Messages

271

General Mach Discussion / Re: Limit Switches go crazy

« on: June 02, 2006, 12:02:25 AM »

Ryan,

Not being familiar with your breakout board, I just went to the cnc4pc website and discovered they have different models.  Which do you have?  I looked at a couple of models that they offer and I'll say it again- Based on the diagrams CNC4pc shows at their site, IMHO you should not be sending ANY voltage to the limit/home switch circuit.

Me thinks that in doing so, something may be tweaked.  Maybe not, did you do the wire test I previously described? And yes, BTW- 3.5-5v Will make a diff, so maybe you wanna put a meter on that too.

Sid

272

General Mach Discussion / Re: Limit Switches go crazy

« on: June 01, 2006, 05:38:43 PM »

Dude,

I could be wrong but Voltage through the limit switch circuit doesn't sound right to me.  I just metered my machine and I have 0v runing through that circuit.  I have always thought that the limit switch circuit was a simple Ground continuity circuit.  Maybe this is just the way my driver board works but, based on what you describe, I'm thinking that you problem relates back to the fact that you are sending DC voltage where the board only expects to see continuity to ground.

I would suggest going back a few steps and try testing with just 2 wires connected to your driver board.  In Mach3 there is a diagnostics page and you can see when you have contact (or no contact) assuming that you have the switches configured correctly in the ports and pins config section.

Touching the wires together should light up an LED on the Diags screen.  Once you get this far, then I think it will be easy to Suss out the weirdness with the switches.

HTH

Regards,
Sid

273

General Mach Discussion / Re: Limit Switches go crazy

« on: June 01, 2006, 02:17:15 AM »

Ryan,  why are you using relays for limit switches?  Are these Solid STate Relays per chance?  If so, becuase of the way SS Relays are designed they will not give you continuity and therefore will not trigger or create exactly the type of results you describe.

Sid

274

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spontaneous and unpredictable Estop requests...

« on: June 01, 2006, 02:08:39 AM »

Well, here's the update.  Increased the debounce, Changed to sheilded cables- same problem.  Turns out I had a bad switch that was triggering when the router vibrated (usually with super long cutters).  I think that this one is resolved.  Thanks for the help.

Regards,

Sid

275

General Mach Discussion / Re: Motor tuning question

« on: May 27, 2006, 02:35:40 PM »

Hey Mark,

Not sure if this is any help to you but perhaps it might stimulate your hair folicles to grow back...

Like you, I am runing a 12V Stepper system.  When I first installed it, I tried to get get max resolution min 2000 steps per unit which would equal a cutting accuracy of .001"-kinda the industry standard.  I got things to work that way but, like you it was either exscruciatingly slow moving with buttloads of torque or zippy speedy with almost no torque and would mis steps if you blew air in the general vicinity of the machine.

I spoke with the dude who made the driver board and he said "more voltage" will solve the problem.  Well, after having purchased the 12v supply, installed it in an enclosure that was already on the verge of being too small, combined with the additional cost of getting a larger pwr supply, I thought... Do I REALLY need .001 resolution?

In my case, I decided that I did not.  So, I changed out a couple of pulleys to give me more speed and settled on a resolution of .01 for the time being.
 
I suppose that for most people this low of a resolution is insuffiecient but for me cutting wood and foam, it works great.  I have better than 1/64" accuracy which, when cutting wood is a splinter so small I doubt most people would even notice the diff.

The machine immediately started runing faster (around 200 ipm) with torque to spare.

Food for thought- Good Luck!

Regards,
Sid

276

General Mach Discussion / Re: "Analog Joystick"?

« on: May 26, 2006, 05:15:11 PM »

Sonoma eh?  That's nice country up there.  You sounded like a Cali dude to me.  I'm in So Cal.

What version Mach 3 are you runing?  I am runing 1.84 on the machine with the D-Pad.

Regards,
Sid

277

General Mach Discussion / Re: "Analog Joystick"?

« on: May 26, 2006, 01:00:54 PM »

Nope, nothing special.  Here's what I did...

Installed the software according to instructions.  I think they say install software first then the install program tells you when to plug in the receiver and then install the batts in the Dpad.  After that, the Logitech Profiler program should come up.  It asks to create a new profile.  I called my Mach 3.  Then it asks for the location of the executable for Mach3.  there is a browse button and I nav'd to the mach3.exe file.

At this point you should have the icon that looks like a letter 'w' next to the clock in the lower right corner.

