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Topics - gyrojeremy

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1
Hi All,

I'm building a CNC plasma, I plan on using the MB3 and ESS combo with Clearpath SDSK Servos run by Mach 4.

Before a cut is made the torch height needs to zero on the surface of the material to be cut first then raise to say 3mm above the surface and begin cutting.

So as the title suggests I'm wondering if the Clearpath HLFB on the Z axis of the plasma cutter can be used to trigger a condition in Mach 4 (Zero the torch height) when the plasma torch touches the plate before cutting.

From what I've seen most people use a micro switch or continuity test to set zero pos for the torch but this adds complication and potential failure points to the construction.

I'm hoping with a bit of code and the right settings in the Clearpath UI this could be achieved by having Mach 4 monitor the amp draw from the servo HLFB. During the steps outlined above when the torch touches the material, the amp draw goes above a set point, Mach 4 will then zero the Z height and proceed with the next step.

Has anyone done anything like this using the HLFB?

Cheers,
J


2
Mach4 General Discussion / Glitch on X movements
« on: January 12, 2022, 09:32:44 PM »
hi All.
I've built a cnc mill out of an old G0484. It's a 3 axis with clearpath servos and an ESS for the motion controller. This is all run from Mach 4 on a windows 10 PC.

I have a random but not so random movement issue occurring and cannot find the source.
What happens is when traveling in X plain, it will rapid move times 10 speed. Let me try to explain.

1. I use Fusion 360 CAM personal use, so the only rapid moves aloud are basically the G53 moves. Therefor no rapid moves should happen during movements from point A to point B, It should all be G1 moves.

2. I have rapid (G0) moves on Mach 4 set to 10%, G53 moves move at 10%. These random X moves (that are meant to be G1 moves) will happen at 100% rapid. If I have rapid on Mach4 set any higher than 10% and these X movements occur, it will trip the current overload on the servos and halt all movements but the gcode will still be running on Mach4.

3. It only does it to X movements. Not Y movement and not XY movements. And has never happened to Z movements ether.

4. This doesn't happen on all X movements. It only happens on transition moves. Sometimes it wont happen at all on a Gcode program. When it does happen, it is the same every time the program is run. I could run two programs back to back (program A and program B), it could miss behave on program A and run fine on program B. I could loop these programs all day and it will always happen on program A and never happen on program B.

It sounds like it's the Gcode right?? I'm only learning to read gcode but I can't see anything obvious. Post processor maybe?? Has anyone ever struck this before?

I've attached the latest program it did it on. Drilling holes in a PCB. It rapid moved fast all X transition moves, even though rapid on Mach4 was set to 10% and there shouldn't be any rapid transition movement to begin with according to Fusion360.



3
Mach4 General Discussion / Probe calibration error
« on: June 13, 2021, 01:48:47 AM »
I have the latest ESS plugin and Mach4 version and I'm trying to calibrate a probe.
I've filled out the probe settings page and have moved onto calibration.

When trying to calibrate x and y with a gauge ring the result is the machine moving into x and y zero, Z to probing height (-3), but then gives me a "Probing Error" followed by disabling Mach4

My history says,
ESS starting Probe 0
ESS: Failure! Probe0 never hit or the allowed distance was traveled. Switching from PROBING to NORMAL state.
ERROR: No contact with probe

This is as far as I've got. Has anyone struck this before, I'm not sure what to do to fix it.

4
General Mach Discussion / My parts are correct but upside down??
« on: May 17, 2021, 07:56:53 AM »
Hi all.
I have a question that's a little easier to explain with photos. But basically the parts come out correct but it's not intuitively the right way around. Note in the CAM image the direction and location of the part zero coordinates. To me this is how it should be when looking at it in the mill but it's not as you can see from the second photo. If I set up part zero as you see it on the CAM image the mill thinks the part is off to the back, left.
I managed to cut this part by setting X & Y Zero on the piece of wood at the front right (front being closest to the door of the mill).

Am I looking at this all wrong or do I have a setting set wrong.

Machine zero is:
Z at the top moving - to travel down.
X is table to far left moving + to travel right.
Y is table to front moving + to travel back towards the column.




