%^$#@@@# do you configure the motors?  I watched the video tutorial, but the screen doesn't look the same. The fields for motor speed and acceleration are grayed out and I can't change them.  Also no place to set steps per unit. Anybody know how to do this? ???

Monty
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Chaoticone on May 30, 2007, 11:10:35 PM
Monty,
    Go to your config, motor tuning and set them there. On exit you will be asked to flash to G100, click yes. It will flash and reboot. You will have to hit rediscover a couple of times and you should be good to go. Let me know if it doesn't work.

Brett
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Monty on May 31, 2007, 11:02:43 AM
Brett,

Thanks for the reply. I tried to use the standard motor tuning under config. When I select it a window pops up that says the g100 is in use and asks if I want to flash to it. If I select no the window disapears. If I select yes it flashes something to the g100 and disapears. The motor tuning window never shows up.  ???

Monty
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Monty on May 31, 2007, 01:21:29 PM
Tried some additional things. Turned off the G100. Tried to get into config>motor tuning. No dice. Still get the same g100 is active do you want to flash to it message window. If I select yes mach crashes. If I select no nothing happens. I did get all of the inputs, limits, estop etc working. Motor tuning remains elusive. Anybody know how to turn off the g100 mode and get back to the standard serial port mode. Maybe I can access motor tuning then and flash it to the g100 once I am back in g100 mode. A bit cumbersome, but I would settle for it now to get things running.

Monty
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Chaoticone on May 31, 2007, 02:09:42 PM
Monty, I have sent you a personal message.

Brett
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Monty on May 31, 2007, 08:07:59 PM
Brett,

Thanks for the help. I did a clean install of Mach3, and the plugins. Seems to have fixed the motor tuning. Must have been a corrupted install.

Now the problem is with the homing and soft limits. Strange behavior. It was working. Then it started acting up. It will hit one switch and work fine, then hit another and will trip a limit without jogging back to home. I guess I may have to go to a seperate home switch :'(. I am trying to use the limits as the home switches. Also will not display the table soft limits on the table display. Well, I guess I have my work cut out for me tommorow. ::)

Monty
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Chaoticone on May 31, 2007, 08:17:34 PM
I'm here if you want to talk. Wire your home switches in to the limit pin right beside the axis dir pin. Set them up as pins 17-22, port 1 in ports and pins. Make your limits pins any from pins 1-16 port one.  Also, post your xml file here for us to look at.

Brett
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Monty on May 31, 2007, 09:11:07 PM
Is there any reason mach3 and Grex can't handle using the limit switch for the home switch? I would rather not have to make new brackets and rewire. Maybe there is a problem with the switch. It is old....maybe the contacts need to be cleaned.

I have it wired up as

pin 17  X+ X- and X home
pin 18  Y+ Y- and Y home
pin 19  Z+ Z- and home

Monty
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Chaoticone on May 31, 2007, 09:52:28 PM
Hey Monte, I don't see why that wouldn't work.

Brett
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Monty on June 01, 2007, 11:18:27 AM
I isolated the problem ;D. Unfortunately I can't fix it. :(. Homing works fine as long as I don't try to change the configuration of the soft limits. The machine is working in a negative quadrant in X and Y. When I try to reverse the axis and the home switches it stops working properly. It goes to the correct switch, but it won't jog off it to home like it should. It will home the Z (the one that no changes are made to over default) Then it will start moving both the X and Y at the same time. When the Y hits the limit it stops and says limit switch triggerd. I think it is a problem with the software. I'll post the xml file later.

Monty
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Monty on June 01, 2007, 12:40:40 PM
I thought I had it isolated, but the same problem can occur in the default setup for home and limits also. At first I thought it might be noise, but the problem is not intermittent. Once it starts it is repeatable. The only way to "fix" it is to do a cold boot of the whole works, mach, windows and Grex. Then it will work. It's hard to say what brings the problem on, as I am going in and out of mach while trying to configure the shuttle pro. It still won't recognize incremental jog, cycle, single step, or jog% up or jog % down.

Attached is my xml. I'm off to town to get something I can fix, hardware...

Monty
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Chaoticone on June 01, 2007, 09:28:33 PM
Sorry Monty, I just got in. I'm not familiar with it enough yet to say for sure but I did find some differences in our set ups. I have attached a few screen shots, I hope they help.

