I have the following probe
http://www.ebay.com/itm/digitizing-probe-cnc-sherline-maxnc-taig-plasma-cutter-mill-router-engraver-tip-/160763530758

I'm trying to get it setup with my mill. I have it connected correctly as per the diagnostics screen reports. However when i go to probe an edge, the machine moves for a second and then I get an error saying "no contact with probe". I have G31 set in probe settings, but what would I set the other values too? I wasn't able to find a good baseline of values to work from for these entries

Slow measure feedrate
Fast find feedrate
Retract amount
Overshoot amount
In position tolerance

Thanks in advance for any information that can help me get this going correctly.

Are you using Darwin (legacy parallel port driver) or a motion controller, if so which motion controller are you using?

Oops, forgot to add the controller. I'm using the PMDX 422. (I saw release notes saying it supports G31)

I'm sure Steve or Bob from PMDX will be by in a few hours to help guide you through it (us time zone, working hours)

I suspect that this is not a SmartBOB specific issue, but can't say for sure until we know more.

What values have you tried for the probing settings?  And what value is in the "X position" (or whichever axis you are probing) on the "Single Surface" tab of the probing screen?

I'll presume for now that you are probing in the X axis.  The value in the "X position" on the "Single Surface" tab is the absolute X position that is your estimate of where the edge is.  That, combined with the "Overshoot Amount" from the "settings" tab, and the current X position determine the G31 coordinates.  For example (I am using inches as my units):

Current X position is 0.000
Overshoot is 0.0500
Fast find feed rate is 20 (inches/min, a number I number I pulled out of thin air, though 1/3 inch/sec sound reasonable)
Single surface X position is 0.5000 (apparently the default??)

If you click on the "Measure X" button, the probing screen will generate this command: "G31.0 X0.5500 F20.0".  That means it will move at most 0.55 inches (starting at zero, the current X position) looking for the probe touch.  If you enable the Mach4 diagnostics log (go to the Diagnostics menu and select "Logging...", then in the logger window, click on the little right arrow in the upper left corner (looks like a "play" icon), then start the probing motion you can see the G31 command in the log window.

If the current X position is 0.4000, the G31 command will be the same, and you will get at most 0.15" of travel.  If the current X position is GREATER than 0.5000, the probing screen will attempt to move in the negative direction looking for the probe contact.  For example, if the current X position is 0.9000, then the command will be "G31.0 X0.4500 F20.0" (i.e. 0.0500" in the negative direction from the target of 0.5000").

Does this make sense?  If you can't get it working, create a package profile and either post that here (Help->Support->Package Current Profile).

Bob

seesoe,

You may want to give the pre-release mentioned at this link a go and see how you get on with the new Touch feature. Be sure to read and follow all in the post and installer.

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,27039.msg227697.html#msg227697

Thank you both for the replies. I think things are setup now and it just an issue of me clicking the right buttons. Here is what I have for settings
offset number 0
g31
slow fed 5
fast feed 20
retract amount 0.1
overshoot amount 0.05
in position tolerance 0 (?)

With the new touch tool, when I probe z, it will set the DRO height to 0.3, (I wasn't paying attention and when I zeroed 0.29 was way off and bent probe tip) When I probe x it will touch off and then set the x to -0.3390, which is also wrong. (I have tool or probe diameter set to 0.0787" ruby tip)

When I use the probing screen, to measure x. I first have the probe about 0.4 away from the part. Measure x is set to the default 0.5, when I press measure, it will touch off once and on the slower second touch off when it touches, it will error out saying no contact with probe. The log is below. When I measure z with measure set to -0.5 and actual distance of probe tip to part is about 0.4, it will touch off twice but return to the same position it started. I have measurement type set to set fixture G45. Is that supposed to reset the DRO to the correct measurement? The probe will go back to the original staring position physically and on the DRO.

(edit, like you said the probe has to be in the estimated position, the x now gives the same results of going back to the same starting position)

Are there any basic probe setup measurements that I'm missing? Sorry if a lot of this is basic Mach probing that I'm not understanding.

