Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: what file to copy so mach3 on desk pc has same config as the one on my mill

« on: February 12, 2016, 08:45:43 AM »

great
thanks
tom

2

General Mach Discussion / what file to copy so mach3 on desk pc has same config as the one on my mill

« on: February 11, 2016, 08:50:28 PM »

for simulation of running parts on my mill during the evening when working on gcode, etc I'd like the copy of mach 3 that I installed without the parallel port driver in my house to have the same configuration of that attached to my mill.  Is there a file I should copy from the shop machine to replace a file on the house pc that would accomplish this, or is there any point to that? BTW I'm a new user....

thanks
Tom

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Can all 3 of my homing switches share one pin in Mach 3?

« on: February 04, 2016, 02:53:36 PM »

I just went out to the shop and solved the problem, which was that those optoisolators needed 24v rather than 5v power...I just checked the voltage across the estop input and got 26v, then checked the resistors in place on the BOB, and sure enough they were 2.2k which is what was called out on the BOB schematic for 24v inputs.  Now all is well and homing is working perfectly. I should have looked at the resistors first but what really threw me was the fact that the BOB input LED lit up when operating the switches; now I know that is merely an indication of a signal, not necessarily an ADEQUATE signal!  I'm lucky I already had no hair to tear out..
thanks for all the help!
Tom

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Can all 3 of my homing switches share one pin in Mach 3?

« on: February 04, 2016, 08:53:29 AM »

OK, I'll try it that way.  The LED on the BOB did go on and off when activating the home switch loop though...
thanks
tom

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: Can all 3 of my homing switches share one pin in Mach 3?

« on: February 03, 2016, 08:09:40 PM »

My breakout board inputs are optoisolated so require power to light the led inside the optoisolator, the light from which is in turn detected inside that optoisolator and then the high or low is passed on to the port pin, at least thats how I think they work.  the schematic for that is here see "optoisolated input":

http://ashburn.home.icx.net/id1.html

Good idea though as the optoisolators are socketed so if I remove that one I should be able to jumper its output with an external switch to test the port pin as shown in the schematic directly below it.  We'll see tomorrow, maybe its a bad optoisolator.
thanks
tom

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Can all 3 of my homing switches share one pin in Mach 3?

« on: February 03, 2016, 06:04:56 PM »

Well, I've wired the NC loop for the home switches, the loop is powered by the same 5v power supply that powers the breakout board. The breakout board pin 15 led is lit when the switches are inactive and when any switch is opened the led goes out on the board. It is an optoisolated input.  On the Mach 3 configuration page I enabled x,y,and z home(s) for pin 15 and tried setting active low and high for them but I get no light (or the light does not turn off) with either setting from the  m1 m2 m3 home indicators on the diagnostics page when these new home switches are operated.  I can only conclude that either there is a problem with the breakout board, parallel port or hopefully just PC configuration.  pin 15 is not enabled for any other I/O in Mach3.  Is there any difference in parallel port pin 15 that might require some programming in either Mach or the PC bios?  I know there are PS2 EPP and ECP type parallel ports, but don't know what I have, if they can be set, or if it makes a difference in this case...or am I missing something else?
thanks
tom

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: Can all 3 of my homing switches share one pin in Mach 3?

« on: February 02, 2016, 08:03:15 PM »

That's great, I should be able to wire it up tomorrow.
thanks for the help!
tom

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: Can all 3 of my homing switches share one pin in Mach 3?

« on: February 02, 2016, 07:27:48 PM »

OK, but I'll still enable x home y home and z home all on the same pin 15 to set this up, is that right? and <ref all> should then be usable?

thanks
tom

9

General Mach Discussion / Re: Can all 3 of my homing switches share one pin in Mach 3?

« on: February 02, 2016, 06:54:07 PM »

Excellent, thanks for the info.  So in ports and pins do I then enable x home y home and z home all on the same pin (pin 15 in my case) then in motor home/soft limits set the home off. to a distance that will deactivate the home switch just triggered? and then <ref all> will work?

Thanks
tom

10

General Mach Discussion / Can all 3 of my homing switches share one pin in Mach 3?

« on: February 02, 2016, 04:32:15 PM »

I'm revisiting a partially completed Boss 5 Bridgeport conversion that I had to set aside for a few years, it uses Mach3 & the Ashburn BOB:

 http://ashburn.home.icx.net/index.html

I've never set up one of these conversions and have close to zero experience with Mach3, but have watched the videos and read most of the manual...

All of the limit switches are set up and run (I think) all in series with the OEM Estop button and use the one pin 10 active low to stop the machine.  I want to add homing capability and have added home switches to do so.   Can I wire the 3 axis home switches all in series?  That is, will Mach 3 know which switch is triggered in turn as it homes each axis because it is homing that particular axis? (assuming it can be set to reverse off of the switch so that the pin is no longer active after each axis completes its home/jog off home move)  I read 4.6.6 & 5.6 of the manual that says I won't be able to <ref all home> but because Mach3 homes each axis separately shouldn't <ref all home> still work?

I prefer not to use the existing limit switches as dual purpose home switches at the moment.  I have only one input left on the BOB...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
thanks
Tom