Tiddy CNC.

[JAZZCNC]

Tony Jazzcnc hit the nail on the head I could not think straight last night.

Alcholic Pisshead syndrome. . .

Thanks. I guess I need to figure out a way to mount the switches on both sides with enough adjustment they both connect at the same time.

Tony if you use the bullet type proximity switches they have a threaded body which you can use for adjustment. Also if using proximity switches you can use the sensing distance as kind of fine tuning which is handy for setting slaved motors.

[TonyD]

Finally, auto home on all axis - thanks for the help. For the help of others, although as Jazz says the dual input was required and I didnt have that to start with, once I wired that up I still didnt have the dual X axis home working. I was about to write a detailed post here with all my Mach config settings when I noticed a discrepancy between the various B or A axis settings, once they were all pointing to the same B axis it worked. Happy days :)

[EddyCurrent]

It's great when a problem is solved, say "hi" to Peppa Pig for me

[TonyD]

Oink! Oink!

[TonyD]

Some teething problems I think, seems to be Z axis...?

I'm using Cambam but only really want to draw on the MDF bed of the machine at this stage. I've defined my stock as 5mm thick but the arcs lines etc are set to profile to only -1mm in the cambam dialogue. The G Code for the test is below, the machine homes just fine. when I Jog the machine I see Z- going in the direction of the bed. So I get a post-it and manually jog the Z until it bites the paper and then back it off say 0.650 mm and then set Z to 0 in mach. The theory being that the -1mm "cut depth" will push the biro into the mdf bed.

However when the program runs the pen seems to move up not the 1mm down I want it to go. I did some googling and changed the Z motor direction in Mach and that didnt feel at all right, homing went backwards (expected really). So my question, should I have selected a + z move (cut depth) in Cambam or is there a clue in the G Code below that the machine is set up wrong? Advice as always welcome. Thanks.

( Made using CamBam - http://www.cambam.co.uk )
( CNC_Template 9/3/2014 10:17:13 PM )
( T6 : 6.0 )
( CUTVIEWER )
( FROM/0,0,5 )
( Select dummy tool to avoid warnings )
( TOOL/MILL,1,0,20.0,0 )
( STOCK/BLOCK,500.0,500.0,5.0,0.0,0.0,5.0 )
G21 G90 G91.1 G64 G40
G0 Z3.0
( T6 : 6.0 )
( Tool Taper coming soon )
( TOOL/MILL,6.0,0.0,0.0,0 )
T6 M6
( Profile1 )
G17
M3 S1000
G0 X207.0 Y120.0
G0 Z0.2
G1 F300.0 Z0.0
G2 F1500.0 X196.5 Y113.9378 Z-0.1667 I-7.0 J0.0
G2 Y126.0622 Z-0.3333 I3.5 J6.0622
G2 X207.0 Y120.0 Z-0.5 I3.5 J-6.0622
G2 X196.5 Y113.9378 Z-0.6667 I-7.0 J0.0
G2 Y126.0622 Z-0.8333 I3.5 J6.0622
G2 X207.0 Y120.0 Z-1.0 I3.5 J-6.0622
G2 X196.5 Y113.9378 I-7.0 J0.0
G2 Y126.0622 I3.5 J6.0622
G2 X207.0 Y120.0 I3.5 J-6.0622

[Clive S]

It is more common to set the home for Z at the top, that means all cuts will be -Z. So when you zero your Z at the bed a command to cut would be a -Z move.

You can tell Mach to home in any direction. ..Clive

[TonyD]

Dont know if this will double post? Thats how its set up Clive. the code looks ok to me too I think, start of Z3 as a positioning move, moves down to Z0.2 still just above bed and then gets to Z-1.0 4th line up from the bottom. so why is the spindle not actually going down but going up?

[Boyan Silyavski]

The Z as Clive said should be 0 at the Top and go down with negative sign.

Do you recalculate the toolpath? When set working Z0 i mean.

Ok Zero at the middle of the air. Then in the mdi window write Z-1 and hit enter. It should go down from there 1mm/ becarefull if in inch cause will go 1 inch down /