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mirrored screen
« on: February 06, 2016, 10:05:51 AM »
Hi, I've just assembled my first cnc router, and am having an issue that I don't know how to solve. I've never used Mach 3 before, so my experience is very limited.

I have tuned the motors without any problems. And the direction of all three axis is correct. When I hit the right arrow, the gantry moves right, page up, z goes up, etc.

The problem that I'm having is that the cnc seems to be mirroring what's on the screen. My starting point is the lower left of the image on the screen, and when I'm running the g code, it starts from that point on the screen, but the gantry is going left instead of right. I have searched for an answer, without any luck. I'm only milling air at this point.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks,

John
Re: mirrored screen
« Reply #1 on: February 07, 2016, 12:07:38 AM »
Tripple check the left to right axis, normally X, but depending on how you setup the machine, the long axis could be set to left.  Verify that the X+ moves to the left and X- moves to the right.

Check the code.  Does the left movement have a - or positive number when it runs?

11 times out of 10 the motor is jogging the wrong way and needs to be reversed.

On a router the direction of the arrow moves the spindle in all those directions, on a Mill configuration.  The Spindle only goes up and down, the table moves front,back,left and right.  So by moving the table/material  the arrows will move the physical table in the opposite directions.  So left has to move the table right, down moves the Y to the column.

Offline ger21

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Re: mirrored screen
« Reply #2 on: February 07, 2016, 10:12:58 AM »
Which way does the Y axis move?

When the machine moves in the wrong direction, 100% of the time, it means that you have at least one axis setup backwards.
Gerry

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

JointCAM Dovetail and Box Joint software
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html
Re: mirrored screen
« Reply #3 on: February 07, 2016, 12:01:03 PM »
the Y axis also moves in the wrong direction. What I'm having trouble understanding is, if all three axis move in the correct direction when I jog, where do I set the direction properly without changing the jog direction?

Offline ger21

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Re: mirrored screen
« Reply #4 on: February 07, 2016, 12:09:31 PM »
Did you change the jogging hotkeys?

Are you loading g-code, and it appears backwards?

Or is it just moving left when you expect it to move right? That could be as simple as setting the zero position properly.

Gerry

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

JointCAM Dovetail and Box Joint software
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html
Re: mirrored screen
« Reply #5 on: February 07, 2016, 12:23:52 PM »
I'm heading down to my studio in 20 minutes, I'll check the hotkeys and the g-code. I'm so new to this that everything is a bit of a brain strain!
Re: mirrored screen
« Reply #6 on: February 07, 2016, 04:07:42 PM »
Yay!!!!! I figured it out and it was so easy that I feel a little stupid. I'm having too much fun with this, even the struggling with the unknown.

Thank you all!

John

Offline zarzul

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Re: mirrored screen
« Reply #7 on: February 08, 2016, 09:48:25 AM »
ok,  what was it?  So we can all know?
Re: mirrored screen
« Reply #8 on: February 08, 2016, 11:32:27 AM »
The x axis was reversed, but the right arrow key moved the gantry in the correct direction. Being totally Mach 3 naive, I tied the two together in my head. Then I realized, with the help from all of you, that they are independent of each other. So I changed the x-axis direction, re-assigned the x hotkeys, and everything worked as it should. Thanks again...I'm learning! Now on to the soft limits.

John