2016-06-22 03:56:10.493 - API: mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait() called. (G0 G90 G40 G80)
2016-06-22 03:56:10.695 - Attempt transition from "Idle" on event "MDI Start" Controller.cpp:1961
2016-06-22 03:56:10.696 - S_IDLE_on_exit
2016-06-22 03:56:10.696 - MACH_STATE_start_mdi
2016-06-22 03:56:10.696 - S_MDI_RUNNING_on_entry
2016-06-22 03:56:10.696 - S_MDI_RUNNING2_on_entry
2016-06-22 03:56:10.697 - Signal id 1114, (Gcode Running), changed from LOW to HIGH.
2016-06-22 03:56:10.802 - Attempt transition from "MDI Running" on event "Stop" GcodeExec.cpp:943
2016-06-22 03:56:10.802 - S_MDI_RUNNING2_on_exit
2016-06-22 03:56:10.802 - Signal id 1114, (Gcode Running), changed from HIGH to LOW.
2016-06-22 03:56:10.802 - S_MDI_RUNNING_on_exit
2016-06-22 03:56:10.802 - MACH_STATE_stop
2016-06-22 03:56:10.834 - S_IDLE_on_entry
2016-06-22 03:56:10.834 - API: mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait() called. (G31.0 X0.5500 F20.0)
2016-06-22 03:56:11.036 - Attempt transition from "Idle" on event "MDI Start" Controller.cpp:1961
2016-06-22 03:56:11.036 - S_IDLE_on_exit
2016-06-22 03:56:11.037 - MACH_STATE_start_mdi
2016-06-22 03:56:11.037 - S_MDI_RUNNING_on_entry
2016-06-22 03:56:11.037 - S_MDI_RUNNING2_on_entry
2016-06-22 03:56:11.038 - Signal id 1114, (Gcode Running), changed from LOW to HIGH.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.048 - Attempt transition from "MDI Running" on event "Probe" RunCanon.cpp:470
2016-06-22 03:56:11.048 - S_MDI_RUNNING2_on_exit
2016-06-22 03:56:11.049 - Signal id 1114, (Gcode Running), changed from HIGH to LOW.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.049 - S_MDI_RUNNING_start_probe
2016-06-22 03:56:11.050 - S_MDI_PROBING_on_entry
2016-06-22 03:56:11.051 - Probing: Waiting on exit event... RunCanon.cpp:209
2016-06-22 03:56:11.051 - Controller::RunCanonBuffer called AddStopReportRequest() RunCanon.cpp:69
2016-06-22 03:56:11.051 - Requesting a stopped report for axis 0 motors.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.051 - Requesting a stopped report for motor 1.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.051 - Requesting a stopped report for axis 1 motors.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.051 - Requesting a stopped report for motor 0.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.051 - Requesting a stopped report for axis 2 motors.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.051 - Requesting a stopped report for motor 2.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.051 - Waiting on SetStill...
2016-06-22 03:56:11.390 - Signal id 161, (PROBE), changed from LOW to HIGH.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.478 - API: mcMotionSetProbePos() called. motor 0 position -6508.0000
2016-06-22 03:56:11.478 - API: mcMotionSetProbePos() called. motor 1 position -39381.0000
2016-06-22 03:56:11.478 - API: mcMotionSetProbePos() called. motor 2 position -47.0000
2016-06-22 03:56:11.478 - API: mcMotionSetProbePos() called. motor 3 position 0.0000
2016-06-22 03:56:11.482 - API: mcMotionClearPlanner() called.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.482 - API: mcMotionSync() called.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.482 - SyncPosition()! Clearing planner.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.482 - API: mcMotionSetProbeComplete() called.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.482 - SyncPosition()! Clearing planner.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.482 - Waiting on SetStill is Done!
