After a day of diagnosing, from PC all the way to the switch.... it turns out I had a bad switch!
(paraphrasing) ARGH!
My next question about axis is this:
I hope to use Mach 3 for a 3D printer I'm making (Heated ABS plastic extrusion printing). But I'm stumped how to set up the Z axis home/limit.
For the printer to work, the head must be a very specific distance from the table for the first layer. As opposed to a milling maching, the print head will be stationary in the Z axis and the table will move up and down. If the Mach 3 moves the table up to trip the switch during the Ref Home operation and then backs the table down until it is off the switch, during the first phase of Ref home (switch trip) the table will crash into the print heads.
Has someone out there already solved this?
My first edumacated guess would be to place a second thickness onto the first table with circular cut-outs of the print heads in the X-Y home position. This would allow the dual thickness table to trip the switch, back off and be just the right distance for the first layer print. However, can I change the order of Ref Home axis in Mach 3. I believe it does the Z first, which would defeat the whole idea.