Installing Mach 3 is driving me mad!

So, finally got machine built , a 3 axis Gantry router using 4 motors forth motor as " A " axis slaved to y axis ,bought licence for Mach3 and started to install, all went well till tried ref home. only the motor on the y axis turned , the slaved A axis does not, a quick E stop saved any damage, try to fix this has had me pulling my hair out !
At one stage i had motors going in wrong direction; one side of gantry moving forward while the opposite side went back! and a constant E stop condition!
I Know am at the stage were z homes but does not retract from home switch and only the Y axis turns !????! HELP.

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Originally Posted by tonygagey

one side of gantry moving forward while the opposite side went back!

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Exciting. The forces start at infinity. This is usually bad :beer:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tonygagey

So, finally got machine built , a 3 axis Gantry router using 4 motors forth motor as " A " axis slaved to y axis ,bought licence for Mach3 and started to install, all went well till tried ref home. only the motor on the y axis turned , the slaved A axis does not, a quick E stop saved any damage, try to fix this has had me pulling my hair out !
At one stage i had motors going in wrong direction; one side of gantry moving forward while the opposite side went back! and a constant E stop condition!


I Know am at the stage were z homes but does not retract from home switch and only the Y axis turns !????! HELP.

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Ok first have you checked in general config that (home slaved with master) is UNCHECKED
and Angular properties is also unchecked. ..Clive

And that all the A axis settings match the Y axis.

Note that in some cases, you may need to modify the homing script to use RefCombination().

Clive S
Angular properties was checked , i unchecked them.
home slaved with master was unchecked and I checked that and it all seems to work! will try again in morning to confirm but so far so good.....

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Originally Posted by tonygagey

Clive S
Angular properties was checked , i unchecked them.
home slaved with master was unchecked and I checked that and it all seems to work! will try again in morning to confirm but so far so good.....

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OK and take note of what Gerry has to say. The motor tuning, Acc and steps etc has to be exactly the same on both the slaved motors. ..Clive

Does the A axis have it's own home switch, or do you only have one on the Y axis? (Sounds like just the Y axis?)

Just the y, but have been advised that I needone on A to prevent racking.

With only one switch, all you need to do is check the "home slave with master" box.
You won't get any racking with only one switch, but you also will not be able to auto square the gantry when homing.

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Originally Posted by tonygagey

Just the y, but have been advised that I needone on A to prevent racking.

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I would suggest you really do need two switches then you can adjust one of them to correct any slight squaring issue you might have. The two switches need to be on separate inputs to Mach. ..Clive

Have started to instal extra switch , thanks to all with the help !

ok so I can now ref home and Z references first then Y and finally X, all seems as it should be to me.
New problem, I jog to work piece, home at the cutting position and regen toolpath,thats right ? yes?
then machine tries to cut through to china! and to top it all off after I reset and checked my settings , hit start , and in stopped saying limit switch activated and keeps on cutting out after reset (which is accepted) immediately I hit start!
Seriously is there a simpler alternative to Mach3?

Have you set it to mm in Mach post the top 30 lines of your gcode.. I take it when you make a Z move to cut it does a -Z move and not a +Z There is nothing wrong with Mach it just need to be set up correctly then you will be fine.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Clive S

Have you set it to mm in Mach post the top 30 lines of your gcode.. I take it when you make a Z move to cut it does a -Z move and not a +Z There is nothing wrong with Mach it just need to be set up correctly then you will be fine.