Brett
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Monty on June 01, 2007, 10:32:06 PM
No problem Brett, I just got back in from shopping anyway. I had a few bits and pieces to get for the mill. I'll take a look at the config tommorow. Maybe the answer is in there somewhere. Thanks  :)

The bridgeport boss mill I am working on was originally a boss mill retrofitted with an AH-HA box. Converted it over to use Mach3 and a Grex with the AH-HA stepper cards. The stock motors were fine before, but can't keep up with the increased capabilites of Mach3 and the G100. The thing is much faster, but now the motors are the weak link. Think I'm going to upgrade to new steppers. I'll post some pics over in the machines area when I get a chance.

By the way, your installation guide for the Grex is great! I wish that I had it a week ago. I didn't see any boo boo's in there anywhere. It was certainly a more direct route than I took.

Funny thing, I looked up your location on Google Earth. Not too far from where I grew up. My dad worked for IP and we lived on a tree nursery between Florence and Blenheim.

Small world ;D

Monty
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Chaoticone on June 01, 2007, 10:55:10 PM
I hope you get it sorted Monty. I will have more time to work on the Manual after the work shop. Yeap, small world. I just went to an airshow Sunday in florence.

Brett
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Monty on June 01, 2007, 11:02:53 PM
One thing I noticed after taking a look at the motor outputs is that my pins are all the same. Yours are not. I never had to do anything in motor outputs with my setup, they just worked right from the start. I just assumed that the G100 plug in took care of that. This machine has never been set up as a printer port machine. Prior to the G100 it used another computer and a card made by AH-HA that was in the ISA slot.

The mill jogs and works fine, just has a problem with homing. I think that tommorow I will try to configure it the way I want it and reboot the whole mess to see if that works. The problem only seems to appear when I close mach after making a change to something that requires restarting it. When I restart Mach without rebooting windows or the g100 the homing goes all to hell. The other thing I noticed is that you are working in negative machine coordinates. Mine works fine when I leave it that way. The problem (I thought) was when I tried to change the homing direction and get the machine coordinates to be positive (my preference). So the one thing I haven't tried is to configure it the way I want it and cold boot the system. I'll also play with the Dir active low or high.

Monty
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Chaoticone on June 02, 2007, 08:17:18 AM
Monty, try this. Disable your limits in ports and pins and see if that helps the Ref all Home routine. If it does, you could use soft limits I think.

Brett
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Monty on June 05, 2007, 08:01:15 PM
Brett,

Well, all the things we discussed have failed to improve the situation. I thought that changing the settings for step and dir pins in the config menu had fixed the problems, but alas it did not.

I replaced the limit switches with brand new honeywell microswitches. They have a distinct make and break that are at different points. The originals had a single make/break location. I thought that maybe some bounce in the switch was causing the problem.

After hooking up the new switches, and turning the machine on, everything worked. It homed just fine TWICE! in a row. I thought OK now I've got it licked. Dry ran some code. Tried to home it. It froze up on the Y switch without backing off. The screen did not show any error, but the diagnostics screen showed the limit was tripped/home switch was tripped. So I put it in overide backed off and tried agiain. Still didn't work.

So I turned off the X++ and Y++ limits. Still didn't work. Then I turned off both X-- and Y--. Tried to home it again. It went right through the home switch without stopping.

There is some flat out flaky behavior here that can't all be my hardware. I've tried new switches, double checked the sheild grounding, played with settings till I'm blue in the face. When I first start the machine, it will work. Then it just gets plain weird. Sometimes it will do like it should and the Z will home, then the Y, then the X. Sometimes the Z will home, then the X and Y will both take off at the same time until one of them hits a home switch and then everything stops no error, nothing. If I hit Estop then hit it again it will give an error and say limit switch triggered. Sometimes all three will take off at once. Sometimes the Z and the Y take off at the same time.

I also found that once I triggered the digital outputs for flood and mist, the only thing that would shut them off is to reboot.

soft limits do not work

I'm out of ideas. ???

Monty
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Chaoticone on June 05, 2007, 08:36:44 PM
Monty, this all very weird. I have worked the spindle and coolant relays without trouble as well. I will do some testing tomorrow.

