Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Switched the direction of my Y Axis....HELPPPPP!!!

« on: May 04, 2008, 06:44:18 AM »

Thanks Simon. lol If it happens again I'll see if I can figure out some sort of movement code combination that gets it back to normal!   

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Switched the direction of my Y Axis....HELPPPPP!!!

« on: May 03, 2008, 07:15:31 AM »

Thankyou to all of you....I tried de-selecting the shuttle mode the same way I turned it on using that button, but it didn't work. Also, I didn't change any of the dir low settings for my steppers, I changed something using only the standard screen.......I just powered back up my system this morning and all is working correctly again!!! The shuttle mode is off and my axis is jogging correctly! I guess I have egg on my face, although that still doesn't explain what happened. The control computer system must have locked up or something, I can't explain it. Either way its working now.....maybe the gremlins are not out of bed yet!  Thanks for all your help. 

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Switched the direction of my Y Axis....HELPPPPP!!!

« on: May 02, 2008, 01:20:36 PM »

The 'pop-out' screen I mean is the one that appears when you press the TAB key. It allows you to jog the axis using the clickable buttons. Its more of a panel on the right hand side than an actual screen.....
Technically the axis responds correctly to the G-Code commands....i.e: If its at zero, and the code says Y+1.0000, then it moves 1 inch of the Y axis and the co-ordinates increase from 0.0000 to +1.0000, but it now moves 1" in the opposite direction to that which it used to. Positive is now minus, and minus is now positive. The actual mechanical reason is that obviously I did something in Mach3 to make my stepper rotate the opposite direction, but I don't know what! Jogging the axis in increasing co-ordinates now moves my Z carriage towards me, it used to move away from me. Vice Versa for decreasing co-cordinates. So how do I reverse my stepper rotation?

My controller is a regular GamePad.

I don't usually press every button  ....how do I turn off shuttle mode?

Thankyou for the reply.

I don't know what you are calling the "pop out screen" and neither do I know what you call your "controller"
Is the axis working correctly if you give it GCode commands. Is the fault just when you jog - give us a clue
Pressing every button on a screen, hoping to rectify a fault is not a very good method of approach.

4

General Mach Discussion / Switched the direction of my Y Axis....HELPPPPP!!!

« on: May 02, 2008, 12:07:05 PM »

Hi folks, please help!

  .....I somehow switched the direction of my Y axis when I had a job paused (The job is now destroyed.... ) . Anyway, I think I did this either from the pop-out screen or from the keyboard, but either way, when I press 'up' on my controller, or click the 'Y+' button on the pop-out screen, my Y axis now moves down instead of up, and vice versa. My X axis is still normal.....any ideas how I can reverse the axis back to normal?

Also....I tried every button on the pop-out screen in my attempts to rectify this, and turned on Shuttle Mode.....I don't even know what this does! How do I turn shuttle mode back off?  Thanks for any ideas......

5

Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / Re: How to use Joystick buttons for more than X & Y ?

« on: February 10, 2008, 07:32:49 PM »

Thanks folks, that sounds exactly like what I'm looking for. L8rs. 

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Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / Re: How to use Joystick buttons for more than X & Y ?

« on: February 10, 2008, 02:45:35 PM »

Hmmm....did I perhaps post this question in the wrong forum?

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Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / How to use Joystick buttons for more than X & Y ?

« on: February 09, 2008, 06:33:19 PM »

Hi folks,

I have my usb connected joypad enabled as a joystick in the Config Plugins menu item. This works fine as the X & Y axis are controlled. But I would also like to control my Z up/down movement using two buttons (One for Up, One for down) . How can I do this?

Thanks.

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: Changing the Sensitivity of Limit Switches?

« on: February 09, 2008, 05:55:12 PM »

I used African Sapele for the build which has almost the lowest change co-efficent I could find, its close to mahogany's .0024. Padauk was the lowest available to me at .0018, but my supplier didn't have any in stock at the time. With the Irish climate, the weather changes between very cold and wet in the winter, and sometimes still cold and wet in the summer..haha...well sometimes it can be dry and warm if we're lucky! , but the humidity doesn't alter too much either way, so once I keep her dry and inside there is no noticable changes. The day/night temperature change doesn't affect the wood, and whenever I've tested it, the moisture value is either 5% or 6% so there's no real change. Either way, tolerances within about 1/2 a mm are sufficient for me doing signs and such. I have intended to coat the wood, but haven't got around to it, and have had no problems. I'm willing to bet that in the height of summer my moisture content won't go below the 5% its at now....even at a push 4% would surprise me.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Changing the Sensitivity of Limit Switches?

« on: February 08, 2008, 02:58:36 PM »

Thanks for the replies all. 

I set the debounce to 100 and the problem is gone! The limits still work fine but they have to be pressed in fully.  Thankyou.

It may have had something to do with my body capacitance, but I just don't think so, I really think the switch was just too sensitive.....I know that the connections should be done properly....they are blade terminals and I have plenty of crimp connectors but unfortunately not enough time! 

I've had this machine about four or five months. I designed and built it myself. Its made of wood, and is mounted in a wooden enclosure 3 feet from the ground inside a wooden shed, so I don't think earth leakage is a problem...yet! 

If you would like you can see my build thread at the link below, but it hasn't been updated with pics since I moved, so the new enclosure, new gantry and Z carriage, and new workshop are not shown. Thanks again.
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35211

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Changing the Sensitivity of Limit Switches?

« on: February 07, 2008, 05:53:56 PM »

Chip, every so often I get a Limit Switch Triggered during cutting with the Z carriage in the center of the cutting area (Not near the sides). I look at all the limits and none have been triggered by anything that I can see, sides, hanging wires, extractor tube etc. Anyway, I reset, run from here, cycle start and continue.

This seems to happen at random during jobs. It might not happen for days, then it might happen a few times in as many hours. I think the problem is that my wires are not soldered to the limits, just wrapped around the terminals, and that when the Z carriage moves sometimes the wires pull/push up/down/sideways, and the bare ends rub the terminals on a switch, thus causing the error.

I have tried testing the sensitivity of my limits, and I can trigger them by almost an imperceptible brush with my finger against the touch plate, without actually puching in the button behind the plate until it clicks. I only want them to trigger if the button behind the plate is actually pushing in (It goes in about 1.5mm before clicking) enough to click. Hence I think that I need them to be less sensitive.

I hope that all makes sense..... ?

Hood, I will try editing the Debounce Interval tomorrow. Thanks.