Hi Ian
This of course allows you to TREAT it as a limit and jog back off it. You could of course add it into the E-Stop into Mach but I'm not sure how you'd get off it (without disabling it - and I'd like not to have to do that). Depending on your hardware you could also wire it into your hardware E-Stop - but again - getting off it might be an issue I suppose.
Ah, OK.
First point: I definitely do
not want to trigger an eStop with the probe. That causes the servo drivers to lose control of the motors and the whole system has then to be completely re-zeroed. Not on!
Treating it as a Limit switch - yeah, with a LOT of macro programming. Can do, but I have higher priorities right now.
My own opinion, fwiiw: the whole concept of G31 needs to be rewritten back at the Standards level. Or maybe there should be a new G-code created. A new one might be better. To explain: I would love to be able to have (say) a light beam above my ZTO so I can come down fast to (say) 5 mm above the touch plate, then switch to a gentle crawl. That way I don't break things!
What to do about a full 3-axis probe - not sure. At the moment I have to program long slow movements to avoid breaking the probe tip (or the suspension). Maybe I can improve the optics on a video probe to sufficient resolution - maybe. Not cheap.
I remain very interested.
Cheers
Roger