Brett
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Chaoticone on June 05, 2007, 10:25:45 PM
Monty,
     Have you checked the voltage across the switches with them open and closed. This might give some clues. Hook the meter to one that is giving trouble and try to home and note all the readings. Only two I hope. Voltage, not continuity.

Brett   
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Monty on June 05, 2007, 11:35:46 PM
Brett,

haven't tried that. I will tommorow. My meter is not a scope type so not sure that it will tell me much even if that is where the problem is. To find it I would probably have to have a voltage vs time curve to see if the switch made a clean break. The chance of having 4 bad switches, two of which are brand new out of the box is pretty small.

Even if the switch was bad, why would the home routine do different things randomly? Why does it home in sequence, z, then y, then x when I first start the machine. Then after I run some code and the next time I try to home the routine is totally different. The z and y may move at the same time, or the z may home first then the x and y both start moving at the same time. I wish I could see the code that makes up the home routine. If that checks out then it is in the firm ware. A switch cannot cause this behavior. If it were a switch, it would fail on the same switch, the same way every time. It doesn't. The only switch that has not given me any problem is the Z. I did not have to change the homing direction or reverse that axis. That is the one constant in this mess. I may try to reverse the Z tommorow and force it to home to the bottom. If the Z freaks out after that then the problem is in the software, or firmware.

If that doesn't work, I'm considering a clean sheet start over. Start from scratch, use your installation guide step by step, fresh mach the works. If the problem persists after that I don't know what else to do. I will send you my current .xml tommorow.

Maybe I am missing something. :-\

Monty
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Chaoticone on June 06, 2007, 06:08:34 AM
Hey Monty,
    I just tried the ref all home after running some code and it all works well.  :) So did my spindle and flood relays. I could toggle them at any time and they worked as they should. I wonder if the dwell settings are causing your problems with the coolant. I wouldn't think so as that pertains to the spindle. I don't think these are coming from the software or firmware. If you would, post your new xml, screen set, and also, what version of Mach are you running? 2.0.0??

Brett
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Monty on June 06, 2007, 06:11:35 PM
Brett,

The spindle and coolant problem was due to a wiring goof with the optical relays ::). So that problem is solved and working.

I did some more testing on the limits. I couldn't find any ground loops, and I'm not getting any voltage readings that are out of range for a digital signal.

I have managed to determine the following:

1.) The problem is random. Ocassionally it will screw up on re-boot although that is unusual. I may get 10 homes in a row, I may get 5, I may get none.

2.) The problem has never occured on the Z axis. It is wired the same way and the shield is grounded in the same way at the same place as the X and Y

3.) Changing the direction of the Z axis under soft limits has no effect on whether the problem occurs on the Z.

4.) Changing the home direction of the Z axis also has no effect.

5.) The problem is precipitated by either the X or the Y axis failing to home properly. When this occurs the machine stops. No error is displayed on the mach status line. I can jog with the shuttle pro but nothing happens. When I hit Reset on the screen and then hit it again it will say "limit switch triggered." at which point I overide and drive off.

6.) once either the X or Y fails to home properly the homing is erratic. The Z will move with the Y. Or some other strange combination.

7.) Two things will fix this problem and cause the machine to home in the proper sequence again.
      a.) exit mach and start it again.
      b.) keep running the homing routine until it works.

     after either of these two things happens the homing sequence will be correct until it faults again.

8.) disabling the X+ or Y+ limit has no effect on this.

9.) G64 has no effect on the problem. I cannot make it happen beforehand by entering a G64, nor can I fix it once it happens with a G61

Our machines are different in that you are using NO contacts and I am using NC.

I may switch them to see if that makes any difference, but first:

Try this experiment.

Tell your machine to reff all. Then as either the X or Y hit the limit switch. hit the other one with something.


Then move all the axis to the middle of travel and hit ref all again. Since you are not homing your Z you may not see the problem exactly the same way as I do, but you may get the X and Y going at the same time. 


Monty

Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Monty on June 06, 2007, 08:56:30 PM
OK I give up. I don't know what is causing the problem, and I don't care anymore. :P I found a workaround. Whenever the X or Y fail to home properly I do the following:

hit reset, drive off the limit. Then home that axis individualy. That puts the world right again.