5
Mach4 General Discussion / Jogging Really Rough With New MPG Pendant
« on: November 02, 2020, 10:09:28 PM »
Hi all,
Been working on installing a MPG pendant on my mill. It's the generic type, 4 axis switch, 3 speed switch, enable button, E-stop and of course the MPG. And about 20 wires to find a home for.
Managed to get it all wired up and working after a few days of research and some hair pulling, however there are two one bumps that have propped up that have me and google stumped.

1. On Mach4 screen set, I have jogging buttons that work as per usual but when I press the "Button Jog Mode" the boxes ether side ( "0.0010" and "Continuous" ) don't change appearances, ie the "0.0010" doesn't change from gray to white and the "Continuous" doesn't change to "Incremental". The function works fine though, there's just no indication if it's in Continuous or Incremental mode.
    I should note that the machine jogs smoothly when using these buttons. I added a sketch to the screen set to run the pendant but didn't alter anything outside of that.

2. When jogging with the pendant MPG it makes the whole machine rattle. When set to move X1, it's not to bad. X10 gets louder and X100 is kind of scary. At first I thought it was the acceleration and velocity I forgot to set on the MPG tab under Configure so I set them to the same setting as is under the Motors tab. 7000 velocity and 1200 acceleration but this made no difference?
    Scratch this, just got it figured out. MPG Velocity and Acceleration are %'s not actual. Set them both to 100 and
    rough jogging is cured.

Would be nice to figure out screen jogging button issue though, any suggestions??

Cheers,
J

6
Mach4 General Discussion / Spindle Index Setup With Hall Sensor??
« on: March 27, 2020, 06:01:39 PM »
Hi All,
I've been working on getting spindle control working through Mach4 for the last couple weeks and I think I have everything hardware wise in place or on order.

I'm running Mach4 and using an ESS connected to a C25 BoB.
These are controlling Clearpath Servos for X, Y, Z movements.
The spindle is belt drive at a 2.2:1 ratio. 1 rotation of motor = 2.2 rotations of spindle.
Motor is a 1.5Kw 3 phase induction motor wired for delta and is run by a Teco VFD.
I have a C41S-PWM Variable Speed Control Board on order to connect the VFD to the ESS.

Now to my problem... I'm not getting and feed back on Mach4.
I have a hall sensor pulsing off 4 magnets mounted equally around the spindle shaft.
This is connected to Port 2 Pin 3 input, +5v and ground.
When tested with multi meter, a LOW on the C25 BoB reads 2.5v and HIGH read 4.8v. And the indicator LED on pin 3 glows accordingly (not so bright to bright) as a magnet passes the hall sensor.

I'm not sure if it should behave like this and if this is the cause of the problem. I would have thought LOW should measure 0v and HIGH (as a magnet passes over) should measure around 5v.

I've gone through various setting in Mach, including pin setup and activating Spindle Encoder Phase A, trying Spindle Index option and more. I'm still not getting any response from Mach to acknowledge the presents of a spindle index or encoder.

 I've been toiling with this for a couple weeks now and am open to any and all suggestions/ideas. I don't know if I've got Mach4 set up right or if the Hall sensor is faulty?

 Initially the hall sensor was setup on an Arduino and reading the RPM of a small lego motor and it worked perfectly, but once it was setup on the mill spindle via the Arduino and display the readout went crazy.

Hall sensor Data sheet.
https://www.jaycar.co.nz/medias/sys_master/images/images/9369043927070/ZD1902-dataSheetMain.pdf

Basically all I want is a real time actual RPM count of the spindle.
If I issue an M3 S1000 command how does Mach know the spindle is geared 2.2:1?




7
Mach4 General Discussion / G-Code Just Cutting Circles
« on: January 18, 2019, 03:11:53 AM »
Hey all.
I'm in the process of converting my mill to CNC. I've got clearpath servos x, y, z run by ESS controller using Mach4. Today was the first test using a gcode file produced by Fusion 360. Basically it was meant to do about 6 passes  to make a square block round and drill 6 holes. It kind of made it round but it used circle cuts on the outside to achieve this. And the hole drilling would have shared the drill on the first hole.

Has anyone seen this before? Any suggestions as to where I when wrong?


Cheers,
J

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