Then a screen shows a layout of the controller and all of it's buttons/joysticks.  I selected a button (for now let's select button 6-lower right corner) and a menu pops up.  I clicked on select assignment and then 'new command'.  Type the name of the command in the box (i.e. "Z axis Down").  Click the Record button.  Press the Page Down key on the keyboard and then release the page down key.  Click the stop button.  Now that command (page down) should be assigned to that button.

So, if it still isn't working, here are some questions.  Is your computer recognizing the receiver plugged into the USB port (look under device manager-> Human Interface devices- you should see some Logitech stuff there.)  Is the receiver flashing its light?  Is the receiver receiving the signal from the Dpad? ( Control Panel-> Hardware-> Game Controlers->there is a test button where you can push buttons on the Dpad and it should show you the button being pushed on the screen).

Hmmm, that's about all I can think of right now- I'll keep thinkin about it.  I checked for config info on my puter but can't really find anything/setting of value anywhere- it all seems so generic and I didn't have to tweak any of the setup, it just did it all for me on install.  Maybe the Nerds at Logitect tech support might have a clue?  HTH

Regards,
Sid

P.S.  Where are you located? 

278

General Mach Discussion / Re: Override limits button on settings page not workin'??

« on: May 26, 2006, 11:38:55 AM »

Chad Mon!  Thanks a bunch for your time, I appreciate it.

I have 3 Micro Switches with a roller/rocker arm connected at the limit point (home too but that's another thread) on each axis.  The limit switches are wired normally closed and the switches are daisy chained together (in other words they are wired using serial connection). 

These 3 switches connect together and arrive at the back of the driver cabinet as 1 wire/connector.  After connecting to the cabinet the wire passes through a E-Stop mushroom button(normally closed) .  Then it connects to the driver board. 

The driver board has only 1 connection for E-Stop so that's why limit & E-stop button are wired together (serially).  Pin = 10

I'm pretty sure my switches, E-Stop Button and wiring is OK.  When I hit a limit switch I get a LED on the DIags screen and an E-Stop request.  Same when I hit my E-Stop button.  So from that standpoint the limit/Estop part of things works, it's just getting a reset when the Estop is active.

Like I said in a previous post, when I hit a limit switch, the Limit Overide Green LED DOES light up on the Diags screen.  So Mach is seeing that Limit Switch Trigger the Limit Overide and hence, lighting up the LED.  It's just that pressing the Manual or Automatic Limit Overide button does not let me get a reset (or if it does reset, then it triggers another estop a microsecond later which of course defeats the whole purpose).

I'm kinda thinkin' bug.  I should would like to be proved wrong by someone who has actually been able to use this feature to jog off a limit switch.  Meanwhile back at the Ranch, Caveman Sid is moving Estopped axis by hand to get off the limits.   

Thanks again Chad, lemme know if you (or anyone) have/has any other ideas.  It's not as showstopper it would just be nice to get some of the bells ringing and the whistles blowin'!

279

General Mach Discussion / Re: "Analog Joystick"?

« on: May 25, 2006, 11:57:18 PM »

Weird, I'm not at the shop now so I can't check on my config- will do that tomorrow and let you know.  I didn't have any problems like you mention.  Keyboard and Dpad work at the same time.  Damn Computers- don't ya just love 'em.

I tried the screen set that Brian made but I couldn't get that to work.  Maybe it will for you.  You have to change screen sets in Mach.  Go to View Menu->Load Screens-> select the joystick.set that Brian posted.

I kinda gave up on the whole joystick thing when I got my Dpad.  I did find another screen set that has the joystick built into it.  I never tested it but maybe that's worth a try it's at the Novalab.org site http://cnc.novalab.org/mach_files.htm  look for Modified Mill Screen (rev D) for Mach3.

Good luck!

Sid

280

General Mach Discussion / Re: Override limits button on settings page not workin'??

« on: May 25, 2006, 10:59:07 PM »

Thanks for the reply Chad!  Changing the pin to 0 didn't do it.  In fact, if the pin is set to anything other than 10 (which is my Estop Pin also) none of the Limit Oride LEDS will light up.  Thiis is so weird, it just won't work. 

My thought is that when you hit a limit switch it triggers a Estop.  This Estop can not be reset until you fix the problem that caused the estop in the first place (i.e. get off the limit switch).  I'm thinking that by clicking the limit overide button on the settings screen, it is basically fooling Mach into thinking that you are off the limit switch and in turn, allows you to click reset and move off the limit switch in reality. Right

Yep, Yep, Yep, got the concept, got the LEDS blinking, just can't get that infernal contraption to give me a darn reset.  I think I'm getting close to a "Gravity Test"

Regards,
Sid