I can usually get 5-10 reff all home cycles before the problem occurs. I configured 2 of the buttons on the shuttle pro to be a home X/ home Y button.

On to other things! I'm tired of this ;D
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Monty on June 06, 2007, 09:31:24 PM
Well so much for my work around. While demostrating the problem and my "brilliant" solution to my wife, all went according to plan. I did about 7 ref all home cycles without a glitch, then the problem showed up in the X as it failed to home completely. So then I did my workaround. This time the Z started for home with the X went right on through the limit and crashed >:( >:( >:(. That is the one axis on this machine with ZERO backlash. &%^$*$&%^#&# Now I have to solve this can't run the machine this way.

Noise in a limit switch CANNOT cause the Z axis to head for home when I hit the button for home X >:(

Monty
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Monty on June 06, 2007, 11:37:02 PM
Just so you guys don't think that I have a rats nest next to a Tesla coil for wiring I posted some pics of the offending machine in the show an tell area:

http://www.artsoftcontrols.com/forum/index.php?topic=3379.0

also attached my latest .xml

Monty
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Brian Barker on June 07, 2007, 11:37:17 AM
Do you have shielded cable on the limit cables?

Also I have sent you a PM...

Thanks
Brian
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: istern on June 08, 2007, 06:53:11 PM
Guys, I am experiencing exactly same problems! However, my setup was working for long time just fine with one of the older versions of Mach3, Grex plug in and Grex software (I think I installed this earlier this year or late last year). As I had a problem (as did others) with the CNC program stopping for no reason in the middle of a job, I recently decided to update the software. I updated to the latest version of everything which I downloaded two days ago. And this is when these problems started... I am also using a common switch for axis limit and home for each axis. There is no problem with Z axis homing, just like on Monty's machine. And I see all the problems Monty has. As he did, I tried everything, but nothing works. My switches are magnetic with schotky (very clean) output and everything is well screened (and as I said, it was working with older version of software perfectly). There is another common thing in Monty's and my setup - we are both using NC (Normally Closed) limit switches (which Brett isn't). I really cannot think of anything else but that the problem is in the software and we need Art to look at it. Perhaps Brian can ask him? What version of Mach3 and Grex software are you running, Brett? By the way, even if changing switches to normally open would possibly work, I do not want to do this for safety reasons. If any wire to a swich or a switch itself breaks, with Normally Closed switches the machine will simply stop immediatly. But with Normally Open switches it will not stop even when it reaches the limit position!!! Not a good prospect as you can imagine.

Regards, Ivan
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Chaoticone on June 08, 2007, 07:07:29 PM
Hey Ivan, mine is doing it as well. I'm using the latest plugin, Mach, and firmware as you are. I use proximity switches, two on each axis. One doubles as a home. I only found this after I tryed homeing about 20-30 times in a row. Art is looking at the problem, I'm not sure it is a Mach problem.

Brett
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Chaoticone on June 08, 2007, 07:36:30 PM
I also meant to say, I have my MPG working.  :)

Brett
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: istern on June 08, 2007, 07:39:00 PM
Hi Brett, yes, it could be in Grex firmware, but it definitely is not a hardware problem. As I said, my setup was working fine until I updated the software. I will try a clean re-install over the weekend, just to make sure. On another note, do you by any chance know what hapened to MPG1 input? MPG is very useful and it was working fine on my machine with the previous version. Not anymore...

Ivan
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: istern on June 08, 2007, 07:39:59 PM
...good. So how?

Ivan
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Chaoticone on June 08, 2007, 07:56:50 PM
I just wired 5VDC from my PC power supply and a ground. i wired the A to the A terminal on the G100 A Axis, and the B to the B terminal on the G100 A axis. I then went into Config plug-ins, set it up there, flashed to the G100. I then wento to ports and pins, MPG's and encoders. It likes multi step best on mine at about 10%. I have attached some pics to help explain.

Brett
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: istern on June 08, 2007, 08:10:55 PM
Thank you, Brett, now I see what is going on. I shall rewire my MPG.

Time to go to bed...