2016-06-22 03:56:11.482 - Probing: Exiting probe state because of end of move. GcodeExec.cpp:1056
2016-06-22 03:56:11.483 - Attempt transition from "Probing" on event "Probe Complete" GcodeExec.cpp:1064
2016-06-22 03:56:11.483 - Attempt transition from "Probing" on event "Probe Complete" MachAPI.cpp:1450
2016-06-22 03:56:11.483 - S_MDI_PROBING_on_exit
2016-06-22 03:56:11.483 - S_MDI_RUNNING_stop_probe
2016-06-22 03:56:11.485 - S_MDI_RUNNING2_on_entry
2016-06-22 03:56:11.486 - Signal id 1114, (Gcode Running), changed from LOW to HIGH.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.591 - Attempt transition from "MDI Running" on event "Stop" GcodeExec.cpp:943
2016-06-22 03:56:11.591 - S_MDI_RUNNING2_on_exit
2016-06-22 03:56:11.591 - Signal id 1114, (Gcode Running), changed from HIGH to LOW.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.591 - S_MDI_RUNNING_on_exit
2016-06-22 03:56:11.591 - MACH_STATE_stop
2016-06-22 03:56:11.630 - S_IDLE_on_entry
2016-06-22 03:56:11.631 - API: mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait() called. (G1 X-0.4251 F20.0)
2016-06-22 03:56:11.833 - Attempt transition from "Idle" on event "MDI Start" Controller.cpp:1961
2016-06-22 03:56:11.834 - S_IDLE_on_exit
2016-06-22 03:56:11.834 - MACH_STATE_start_mdi
2016-06-22 03:56:11.834 - S_MDI_RUNNING_on_entry
2016-06-22 03:56:11.834 - S_MDI_RUNNING2_on_entry
2016-06-22 03:56:11.835 - Signal id 1114, (Gcode Running), changed from LOW to HIGH.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.842 - Controller::RunCanonBuffer called AddStopReportRequest() RunCanon.cpp:69
2016-06-22 03:56:11.843 - Requesting a stopped report for axis 0 motors.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.843 - Requesting a stopped report for motor 1.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.843 - Requesting a stopped report for axis 1 motors.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.843 - Requesting a stopped report for motor 0.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.843 - Requesting a stopped report for axis 2 motors.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.843 - Requesting a stopped report for motor 2.
2016-06-22 03:56:11.843 - Waiting on SetStill...
2016-06-22 03:56:11.932 - Signal id 161, (PROBE), changed from HIGH to LOW.
2016-06-22 03:56:12.200 - All motors marked as still.
2016-06-22 03:56:12.201 - Waiting on SetStill is Done!
2016-06-22 03:56:12.201 - Attempt transition from "MDI Running" on event "Stop" GcodeExec.cpp:943
2016-06-22 03:56:12.201 - S_MDI_RUNNING2_on_exit
2016-06-22 03:56:12.201 - Signal id 1114, (Gcode Running), changed from HIGH to LOW.
2016-06-22 03:56:12.202 - S_MDI_RUNNING_on_exit
2016-06-22 03:56:12.202 - MACH_STATE_stop
2016-06-22 03:56:12.246 - S_IDLE_on_entry
2016-06-22 03:56:12.246 - API: mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait() called. (G31.0 X0.5500 F5.0)
2016-06-22 03:56:12.449 - Attempt transition from "Idle" on event "MDI Start" Controller.cpp:1961
2016-06-22 03:56:12.449 - S_IDLE_on_exit
2016-06-22 03:56:12.449 - MACH_STATE_start_mdi
2016-06-22 03:56:12.449 - S_MDI_RUNNING_on_entry
2016-06-22 03:56:12.450 - S_MDI_RUNNING2_on_entry
2016-06-22 03:56:12.450 - Signal id 1114, (Gcode Running), changed from LOW to HIGH.
2016-06-22 03:56:12.456 - Attempt transition from "MDI Running" on event "Probe" RunCanon.cpp:470
2016-06-22 03:56:12.456 - S_MDI_RUNNING2_on_exit
2016-06-22 03:56:12.456 - Signal id 1114, (Gcode Running), changed from HIGH to LOW.
