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Mach4 General Discussion / How do I disable fixture offset (after reference all axes)?
« on: May 09, 2022, 10:01:02 AM »
I'm a 15+ year long Mach3 user on 2 CNC mills and now bringing up a router with Mach4. This issue is driving me crazy and is behavior I have not seen on mach3. Let me describe my workflow, then the behavior followed by what I've done to diagnose/solve the issue.
I'm on Mach4 build 4612, using the WxRouter.set screen.
I have a simple 3 axes router with home switches and soft limits enabled.
The way I like to work is this:
Home (Reference All Axes (hom) the machine after I turn everything on to make some cuts.
Clamp my work piece to my bed. I typically make onsies or twosies
Jog to the datum on the work piece and touch off the tool old-school using rolling paper
Zero X, Zero Y, Zero Z
Now I load and run my gcode.
Observed Behavior:
(unless I zero out the G54 section of the View->Fixture Offsets... table)
When I do the Reference All Axes (home) the machine homes as it should, I see the DROs turn green and set to "0" but then the machine immediately moves to the position set in the G54 of the Fixture Offsets table. I do NOT want this behavior. Many times, after the first job, I jog the tool out of the way to move my work and setup for another job. This new job will likely be in a different location on my router's bed and may be a thicker workpiece. Once I have the new workpiece clamped, I do another Reference All Axes (home) and expect the tool to stay at 0,0,0 so I can then jog to the new datum Zero the axes, load the gcode and run. But, it goes to the fixture offset and that might cause a crash into the material or a clamp.
I've used the above workflow on my milling machine for 15+ years and have never had an issue. I've never used fixture offsets and don't really have a need. If I zero out the G54 row of the fixture offset before homing, I get the expected behavior.
What I've done to Diagnose:
I notice when I launch Mach4 that the status line shows a string of gcodes that includes G54. In my case that line is:
G0 G17 G90 G91.1 G94 G20 G40 G49 G80 G50 G67 G97 G54 G64 G69 G15 G40.1
So I thought the logical thing to do is remove the G54, but I can't find where this string is created! I've looked at the load screen script, the Ref All Axes button scripts, etc. I've also looked at the Mach Config dialog and don't see where G54 is added. I've also looked at the Probing and Offsets tabs on the screen and don't see anything that can help.
My ideal scenario would be to have the workflow that I've used for 15 years. But, if there is an alternative workflow that works with this automatic fixture offset I'd consider changing if there were advantages.
thanks!
I'm on Mach4 build 4612, using the WxRouter.set screen.
I have a simple 3 axes router with home switches and soft limits enabled.
The way I like to work is this:
Home (Reference All Axes (hom) the machine after I turn everything on to make some cuts.
Clamp my work piece to my bed. I typically make onsies or twosies
Jog to the datum on the work piece and touch off the tool old-school using rolling paper
Zero X, Zero Y, Zero Z
Now I load and run my gcode.
Observed Behavior:
(unless I zero out the G54 section of the View->Fixture Offsets... table)
When I do the Reference All Axes (home) the machine homes as it should, I see the DROs turn green and set to "0" but then the machine immediately moves to the position set in the G54 of the Fixture Offsets table. I do NOT want this behavior. Many times, after the first job, I jog the tool out of the way to move my work and setup for another job. This new job will likely be in a different location on my router's bed and may be a thicker workpiece. Once I have the new workpiece clamped, I do another Reference All Axes (home) and expect the tool to stay at 0,0,0 so I can then jog to the new datum Zero the axes, load the gcode and run. But, it goes to the fixture offset and that might cause a crash into the material or a clamp.
I've used the above workflow on my milling machine for 15+ years and have never had an issue. I've never used fixture offsets and don't really have a need. If I zero out the G54 row of the fixture offset before homing, I get the expected behavior.
What I've done to Diagnose:
I notice when I launch Mach4 that the status line shows a string of gcodes that includes G54. In my case that line is:
G0 G17 G90 G91.1 G94 G20 G40 G49 G80 G50 G67 G97 G54 G64 G69 G15 G40.1
So I thought the logical thing to do is remove the G54, but I can't find where this string is created! I've looked at the load screen script, the Ref All Axes button scripts, etc. I've also looked at the Mach Config dialog and don't see where G54 is added. I've also looked at the Probing and Offsets tabs on the screen and don't see anything that can help.
My ideal scenario would be to have the workflow that I've used for 15 years. But, if there is an alternative workflow that works with this automatic fixture offset I'd consider changing if there were advantages.
thanks!