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configuration issues?
« on: June 28, 2012, 11:59:10 PM »
I'm trying to set up my new CNC running Mach 3. I am using the XML file that came with the machine. I was having trouble setting up my soft limits but being new I figured I was doing something wrong. So I decided to do a dry run of the roadrunner.tap so I loaded it and 'homed' my table at the far right rear corner with the Z all the way up. The machine has a 24" by 24" by 4.5" work area. I set up my limits by entering 24 in the X and Y soft max column and -4.5 in the soft min for the Z. When I jog X- the gantry moves to the rear of the machine (towards the X motor). When I jog Y- it moves to the left when looking at it from the front. I don't remember which direction the Z goes but it seems to be backwards. When I view the job view window the job is at what I have set as 0, 0. I then jog closer to the center of the table to home my job and I hit ref all home and it zeroes the job area. Then I hit Regen Toolpath and switch to machine view and my job is now moved down and left, opposite of where I jogged to. After that I jogged the X and Y while watching the machine view and it seems like it is rotated 90* from the actual machine. The X axis moved my plane left to right in my machine view window and the Y axis moves it up and down.

Any thoughts? I have attached my XML file. This is the native file that I was given prior to making any configuration changes.

Thanks.   

Offline Hood

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Re: configuration issues?
« Reply #1 on: June 29, 2012, 03:30:10 AM »
Machione coords zero should be with the tool fully negative in X and Y and fully positive in Z.So that would normally be lower left and fully up.
If you press RefAll and you dont have home switches then you will set Machine Zero at the position your table is presently, you dont really want to do that especially if you wish to use soft limits.
Normally you will just zero the work coordinates by pressing the zero buttons at each DRO.
If your axis are running backwards then that is the first thing to sort, in fact it sounds like you may have the axis wrong in as far as you say Y moves left to right and X front to back, that is incorrect, it should be the other way. You can of course have it that way if you wish, its up to you but the toolpath view in Mach will always be rotated compared to your table and will likely cause confusion, best sticking to convention I would say.

So to summarise, X moves left/right and Y Front/Back. X moving the tool to the left is going negative, Y moving tool to front is negative. Z moving up is positive.

Hood
Re: configuration issues?
« Reply #2 on: June 29, 2012, 06:04:09 AM »
Hi, I have a problem with the z axis, I have been using mack 3 for a few years without any problems but I have just upgraded my routers z setup.

The problem happened  when I was setting the steps for the new stepper motor, ( the same motor that is on the X & Y ) I was calibrating the travel and set what I wanted the distance to be, the first try went ok but the travel was wrong so I did the calibration again and this is where it all went wrong I put the distance I wanted it to move and hit ok and the motor just kept on turning and I could not stop it, I had to hit the E stop and since then I have no output to the Z axis.

I thought I had blown the Z axis board on my driver so I changed that but the fault is still there ie no output to the Z axis.

Can anyone give me some idea what is going on, I have tried all I can an I am at a loss
Re: configuration issues?
« Reply #3 on: June 29, 2012, 08:18:18 AM »
Thanks Hood. You might be right about the axis being mixed up. I set it up for the X to be the bed movement from front to back (horizontal) and the Y to be side to side (vertical). When I was setting it up I saw an illustration online that I thought showed it that way so that is how I set it. That would make sense.

I will have to double-check the Z axis when I get a chance. I plan to at least set up the soft limits but am just trying to get everything to 'appear' to be correct before I throw another thing into the mix. I don't have the router in it yet or the table bed yet so I'm just getting familiar with it for now.

I'll let you know what I find.

Keep the responses coming...I need all the help I can get.
Re: configuration issues?
« Reply #4 on: June 29, 2012, 08:11:05 PM »
Thanks guys. Got it figured out. I switched the wires on the controller for the X and Y to get the correct axis' matched up. The X was going front to back and the Y was going left to right. Then I fixed the buttons in the software settings for the +- configurations. My soft limits are all working now too. I did a dry run of the roadrunner.tap and all worked fine. I did get a soft limit error when I first started so I disabled it but I think I know what happened. Since I had no router on it and no bed or work area I left the Z at the home all the way up. I jogged the X and Y to about X 5 and Y 5 but left the Z where it was. When the program started it raised the Z .2 but that put it into the soft limit zone and it stopped. If I were cutting an actual piece I realize I would have jogged the Z down to the material then zeroed it. That would have prevented the soft limit error.

I was beginning to feel a little intimidated by this thing but after getting it working it is all starting to make sense now.

I still have a little work to do. I want to solder all of my wire connections and put shrink tubes on them. I also want to wrap them with something to keep them out of the way. I also have to put the work 'bed' down...then figure out where I am going to put it.

I won't have time to do anything with it for a few days but I'll update everyone.
Re: configuration issues?
« Reply #5 on: June 29, 2012, 08:53:35 PM »
I was just re-reading the posts and noticed you had said that X and Y homes should be in a different location than I have it. When you are standing at the front I have my homes all the way to the rear and right. So if you were looking at it from overhead with the front edge at the bottom, home would be the upper right. To me it seemed natural but now thinking about the table view in Mach 3 it would be backwards. It still makes more sense to me and I can visualize it better that way. And they are all they way at their negatives. To move from the X and Y home I have to hit X+ and Y+. All seems well there.

Are there any negatives to having it that way? Will I run in to any problems if I leave it like that? I think I have it figured out pretty well so changing it should be pretty easy at this point.

Offline Hood

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Re: configuration issues?
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2012, 09:53:37 AM »
Your axis are moving the wrong way, if you think of the tool then X+ MOVES LEFT TO RIGHT AND y+ moves from you to away from you. Just think of a X Y graph on a piece of paper, the origin is lower left and up the page and right are positives.
Ok so still no probs if you reverse the axis as you can keep your home switches where they are and still have Machine zero as lower left, to do that all you do is add a Home Off value equal to the axis distance, its done in Homing and Limits.
What will then happen when you home is you will move to right rear but instead of the Machine Cords being set to Zero Mach will set them to the values you have set in the Home Off boxes and that means Mach knows the machine zero is lower left.
Hood
Re: configuration issues?
« Reply #7 on: July 01, 2012, 10:44:46 AM »
Thanks Hood. Got it all fixed up now. Still seems backwards to me but I'll get used to it :o.

Still have a little work to do but hope to be makin' sawdust by this coming weekend. Still not sure what I am going to make with it but I'll figure something out.