New Member

[KAB]

Thanks for the feedback.It is most helpful.My current predicament is that the limit switches,one per axis,do not stop travel of gantry.Also,I want to set the Home position at the same point permanently.You mention home switches “if they are fitted”-are they micro switches?
On the Diagnostics page I have a lot of Yellow lights and whilst the X and Z lights are green,the Y lamp is red.All of this is finger trouble I know but it’s bl—dy frustrating.I would pay someone to set this bugger up properly.I’m on the Wirral.

[JAZZCNC]

Thanks for the feedback.It is most helpful.My current predicament is that the limit switches,one per axis,do not stop travel of gantry.Also,I want to set the Home position at the same point permanently.You mention home switches “if they are fitted”-are they micro switches?
On the Diagnostics page I have a lot of Yellow lights and whilst the X and Z lights are green,the Y lamp is red.All of this is finger trouble I know but it’s bl—dy frustrating.I would pay someone to set this bugger up properly.I’m on the Wirral.

Ok well first let me explain why you have a HOME position and how it can be set.
Home position is used to define the MACHINE COORDINATE ZERO position. This position is what the controller uses for Fixed reference point for all WORK COORDINATE ZERO positions. You'll often see these WORK ZERO positons called FIXTURE OFFSETS.
You can have many FIXTURE OFFSETS located on the table or bed each with there own WORK ZERO position. This is done using fixture offset commands G54,G55, G56 etc in some controllers like mach3 you can have upto 256 different FIXTURE OFFSETS.

Now HOME should be FIXED position that never changes. This way the controller can repeatably find it's way back to the WORK Zero should you ever lose position while cutting or say if crashed the machine by simple traveling back to the HOME position and resetting the HOME Zero point.
It then nows how far away from HOME the WORK Zero point is.

So For this Reason the HOME Position is usually set by switch located on the machine who's position never moves.
Often HOME is located at or near the end of travel but really it could be at any loaction of your choosing, the main requirement is it never changes.

Now here's where it can get a little confusing when we bring LIMITS and HOMES into the same equation.?
Some Controllers like Mach3 will allow you to use the same INPUT for both HOME and LIMITS. I call them INPUTS rather than switches because that's really what your doing, the switch is just a device which triggers the INPUT and could quite easilly have two switches in different locations both tripping the same INPUT. However it's more common to use 1x sw to save costs.

So in your case regards the limits not working this will most likely 99% be because you don't have them configured correctly in the controller.
Each INPUT as it's own unique Pin number which you need to tell the controller which INPUT will control what function. ie: INPUT#1 = Limits
Also Switches can be NC or NO types (normally closed / open) so you need to tell the controller the type of switch. This is done using HIGH/LOW logic.
So if using NO switch then the input will go HIGH when the switch gets tripped. If NC then the input will go LOW when tripped.

If your inputs are not configured correctly then you'll get the errors your seeing.

Now if your wanting to share HOME/LIMIT switches then it's simply case of selecting the correct settings in the controller. But first you must determine your Switches and INPUTS are configured and working correctly first.

If you don't want to use HOME switches then you don't have to have them. Just simply REF ALL HOME at any location you choose and that will ZERO the MACHINE COORDINATE.
However if you stall the motors, crash or just loose position then you will have lost your MACHINE Reference point so therefore need to accurately try to find it again, which will be nearly impossible without some reference, so can relocate your WORK zero. So it's much better to fit switches or share limit switches.

The down side to sharing Limit switches is that while HOMING the LIMITS are disabled so not the safest setup. But to be honest HOMING is done at such low feed then can easily stop the machine your self if somethign goes wrong.(provided you see it going wrong soon enough.!!!)

Regards setting your machine up then if you provide us or me with details of your machine then we can easily get you setup and running. It's really not rocket science and when you see how it works and understand the importance of knowing what is connected to what then becomes very easy and logical.

If your not sure what you have then provide good clear pictures of inside the control box from different angles and try to note what is connected were by tracing wires around the machine.
From this it will give us good idea of what's what and we take it from there.

[KAB]

Ok well first let me explain why you have a HOME position and how it can be set.
Home position is used to define the MACHINE COORDINATE ZERO position. This position is what the controller uses for Fixed reference point for all WORK COORDINATE ZERO positions. You'll often see these WORK ZERO positons called FIXTURE OFFSETS.
You can have many FIXTURE OFFSETS located on the table or bed each with there own WORK ZERO position. This is done using fixture offset commands G54,G55, G56 etc in some controllers like mach3 you can have upto 256 different FIXTURE OFFSETS.

