Messages

91

Mach3 and G-Rex / Re: how to config motors with G100

« on: June 06, 2007, 09:31:24 PM »

Well so much for my work around. While demostrating the problem and my "brilliant" solution to my wife, all went according to plan. I did about 7 ref all home cycles without a glitch, then the problem showed up in the X as it failed to home completely. So then I did my workaround. This time the Z started for home with the X went right on through the limit and crashed . That is the one axis on this machine with ZERO backlash. &%^$*$&%^#&# Now I have to solve this can't run the machine this way.

Noise in a limit switch CANNOT cause the Z axis to head for home when I hit the button for home X

Monty

92

Mach3 and G-Rex / Re: how to config motors with G100

« on: June 06, 2007, 08:56:30 PM »

OK I give up. I don't know what is causing the problem, and I don't care anymore. I found a workaround. Whenever the X or Y fail to home properly I do the following:

hit reset, drive off the limit. Then home that axis individualy. That puts the world right again.

I can usually get 5-10 reff all home cycles before the problem occurs. I configured 2 of the buttons on the shuttle pro to be a home X/ home Y button.

On to other things! I'm tired of this

93

Mach3 and G-Rex / Re: how to config motors with G100

« on: June 06, 2007, 06:11:35 PM »

Brett,

The spindle and coolant problem was due to a wiring goof with the optical relays . So that problem is solved and working.

I did some more testing on the limits. I couldn't find any ground loops, and I'm not getting any voltage readings that are out of range for a digital signal.

I have managed to determine the following:

1.) The problem is random. Ocassionally it will screw up on re-boot although that is unusual. I may get 10 homes in a row, I may get 5, I may get none.

2.) The problem has never occured on the Z axis. It is wired the same way and the shield is grounded in the same way at the same place as the X and Y

3.) Changing the direction of the Z axis under soft limits has no effect on whether the problem occurs on the Z.

4.) Changing the home direction of the Z axis also has no effect.

5.) The problem is precipitated by either the X or the Y axis failing to home properly. When this occurs the machine stops. No error is displayed on the mach status line. I can jog with the shuttle pro but nothing happens. When I hit Reset on the screen and then hit it again it will say "limit switch triggered." at which point I overide and drive off.

6.) once either the X or Y fails to home properly the homing is erratic. The Z will move with the Y. Or some other strange combination.

7.) Two things will fix this problem and cause the machine to home in the proper sequence again.
      a.) exit mach and start it again.
      b.) keep running the homing routine until it works.

     after either of these two things happens the homing sequence will be correct until it faults again.

8.) disabling the X+ or Y+ limit has no effect on this.

9.) G64 has no effect on the problem. I cannot make it happen beforehand by entering a G64, nor can I fix it once it happens with a G61

Our machines are different in that you are using NO contacts and I am using NC.

I may switch them to see if that makes any difference, but first:

Try this experiment.

Tell your machine to reff all. Then as either the X or Y hit the limit switch. hit the other one with something.


Then move all the axis to the middle of travel and hit ref all again. Since you are not homing your Z you may not see the problem exactly the same way as I do, but you may get the X and Y going at the same time. 


Monty

94

Mach3 and G-Rex / Re: how to config motors with G100

« on: June 05, 2007, 11:35:46 PM »

Brett,

haven't tried that. I will tommorow. My meter is not a scope type so not sure that it will tell me much even if that is where the problem is. To find it I would probably have to have a voltage vs time curve to see if the switch made a clean break. The chance of having 4 bad switches, two of which are brand new out of the box is pretty small.

Even if the switch was bad, why would the home routine do different things randomly? Why does it home in sequence, z, then y, then x when I first start the machine. Then after I run some code and the next time I try to home the routine is totally different. The z and y may move at the same time, or the z may home first then the x and y both start moving at the same time. I wish I could see the code that makes up the home routine. If that checks out then it is in the firm ware. A switch cannot cause this behavior. If it were a switch, it would fail on the same switch, the same way every time. It doesn't. The only switch that has not given me any problem is the Z. I did not have to change the homing direction or reverse that axis. That is the one constant in this mess. I may try to reverse the Z tommorow and force it to home to the bottom. If the Z freaks out after that then the problem is in the software, or firmware.

If that doesn't work, I'm considering a clean sheet start over. Start from scratch, use your installation guide step by step, fresh mach the works. If the problem persists after that I don't know what else to do. I will send you my current .xml tommorow.

Maybe I am missing something.

Monty

95

Mach3 and G-Rex / Re: how to config motors with G100

« on: June 05, 2007, 08:01:15 PM »

Brett,

Well, all the things we discussed have failed to improve the situation. I thought that changing the settings for step and dir pins in the config menu had fixed the problems, but alas it did not.

I replaced the limit switches with brand new honeywell microswitches. They have a distinct make and break that are at different points. The originals had a single make/break location. I thought that maybe some bounce in the switch was causing the problem.

