G540, homing switches and mach3

Hi,

I've built a 4x4 router belt drive router table for cutting foam board. I use a gecko g540, mach3.
My X axis has two motors, with A being a slave of X.
I have 2 x limit switches each end of the X, Y, Z

Looking at the whole table head on as if the X axis comes towards and goes away from you I assume that the norm is to have the table home to the back left hand corner. To me looking down the table thats the far lefthand back corner. is that the normal homing area?

Does anyone have screen grabs to set up the homing for this 4 axis table, I followed the Mach3 instructions but we keep on having problems with something and i'd like to eliminate our Mach3 setup incase its a wiring issue.

Any links or direct screen images welcome.

Thanks

Attachment 8393Attachment 8394

On my 6040 I have home as the front left hand side. +Y is to the rear of the machine, +X to the right and +Z to the top.
No home/limit switches as yet.

I home to front left side (Your X+, Y-, Z-)

Home can be anywhere you want it, provided you set the offsets right.

Some people will home at a front corner to get easy access to the spindle, while some will home at the rear to improve loading/unloading. You could even home in the middle of the table if you really wanted to, it's just a case of setting the home offset in Mach.

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Originally Posted by m_c

Home can be anywhere you want it, provided you set the offsets right.

Some people will home at a front corner to get easy access to the spindle, while some will home at the rear to improve loading/unloading. You could even home in the middle of the table if you really wanted to, it's just a case of setting the home offset in Mach.

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Hi and If that`s the case, how would you set mach3 with appropriate directions of travel - I`m quite a novice and at one point I even had my cutting file upside down and off the defined table

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If that`s the case, how would you set mach3 with appropriate directions of travel

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You can't change the directions of travel. Mach3 uses the Cartesian Coordinate System, and each axis has to move a specific direction relative to the others.

Now, you can have the machine home to anyplace you want. to do that, use the Home Offset settings and use the Home Negative option to make sure the machine travels in the correct direction to find the switches.
I have my X axis home offset set to 45, and home to the positive X direction. So my home switch is at X = 45, and machine zero is at the opposite end from the switch.

Hmm I think I worded it wrongly. I would like my top left corner to be my 0,0 and bottom right to be +1000,+750 like a sheet of print, I have used coreldraw like this for so long my tired old brain struggles with anything else. are you saying this cant be done? or that home wouldn`t be at machine 0,0?

If the top left is 0,0, then bottom right would be +1000, -750.

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Originally Posted by baldwelder

Hmm I think I worded it wrongly. I would like my top left corner to be my 0,0 and bottom right to be +1000,+750 like a sheet of print, I have used coreldraw like this for so long my tired old brain struggles with anything else. are you saying this cant be done? or that home wouldn`t be at machine 0,0?

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You certainly can set up Mach3 to do that - it's just a matter of setting the "direction" flags appropriately in Mach3. However, if you think that you might addle your brain to do it the "conventional" way, then you are going to get double-addled with spots on if you then want to use any CAM software. Everything - and that means everything - assumes a right-handed coordinate system. What you are trying to do is set up a left-handed coord system, and you are going to be out of step with the rest of the world. Forget any CAM software, unless you want to draw everything as a mirror of the desired object so that it comes out right on the machine. It's really worth doing the same way as everyone else, and accept that there will be a short learning curve to climb. Definitely the lesser of two evils...

Look up the meaning of "Convention"

:D

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Originally Posted by Neale

You certainly can set up Mach3 to do that - it's just a matter of setting the "direction" flags appropriately in Mach3. However, if you think that you might addle your brain to do it the "conventional" way, then you are going to get double-addled with spots on if you then want to use any CAM software. Everything - and that means everything - assumes a right-handed coordinate system. What you are trying to do is set up a left-handed coord system, and you are going to be out of step with the rest of the world. Forget any CAM software, unless you want to draw everything as a mirror of the desired object so that it comes out right on the machine. It's really worth doing the same way as everyone else, and accept that there will be a short learning curve to climb. Definitely the lesser of two evils...

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No, that`s fine mate, I`m stubborn(which is why I spent so long trying) but too lazy to re-invent the wheel, they were just newbie questions brought on by not fully understanding the whole system. I assumed my settings were wrong somewhere and that was why they weren`t how I expected them to be. I`ll laugh about it someday, looking back... maybe... :devilish:
Thanks for the info.

Oh, and as for mirrored drawing, I`ve already been there cutting.. I couldn`t understand why it looked right on screen but was upside down on the machine :whistle:

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You certainly can set up Mach3 to do that - it's just a matter of setting the "direction" flags appropriately in Mach3.

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You can set up your machine to actually move like that, but the Mach3 display will not be correct, as Mach3's display is for a right hand coordinate system.