Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / Tool Change w/ Height Offset

« on: October 23, 2014, 11:08:10 PM »

Ive always zeroed each tool before use (stupidly), and used all the same tool number. I am not starting to foray into actually using the tool table and tool offsets. I tried using it yesterday, but I found that even with height offsets turned on for each of the tools in Mach3, when my Gcode would ask for a tool change, sometimes it wouldnt apply the tool offset. However, if I manually changed the tool number in Mach it always worked (and no G49 is present in my gcode).


So my question is, Do I need to call an "G43 HX" every time I do a tool change? For instance, should my tool change to tool 1 be  "T1 M6 G43 H1"? I had always assumed that just "T1 M6" was enough and that it would grab the offset from my tool table. Is my thinking incorrect? If not, why does it work when i manually change the tool number in mach?

2

General Mach Discussion / Homing issue - Custom script?

« on: February 02, 2014, 10:54:22 PM »

I have an issue with my homing routine. For some reason, my home switches/limit switches engage at a different position than they disengage. For example, while feeding Z up and normal speed, the homing switch engages, then the homing routine backs off until it disengages and sets that position as zero. The problem is it doesn't disengage at the same coordinate it engaged. The problem is the limit switch itself, and i'm not about to replace them. Because of the issue, when im jogging towards machine zero, i can go well past before the switch engages.

So my question is, is it possible to edit the "REFCOMBINATION" procedure so that it backs off completely after hitting at normal speed, then feeds at a slower rate until it engages again? Similar to a touch probe procedure? But since the Home and Limit switches are the same switch, is there a way to bypass the limit switches setting off an e-stop during the procedure?

3

General Mach Discussion / G31 Doesn't work properly

« on: January 22, 2014, 01:38:01 AM »

Okay, here's my setup. I have a passive probe from tormach wired into my mach3 (non tormach) machine. One wire to pin 15 as an input and the other to ground. I also have a 220 ohm resistor between the input and 5v (like the second wiring drawing on this page : http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/product_info.php?products_id=323)

I enabled the pin in Mach3 for probe and leave the active low unchecked. After this I can go into the diagnostics page and see the probe light come on and off as I press on the stylus. However, if I run any G31 command in the MDI, nothing at all happens. No movement and no DRO reaction.

Next, if I go back to ports and pins and enable Active low for the probe, then in the diagnostics screen the led behaves opposite of what it should (as you would expect). But, if I press and hold on the stylus of my probe and run G31, it starts probing until I let go.

So what gives? It works in reverse (which is incorrect), but now how it's supposed to. What am I missing? Do I need a capacitor or something on the probe wiring? I have had the denounce up to 4000 with no noticeable change. Any ideas??

4

Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / Mach iOS Pendant, finally

« on: March 25, 2013, 12:56:10 PM »

Just creating a placeholder thread. I am quarter of the way through building an iPad pendant for Mach. It will connect through wifi to the pc running mach, and Im hoping to have it be able to control most of the common functions. As well, Id like it to show the gcode window, MDO, as well as the ability to hook up to a webcam. This will allow monitoring mach from across a shop (or like me, upstairs from the couch  ). Anyway, watch here for progress updates. So far i've got connections established and im currently working on the Mach hookup from the host side.

Id love some input as far as a wishlist of features. As well, for the GUI, would you guys rather a "realistic" looking cnc panel (the knobs are made to look real, etc. - see: "Skeuomorphic"), or a cleaner GUI that adheres more to common iOS interface looks.