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input diagnostics
« on: July 22, 2008, 11:12:08 PM »
Watched the videos on setup and configured everthing per the tutorials. I am having a problem with the m1, m2 and m3 Home inputs not lighting up when I click the led. I do have movement with the 3 nema23 motors. In the Program Run screen, the led's next to the Ref All Home button are all red. I am very new to Mach 3, sorry if more explanation is needed to troubleshoot. If anyone could help, a new cnc guy, that would be great.

Thanks.

J

Offline Hood

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Re: input diagnostics
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2008, 02:04:53 AM »
Not sure what you are meaning by
Quote
m1, m2 and m3 Home inputs not lighting up when I click the led
Have you done a Ref All by pressing that button? The LEDs at the side of the Axis will only turn green once you have referenced (Homed) your machine.

Hood

Offline jimpinder

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Re: input diagnostics
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2008, 03:46:34 AM »
As Hood says - you don't give a lot away.

I assume you have your home/limit switches wired up on your machine.

If you do not have the switches wired up, all that will happen when you RefAllHome is that the DRO's will go to zero (if they are activated)

I f you have the switches wired up, it depends what signal they are sending back to the computer when they are "activated". If the signal is +5v then they are "Active High" , if it is 0v, they are active low. The configuration of the switches on Config/Ports and Pins/Input signals must correspond, otherwise they show active when they should be off, and vica versa.

The diagnostic page (or the LEDs on the front panel) only show the sate of the switch - i.e. whether the computer considers it "active" or not. If they are lit all the time then you have them configured wrongly.


Not me driving the engine - I'm better looking.
Re: input diagnostics
« Reply #3 on: July 24, 2008, 01:32:55 AM »
Thanks for the for the replies, sorry about the poor explanation of the problem...just starting out with the software. I think I got it though. I still need a lot more time with Mach 3 but I did my first cut tonight, not the best but its a start  :)

I am still not sure why in the upper right corner of the Diagnostics screen I cant get the the M1 Home, M2 Home and M3 Home LED's to light up when I click them like the tutorial. Did the Ref all home button once I got the all the axis homed and all is "green".

Anyway, seeing as this is just the beginning, I am sure I will have many more questions. Thanks again guys.

J

Offline jimpinder

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Re: input diagnostics
« Reply #4 on: July 24, 2008, 12:39:41 PM »
I'll do my explaining the DRO's blurb - it might make it a biy clearer.

The Digital Radouts show two positions for Mach 3.
If you click the Machine Co-ordinates button, the button surround will light. The DRO's are now showing Machine Co-ordinates. This is the system by which Mach 3 keeps track of where everything is. You cannot alter Machine Co-ordinates. The only way to change these is by the "RefAllHome" buttpn. If you have "Home" switches installed on your machine - and they have been activated - then the machine will visit each switch in turn, and stop at it. It will zero each axis DRO in turn as it does so. The machine now knows exactly where it is. If your Home switches are not connected up (and not activated) then you can press "RefAllHome" and the DRO's will zero where-ever the machine happens to be, but it is meaningless.

It is unlikely that this position will be of any use to you for machining purposes, and will almost certainly NOT be the position from which your GCode program has been written. This, for a mill, is usually (but not always) to the bottom left of the workpiece, with the cutter resting on the top of the workpiece.

If you click the "Machine Co-ordinates" button, so the light goes out, the DRO's are now displaying "Program Co-ordinates". These you can zero and if you do so, they will display 0,0,0, the same as the Machine Co-ordinates.

If you now jog your machine to where your program starts, you will see the Program Co-ordinates move, and when you get to the correct position, you can zero them again. The machine now knows where your program starts.

If you look again at the Machine Co-ordinates you will see that these have not changed - and they display the "offset" between your Machine Co-ordinates ad your Program Co-ordinates. If you look at the list in Config/Fixtures you will see that G54 has the same co-ordinates in it.

If you switch back to Program Co-ordinates, you can run your program, and the DRO's will show the position as it is written in the program - this is not how the machine keeps track of it's own position (which is a combination of Machine Co-ordinates plus offset).

