meerkat

Hi all.

hope all you brains out there can give a newbie to cnc mill a lot of time and patience. I am a retired railway signalman (through ill health).
I thought i would try my hand at cnc mill. I know zero about it but am willing to learn and hopefully with your help i can get into cnc.
I have just built my first machine, not pretty but functional. I am useing Mach3 software and cannot get it to work properly,motors work fine but cannot set home limits hope you all can help me, Thanks in advance.
meerkat.:concern:

hi meerkat

can't say i will be much help though, I'm only a wannabee at the moment lol

Alan

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Originally Posted by meerkat

I have just built my first machine, not pretty but functional. I am useing Mach3 software and cannot get it to work properly,motors work fine but cannot set home limits hope you all can help me, Thanks in advance.
meerkat.:concern:

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Yes sure can help but really need bit more info than just not working.?

First which are you struggling with Homing or Limits.?. . . are they on separate switches or are you using one switch to do both.?

Obvious question but have you set the correct Input number from the BOB in ports n pins/inputs.
When you press the switch manually do the LED's in Diagnostics light up.? . . If not and your sure you have the correct input set in ports n pins then chances are you have the switches wired wrong or faulty.

Give some more info and sure will have you running in no time.!

Hi. Jazzcnc.
Thanks for your reply.Sorry taking so long been a bit ill.
Anyway the equipment I'm using is...Desktop pc, Longs stepper motor nema23 6 wires Model 23HS8610 1A (u) 1.8 deg/step. The motors are coupled to TR12 x 3D Trapezoidal Acme Ball screw which are run from a TB6560AHQ board.
I have it wired up with RED A+ BLUE A- GREEN B+ BLACK B-. I have added snapshots of my setup screens snapshots of my setup,hope this helps.Attachment 10071Attachment 10072Attachment 10073Attachment 10074Attachment 10075Attachment 10076

Hi Meerkat,

Still need more info I'm afraid.!

First looks like you have 3 separate home switches has they each have there own input. You don't need to do this and can wire them in series and save 2 inputs if you like. Both ways work just the same has Mach by default only moves one axis at a time.

How have you got the switches connected NO (normally open) or NC (normally closed).?

Have you setup Inputs #1 #2 #3 further down the inputs screen with pins 10, 11, 12.? because The diagnostics show inputs 1, 2, 3, are lit up.?. . . Do they change state if you push switch and do any of the M1,M2,M3 Home leds light up.?

If the M1Home etc don't lite up then try disabling these inputs just in case they are conflicting with home switches.? They shouldn't make any difference when homing because when Mach is homing it ignores any other function the same pin is assigned to and just uses the pin signal for setting home position only but you never know stranger things have happened.!!

Looking at the pinout for the TB board then you have the correct pins assigned to home switches so they should lite the LED's in diagnostics when switched. If not and provided the wiring is correct then you either have the wrong pins on the board or faulty board.?

Hi JAZZCNC

I don't have any switches connected yet, but I did use 2 wires connected to the 5 pin to auto set positions wires were apart when auto set pressed and they were all assigned to pin 10.Was this OK? :nonchalance:

I have turned off the 3 inputs and the lights are out now.

The M1,M2,M3 home leds don't do anything even with the inputs disabled.

Here are the screen shots of what i have now.
Cheers.Attachment 10079Attachment 10080Attachment 10081Attachment 10082Attachment 10083Attachment 10084

Ok well first lets check we are both singing from the same hymn sheet.? Because Pin5 on the TB6560AHQ board manual I'm looking at is Z Step. If you have manual post it or give me a link.

What you need to do is identify input pins 10 thru 13 and the ground pin.
In the manual I'm looking at it shows these on a little white 5 pin connector on same side has parallel port and just behind the 15pin manual interface connector.
The pin closest to edge of board is Ground then pin13 is next then 12,11 and 10 is furthest away just jump between 10 and Gnd and the M1,M2,M3,M4,M5,M6home led should light up. (Also has you have it now all the limits will light up has well and probably input #1,2,3.)

If this works then just wire the Home switches in series and connect to pin 10.
Wire limits in series and connect to pin11 but remember to change limit inputs to pin11 don't use the auto set best done manually it's unreliable.
E-stop then goes to pin 13, again set E-stop to pin13 in inputs.
This will leave you with pin12 spare for things like probe etc.

Hi JAZZCNC

Thanks for the reply. Sounds like this is where i'm going wrong, will do this and let you know what I end up with. So fingers crossed.
meerkat.

Hi JAZZCNC.
Got micro switches today. I set 3 up for home but when triggered it says "limit switch triggered". When it did this I had to wind the motor off the switch by hand because I could not find a reset to move the axis off the switch. I'm still struggling with the setup due to lack of knowledge and I thank you for your time and patience. I have attached some info but don't know if it's useful.
meerkat.Attachment 10108Attachment 10109

Hi

Ok well that's a start at least some things happening.!

Did you change the limit inputs to a different pin number.? If yes then this is the pin number your switches are connected to so just set the Home inputs to same pin number.
If not then this also explains why limits are tripping because they where sharing the same input pin number so when you press the switch Mach3 sees the input and treats it has a Limit trip not a home switch.? Mach only sees the switch has home switch when you press "Ref all home"
You will tell if sharing same input has the LED's for both will light in diagnostics.

If you don't want the limits using these switches then either change the limit pin number or disable them.

With regards to moving off the limit switches when triggered then use the limit override button on the settings screen.

Hi JAZZCNC
Thanks for all your help,you have been invaluable to me sharing your knowledge and skills.
I am now able to get my machine to home and back off when it hits the switches. This is something I could never of done on my own. Now here i go again, How do i set the z axis block height?.
Your help would be great.
meerkat.

Ok sure I can help but need you to clarify what you mean by "z axis block height" .?

Do you mean to use the Auto tool zero and touch plate.? . . . Or do you mean the Gauge block height in the offsets Tab.?

Regards the Gauge block height then that's easy, enter the height of the Gauge block you place between the work and tool in the Txt box. (remember to press enter)
Then when you touch tool on block press the "Set Z" and it will set the Z axis DRO to match the block height meaning Zero will be on the material surface.

If you want to use the auto tool Zero then that's a bit more involved and will need some code inserting in the "auto tool zero" button script but easy enough to do just I will need to carefully explain so first clarify what you mean before get into this.!!

Hi.
It was the gauge block that i wanted.
Cheers for that.
meerkat

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Originally Posted by meerkat

Hi.
It was the gauge block that i wanted.
Cheers for that.
meerkat

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Ok but if you have a spare Input then making a touch plate and using "auto tool zero" is very quick and accurate.
Ounce you have used it you won't want to go back to manual way of doing things.!!

Let me know if you want to do it and I'll explain what's involved and post some code for you to place in the button script. It's not has difficult or complicated has it sounds so won't blow your mind. . Lol

Hi JAZZCNC.
I have seen some things on line about those settings, it would be great if you could guid me through it and tell me what I need.
Man your a diamond.
meerkat.