Im pressing the page down key to zero it to the material.  Which is a speaker box for now, just to set everything up.

Ok so you are not setting machine coords but simply setting a work offset. That means soft limits will be no use as you have not referenced the machine to a known position so that Mach knows where it is.
Also I have no idea what is in your code but likely it is being commanded to go to a position that is outwith the range of your Z axis.
For me to see you would have to post your new xml and the code and also show me a screenshot of the machine coords when you have the Z fully down and press Zero to zero the work coords.
Hood

I think I will just scrap the whole z axis idea and cut without it.  It did work at one time, but I clearly do not posess the skills to run it, or make adjustments to it.  Although I do appreciate your input, I dont want to waste any more of your time.  I can go withought any kind of height control until i get more knowledgable in Mach 3. My table is small enough where i wont have to much warping on a piece of plate steel material.

I need to understand what you are doing so I can try to help you
I thought you were referencing Mach to a switch on the Z axis but from what I see now I dont think you are.
Up to you which way you want to go but I am sure we can get things worked out if I can understand what you are  and wanting to do.
Hood

I will see if I can post up a better video on youtube and post a link to it on here.  If i start with a fresh copy of Mach 3, I can ref all my axis with the ref all button, and the axis boxes go green.  As soon as i jog over to that speaker box im using as a table to simulate on, I will refrence my home there so it will cut  at that part of my table.  Once i hit that ref all again I get a red border surrounding them.  And thats when things go crazy.

Ok Referencing the machine sets Machine Coordinates. Normally the user will not know or care what they are, they are used by Mach so that Mach always knows where it is.

Work coords are offsets from these machine coords and pressing the zero button at the side of a DRO is setting the work coord zero but not changing machine coords.


If you want to reference your machine and do not have home switches then you will need to move to a known position and press RefAll button. The preferrable position is fully negative on X and Y and fully positive on Z. So if you jog to these positions and press RefAll button that will set machine coords to zero.

Now it seems you have a switch on the lower part of your Z axis so it touches off the plate and thus you are wanting to use it as a means of setting the work offset zero. If that is the case then you can do that manually or via a macro but that is simply setting work offsets and not machine coords.

Hood

Ok, heres another video, hopefully the audio is good and the video is good enough quality.
http://youtu.be/tuAV_zJYP4E

Ok your first problem is your Z Home switch is set up in Mach as the A axis home switch. I know this because when you are pressing the switch the M4 Home LED is lighting up, for the Z it should be the M3 Home LED.

So get that swapped in Ports and pins and the Z should home fine. However before you attempt to home also test your X and Y are set to the correct pins, if you  press X home switch the M1 Home Led should light and for Y the M2 Home LED.

If you do not have the A Axis home switch set up in ports and pins by mistake then I think possibly you may have something in slaving which is affecting things. It would be easier to work out the issue if I saw the xml you were using at the  present time, so if doing as I said above can not get your M1,M2, M3home LEDs working as they should then please attach your xml.
Its late here and I was actually away to shut down when I noticed you had replied so I decided to have a look, but wont be around for much longer so will check back in the morning if you do not reply in the next 10mins.

Hood


Hood

WOW! I really cannot thank you enough just swapping the ports and pins as you said, made it work.  Now when I run my .tap file of that test bracket it works great!!! What a relief!  I cant believe that just having those pins swapped around would wreak so much havok!  Only thing it says now it where it normally says in green "normal condition"  it now says "Axis are not refed to normal condtion.  But it does go to normal once I home the Z.

it now says "Axis are not refed to normal condtion.  But it does go to normal once I home the Z.

Yes thats ok, that is just a warning and to be honest it often causes more anguish to new people than it does good. I choose not to even have it on the screensets I have made.

Hood