Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Getting a Handle on Tool Height

« on: October 09, 2020, 05:40:22 PM »

I am struggling with this as well but it's part of the Macro set from the Probe Wizard set and incorporated into a screen set from Physics Anonymous well suited to touchscreens that I like quite a bit actually but there is something fundamentally missing here as it seems as though the Z Probing and the Tool setting are working with the same code so I am thinking more along the lines of a fundamental flaw here.
Screen set is http://www.physanon.com/pa-mach-3-screen-set/:
Again the goal remains the same though and I think many of us feel the same so it has to be there I am thinking

I want to set a part....XYZ probe it to locate and then insert a tool and have that tool tip know where the Z height I just established in the probe cycle.

So far the XYZ probing has worked wonderfully but here I am at a wall.

2

General Mach Discussion / Getting a Handle on Tool Height

« on: October 09, 2020, 02:43:04 PM »

I recently adapted a scope rail to hold my XYZ probe and added a tool height setter to the back corner of my table. I have viewed a ton of scripts/macros and I am still not quite getting a handle on how to get mine to go from the probe settings, mainly Z of course, to adding a tool and then transitioning over to the height setter and probing the tool to generate an offset so the tool knows where the top of the material is.
I have set up a G59 of the XY zeroed above the height probe so I can easily get to it and I am not sure if that's a good way to go but it gives me a table setting I can reference...I do a Z (XY Centering as well) probe first in G54 of course and then do my probe center to spindle center offset, switch to G59 and go X0Y0 after which I execute the Tool Height script below and I'm trying to get that delta between the stock top and the tool tip into G54 but it is not going too well. I can't quite seem to sort out which setting I need to modify in the script I am using currently.
The script is attached below and originates with the verser series of Mach 3 probing scripts and everything else has worked very well:
I have my probe as tool 99 as it is a requirement though easy enough to change it works fine for me and use Tool 1 for my testing.
I keep getting a zero height of the Tool Height setter so I am missing something just not quite sure which...

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Picatinny Probe Mount Offset

« on: October 06, 2020, 10:39:41 AM »

I just want to follow up after running a large number of cycles while I sort out my offsets how amazingly accurate this has turned out to be...I have a nice flat profile on the bottom of the spindle I have tucked the 1" circular mount I machined tight up under and have filed it down carefully to get an almost uninterrupted stream of exact repeats after removing, reattaching and running the center-finding macro over and over with never more than a .001 deviation.

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Picatinny Probe Mount Offset

« on: October 04, 2020, 06:20:54 PM »

I figured many have probably done something similar and perhaps there was a 'tried and trued'  method perhaps...good intel is always a great first step...thanks!

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: Picatinny Probe Mount Offset

« on: October 04, 2020, 06:04:33 PM »

I'm thinking a button with a G10 L20 Xx Yx  or simply a G0 X**y** then Zero and I suppose it could be G5x...

6

General Mach Discussion / Picatinny Probe Mount Offset

« on: October 04, 2020, 02:22:30 PM »

I rather marveled at the foldout probe on the Datron Neo and have been working at designing one up but recently it occurred to me as a temporary measure I could use a high quality Picatinny (Rifle Scope) rail and quick release scope mount ring mounted to my Spindle head bracket that I could quickly and easily install and remove with repeatable accuracy without always putting it in and out of the spindle. After a bit of trial and error I have a really solid repeatable level of accuracy, ~.001, that I can pop in and out very quickly. I stress again a good quality rail that is precision machined and matching rings allows you to change scopes and sites with high degrees of accuracy to make a minimal amount of scope/sight re-cal.
I am curious about what is the best way to then program and store the offset between the center of the probe and the spindle center in Mach3. There is a ton of info about the offsets for a number of things and I'm a little confused at to which offset and tool I should assign this to as a matter of best practice.

7

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Probing

« on: August 29, 2020, 10:18:14 PM »

I thought perhaps the crickets would run away if I added a video....
https://youtu.be/Qq56cz_p-GM

8

Mach4 General Discussion / Probing

« on: August 28, 2020, 11:12:46 AM »

I have been building a new machine to offset Covid Blues and have got it up and running however in configuring my probe I have run into an issue. I hit the XY calibration and get a Z up move and retract to start then it throws an error stating Probe0 Never hit or the allowed distance was travelled however in never makes an X or Y movement.
What am I missing here...I went back to the config video and have all similar settings but in the video the movement begins and ends with X and Y motion while I have nothing but Z.
I have an ESS V.260 with MB3 and Mach4 .4517

Thanks !
John

9

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Hybrid Stepper Setup in M4

« on: December 10, 2018, 08:36:43 AM »

Sorry for me getting it wrong with a mechanical problem

I would definitely say you did not get it wrong...the whole thing was bizarre and now obviously a clock issue we are thinking...scope showed very odd pulse activity...not even sure how it kept 10 counts to any sort of regularity...it bounced all over...ESS is as I said..tick-tock wave form...I wanted to be sure.

I will create a post outlining some of the pluses and minuses I went through here as it was a real nightmare in certain respects it has been very interesting in others...I am not going to bash the Pokeys here but I will say it was a very frustrating couple of weeks actually fighting off several issues in this thing...I will own many of the core foolish expectations but in the end after about 10 minutes with the ESS it was humming around meeting and exceeding...I would say the ESS is quite amazing as are the Lexiums...it's a pretty powerful thing to talk to a motor.

Hi, kool.

Thank you Craig, and again though I am sure you have heard it before, your contributions to the foibles of the weak minded like myself are priceless! Be well!

10

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Hybrid Stepper Setup in M4

« on: December 09, 2018, 07:49:32 PM »

https://youtu.be/ACl_HgHPBss