Messages

1

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Z probe macro with offset

« on: May 20, 2015, 08:34:46 AM »

Oh yeah, I realize I am still using the probe as the master, I always wanted to do that, I just did not want to use it as tool zero.

I may give the other method a shot. I am a bit set in my ways and have always done it that way, but it can't hurt to give a new way a shot. For me its time consuming to touch down with a tool on Z, I need to jog down, then step down until I touch the rolling paper, and then account for the thickness, it just seems to take too long.

Thanks for all your help on this.

2

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Z probe macro with offset

« on: May 19, 2015, 02:20:05 PM »

Yes, I use the probe as tool 99 to set the TOM according to the height of the probe. Since I use TTS tools, I splurged on a granite block and a height gauge. To me, it would be one thing to use the machine if you only needed to do it once, but I like to measure all of my tools that I am going to use for a job, each time I do a new job. That would be a bit cumbersome to use the machine to do that every time.

Here is the code I am using, there are only 2 lines of code that are different than the original code I was using:

Code: [Select]

CurrentFeed = GetOemDRO(818) 'Get the current feedrate to return to later
PlateThickness = GetUserDRO(1151) 'Z-plate thickness DRO
ProbeHeight = GetUserDRO(32)

If GetOemLed (825)=0 Then 'Check to see if the probe is already grounded or faulty
DoOEMButton (1010) 'zero the Z axis so the probe move will start from here
Code "G4 P2" ' two second delay
Code "G31 Z-1.0 F5" 'Z goes down a max of 1.0 at 5IPM
While IsMoving() 'wait while it happens
Wend
ZProbePos = GetVar(2002) - ProbeHeight 'get the axact point the probe was hit, making sure to account for the tool offset which is not accounted for in 2002
Code "G0 Z" &ZProbePos 'go back to that point, always a very small amount of overrun
While IsMoving ()
Wend
Call SetDro (2, PlateThickness) 'set the Z axis DRO to whatever is set as plate thickness
Code "G4 P0.25" 'Pause for Dro to update.
Code "G0 Z1.0" 'retract Z to 1.0 inch
Code "(Z axis is now zeroed)" 'puts this message in the status bar
Code "F" &CurrentFeed 'Returns to prior feed rate
Else
Code "(Z-Plate is grounded, check connection and try again)" 'this goes in the status bar if aplicable
Exit Sub
End If

3

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Z probe macro with offset

« on: May 19, 2015, 08:27:45 AM »

After walking through the macro, and understanding it a bit more, I was able to get this to behave the way I wanted it to.

I was able to capture the current tool's offset by capturing GetOEMDRO(32) and setting it in a variable. Then when the probe is triggered, instead of going back to the point where the probe was triggered, which is getVar(2002), I go back to getVar(2002) - the tool offset I stored in a variable. I then retract one inch, and set the Z DRO to 1. All of this is done with my probe in the tool table. and using the offset.

I like to measure all of my tools before a job, so what this allows me to do is use a granite block with a hole bored through it, place each TTS tool holder with tool in it in the bore, and use a height gauge to measure all of my tools including my probe. I then enter the height for all of my tools into the tool table, including probe, and everything works perfectly.

For me this is much faster and more accurate than having to use the probe as my master or tool zero without an offset.

This is the way Tormach does it.

Thanks for your help guys. If anyone is interested, I can post the exact macro that I am using.

4

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Z probe macro with offset

« on: May 18, 2015, 09:33:21 PM »

Thanks guys, I get it. This is definitely different than what I was hoping to do, I use TTS and wanted to measure the tool height off the spindle, and just capture the height of each tool, but I get it. Thanks for your help and your patience!

5

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Z probe macro with offset

« on: May 18, 2015, 05:04:01 PM »

OK, I THINK I am seeing what you both are saying. This is different than the way I used to do this.

What you guys are saying is make my probe as tool zero, and say for argument sake, it has a height of 4"

Now, if Tool 2 is an end mill, and it's height is 3", in my Tool Table, I would enter -1" for it's height, is this what you guys are saying?

In the past I would devote my zero'ing tool as its own tool number in the table, and track it's height, this is far easier for recording, but I suppose I see how what you are saying would work, I just have to subtract out my probe height from the actual tool height before I put it in the table.

Am I reading you guys correctly?

Thanks!

6

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Z probe macro with offset

« on: May 18, 2015, 04:27:33 PM »

Hi AVRnj,

not realy sure what you are trying to do.
in Your macro you are setting the z-axis zero to something (plate height, i asume).

tool hieght is set by g43 H??,

so i am not sure what you want to to,
set the z-axis height,
or set set the tool height ??

