Weird Mach3 + CSMIO/IP-M Probe Problem

[Neale]

I've been happy with my setup, I have to say - until the last few days. I've had some random "lost connection to CSMIO" events, although fortunately never while I have been cutting. It's a pain because I seem to have to stop and restart Mach3 to reset things, then need to reload gcode, rehome, recheck work zero, etc. I'm slowly drifting towards the UC300ETH plus decent BOB. At least that would mean software which is current and supported.

I've just checked - I believe that I am running .028, which probably means that I saw problems with .043. Might be worth trying, at least as a stop-gap until you find a plan B. I would have gone LinuxCNC, which I ran with my previous router, except that at the time I had to make a decision, LCNC did not support master+slave axes and the choice of motion control hardware seemed over-complex and only available from the US. I think that both these things have now changed.

[Ger21]

When you use the M31 macro, is it displaying the touch coordinates in the status bar?If it is, then GetVar is working, as the M31 uses GetVar() get the touch point, then writes it to the status bar.

[matt-b2]

Yes, values are being displayed, they're just not the right values with the exception that the Y coordinate is correct, but stored in Variable 2000 instead of 2001. I get the same problem whether using G31 or M31 and whether interrogating the variables using GetVar or the variable display window (can't remember its proper name).

[Ger21]

Sorry, I should have went back and re-read your first post.

[Chaz]

Ive personally invested in a few CS Labs products in the past and recommended them. I dont think however Ill continue down this route. Whilst it may be one of the best Mach3 setups, Mach3 inherently is not the route I want to follow for stable control of machines.

Too many issues depending on PC stability / OS etc. Its nice as a starting point but reaching end of life at this stage me thinks.

[Davek0974]

Hi all, jumping in a bit late on this thread but just hit a similar issue.

Been trying probing on my mill running Mach3 and IP/A controller, first i tried the M31 option but built the M31 code into my own simple Y+ edge macro, it worked once but stopped working, I then tried a more complex pocket macro and that failed immediately with a scripter compile error despite the editor saying it was ok

Today i tried the G31 style and nothing will work now - a G31 call gives no motion at all and as soon as the code gets to the retract line following, it spits out an error and Mach goes into reset. The message box just says no edge was detected and the error message thought my machine was not referenced to home and soft limits was blocking the move.

IIRC i am on version 062 and really didn't want to downgrade because i heard rigid tapping was broken on earlier versions especially the 028 that CS labs favour??

Is this the end of Mach3 for me??

I want to try CS labs software but its still in beta.

Any ideas

[Neale]

As I remember, I managed to get probing working with whatever the latest version of Mach3 was around when I installed everything - could well have been .062. You are using the CSMIO probing macros, I assume? The CSMIO firmware has built-in probing code so Mach3 itself doesn't control the actual operation.

What I found was that while probing itself worked, it all fell apart when you did things like tool height reset during an M6 tool change. That's when I went back to .028, as I didn't need any of the things in later versions. Although I only use Z probing at the moment, I did throw some temporary macros together for X and Y as well during setup and they all seemed to work fine. As it happens, I spent some time last night doing a proper job on my x/y macros as I want to use them with the Mach3 probing page for my next job on the router and I wasn't expecting any problems - I'm just using my z macro with z crossed out and x or y inserted (in crude terms!). That's with an IP/M.

It's frustrating to have to work around this kind of thing, though. If i have any IP/M problems, it will probably tip me over the edge to UC300/UB-1/UCCNC, which should be hardware-compatible with the IP/M (24V signalling, etc) plus dual-motor homing and supported software! At the moment, though, it's hanging together (with manual dual-homing...) Don't know what the IP/A replacement is, though, if you need analogue servo driving.