After hooking up the new switches, and turning the machine on, everything worked. It homed just fine TWICE! in a row. I thought OK now I've got it licked. Dry ran some code. Tried to home it. It froze up on the Y switch without backing off. The screen did not show any error, but the diagnostics screen showed the limit was tripped/home switch was tripped. So I put it in overide backed off and tried agiain. Still didn't work.

So I turned off the X++ and Y++ limits. Still didn't work. Then I turned off both X-- and Y--. Tried to home it again. It went right through the home switch without stopping.

There is some flat out flaky behavior here that can't all be my hardware. I've tried new switches, double checked the sheild grounding, played with settings till I'm blue in the face. When I first start the machine, it will work. Then it just gets plain weird. Sometimes it will do like it should and the Z will home, then the Y, then the X. Sometimes the Z will home, then the X and Y will both take off at the same time until one of them hits a home switch and then everything stops no error, nothing. If I hit Estop then hit it again it will give an error and say limit switch triggered. Sometimes all three will take off at once. Sometimes the Z and the Y take off at the same time.

I also found that once I triggered the digital outputs for flood and mist, the only thing that would shut them off is to reboot.

soft limits do not work

I'm out of ideas.

Monty

96

Mach3 and G-Rex / Re: how to config motors with G100

« on: June 01, 2007, 11:02:53 PM »

One thing I noticed after taking a look at the motor outputs is that my pins are all the same. Yours are not. I never had to do anything in motor outputs with my setup, they just worked right from the start. I just assumed that the G100 plug in took care of that. This machine has never been set up as a printer port machine. Prior to the G100 it used another computer and a card made by AH-HA that was in the ISA slot.

The mill jogs and works fine, just has a problem with homing. I think that tommorow I will try to configure it the way I want it and reboot the whole mess to see if that works. The problem only seems to appear when I close mach after making a change to something that requires restarting it. When I restart Mach without rebooting windows or the g100 the homing goes all to hell. The other thing I noticed is that you are working in negative machine coordinates. Mine works fine when I leave it that way. The problem (I thought) was when I tried to change the homing direction and get the machine coordinates to be positive (my preference). So the one thing I haven't tried is to configure it the way I want it and cold boot the system. I'll also play with the Dir active low or high.

Monty

97

Mach3 and G-Rex / Re: how to config motors with G100

« on: June 01, 2007, 10:32:06 PM »

No problem Brett, I just got back in from shopping anyway. I had a few bits and pieces to get for the mill. I'll take a look at the config tommorow. Maybe the answer is in there somewhere. Thanks 

The bridgeport boss mill I am working on was originally a boss mill retrofitted with an AH-HA box. Converted it over to use Mach3 and a Grex with the AH-HA stepper cards. The stock motors were fine before, but can't keep up with the increased capabilites of Mach3 and the G100. The thing is much faster, but now the motors are the weak link. Think I'm going to upgrade to new steppers. I'll post some pics over in the machines area when I get a chance.

By the way, your installation guide for the Grex is great! I wish that I had it a week ago. I didn't see any boo boo's in there anywhere. It was certainly a more direct route than I took.

Funny thing, I looked up your location on Google Earth. Not too far from where I grew up. My dad worked for IP and we lived on a tree nursery between Florence and Blenheim.

Small world

Monty

98

Mach3 and G-Rex / Re: how to config motors with G100

« on: June 01, 2007, 12:40:40 PM »

I thought I had it isolated, but the same problem can occur in the default setup for home and limits also. At first I thought it might be noise, but the problem is not intermittent. Once it starts it is repeatable. The only way to "fix" it is to do a cold boot of the whole works, mach, windows and Grex. Then it will work. It's hard to say what brings the problem on, as I am going in and out of mach while trying to configure the shuttle pro. It still won't recognize incremental jog, cycle, single step, or jog% up or jog % down.

Attached is my xml. I'm off to town to get something I can fix, hardware...

Monty

99

Mach3 and G-Rex / Re: how to config motors with G100

« on: June 01, 2007, 11:18:27 AM »

I isolated the problem . Unfortunately I can't fix it. . Homing works fine as long as I don't try to change the configuration of the soft limits. The machine is working in a negative quadrant in X and Y. When I try to reverse the axis and the home switches it stops working properly. It goes to the correct switch, but it won't jog off it to home like it should. It will home the Z (the one that no changes are made to over default) Then it will start moving both the X and Y at the same time. When the Y hits the limit it stops and says limit switch triggerd. I think it is a problem with the software. I'll post the xml file later.

Monty

100

Mach3 and G-Rex / Re: how to config motors with G100

« on: May 31, 2007, 09:11:07 PM »

Is there any reason mach3 and Grex can't handle using the limit switch for the home switch? I would rather not have to make new brackets and rewire. Maybe there is a problem with the switch. It is old....maybe the contacts need to be cleaned.

I have it wired up as

pin 17  X+ X- and X home
pin 18  Y+ Y- and Y home
pin 19  Z+ Z- and home

Monty