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home swithes problem
« on: June 04, 2008, 01:03:28 AM »
Hello My name is johan and i have been at artcam for awhile ,i have a minitech milling mach ,my 3th machine keep upgrading ,well on this new mill i have home switches ,very cool but i have a small problem the led green light bars on axis x and y stay on ,but the light on the switches by them self will come on when i put a piece of metal in front of them ,but they still don't stop the axis , what am i doing wrong?
the probe light comes on when activated and also the z axis switch could any body give me some info? i read the manual ,but no luck
thank you ,Johan i live in canada ,Alberta ,medicine hat

Offline da21

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Re: home swithes problem
« Reply #1 on: June 04, 2008, 03:19:34 AM »
Johan,

your problem could be a number of things so lets take it one at a time !
you dont mention what type of switches you have , if they are microswitches or magnetic reed type etc

i'll presume your

the switches need to be connected between your ground connection  and the mach3 signal pin on your parallel port , they should also have a 470 ohm resistor ( although the value is not critical ) between 5v and the mach 3 signal pin on your breakout board

if you have a multimeter you should be able to check this easily by connecting it across the input pin and ground , using dc range of say 20v , operating the switch should give you 0v when the switch is operated ( i.e closed ) and 5v

i suspect you'll find the voltage swing only goes part way , or you do not have any voltage supplied via a resistor ( called a pull up ) . and your relying just on the switch .

get back to me with a few details on how the switches are connected and we'll find the problem


Dave
 
Re: home swithes problem
« Reply #2 on: June 04, 2008, 04:57:15 AM »
Thank you for your quick reply

I have a minitech mill and they supply the wiring and switches ,a red light
in the switch goes on when touch them with a metal piece ,i think i have
home switches ,the probe and the Z axis switch are working ,every thing was
pre wired and all what i had to do ,is plug it in the controler ,i have two
lights on right now ,X and Y on my home lights on my screen ,the switches
will light up red when i put a piece of metal in front of them but the
travel will not stop
I hope that i make any sense
johan

Offline da21

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Re: home swithes problem
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2008, 05:13:35 AM »
check your port input pin configurations and motor configurations , you may find they need to be reversed or enabled

do you have a wiring diagram for the machine ?

dave

Offline jimpinder

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Re: home swithes problem
« Reply #4 on: June 04, 2008, 01:40:53 PM »
You are not telling us anything to help you - any the MiniTech web-site does not include a wiring diagram for these machines.

When you say that everyting was pre wired and you plugged it into the controller - what controller???

Mach 3 runs on a PC - so you must have a PC. You have the milling machine. You must also have some electronics to power the motors and things on the milling machine.

The PC normally connects to your drive electronics via the 25 pin LPT1 port via a 25 way cable - does yours !!!

If it does, pins 2 to 9  generally control the axis drivers, pins 1,14,16 and 17 are outputs - used to control maybe the spindle and coolant.
Pins 10,11,12,13 and 15 are inputs and take the signals from your switches.

What switches are shown connected to these pins on the diagram ( or actually connected on the board).

Once we know this, we can advise you how to set the Ports and Pins settings on Mach 3.
Not me driving the engine - I'm better looking.
Re: home swithes problem
« Reply #5 on: June 05, 2008, 01:56:22 AM »
You are right ,i will get a diagram ,i am using a microstepper controller, input pin12 X home 11 Y home 13 Home 15 probe 10 estop  output: #1  pin 14  #2 pin 16  enabled charge pump pin 17
the switch on the Z works and the probe works ,X and Y not ,when turn on mach i have all 3 home bars lit up ,as soon as i turn on the controller the z light bar goes off , but  X and Y stay on ,
Hey guys i am really appreciating your help
Johan

Offline da21

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Re: home swithes problem
« Reply #6 on: June 05, 2008, 03:07:35 AM »
Johan,
get back to us when you have a diagram , makes life so much easier , i'd guess the x & y axis switches are either wired incorrectly
or the state of mach's configuration may be wrong , it may also be the bios setting for your pc's printer port , so as you can see without a diagram it's difficult to trace through .

Has this mill been working before with mach or is this all new

Dave

Offline jimpinder

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Re: home swithes problem
« Reply #7 on: June 05, 2008, 05:02:15 AM »
You can configure Mach 3 for anything.

Your machine is configured wrongly.

Open Config/Ports and Pins/Input Signals. If x home and y home are showing active all the time, then have a look at the active low column. If it is red, then tick it, it will turn green and the diagnostic light will go out. If it is green, tick it and it will go red.
The diagnostic lights only show when the switch is "active" - and on "Ports and Pins" you can change whether the switch is active with a +5v or a 0v signal.
The reason your Z led goes out is because either there is a no switch connected to your Z axis (or it is correctly configured).
The other should work after that.
You can change all your switches/inputs/outputs etc on the Ports and Pins page.
Not me driving the engine - I'm better looking.