Regards, Ivan

 
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Chaoticone on June 08, 2007, 08:16:06 PM
LOL, have a good one and let us know how it works out for you. Pay close attention to all of the settings in the plug-in config screen shoot. Also, make sure when you set the type of encoder, ( current axis setting) you are on the same axis you are wiring it too.

Brett
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: istern on June 09, 2007, 02:32:01 PM
Hi Brett, got the MPG going in two minutes no problem. Didn't even need to rewire it, as it was connected to B axis, so I simply selected B axis in the setup and it worked straight away! Thanks again. You probably saved me a few hours of frustration... Interestingly, I am not able to find the MPG Mode screen (the one with MPG dial on it). I remember seeing it once, long time ago somewhere, but I cannot find it now. How do you get to it? Is it only in a certain screen set? No luck with homing. I have reinstalled everything and checked all settings, but it still does not work. So I will just wait and see what Art will come up with.

Regards, Ivan
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Chaoticone on June 09, 2007, 08:04:44 PM
Hey Ivan,
     Glad to hear you got the MPG straight. To pulll up or close the MPG screen just hit your Tab key.

Brett
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Monty on June 10, 2007, 12:26:25 PM
Guys, I am experiencing exactly same problems! However, my setup was working for long time just fine with one of the older versions of Mach3, Grex plug in and Grex software (I think I installed this earlier this year or late last year). As I had a problem (as did others) with the CNC program stopping for no reason in the middle of a job, I recently decided to update the software. I updated to the latest version of everything which I downloaded two days ago. And this is when these problems started... I am also using a common switch for axis limit and home for each axis. There is no problem with Z axis homing, just like on Monty's machine. And I see all the problems Monty has. As he did, I tried everything, but nothing works. My switches are magnetic with schotky (very clean) output and everything is well screened (and as I said, it was working with older version of software perfectly). There is another common thing in Monty's and my setup - we are both using NC (Normally Closed) limit switches (which Brett isn't). I really cannot think of anything else but that the problem is in the software and we need Art to look at it. Perhaps Brian can ask him? What version of Mach3 and Grex software are you running, Brett? By the way, even if changing switches to normally open would possibly work, I do not want to do this for safety reasons. If any wire to a swich or a switch itself breaks, with Normally Closed switches the machine will simply stop immediatly. But with Normally Open switches it will not stop even when it reaches the limit position!!! Not a good prospect as you can imagine.

Regards, Ivan

Ivan,

Thanks for responding, for a while there I thought I was going crazy. I spoke with Brian on the phone and he wanted me to try homing on the diagnostics page with each axis independently rather than using the reff all home button. You might try the same thing. If we get the same problem (or not) it will help Art and Brian track down the cause. The way I uderstood what Brian said was that each piece of hardware handles things differently and they have to write the plugin/interface for that specific hardware. Some hardware gives them more freedom to handle the limit switch event. Others (like Grex) handle the routine in the firmware. (Brian correct me if I have this all wrong)

The regular debounce settings have no effect on the Grex.

One thing I have learned the hard way is that if this problem occurs, your best bet is to exit and restart Mach. Once it happens the limit switches become unreliable and you might crash the machine. Be safe and overide the limit, drive off, and restart Mach if one axis fails to home properly.

The bottom line is the people experiencing this problem can help isolate the cause by homing each axis individually and seeing if they have the same problem. So far I have not. I will do some more testing today.

Monty
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: istern on June 11, 2007, 06:51:58 AM
Thanks Brett.
Hi Monty, Brian, I have just run tests homing individual axis as suggested. First of all I have to say that, on my machine, when I click 'Home ALL Axis', it will often get stuck on the first try or very soon after it - like 2nd try. That said, I have now homed each axis INDIVIDUALLY 50 times in a row without a single hitch. BUT - as soon as you start clicking the same home button before the axis is finished moving, it will get stuck when it hits the switch and will just sit there. You then have to reset and back off. In other words, if you click the axis home button few times in a quick sequence, it will get stuck. Hope this will help Art in locating the problem.

Regards,

Ivan
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Chaoticone on June 11, 2007, 06:24:58 PM
Thanks Ivan,
    We will call this the standard for now until we get the root problem hammered out. Thanks for testing it for us.