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Set To mm Yes. You want me to post the first 30 lines of gcode but not sure how?will try to copy + paste here
F60.000000
G0 X0.000000 Y0.000000 Z0.200000
M3
S60.000000
G43H5
G0 X0.000000 Y0.000000 Z0.200000
G0 X1.179950 Y4.004260 Z0.200000
G1 X1.179950 Y4.004260 Z-0.100000
G1 X1.179950 Y4.004260 Z-0.100000
G1 X1.179950 Y3.980210 Z-0.100000
G1 X1.175140 Y3.980210 Z-0.100000
G1 X1.175140 Y4.004260 Z-0.100000
G0 X1.175140 Y4.004260 Z0.200000
G0 X1.137080 Y3.324440 Z0.200000
G1 X1.137080 Y3.324440 Z-0.100000
G1 X1.137080 Y3.324440 Z-0.100000
G1 X1.187870 Y3.347020 Z-0.100000
G1 X1.255590 Y3.369600 Z-0.100000
G1 X1.340240 Y3.397820 Z-0.100000
G1 X1.419250 Y3.426050 Z-0.100000
G1 X1.498260 Y3.454280 Z-0.100000
G1 X1.554700 Y3.471220 Z-0.100000
G1 X1.588550 Y3.482510 Z-0.100000
G1 X1.644990 Y3.482510 Z-0.100000
G1 X1.701420 Y3.482510 Z-0.100000
G1 X1.746570 Y3.482510 Z-0.100000
G1 X1.797360 Y3.488150 Z-0.100000
G1 X1.842510 Y3.493800 Z-0.100000
G1 X1.887650 Y3.505080 Z-0.100000
G1 X1.932800 Y3.516370 Z-0.100000
G1 X1.977950 Y3.533310 Z-0.100000
G1 X2.040020 Y3.538950 Z-0.100000
G1 X2.102100 Y3.533310 Z-0.100000
G1 X2.164180 Y3.522020 Z-0.100000
G1 X2.237540 Y3.505080 Z-0.100000
G1 X2.305260 Y3.488150 Z-0.100000
G1 X2.378620 Y3.459930 Z-0.100000
G1 X2.446350 Y3.431700 Z-0.100000
G1 X2.519710 Y3.397820 Z-0.100000
G1 X2.660790 Y3.330090 Z-0.100000
G1 X2.796230 Y3.262340 Z-0.100000
G1 X2.914740 Y3.200240 Z-0.100000
G1 X3.016330 Y3.149440 Z-0.100000
G1 X3.084050 Y3.109930 Z-0.100000
G1 X3.146120 Y3.070400 Z-0.100000
G1 X3.213850 Y3.030890 Z-0.100000
G1 X3.281560 Y2.991380 Z-0.100000
G1 X3.349290 Y2.951860 Z-0.100000
G1 X3.411360 Y2.917990 Z-0.100000
G1 X3.473440 Y2.884120 Z-0.100000
G1 X3.676600 Y2.771220 Z-0.100000
G1 X3.823330 Y2.686540 Z-0.100000
G1 X3.970060 Y2.601860 Z-0.100000
G1 X4.116780 Y2.517180 Z-0.100000
Set all axis how tutorial vids from mach 3 on youtube advise, ie z homes to top(I think that is - is it not,therefore it cuts to + ?)

Tony I have sent you a PM.

What CAM program have you used? according to the gcode the max Z is only 0.1mm deep and about 4 x 3mm in size. Is this what you intended?
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Have you done the WORK Z zero on the bed or on the top of the part?
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Edit: I notice that you have a G43H5 tool length compensation at the top of the gcode that will add to the depth of the tool.
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Is this gcode been copied from the top as there is no initiation string there.!!! With a G21 etc in it.

This is the tutorial fille roadrunner.tap that comes with mach 3 ,I have yet to buy cam software, but was going to go with cut 2D .I did zero on top of the part but didn't reilize it was that small! Is ther some way to scale it up? Or is that the province of cam software?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tonygagey

This is the tutorial fille roadrunner.tap that comes with mach 3 ,I have yet to buy cam software, but was going to go with cut 2D .I did zero on top of the part but didn't reilize it was that small! Is ther some way to scale it up? Or is that the province of cam software?

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I have a feeling that the road runner is imperial so you would need to add a G20 on a separate line at the top of the code. I think your prob is the G43H5 and you do need the string at the top of the code see below.