Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Homing and limits don't work right

« on: March 02, 2009, 05:09:06 PM »

Thanks a million man, you've really helped me a lot.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Homing and limits don't work right

« on: March 02, 2009, 04:48:19 PM »

I changed the Estop to port 0, pin 0.  It seems to be working.

So just to check my understanding, the machine should move until it touches the home switch and stop right there.  It should not physically move off of the switch. Is that correct?

Since my machine uses a limit switch as a home switch also, my home offset setting should be zero for all axes, since it will be at the extreme end of the axis when it homes.  Is that correct?

What are the G28 home location cooridnates?  My understanding is that G28 is a command that tells the machine to go home, but go to some other cooridinate values first.  For example, it you needed to go around a clamp or something, you could use the G28 command to move around the clamp, then go home.  Should all of mine be set to zero?

If I understand the soft max and soft min correctly, this is so that the table size will appear to be correct in the tool path window on the program run screen.  So to get these numbers accurately, I should home the machine to zero, and then travel to the opposite end of the X and Y axes, and when it triggers the other limit switch, I should type in the number from the DRO into the soft max.  Is that correct?

Thanks again,
Dave

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Homing and limits don't work right

« on: March 02, 2009, 02:46:33 AM »

I'll do that.  Do you know why it won't move off of the home switches?  Is it really that big of a deal?

Thanks.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Homing and limits don't work right

« on: March 02, 2009, 01:51:52 AM »

I forgot to mention in the post a minute ago that the home neg only changes for the Z axis.  X and Y always remain consistent.  This is what I was talking about in the post above when I said,

 "Sometimes it moves in the wrong direction, even though I have pulled it off the switch to try again.  I understand that it will move in the opposite direction if the switch is already open or whatever, but the router is nowhere near the switch.  I have to go back to the settings to make it work right again, and I'm sure I'm not accidentally changing these settings"

I just figured out tonight that this is what is causing the Z to move backwards sometimes.  I don't know if that helps you find the problem or not.

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: Homing and limits don't work right

« on: March 02, 2009, 01:41:01 AM »

Hood,
Thanks again for your help.

I made the changes you suggested.  However, the estop will not stay turned off.  I tried this many, many times.  When I changed it in the ports and pins, click ok, and reset, I can immediately open ports and pins/inputs again and the estop will be turned back on.  No joke.  Also, anytime I go to ports and pins, the home neg function in homing/limits will change its state as well.  As long as I stay out of ports and pins, the home neg remains consistent, but this is also very predictable.  I can go from homing/limits, click ok, and go immediately back to ports and pins, click ok, and the home neg has changed state, every time.  Again, it seems that if I stay out of ports/pins, home neg remains consistent.

Also, I added the debounce that jpinder suggested, and now when I ref all the machine doesn’t behave as if a limit has been tripped.  The Z will home, then Y, then X.  However, none of them will offset at all, regardless of what number I type into the home offset.  I have typed different numbers into the home position fields, and the machine coord. System will display these numbers when it reaches the switch, which is correct I assume.  I have tried making the numbers match in the home off and home pos, I have also tried making them different and making them negative and positive numbers.  No luck.  I suppose I can live with it the way it is, unless there’s a big reason it should offset from the switch.  Does it have to offset, or can I just call each axis zeroed when it touches the switch and leave it there.  I have included a copy of the xml file again, don’t know if anyone needs it or not.

Thanks a lot man, I need some help.
Dave

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Homing and limits don't work right

« on: February 28, 2009, 08:45:02 PM »

I keep getting errors when I try to post.  The first one said I timed out, so I tried again.  The second time it said there was already a file posted with the same name as mine, I needed to rename it, so I did and retyped the message again.  The third time it said that I had already posted that message but I can't find it in the thread.  I have no idea what's going on.  I'll try again.

Here is the xml finally.  Thanks for taking a look.

I followed all of the directions from jimpinder, and all of the lights came on in the diagnostics screen.  The Y axis however would still trigger the estop when the limits were deactivated and the home was activated.  This maybe the bounce he was talking about.  The Z is the only one that will move during ref all, even with the limits deactivated.  It moves to the top and hits the switch, and stops.  It won't come off the switch.  Sometimes it moves in the wrong direction, even though I have pulled it off the switch to try again.  I understand that it will move in the opposite direction if the switch is already open or whatever, but the router is nowhere near the switch.  I have to go back to the settings to make it work right again, and I'm sure I'm not accidentally changing these settings, not even by accident.  I have tried entering different numbers into the home offset and home position fields trying to make it come off the switch, but it still stops right on it, and none of the others move.  If I activate the home and the limits again, the estop is triggered when z gets to the top. 

I don't know what's wrong.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Homing and limits don't work right

« on: February 27, 2009, 10:49:45 PM »

What is an xml and how do I attach it?

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General Mach Discussion / Homing and limits don't work right

« on: February 27, 2009, 07:47:14 PM »

Hello,

I have my limit switches and home switches wired into one pin per axis, so that one limit switch will share duty as a home switch as described in the mach 3 install and config pdf.  I only have X,Y, and Z axes.  When I do a ref all, my axis will move in the right direction, but when it hits the switch, it stops and the estop flashes as if it has hit the limit switch.  It will not back off the switch, the DRO does not go to zero, and it doesn't appear to be recognizing the limit switch is also a home switch, even though I did the auto set up of inputs and it has both the limits and the home on the same pin in the config/port and pins/input signals.  Does anybody know what I'm doing wrong?  Also, should it home all 3 axes at the same time?  Mine only does the Z first, and then I have this problem, so I don't really know if the others are working right or not.

Thanks,
Dave