2016-06-22 03:56:12.457 - S_MDI_RUNNING_start_probe
2016-06-22 03:56:12.458 - S_MDI_PROBING_on_entry
2016-06-22 03:56:12.459 - Probing: Waiting on exit event... RunCanon.cpp:209
2016-06-22 03:56:12.459 - Controller::RunCanonBuffer called AddStopReportRequest() RunCanon.cpp:69
2016-06-22 03:56:12.459 - Requesting a stopped report for axis 0 motors.
2016-06-22 03:56:12.459 - Requesting a stopped report for motor 1.
2016-06-22 03:56:12.459 - Requesting a stopped report for axis 1 motors.
2016-06-22 03:56:12.459 - Requesting a stopped report for motor 0.
2016-06-22 03:56:12.459 - Requesting a stopped report for axis 2 motors.
2016-06-22 03:56:12.459 - Requesting a stopped report for motor 2.
2016-06-22 03:56:12.459 - Waiting on SetStill...
2016-06-22 03:56:13.684 - Signal id 161, (PROBE), changed from LOW to HIGH.
2016-06-22 03:56:13.775 - API: mcMotionSetProbePos() called. motor 0 position -6508.0000
2016-06-22 03:56:13.775 - API: mcMotionSetProbePos() called. motor 1 position -39386.0000
2016-06-22 03:56:13.776 - API: mcMotionSetProbePos() called. motor 2 position -47.0000
2016-06-22 03:56:13.776 - API: mcMotionSetProbePos() called. motor 3 position 0.0000
2016-06-22 03:56:13.779 - API: mcMotionClearPlanner() called.
2016-06-22 03:56:13.780 - API: mcMotionSync() called.
2016-06-22 03:56:13.780 - SyncPosition()! Clearing planner.
2016-06-22 03:56:13.780 - API: mcMotionSetProbeComplete() called.
2016-06-22 03:56:13.780 - SyncPosition()! Clearing planner.
2016-06-22 03:56:13.780 - Waiting on SetStill is Done!
2016-06-22 03:56:13.780 - Probing: Exiting probe state because of end of move. GcodeExec.cpp:1056
2016-06-22 03:56:13.780 - Attempt transition from "Probing" on event "Probe Complete" MachAPI.cpp:1450
2016-06-22 03:56:13.781 - S_MDI_PROBING_on_exit
2016-06-22 03:56:13.781 - S_MDI_RUNNING_stop_probe
2016-06-22 03:56:13.781 - Attempt transition from "Probing" on event "Probe Complete" GcodeExec.cpp:1064
2016-06-22 03:56:13.783 - S_MDI_RUNNING2_on_entry
2016-06-22 03:56:13.784 - Signal id 1114, (Gcode Running), changed from LOW to HIGH.
2016-06-22 03:56:13.785 - Signal id 161, (PROBE), changed from HIGH to LOW.
2016-06-22 03:56:13.886 - Attempt transition from "MDI Running" on event "Stop" GcodeExec.cpp:943
2016-06-22 03:56:13.886 - S_MDI_RUNNING2_on_exit
2016-06-22 03:56:13.886 - Signal id 1114, (Gcode Running), changed from HIGH to LOW.
2016-06-22 03:56:13.886 - S_MDI_RUNNING_on_exit
2016-06-22 03:56:13.886 - MACH_STATE_stop
2016-06-22 03:56:13.936 - S_IDLE_on_entry
2016-06-22 03:56:13.937 - API: mcCntlEStop() called.
2016-06-22 03:56:13.938 - API: mcCntlEnable(false) called.
2016-06-22 03:56:13.940 - Signal id 1019, (Enable #1), changed from HIGH to LOW.
2016-06-22 03:56:13.940 - Signal id 1018, (Enable #0), changed from HIGH to LOW.
2016-06-22 03:56:13.941 - Signal id 1020, (Enable #2), changed from HIGH to LOW.
2016-06-22 03:56:13.942 - Signal id 1120, (Machine Enabled), changed from HIGH to LOW.
2016-06-22 03:56:13.945 - API: mcMotionClearPlanner() called.
2016-06-22 03:56:13.957 - API: mcMotionSync() called.
2016-06-22 03:56:13.957 - SyncPosition()! Clearing planner.


With the new touch tool, when I probe z, it will set the DRO height to 0.3, (I wasn't paying attention and when I zeroed 0.29 was way off and bent probe tip) When I probe x it will touch off and then set the x to -0.3390, which is also wrong. (I have tool or probe diameter set to 0.0787" ruby tip)

What is your Touch Plate Height set to?