Messages

5611

General Mach Discussion / Re: Probe

« on: November 21, 2011, 11:15:39 AM »

Can this bee sett in the softwhere- "high or low"?

I suppose you could use a 'pull up resistor' for the circuit to be 'active high' and a 'pull down' resistor for the circuit to be 'active low' then configure Mach accordingly.

Another thing I was wondering about,- how accurate is this Probe? Surly there have to bee some play/movement of the ProbeTip before the circut is broken and a signal given. Can this be compensated for by the software?

If it is constructed properly and the spring yields before anything bends then it would be extremely difficult to measure any play/movement in the system. Consider that the tip is essentially resting in the 'V' between 6 points of contact, it will either be making contact or it will not, there is no delay or contact bounce as you may get with, for example, a conventional switch.
When probing there is 'overun' between the contact point and the axis coming to rest but the stored position is the actual point of contact not the final axis position so compensation is automatic really.

Hope this helps.

Tweakie.

5612

General Mach Discussion / Re: Auto Tool-Changer and LPT2

« on: November 21, 2011, 07:01:28 AM »

Yes - between pin 14 and GND (which is pins 18 to 25) should do it.
The cable length will make no difference for this test.

Tweakie.

nb. While you are testing check the cable to make sure you have the right type with Pin 1 connected to Pin 1, Pin 2 to Pin 2, etc

5613

General Mach Discussion / Re: Auto Tool-Changer and LPT2

« on: November 21, 2011, 06:28:27 AM »

Hi Keith,

My mistake, I was thinking in terms of an axis - use whatever control you use to Enable / Disable the pin you are measuring.

Tweakie.

(Thanks for the complements - some of the stuff on the site is quite old now and I keep thinking I must update a lot of it  )

5614

General Mach Discussion / Re: Auto Tool-Changer and LPT2

« on: November 21, 2011, 05:59:11 AM »

Hi Keith,

There is the possibility that your LPT2 parallel card puts out the 3.3 Volt TTL standard and your ATC controller requires the 5 Volt TTL standard.
Perhaps measure the voltage present on the Direction pin - it should be 5 Volts when jog in one direction and 0 Volts when jog in the opposite direction. There are a number of options you can take if only 3.3 Volts is present.

Tweakie.

5615

Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / Re: Step2Mach - My DIY ethernet controller for Mach

« on: November 21, 2011, 04:17:03 AM »

Excellent work Jarekk.

Tweakie.

5616

General Mach Discussion / Re: Probe

« on: November 21, 2011, 03:36:26 AM »

Johannes,

I don't know if this helps but....

By the method of assembly, all the balls are in electrical contact with the PCB and each of the silver steel pins electrically connects one pair of balls. The, two wire, probe connection is taken from the 'gap' in the PCB track, which under normal circumstances (with balls and pins fitted) is now a short circuit. Any probe contact with an object (no matter from which direction) will open the circuit as at least one pin will fail to bridge the gap between one pair of balls.
It is the software which determines the direction of probing and the probe just indicates when contact is made by breaking an otherwise continuous circuit.

Tweakie.

5617

General Mach Discussion / Re: Limit/Home Switch setup question

« on: November 21, 2011, 02:33:48 AM »

So what was the problem that prevented your motors from running please ??  http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,20078.0.html
Servo's or Stepper's ??
Also it would be most helpful, for others that follow, if you could post the solution that you found in the earlier thread.

Thanks,

Tweakie.

5618

General Mach Discussion / Re: Sound with out movement (JOG)

« on: November 21, 2011, 01:59:29 AM »

Lou,

Use a multimeter set to continuity test or take the lead to someone with a multimeter and ask then to test it (check for continuity to make sure it is good and that pin 1 at one end connects to pin 1 at the other end and that pin 2 connects to pin 2 and so on).

Tweakie.

5619

General Mach Discussion / Re: Sound with out movement (JOG)

« on: November 20, 2011, 12:24:04 PM »

Lou,

Something Hood mentioned earlier. It may be a good idea to check your parallel cable for continuity to make sure it is good and that pin 1 connects to pin 1 and that pin 2 connects to pin 2 and so on. You would not be the first person to have a dodgy lead.

Tweakie.

5620

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help getting my machine running...

« on: November 19, 2011, 11:40:01 AM »

Hi Peter,

You can measure the voltage on the parallel port (Direction pins only) with a multimeter. Connect the meter between pin 3 and GND (which is pins 18 to 25) then jogging the X Axis in one direction will give approx 5 Volts and jogging in the opposite direction will give approx 0 Volts.

Tweakie.