Messages

11

General Mach Discussion / Re: How to manually set Current Position, Machine Coord, and Work Offset to zero.

« on: August 21, 2013, 01:55:12 AM »

I should have something for you tomorrow.
I again appreciate the help.

One thing, though.  My mill has a very accurate tool changer which I use on every job.  And I mean very accurate, to around .001" repeatably.  The current part I am making uses 6 different tools, and I need 7 of these parts.  I only have to set the tool height once and I'm off and running!

It's wonderful.  Of course it only works because Z sets to a repeatable and reliable zero stop on RefAll.

So eliminating this Z movement is a non-starter.  Not having the Z home would be even worse than the x axis moving.  The cure worse than the disease.

It seems the best solution is to have a routine that forces the current position, workspace, and machine coord to zero, which is where we started.

12

General Mach Discussion / Re: How to manually set Current Position, Machine Coord, and Work Offset to zero.

« on: August 19, 2013, 05:23:28 AM »

I can live with it if I have to, although I would rather not. 

Goes right back to my first question.  Is there a macro or routine which can set Current Position, Machine Coord, and Work Offset to zero?

13

General Mach Discussion / Re: How to manually set Current Position, Machine Coord, and Work Offset to zero.

« on: August 19, 2013, 04:48:55 AM »

If there is any way to make that Machine Coord come up zero every time I start Mach3 no matter the x,y,z coordinates, then I'm good to go.

14

General Mach Discussion / Re: How to manually set Current Position, Machine Coord, and Work Offset to zero.

« on: August 19, 2013, 04:47:06 AM »

And here is a screenshot of the diagnostics page right after starting up and before pressing reset.

15

General Mach Discussion / Re: How to manually set Current Position, Machine Coord, and Work Offset to zero.

« on: August 19, 2013, 04:45:30 AM »

I think we are starting to get there.  You mentioned "AutoZero simply tells Mach to set Zero (or Home Off value) to the machine Coords DROs when you reference the machine."

I think that you are absolutely right.  My problem is when my Mach3 starts up the Machine Coord is set to X = -0.0005 even before I press the Reset button.  I cannot phantom why it is doing that, but it is.  This is why when I RefAll, the axis moves.  Mach3 is starting up with a Machine Coord not zero and is zeroing to the machine coord dro, which is taking the table off the zero I want.

When I press the ResAll, it's from the screen, not the Pendant (which is an excellent pendant, btw.  Highly recommended).

Here is the contents of Macropump.m1s
If GetUserLED (1010) Then
  If Not IsActive (Input2) Then
    DoOEMButton (1003)
    Message “Program Stopped Spindle Fault”
  End If
End If

As far as the parallel port, I am using a Derek Hillbilly bob board which works very well.  Surprisingly well.  I don't think this is the source of the problem given that Mach3 starts up with the machine coords as noted above, even before I press Reset.  If there is some way to make Mach3 start with machine coords set to zero, then my problems go away.

Still cannot imagine why it is so difficult to move the bed to any location I wish and press a button to force Current Position, Machine coord, and work offset to zero at that location. 

I really appreciate your help. 

16

General Mach Discussion / Re: How to manually set Current Position, Machine Coord, and Work Offset to zero.

« on: August 19, 2013, 03:21:39 AM »

Thank you again for your help yesterday, and I think I have narrowed down where the problem is.

It's the machine coord setting.  When I start Mach3 the machine coord setting isn't zero.  It's -.0005 every time no matter what I do.  

If I have AutoZero enabled for the axis, when I RefAll the axis will move till machine coord is at zero and then clear the Current Position.  Problem is, the axis is no longer where I want it to be.  I don't want that.  I have already set the axis to where I want it before I start Mach3.  If I jog the axis back to where I want it to be and then press RefAll again, the Machine Coord and Work Offset is not zero.

If I disable the AutoZero in Homing & Limits, then when I RefAll the axis doesn't move but the Current Position and Machine Position isn't set to zero either.  Current Position and Machine Position stays at -.0005.

What I need is a macro or some-such to force Current Position, Machine Position, and Work Offset to zero.

Any suggestions?  

17

General Mach Discussion / Re: How to manually set Current Position, Machine Coord, and Work Offset to zero.

« on: August 18, 2013, 06:01:15 AM »

Thank you for your timely and sage advice. 

I, by good fortune, have a highly accurate method of homing the machine.  Built into the mill is a precisely accurate mechanical position readout, allowing me to position the bed to exactly the same position repeatedly.  It is foolproof.

Therein lies my problem.  When I exit Mach3 I make sure the bed is positioned precisely where I want it.  When I start Mach3 the bed moves slightly.  So I reposition the bed to where I want it before pressing ResAll.  Pressing ResAll jogs the bed to precisely where it moved to when Mach3 started and sets Current Position, Machine Coord, and Work Offset to zero at that location, not at the location I moved it to.  When I return the bed to the location it was in when I pressed ResAll, the Machine Coord and/or Work Offset is changed by the amount the bed originally moved.

I have a feeling I am going to have to make a video to show what is going on.

18

General Mach Discussion / Re: How to manually set Current Position, Machine Coord, and Work Offset to zero.

« on: August 18, 2013, 04:55:31 AM »

I would have thought there would be some way of forcing all the settings to zero by just moving the axis where you want them to be and pressing a button to reset Current Position, Machine Coord, and Work Offset to zero at that location.
Apparently not, which I find astounding.

19

General Mach Discussion / Re: How to manually set Current Position, Machine Coord, and Work Offset to zero.

« on: August 18, 2013, 04:50:41 AM »

Thank you very much for your help.  I hope this reply gets to you.  My first reply timed out on this end so I am trying again.

You are correct that my machine has no home switches on the x and y axis, only on the z.

I have attached the xml file because when I start up Mach3 the x axis moves slightly.  This happens during the time Mach3 is loading and not at any other time.
Then - I press the reset button to enable Mach3 control and jog the axis back to the right place.
Then - I press the RefAll to set the coordinates to zero.

This all works just fine except now the Machine Coord, and Work Offset settings are off by the amount I moved the x axis to return to my intended zero.

So as a recap, the x axis bumps a step or two when Mach3 is loading.
Returning the x axis to where I want it to be and pressing RefAll sets Current Position to all zeros, but now the Machine Coord, and/or Work Offset is off by the exact distance I moved the x axis.

Wow.

20

General Mach Discussion / How to manually set Current Position, Machine Coord, and Work Offset to zero.

« on: August 18, 2013, 02:40:57 AM »

I would like to manually set Current Position, Machine Coord, and Work Offset to zero and have found no way to do so.

My machine is a Bridgeport Series II running Mach3 Ver. R3.042.038 on a good XP system.  The Bridgeport has built in x and y axis position displays so all I have to do is startup the machine and jog the bed to the correct x and y positions, then press RefAllHome to zero Current Position to that location. 

Or so one would think.  When I press RefAllHome I notice my x axis moves a slight bit resulting in the Current Position changing slightly.  When I move the bed so Current Position is back to zero I find that either or both the Machine Coord and Work Offset isn't at zero.  I want them all at zero.  I want to simply move the bed to any location and set that location to zero for all.

The settings Copy G54 from G59.253 is not checked, Persistent Offsets and Persistent DRO's is checked.
G54 is set to all zero's.

This should be easy.  It's not.  I'm totally stumped.