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1

Forum suggestions and report forum problems. / Big clue found (Feed Hold loses steps)

« on: December 28, 2006, 12:11:29 PM »

This is a continuation of the thread "Feed Hold loses steps"

I am running 2.0.029; not in CV mode; not in Single Block mode.

The big clue is this: I have been running with an axis correction formula enabled (x = x - 0.00375*y).  If I disable that formula, Feed Hold works properly.  This helps explain why I lose steps only on the x-axis.

In addition, if I "pause" the program by activating Single Block mode partway through the program, it pauses as expected, but upon Cycle Start, there is an extra x-axis movement before it resumes the program.  This extra movement does NOT occur if the entire program is run in Single Block mode.  So I'm guessing that after an "unexpected" Feed Hold with a correction formula active, the block that is to be restarted is interpreted WITHOUT the correction.

I hope this helps.

2

Forum suggestions and report forum problems. / Feed Hold loses steps

« on: December 28, 2006, 02:48:27 AM »

{I accidentally posted this in the General Mach discussion area.  Sorry for the duplication.  Is there a way to unpost something?}

I have found the following during testing:

The test involves running the router around the outer perimeter of my table (24 inch by 12 inch) and back to a dial indicator to check for lost steps.  I start at 0,0 then go to 0.5,0 then 23.0,0 then 23.0,11.0 then 0.5,11.0 then 0.5, 0 and back to 0,0 and the dial indicator.

1) No steps are lost unless I pause the program by pressing Feed Hold followed by Cycle Start.  If a Feed Hold is executed, it will frequently lose steps (anywhere from .005" to .075"), but only on the x-axis.

2) Normally, the G-code display highlights the block being executed, but after a Feed Hold, the highlight stops updating although the program does run to completion.

3) After a Feed Hold, a rhythmic pulsation appears during y-axis motion that did not exist prior to the Feed Hold.  In spite of the pulsations, y-axis motion remains accurate with no apparent loss of steps.

4) If a I do a Feed Hold early in the first traverse of the x-axis and nowhere else, it often completes the circuit without loss of steps, although the afore-mentioned rhythmic pulsation during y-axis movement still appears.

3

JetCam screen designer / Re: JetCAM

« on: December 11, 2006, 09:13:48 PM »

I am very interested in trying the JetCam screen designer (beta version). I did a little exploration of the interface and felt that it was very intuitive and the Undo seems to be unlimited (very very useful feature). But then the bad news: loaded a pristine 1024.set screen set; screen 1 did not look right. Several LEDs appear to be on top of the buttons they are supposed to surround (like Zero X Zero Y etc.). As a test, I did nothing other than open 1024.set and then save it as Bobs1024.set. When I run Mach3 and open Bobs1024.set, screen 1 does not look right (looks like screen 1 when 1024.set was loaded into JetCam). At least that's consistent. But the Zero X button is covered by a green LED (normally should be red surround). If you click on the button, the graphics do appear. There were other things wrong, but I want to keep this simple.

So, I am excited by the potential of this screen designer and very much want to use it, but it appears broken right out of the box.