I finally took the time to setup my tool probe and probe tool, and have managed to get the M6 macro from newfangled's youtube video to work nicely to create my tool library. However my Probe tool is another story. It's wired in properly, and shows every hit when I test it, however all of the buttons in the probing section of mach 4 seem to act erratically for me. sometimes when I try to do a simple Z probe the Z axis goes Up instead of down, and not even by the amount I have it set to go down by.
Trying to probe an X/Y corner, using the default 0.25" setting will send the probe off along the Y axis until I force it to stop. Ive let it run nearly to the end of the axis, it never stopped itself to move along the X axis looking for a hit, however if I touch the probe tip and fake a hit, the axis stops moving and locks up mach 4.

I'm not sure what information ill need to provide, but ill start with this:
ESS v242 (started with 223 yesterday but updated trying to troubleshoot)
Mach 4 build 4162 (updated yesterday from a build from November 2018)
C82 BOB
all shielded cables
3 axis, dual steppers on X, single on Y and Z.
machine runs flawlessly besides this current probing issue I'm having.

I saw in another thread someone mentioned recompiling all the macros with the newest version, so I did another clean install and replaced all the macros in my profile with the new ones, with no change in results.

Google is leading me absolutely nowhere. I really hope someone here can point me in the right direction on where to start, or look for a solution!

Hi,
I use the probing module a lot without problem.

sometimes when I try to do a simple Z probe the Z axis goes Up instead of down, and not even by the amount I have it set to go down by.

One possibility to consider is noise on your probe signal line. When you manually touch the probe none of the motors are running.
When you are probing they are running and could be producing a spike which is recognized by Mach as a probe event.
Try in the Pins Config of the ESS plugin introducing some noise filtering, a value of 100 is a fair place to start. A 0.1uF capacitor
on the probe input of your breakout board is another simple experiment along the same lines.

Trying to probe an X/Y corner, using the default 0.25" setting will send the probe off along the Y axis until I force it to stop

The only thing I can suggest is that the probing module assumes that your machine follows the right hand rule with regard to
axis directions. If your machine is not configured that way then you would have the trouble you have described. Ther is
a video by NFS that shows the right hand rule, I will try to find it and link it to you.

Craig

I have caps on all of my lines, and all the cables to Everything are shielded, as well as having ferrite beads on the ends inside the control box on all of the wires besides the steppers. I Did have an interference issue before, however I solved that with all of these upgrades about 8 months ago.

The probing cycles move the machine initially in the correct direction (corner probe) as I said, but it seems like it stops responding or working while the gantry is still moving. Again, the gantry will stop moving if I trip the probe manually with my finger, but at that point the probe cycle just crashes and I need to push the stop button to regain control of the machine. It doesn’t retract or try to re-touch that spot at the lower feed rate. I know the probing features work for the majority of people, that’s why I’m asking for help. There is probably something simple that I need to fix to get it working (fingers crossed)
Is there a plug-in I need to enable or disable, a file somewhere that isn’t automatically updated with an updated install? Just updating my p4s pendant plugin now to see if that helps but that’s the last thing I know needs an update..

Hi,

Is there a plug-in I need to enable or disable, a file somewhere that isn’t automatically updated with an updated install?

No, I don't think so.

Notwithstanding your efforts to immunize you machine from noise I still suspect that it is happening.

May I suggest a simple experiment. If you write a small script, or easier still just a couple of lines in the MDI panel
and you can probe. What this means is that the software of the TouchOff module is not involved at all. If there remains
a problem then its more hardware. If there are no probing problems  encountered then its the software of the module.

Jog the machine to above, 1/4 inch or so above a surface to be probed. Zero the z axis. Code into the MDI panel
g31 z-1 f10
g0 z0

If you execute I would expect the probe to descend at 10 inch/min until probe strike. Thereafter it should return to the same
height (ie 1/4 inch approx.) that you started. If the machine cannot do this repeatedly and consistently then no amount
of software in the probing module is going to help.

Craig

Running a gcode command like this does work 100% of the time, it’s how I’m using the probe as we speak while I work out how to fix the probing screen issues im having.

Hi,
OK, then the problem must be the module itself.

You can scrutinize the code but its big.

Maybe a help ticket with NFS.

Craig

Did this get resolved? I upgraded from mach3 using probe it working fine to MACH4 and I have exact same problems you describe here, I have tried reinstalling mach4 latest, and previous versions, etc nothing makes a difference.

Nope. Didn't get it resolved. I ended up giving up after much frustration and switched to an Acorn. (New control board, with its own software from Centroid) I still prefer the MACH interface, but the trade off for a working machine was hard to ignore.