Now HOME should be FIXED position that never changes. This way the controller can repeatably find it's way back to the WORK Zero should you ever lose position while cutting or say if crashed the machine by simple traveling back to the HOME position and resetting the HOME Zero point.
It then nows how far away from HOME the WORK Zero point is.

So For this Reason the HOME Position is usually set by switch located on the machine who's position never moves.
Often HOME is located at or near the end of travel but really it could be at any loaction of your choosing, the main requirement is it never changes.

Now here's where it can get a little confusing when we bring LIMITS and HOMES into the same equation.?
Some Controllers like Mach3 will allow you to use the same INPUT for both HOME and LIMITS. I call them INPUTS rather than switches because that's really what your doing, the switch is just a device which triggers the INPUT and could quite easilly have two switches in different locations both tripping the same INPUT. However it's more common to use 1x sw to save costs.

So in your case regards the limits not working this will most likely 99% be because you don't have them configured correctly in the controller.
Each INPUT as it's own unique Pin number which you need to tell the controller which INPUT will control what function. ie: INPUT#1 = Limits
Also Switches can be NC or NO types (normally closed / open) so you need to tell the controller the type of switch. This is done using HIGH/LOW logic.
So if using NO switch then the input will go HIGH when the switch gets tripped. If NC then the input will go LOW when tripped.

If your inputs are not configured correctly then you'll get the errors your seeing.

Now if your wanting to share HOME/LIMIT switches then it's simply case of selecting the correct settings in the controller. But first you must determine your Switches and INPUTS are configured and working correctly first.

If you don't want to use HOME switches then you don't have to have them. Just simply REF ALL HOME at any location you choose and that will ZERO the MACHINE COORDINATE.
However if you stall the motors, crash or just loose position then you will have lost your MACHINE Reference point so therefore need to accurately try to find it again, which will be nearly impossible without some reference, so can relocate your WORK zero. So it's much better to fit switches or share limit switches.

The down side to sharing Limit switches is that while HOMING the LIMITS are disabled so not the safest setup. But to be honest HOMING is done at such low feed then can easily stop the machine your self if somethign goes wrong.(provided you see it going wrong soon enough.!!!)

Regards setting your machine up then if you provide us or me with details of your machine then we can easily get you setup and running. It's really not rocket science and when you see how it works and understand the importance of knowing what is connected to what then becomes very easy and logical.

If your not sure what you have then provide good clear pictures of inside the control box from different angles and try to note what is connected were by tracing wires around the machine.
From this it will give us good idea of what's what and we take it from there.

[KAB]

Thank you for the very
full response.I appreciate the time you’ve taken.I’m a bit further down the road now.I can move in three axes and I can zero.BUT-for some reason still uncertain,I can’t get the machine to stop automatically.I have to stop the traversing myself.Still finger trouble no doubt.

[KAB]

Are there any Mach 3 experts on the Wirral?Birkenhead,Liverpool or near?
My problems stem from the fact that I did not build the machine-purchased from someone who will not answer his phone so I'm up the creek.
I'm sure that Mach 3 is fine but it's installed on a machine that won't perform.I think I'll scrap it and do something easy like learning Swahili from a Chinaman.

[JAZZCNC]

Are there any Mach 3 experts on the Wirral?Birkenhead,Liverpool or near?
My problems stem from the fact that I did not build the machine-purchased from someone who will not answer his phone so I'm up the creek.
I'm sure that Mach 3 is fine but it's installed on a machine that won't perform.I think I'll scrap it and do something easy like learning Swahili from a Chinaman.

Like I said before to give us some detailed pics of inside the control box and better more detailed explanation of exactly whats happening and we will get you working.
If you go into the mach3 folder, usually on C: drive named mach3. Look for a file ending (.XML) with the same name as the profile you load ie: MachMill.xml then Zip it up and post here I can load your settings into mach3 and see how it's setup.

Then from the pics might be able to work out whats going wrong.

[KAB]

Like I said before to give us some detailed pics of inside the control box and better more detailed explanation of exactly whats happening and we will get you working.
If you go into the mach3 folder, usually on C: drive named mach3. Look for a file ending (.XML) with the same name as the profile you load ie: MachMill.xml then Zip it up and post here I can load your settings into mach3 and see how it's setup.

Then from the pics might be able to work out whats going wrong.

Thank you,again.
I will do as you suggest but first I must grind off the pop rivets the cabinet is fastened with.
I will then photograph the set up and download the relevant file as you suggest.
Please bear with me.