Messages

81

General Mach Discussion / Re: Z Zero touchplate oddity...

« on: June 03, 2010, 09:54:12 AM »

I don't use them, so I shouldn't have, but I'll check when I get back. Thanks

82

General Mach Discussion / Z Zero touchplate oddity...

« on: June 02, 2010, 02:18:32 PM »

Hey guys,

EDIT: Oops, forgot to mention, parallel port driven steppers, no smoothstepper. Everything else seems to be working fine.

I've been using the code below for quite a while for my Z zero touch plate. I'm not sure why, but something odd has started happening recently.

I get everything ready, click the button, the Z axis starts coming down, hits the touch plate, then shoves itself down another 1.5-2mm, then retracts to an inaccurate reading. Needless to say, that's not so good for the bit.

The problem seems to be coming from this line. If I remove the line, the downward motion doesn't happen.

Code: [Select]

Code "G0 Z" &ZProbePos 'go back to that point
I double checked, and yes, positive numbers are supposed to make the axis go up, not down. All I can guess is that it's getting a strange reading into the ZProbePos variable. I disabled my macro pump script, but that made no difference.

Any ideas?

Code: [Select]

PlayWave ("SOUNDS\AUTOZZERO.WAV")

CurrentFeed = GetOemDRO(818) 'Get the current feedrate to return to later
PlateThickness = 2.40 'GetUserDRO(2.40) 'Z-plate thickness DRO

If GetOemLed (825)=0 Then 'Check to see if the probe is already grounded or faulty
DoOEMButton (1010) 'zero the Z axis so the probe move will start from here
Code "G4 P2" ' two second delay
Code "G31 Z-80 F100" 'Z goes down a max of 20mm at 100mm/min
While IsMoving() 'wait while it happens
Wend
ZProbePos = GetVar(2002) 'get the exact point the probe was hit
Code "G0 Z" &ZProbePos 'go back to that point
While IsMoving ()
Wend
Call SetDro (2, PlateThickness) 'set the Z axis DRO to whatever is set as plate thickness
Code "G4 P0.25" 'Pause for Dro to update.
Code "G0 Z4" 'retract Z to 4 mm
Code "(Z axis is now zeroed)" 'puts this message in the status bar
Code "F" &CurrentFeed 'Returns to prior feed rate
Else
Code "(Z-Plate is grounded, check connection and try again)"
Exit Sub
End If


83

General Mach Discussion / Re: Why is it running off at random?

« on: June 02, 2010, 02:05:25 PM »

that looks like one axis just quits for a while then starts back.you might want to check your wires from the motors back to the drivers.
everything might be ok except for one motor is not getting the signal all the time.

Good call, Bill. Especially considering the stopped axis looks like it might have been trying to move a little bit. I'd bet a short could do just that.

84

General Mach Discussion / Re: Why is it running off at random?

« on: June 02, 2010, 12:07:53 PM »

I've been thinking about this, and I'm betting it is stalling, but it may or may not be for mechanical reasons. I will say though, 60ipm with 10tpi screws is going to be turning those motors at the upper end of their torque curve, and slowing down may be your only option. That aside, I do have a couple observations.

If Y is vertical, and X is horizontal;
The little bump at the top would be where X stopped moving, and Y attempted to continue moving out to the edge of the circle. The lower mark would be where X started moving again, attempting to finish the right side of the circle. You can see that X was *trying* to move, as it does angle a bit to the right. Once it reaches the lower mark, the motor started moving again.

I know how frustrating this can be. It can seem like everything is sailing along smoothly, and out of the blue, stalling happens. I'd like to refer you to my stalling post from months ago, there may be some things in there for you to try, and there were lots of helpful posts from folks trying to help me. If you want to see what worked for me, check page 4, but don't skip what was said on the previous pages.

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,9943.0.html

Good luck!

85

General Mach Discussion / Re: Display Spindle Temperature on Mach3 ??

« on: June 02, 2010, 10:11:36 AM »

poppabear,

I considered the same, but I wasn't sure if a macropump ran at a set interval, or if it was dependent on CPU speed for its cycle time. I presume by what you said that the macropump, by default, runs at 1/10 second intervals? Is there any way to change the interval for it? If so, I might just change some of my macropump code.

86

General Mach Discussion / Re: Tool location crosshair colors?

« on: May 31, 2010, 08:05:42 PM »

    I finally found something that Mach doesn't do!!  I never thought the day would come! 

I will fool with the background instead, thanks Hood.

87

General Mach Discussion / Re: Display Spindle Temperature on Mach3 ??

« on: May 31, 2010, 08:00:45 PM »

If you don't require up to the millisecond data, It might be a good idea to use a timer in your macropump script (not a loop) so it only does that file read every few seconds. Otherwise it will be reading that file as fast as it possibly can. Just a thought.

88

General Mach Discussion / Tool location crosshair colors?

« on: May 31, 2010, 07:01:13 PM »

Hello

My shop monitor is very dim, and it's hard to see the purple crosshairs showing the current tool location in the 3d toolpath view. I've found where I can change the colors of the toolpaths, but not the crosshair. Can this be done?

Thanks, Z

89

General Mach Discussion / Re: Trigger an LPT pin when Z is below a certain level?

« on: April 03, 2010, 10:18:00 PM »

Just thought I'd post back again to say I was able to get this all working. It's cooler than I expected

I added a button to enable / disable the auto coolant flow, plus a check to make sure the machine was out of E-stop mode, and that the spindle was on before pumping.

Thanks,

Z

90

General Mach Discussion / Trigger an LPT pin when Z is below a certain level?

« on: April 01, 2010, 11:43:01 AM »

I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not.

My first idea is to use a micro / optical switch on the gantry to trigger a coolant pump when Z reaches a certain level. I may still do this if this next idea won't work.

The question is, since "zero" can vary from one project to the next, it would be nice to have the coolant pump trigger be software based instead of mechanical. Otherwise, each setup would require a manual adjustment to a mechanical or optical switch.

Would there be a brain or vb script that could trigger an LPT pin high when Z reaches 1mm or below?

Thanks,

Z