What is the purpose of this -
In a professional machine shop, each day (perhaps more often), the machines are zero'ed with "RefAllHome or the equivelant.  The machines now know where they are. All obstructions, and fixtures are mapped in them to avoid collisions etc. When starting a program, the program will have in it an "offset" code G54 to G58, and G59P7 to G59P255, written in near the beginning. The machine then moves to this "offset" code and therefore sets itself for the particular job - and away it goes. As you can see - each job can start on a different "offset" depending where the workpiece is put.

You need not bother with all that. By all means "RefAllHome" but as I said, the DRO's will just zero, where-ever you are, unless your switches are set up. You need to be in Program Co-ordinates. To start with all you have to do is jog to the right starting position, zero the DRO's and press "cycle start" - and away you go.

To use Machine Co-ordinates and "offsets" you need to be very disciplined, and always work the same way. If you are writing programs and running them, they are not necessary. I use them on my machine, becasue I have a drilling fixture on the cross-slide that needs to know where it is, but other than that, I don't need them.

Hope this sheds a bit of light.

Not me driving the engine - I'm better looking.
Re: input diagnostics
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2008, 08:33:41 PM »
Again, very new to this but not brain dead. For some reason I am having a really tough time with the setup of my system. I have gone through the tutorials and setup at least 10 times and still no luck. Maybe I am just not getting it. You will see the setup from the images below to get a better idea of what i have so far. Everything is Zeroed, both machine and Program coords to the location I would like to home and also start my job from. Z is not homed. When I click the Ref all button the Y and Z axis move away from the home switch in the + if I have them enabled in ports and Pins > Input Signals. If I dont have them enabled then of course the LED's next to the ref All Home turn green. Is there anyone that can give me a step by step setup of the homing and limits....I thought I had it but being in phx az....maybe it is the fact that it is 110 degrees in my shop and I have been at this all day and just fried! I am sure this seem like a basic thing to most but I running out of ideas and would really like to get this thing going. I am not able to get the M1 Home, M2 Home and M3 Home led's to light up when I click them. For what it is worth, I purchased the 3 axis kit with pre wired breakout box. If there is anyone that has the time to give a really frustrated new guy a hand, that would be much appreciated. Sorry about the size of the images Thanks

J






Offline Chaoticone

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Re: input diagnostics
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2008, 08:40:05 PM »
JMS, I have sent you a pesonal message.

Brett
;D If you could see the things I have in my head, you would be laughing too. ;D

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Re: input diagnostics
« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2008, 08:42:23 PM »
Tick or untick here to change the direction that the axis HOMES.
RC

Offline jimpinder

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Re: input diagnostics
« Reply #8 on: July 27, 2008, 01:55:39 PM »
Can you just expain what you have connected to this system.

Are your home and limit switches connected and wired. What is this kit that you have bought to wire the three switches.

Quite simply you do not need all this **** to get started, so I think you are getting too complcated without any reason.

What are you trying to do.

As far as I can see it is just to zero your axis, and then run a program.

If this is the case, just say so and we can tell you what to do - indeed it is so simple, I will tell you what to do now.

Make sure you machine is in "program co-ordinates" - see my previous post - press the "Machine Co-ordinates button until the surround led goes out. Then jog the machine to the place where you want your program 0.0.0 and reset all the DRO's to zero.
Providing your program does not zoom off to some silly co-ordinate to start with, if you press cycle start, then the program should run.

You must make sure your parameters in the program do not run off the table extremeties - but other than that it should cut.

If you have used some sort of kit for your limit and home switches it may take a bit of time to get them sorted, but for now disable all the pins for them - you can run without them. You can get them going "when you feel the need for them"



Not me driving the engine - I'm better looking.
Re: input diagnostics
« Reply #9 on: July 30, 2008, 08:30:50 PM »
Thanks for the help jimpinder, you are probably right about trying to simplify things a bit. The cnc is a home built job and I still have to setup my Limit switches properly.

Just wanted to tip my hat to Chaoticone, great to know that us new guys have someone willing to go above and beyond to help.  I am sure in a few weeks I will look back on this and wonder what the big deal was....in the mean time, good to know you guys don't get *too* frustrated with my silly questions  :)

Jason