Brett
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Monty on June 11, 2007, 09:23:02 PM
Doing some additional testing I found that when homing an axis individually it is much more stable. It did fail to home all the way a few times, but it did at least back off the limit. Hitting home again would fix the problem.

I also noticed that when you hit the goto Zero button the X and Y move before the Z so don't hit goto Zero if your Z is down in a workpiece.

Monty
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Chaoticone on June 12, 2007, 08:57:44 AM
Thanks Monty,
    Here is the elipse we were talking about.

Brett
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: poppabear on June 13, 2007, 05:15:07 PM
Thanks Monty,

    Here is the 3d file we talked about (Brett and I at the 3rd conf.)

File is called: "Grahms_Butt_Crack.TAP"    (Yes we scanned, Probed,  and then Tapped Grahms butt crack).

Scott and Brett
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Monty on June 13, 2007, 08:22:23 PM
I'm a little concerned about your file naming convention ;D.

Although not a qualified proctologist, I will attempt to explore Grahms_Butt_Crack with a 3000Lb power tool. All in the interest of science of course.

Seriously though; you guys should be carefull, poppabear and Mr Chaos naming files in such a way. I am starting to have visions of the village people. What exaclty are you guys doing at this "workshop"? Is Mr. Smithers there? :o


Monty
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Monty on June 13, 2007, 10:25:56 PM
Well,

Close, but no cigar.

Although not a qualified proctologist, I can state that Grahm's butt crack is problematic. Although the problem is not terminal ;D.

The file runs well enough. Most motion is smooth with no big catastrophies. The one problem seems to be with inflection points. Especially into and out of the "crack". At or just after the inflection the motors will miss steps. This mostly occurs with the Z but also with the X and Y. It definately is inflection (change of curvature) or just after that causes the problem. Although the majority of the problems occur into and out of the "crack" they can also occur on the top of the "cheek" and also towards the "thigh". Always at or just after an inflection point in the tool path. The sharper the inflection the worse the problem. A slight inflection may go bump-bump. A larger one bump-----bump-bump--bump-b-b-b-bump.

Monty
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Chaoticone on June 14, 2007, 01:38:15 AM
LOL, Thanks Monty,
   I was afraid it would have some problems as Graham says it was a dud even when it was new, it had a crack in it.  ;D We will look at the file and try to find the reason for the bumps.

Brett
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: faughtz on July 19, 2007, 12:22:59 AM
Is there anything new on the homing problem?  I'm having the same problems as described in this thread, and can't seem to find anything that makes the problems repeatable?
Zane
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: Monty on July 21, 2007, 11:31:17 AM
Art and Brian are working on the problem. It is appearantly in the G100 programming which they did not do. It will be fixed eventually......

As far as predictability. I have found that once the problem occurs things go whacky and don't get better until either the machine successfully homes or you restart mach.

The machine is dangerous after the problem occurs. It is liable to run through a limit or leave the Z down and crash the work into it.

My proceedure is to restart mach if any axis fails to home properly. So far that solves the problem. A bit inconvienient, but it works.

I also home each axis individually in the diagnostics screen. I don't use the ref all home button.

Monty
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: LarryL on May 10, 2010, 01:33:00 PM
Ok, Here is a question for you!  My DIY CNC Quilter is working just fine, however, (there is always a however these days) when I measure the travel in X and Y axis after inputing a requirement to travel 1 inch, I get travel of 13 inches.  I don't want to reduce the speed of the motors (steps), I would like to insert a formula that will reset the values of 1 inch = 0.0680.  I arrived at 0.0680 after adjusting the speed of the motors to a comfortable level that doesn't skip.  If this is possible, where is it located in the Mach3 program? In a dll or someplace else?  Sure hope you can help on this.
Title: Re: how to config motors with G100
Post by: jrslick22 on July 25, 2010, 12:29:54 AM
I just wired 5VDC from my PC power supply and a ground. i wired the A to the A terminal on the G100 A Axis, and the B to the B terminal on the G100 A axis. I then went into Config plug-ins, set it up there, flashed to the G100. I then wento to ports and pins, MPG's and encoders. It likes multi step best on mine at about 10%. I have attached some pics to help explain.

Brett

Many thanks Brett, very helpful post.