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1

General Mach Discussion / Mach3, Leadshine MX4660, UC100 CNC motion controller and problems with Auto Zero

« on: August 14, 2016, 09:33:23 PM »

Hello all,

I am running a CNC router equipped with a leadshine MX4660, UC100-
CNC USB motion controller and Mach3.  So far for a couple of month everything runs more or less OK. Now I tried to install a probe to automatically zero the tool.   The probe is from cncrouterparts but basically no different to the other probes used. A piece of aluminum with a two conductor wire and a little clamp.
It is hooked up to INPUT 4 and GROUND on the MX4660. In Mach3 I am using Port1 and Pin 13 as pointed out in the leadshine manual. I used the script provided on the website of cncrouterparts.

The script works nicely. If I push the "Auto tool zero" button the Z axis moves down slowly.... but .... didn't stop when hitting the probe. So I started investigating, the probe seems to be OK I tested it with a multimeter just to make sure, there can't be a lot wrong with such a probe anyhow. I tested my connections to the leadshine controller and they were OK. I looked at the UC100 IN/OUT monitor and the concerning point was that nothing was lighten up when  I touched the probe with the little clamp.
As you can see in the picture, the "Probe" lights up in the moment the Auto Zero buttion is pushed, but the movement of the Z axis doesn't stop when the tool hits the probe.
So I am kinda puzzled what else could be the problem, I am kinda concerned that either the controller or the UC100 has a problem but that will be hard to find out.
Currently I think about an new motion controller.

Any thoughts? Anybody with the same setup and similar problems?

Appreciate any input.

Thanks
Chris

Code: [Select]

[code]Message( "Auto Tool Zeroing..." )

If IsSuchSignal (22) Then
isMetric = GetOEMLED(801)
Zprobe = -3
Zretract = 1.5
ZfeedRate = 10
If isMetric = 0 Then   
Zprobe = Zprobe * 25.4
Zretract = Zretract * 25.4
ZfeedRate = ZfeedRate *25.4
TouchPlateHeight = TouchPlateHeight * 25.4   
End If
Call SetDRO( 2, 0.00 )
code "G31 Z" & Zprobe & " F" & ZfeedRate
While IsMoving()
Wend
Call SetDRO( 2, TouchPlateHeight )
code "G1 Z" & Zretract
End If[/code]

2

General Mach Discussion / what computer for Mach3 - is "all in one" OK - is a parallel port mandatory?

« on: December 15, 2015, 09:07:31 AM »

Hello all!

I almost finished my first CNC router, currently I still run the test version of Mach3 on a Lenovo Think Pad Yoga with touch screen.

The router is a Xzero Raptor and the controller is a Leadshine MX4660 with a USB motion controller from CNC drive, UC 100 CNC. So far I have only done some simple test runs for a couple of seconds and the system does fine, but no idea if that will be the same with some serious stuff that runs over much longer time.

Finally I would like to get a dedicated computer to run Mach3 but I am not sure what to buy. Meanwhile it is really kind of  difficult to get a computer with a parallel port and my question would be if that is really necessary. If not, I could pick from a much broader range of computers. My favorite would be something like an all in one touch screen computer, which seems to be convenient in terms of used space and ease of use. But is that really smart,  buy a computer without a parallel port?
Otherwise if I search for an inexpensive used slim size desktop computer they almost all have no parallel port. However there might be a way to upgrade them, which is likely not possible with the “all in one” computers. In addition, under Mach3 requirements is mentioned that the video card should be “non integrated”, I think this is really difficult to figure out, and especially in the “all in one” computers as well as in the slim desktops, that could certainly be the case due to the limited space.

Any thoughts experiences or recommendations, what works for you?

Thanks,

Chris