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Author Topic: Here's our setup - and we've got some questions  (Read 12384 times)

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« Reply #10 on: November 22, 2013, 09:58:21 AM »
I can only speak to a couple of these comments without being in front of the machine:

1. We do not have a limit switch on the Z but we do have a limit switches everywhere else. I have tried to establish soft limits and enable the "Safe Z" feature but it does not affect the travel of the Z.

2. I did at one point think we might have the axes reversed, but when I clicked Home Neg on X Axis settings, it decoupled the slaved A (X Home) axis and torqued the gantry as the x and x home motors moved in opposite directions. We had to replace the gantry riser plate, as it bent the steel.

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Offline ger21

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Re: Here's our setup - and we've got some questions
« Reply #11 on: November 22, 2013, 10:43:55 AM »
1) You really need a home switch at the top of the Z axis to use the SafeZ feature effectively. Otherwise there's no sure way for Mach3 to know where the extents of Z travel are.

2) When you have slaved axis, all settings on the COnfig >Homing/Limits screen must be set exactly the same for BOTH the master and slave axis, or the two sides will move differently.
Gerry

2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html

JointCAM Dovetail and Box Joint software
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html

Offline Hood

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Re: Here's our setup - and we've got some questions
« Reply #12 on: November 22, 2013, 10:49:16 AM »
Quote
2) The video used a very old version of Mach3. I don't think the red outline is used in newer version of Mach3


You dont get a red outline now but you do get a bounding box which is defined by your soft limits, see screenshot.
Hood

Offline Hood

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Re: Here's our setup - and we've got some questions
« Reply #13 on: November 22, 2013, 10:54:57 AM »
biscuitbrothers

Can you please tell me which way the gantry moves and which way the DROs count when jogging each axis.
For example jogging X from Left to right does the X DRO count up or down, same for Y and Z.
Also where are your home switches?
Is X at left or right end?
Is Y at front or back.
Hood

Offline Bodini

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Re: Here's our setup - and we've got some questions
« Reply #14 on: November 22, 2013, 01:14:41 PM »
Bah!  Nothing to read here.   :-X

« Last Edit: November 22, 2013, 01:28:55 PM by Bodini »
Re: Here's our setup - and we've got some questions
« Reply #15 on: November 23, 2013, 03:11:50 PM »
Hey everyone thank you so much for your feedback. I think between all the different comments, we were able to wrap our heads around what was happening with regards to Table Display, homing and soft limits. I have attached a screenshot of our new settings.The table is now behaving mostly as expected after selecting both Reversed and Home Negative for X, Y and A, and reversing the Z. We've set some pretty conservative soft limits for the time being while we experiment.

There are a couple questions outstanding now. The first is regarding the Z. I have tried to Zero the Z to Machine coordinates in our upper limit, but it will not "zero", instead displaying on the DRO where it believes it is at. When machine coordinates are not selected, we can zero the Z value, but how does this correspond to our soft limits?

The second question is regarding running Gcode. The table display shows now in correspondence to our soft limits, but when we load G code, it is still outside of the table limits and I cant figure out how to move the toolpath within those limits. I have jogged the axes around and regenerated the toolpath, but it never moves the drawing within the table limits, it always stays on the bottom left corner outside of the limits. What am I misunderstanding?

Offline ger21

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Re: Here's our setup - and we've got some questions
« Reply #16 on: November 23, 2013, 03:49:29 PM »
A couple things about the Z axis. You can't zero the machine coordinates with the zero Z button. The only way to Zero an axis is to Ref or Home it. You need to jog the Z axis to the top of it's travel, and click the Ref Z button. This will set Z to zero in machine coordinates at it's current position.

Your Z max softlimit is set to 1. The maximum your Z can ever travel is to 0 (the top of Z travel is zero). You Z max should be -1 or something similar.
And, while it has no effect if you don't have a Z axis home switch, the Z axis "Home Negative" column should have a red X, as the Z axis always homes positive (up).

As for your g-code. After you load it, go to the Limits screen and tell us what the program limits DRO's show. Do you have any offsets set?
Gerry

2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html

JointCAM Dovetail and Box Joint software
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html
Re: Here's our setup - and we've got some questions
« Reply #17 on: November 23, 2013, 04:27:52 PM »
Okay, I have made recommended changes to the Z and it is now "zeroing" properly. To be clear, when we Ref All Home the Z axis never moves, only the X and Y. You mentioned hitting the Ref Z button - I can't find anything like that. Did you just mean Zero Z?

As for the g-code, what limits screen are you referring to? We have not established any work offsets and as far as the Offsets tab goes, the DRO's are all 0.000
Re: Here's our setup - and we've got some questions
« Reply #18 on: November 23, 2013, 04:57:31 PM »
I've been playing with the offsets and the soft limits and I think we've got that figured out now too. Previous questions regarding our discussion of the Z remain. Thanks so much!

- I

Offline ger21

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Re: Here's our setup - and we've got some questions
« Reply #19 on: November 23, 2013, 05:21:34 PM »
If you jog the Z to the top before you Ref All Home, then you're all set. There's a Ref Z on one of the other screen pages, but Ref All Home will set the Z zero as well, at it's current position.

You use the Z zero button to set the program Z zero at the top of your workpiece.

Sorry, the Program Limits are on the Toolpath screen (I don't use the stock screens).
Gerry

2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html

JointCAM Dovetail and Box Joint software
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html