Machsupport Forum

Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: wellbuiltcabs on September 14, 2007, 09:53:56 PM

Title: Circle g-code in mach3
Post by: wellbuiltcabs on September 14, 2007, 09:53:56 PM

Hello All, I am a newbie to cnc and I am glad to have access to such a resourceful site. I have a 24"X36" tabletop cnc machine and I am going through the initial testing. The problem is that when I run the circle g-code program it comes out as an oval instead. I am not sure where to start troubleshooting this problem. Your help is really appreciated. Thank you

Title: Re: Circle g-code in mach3
Post by: Graham Waterworth on September 15, 2007, 02:51:57 AM

Hi Wellbuiltcabs,

How oval, .001 or .250", how are the axis driven, ball screws, belt and pulley,

A little more detail would help us give you a realistic answer.

Graham.

Title: Re: Circle g-code in mach3
Post by: Hood on September 15, 2007, 04:47:18 AM

Sounds like you may have your step per unit set wrong for one or both axis. But as Graham says more info is needed as it could be one of many things.
Hood

Title: Re: Circle g-code in mach3
Post by: wellbuiltcabs on September 16, 2007, 09:37:22 AM

After hours of troubleshooting I found out that my table was off by 1/16" and pushing on the y axis mount. Its smooth now.
Its 24X36 tabletop running on 177 oz steppers and acme 10:1 screws. it has Y and A axis with A being the slave and Y the main axis.
I do have another problem now. it seems my X and Y axis motor outputs are reveresed only when I try to reference. when I reference X the Y axis moves instead and vice versa. I checked all the cabling and it all traces fine. when I jog it works correctly X is X and Y is Y. what could be the problem? I also tried uninstall and reinstall Mach3.

Title: Re: Circle g-code in mach3
Post by: Hood on September 16, 2007, 01:30:28 PM

How are you referencing? ie are you using the Ref All button? if yes then the only thing I can think of is for some strange reason the code in the button  has been mixed up.

Hood

Title: Re: Circle g-code in mach3
Post by: wellbuiltcabs on September 16, 2007, 01:42:09 PM

I am using ref y button in diagnostics. How do I check the code for the buttons?

Title: Re: Circle g-code in mach3
Post by: Hood on September 16, 2007, 01:57:35 PM

Well dont think that button is a VB button so you will have to open your screen in Screen4 ( its in the MACH3 Folder) go to the Diags screen and double click on the Y button and make sure its set up for the Home Y .

Hood

Title: Re: Circle g-code in mach3
Post by: wellbuiltcabs on September 16, 2007, 07:27:19 PM

Thanks Hood. I tried that and when pressing home x, y moves and I press home y, x moves. I think there is something going on with the set I am using in the reference buttons. Also when I press ref y button, the axis does not move but the dro numbers are moving. Please advise.

Title: Re: Circle g-code in mach3
Post by: Hood on September 17, 2007, 02:26:58 AM

Please zip your screenset and xml file and post them and I will have a look see if I can find out whats happening.
Hood

Title: Re: Circle g-code in mach3
Post by: wellbuiltcabs on September 17, 2007, 09:28:18 AM

Thank you, will do shortly.

Title: Re: Circle g-code in mach3
Post by: wellbuiltcabs on September 17, 2007, 06:49:38 PM

Here you go. Thank you

Title: Re: Circle g-code in mach3
Post by: Hood on September 17, 2007, 07:48:37 PM

You have your Y Axis step pin set as 13, that is an Input pin not an Output, that is more than likely your problem. Probably you should have it as Pin 8
Hood

Title: Re: Circle g-code in mach3
Post by: wellbuiltcabs on September 17, 2007, 09:58:43 PM

thanks for your help, I'll let you know how it goes

Title: Re: Circle g-code in mach3
Post by: wellbuiltcabs on September 19, 2007, 08:20:25 PM

Ok, Sorry It took me long to reply. I made the change and it made no difference. My machine is at zero location. When I click on ref y, The DRO for Y counter increases in the negative direction. but the axis it self on the machine does not move. I am trying to set the soft limits and I am getting an error of machine out of limits for softlimit activation. Please advise. Thank you

Title: Re: Circle g-code in mach3
Post by: Hood on September 20, 2007, 05:15:32 PM

OK so to recap what happens when you Jog the X axis, does it move correctly?
Same for the Y axis, does it move correctly?
If you reference the X  it is OK?
If you reference the Y what happens?

For your softlimits issue it could be you dont have the Y axis referenced properly.
What happens when you press the Ref All button on the Program Run screen?

Hood

Title: Re: Circle g-code in mach3
Post by: Chaoticone on September 20, 2007, 05:43:32 PM

The manual at this link may help you with homing and limits, look in that section.

http://www.artsoftcontrols.com/forum/index.php?topic=3979.0

Brett

Title: Re: Circle g-code in mach3
Post by: Hood on September 20, 2007, 06:35:34 PM

Also noticed Enhanced pulseing wasnt enabled in your xml that you posted. Enable it , it wont help with the above issues but usually helps overall, you will find it on the right side on the General config page.
Hood

Title: Re: Circle g-code in mach3
Post by: wellbuiltcabs on September 21, 2007, 10:36:44 AM

Thanks Hood, I'll enabl enhanced pulsing.
to recap:
- When I jog x, x moves and when I jog y, y moves - no problem here
- When I ref x the y/a axis moves in the positive direction. When I ref y, the dro numbers increase in the positive direction but the y axis it does not move on the table.
- When I click on go to Z, all axis go to table 0,0
- when I click ref all, the y dro increases in the positive direction but none of the axis move on the table.
I posted 2 zip files under a different post (mach 3 strange behaviour). They have pictures of my machine and screen shots of my settings.
I also have a video that I can send you that shows the exact problem. it is 10mb file.