Thomas

Thomas, sorry for the confusion with my post.

Here is exactly what I am trying to do:


Say my tool table looks something like this:

Tool 1  Digital Probe Height 4"
Tool 2  End Mill Height 3"
Tool 3 End Mill Height 2"

I want to be able to run a macro with Tool 1, my digital probe in the spindle, to touch zero on my work material, and have the DRO set to that zero for tool 1, and its 4" height.

Then, when I switch to tool 2, wherever my Z is, Mach3 should then adjust the Z DRO to be 1" less than it was when probed, which is correct.

Does that make sense?

7

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Z probe macro with offset

« on: May 18, 2015, 04:23:54 PM »

I see what you are saying, but I must be missing something.

If my probe is tool zero with no offset, and say for argument sake my probe has a height of 5". When I put in my first tool, which say has a height of 4", how is it going to know that the new tool is 1" shorter than my tool zero?

I thought that was the whole reason to use offsets to begin with?

8

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Z probe macro with offset

« on: May 18, 2015, 02:04:11 PM »

Thanks for your reply again TP.

So I am not sure how to run it from a Gcode program to be honest, I thought it had to be done from a macro, so that you can change the DRO.

The button I am clicking is the Tool Offset On/Off toggle button. When I click it off, not green, the macro works perfectly. But the problem is if I turn offset back on, so that my other tools can use offset, it does not work at all.

Can you help me out with the macro or the process I should be using?

9

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Z probe macro with offset

« on: May 18, 2015, 12:18:05 PM »

TP, thanks for the reply.

I am not trying to set tool height, so if that is what this macro is doing, its definitely wrong.

All I am really trying to do is tell Mach3 where my Z zero is, by using the probing, and the tool table. So, for example, my probe has a height of 4, and my end mill has a height of 2, and both of those are in my tool table, I want to use the probe to touch the part, call that Z zero for the probe's height of 4, and when I switch to my end mill tool, it will use the offsets to adjust the z height accordingly.

My tool table works fine. If I manually touch my work piece with an end mill in my tool table, set my DRO to zero, and then change the tool, the DRO adjust automatically to the new tool using the new height.

I am just trying to automate the zeroing out with my probe.

Is that not what this macro is doing?

10

VB and the development of wizards / Z probe macro with offset

« on: May 18, 2015, 10:49:53 AM »

Hey everyone, I posted this in a different area but I think this area is more appropriate.

I am trying to get my Probe working in Mach3, so I entered 2 tools into my tool table, tool 99 (my probe) at 6.5 height, and tool 30 at 4 height.

I went into the offset tab in Mach3, I changed the tool from 0 to 99 which is my probe, and I am using the following macro for Z:

Code: [Select]

CurrentFeed = GetOemDRO(818) 'Get the current feedrate to return to later
PlateThickness = GetUserDRO(1151) 'Z-plate thickness DRO

If GetOemLed (825)=0 Then 'Check to see if the probe is already grounded or faulty
DoOEMButton (1010) 'zero the Z axis so the probe move will start from here
Code "G4 P2" ' two second delay
Code "G31 Z-1.0 F5" 'Z goes down a max of 1.0 at 5IPM
While IsMoving() 'wait while it happens
Wend
ZProbePos = GetVar(2002) 'get the axact point the probe was hit
Code "G0 Z" &ZProbePos 'go back to that point, always a very small amount of overrun
While IsMoving ()
Wend
Call SetDro (2, PlateThickness) 'set the Z axis DRO to whatever is set as plate thickness
Code "G4 P0.25" 'Pause for Dro to update.
Code "G0 Z1.0" 'retract Z to 1.0 inch
Code "(Z axis is now zeroed)" 'puts this message in the status bar
Code "F" &CurrentFeed 'Returns to prior feed rate
Else
Code "(Z-Plate is grounded, check connection and try again)" 'this goes in the status bar if aplicable
Exit Sub
End If

When I enter tool 99, the offset light goes green, as I would expect. If I run that macro, it touches, and starts retracting, and then it actually goes up the full 6.5 from the offset, than an extra 1" for the Z1.0, and then it sets my DRO at 1, which is actually way off.

If I manually turn the offset off, and run the macro, it behaves as I would expect, it touches down, retracts 1, and sets the DRO at 1. The problem is, if I do that with the offset off, when I change tools, it does not change the DRO, which is exactly what I would expect.

So, it seems as though I need to use the offsets, but my macro is not working correctly. Can anyone help me out here with this? I have tried a few different macros for this that I found either in things I bought from Hoss, or in various forum posts, and they all behave the same way.

Do I need to reed the tool offset before retracting, and then somehow change my retraction accordingly?

Any help would be appreciated