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Mach4 General Discussion / Manual touch plate probing after manual tool change
« on: December 30, 2017, 09:30:13 AM »
So I've done some searching and seen threads such as this one, and I'm aware that dazthegaz has put together a nice M6 macro for automated tool probing.
I really like the idea of daz's automated approach, but it does require having a touch plate/tool setter at a fixed location on the machine. I am working on setting up that sort of arrangement on my machine, however since I use a dust boot which is manually set to a fixed height based on stock thickness (and is independent of Z travel) I have a lot more interference concerns so it's going to take some work to implement it in a way that doesn't lead to a high risk of crashes.
So, in the meantime I've been experimenting with trying to enable manual Z probing using a touch plate while the machine is paused due to an M6 command. I have determined that in that case, the machine state is "File Macro Hold". I added a button on the main panel which does a G31 operation to probe Z, and it works fine when the machine is in the 'idle' state - and the button is set to be enabled in the 'file macro hold' state also. However, when in 'file macro hold', the probe operation simply doesn't happen. I'm allowed to jog the machine so clearly motion is not disabled outright, but it seems like it's refusing to execute the G31 command. Is that behavior something I can change? Or is there a fundamental limitation that prevents G-code commands from being executed while in the "file macro hold" state?
I understand that the usual answer to this is to postprocess to separate G-code files, each using only a single tool - and that has been my work flow so far. However, I often find myself doing anywhere from 2 to 5 tool changes to make a given part, and I feel it would be much more convenient and less prone to error (changing to wrong tool, forgetting to load the next file or loading the wrong one, etc) if I could keep everything consolidated and use M6.
Any advice appreciated!
I really like the idea of daz's automated approach, but it does require having a touch plate/tool setter at a fixed location on the machine. I am working on setting up that sort of arrangement on my machine, however since I use a dust boot which is manually set to a fixed height based on stock thickness (and is independent of Z travel) I have a lot more interference concerns so it's going to take some work to implement it in a way that doesn't lead to a high risk of crashes.
So, in the meantime I've been experimenting with trying to enable manual Z probing using a touch plate while the machine is paused due to an M6 command. I have determined that in that case, the machine state is "File Macro Hold". I added a button on the main panel which does a G31 operation to probe Z, and it works fine when the machine is in the 'idle' state - and the button is set to be enabled in the 'file macro hold' state also. However, when in 'file macro hold', the probe operation simply doesn't happen. I'm allowed to jog the machine so clearly motion is not disabled outright, but it seems like it's refusing to execute the G31 command. Is that behavior something I can change? Or is there a fundamental limitation that prevents G-code commands from being executed while in the "file macro hold" state?
I understand that the usual answer to this is to postprocess to separate G-code files, each using only a single tool - and that has been my work flow so far. However, I often find myself doing anywhere from 2 to 5 tool changes to make a given part, and I feel it would be much more convenient and less prone to error (changing to wrong tool, forgetting to load the next file or loading the wrong one, etc) if I could keep everything consolidated and use M6.
Any advice appreciated!