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Topics - mikebpeters

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General Mach Discussion / Three Questions from a Newbie - please help!!
« on: February 21, 2015, 07:37:32 PM »
hello all,

I am the proud owner of a self designed and built CNC machine.

Apart from tweaks the hardware part is done and I've been playing with the software bits while I have been sorting out the clamping and was ready to make sawdust today.

I have however run across 3 apparently unrelated issues that show how far out of my depth I am.

I have watched the tutorials a number of times, as well as other helpful FAQs and videos and I got the motors all hooked up and tuned, and I have the limit and home switches all working.

I have homed the machine many times now and up until this afternoon it worked perfectly every time.

As I got braver I loaded up the roadrunner and set the machine up in the centre of the table and rezeroed everything, then I had it recalculate the tool paths and I watched as it happily drove around my table until I got bored after 10 minutes.

Now however . . .

three things, as I have messed about, any time something - me or gcode - drives the machine onto one of its stops It triggers the the limit switch and the estop.  All well and good, but then I have to physically disconnect the wire from the switch, clear the estop, drive the machine off the stop and reconnect the switch - I MUST be missing something here . . . that can't be the best way to deal with this.

Next, except for the once that the roadrunner seemed to work, every time I try that, or one other piece of gcode I downloaded the first thing that happens is that the machine gets driven onto its stops and gets estopped, and this seems to be by a line that 'prepositions' the machine to some bizarre set of coordinates.

Finally, apart from the above two noted issues all else seemed well until this afternoon when my wireless keyboard batteries died and seem to have sent some spurious signals to the program, and now the x axis thinks its moving the machine, and the DRO updates as if ti were but the motor doesn't turn.  The Y and Z axis turn, and when I move the motor controller from the z to the y it still turns when it thinks its the y.

I am using a Gecko G540

any help on any or all of these questions would be most welcome.

Any Mach III users in the San Anotonio area that would be willing to hold a newbie by the hand for a while?

Thanks all

Mike

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