Ready Steady Eddy

[firetrappe]

Ed, looking very nice and professional. Nice work!

Regarding the Homing issues, have you configured the ESS plugin in Mach?
I haven't got as far as you yet, but I know there have been some compatability issues between certain versions of Mach and the ESS plugins.

Have a read of this thread on the Warp9 forums : Forum
You will need to register to read it if you haven't joined already.

Si.

[Ger21]

Have a read of this thread on the Warp9 forums : Forum

I find it amazing that it took him 6 years to get the Smoothstepper to do Homing the way that Mach3 does. No wonder people have always had homing issues with the Smoothstepper.

[firetrappe]

I find it amazing that it took him 6 years to get the Smoothstepper to do Homing the way that Mach3 does. No wonder people have always had homing issues with the Smoothstepper.

Yeah I agree. I ordered the ESS and then found some recent posts by you on the 'zone. I thought I might have made the wrong decision with the ESS, but luckily it finally seems to be sorted. It's just a shame that it's not obvious on the Warp9 pages. An occasional changelog file to accompany the various new plugins might help!

Hopefully once I get my machine i'll be able to find a version of Mach and ESS plugin that play nicely together and also with your screenset.

Ed - If you find a solution then please post your settings and which versions of Mach/ESS you're using. It might save me from similar issues.

Si.

[EddyCurrent]

@Si, thanks for the link, I looked at this a while ago and subsequently forgot about it, I'll give it a read now and have a go tomorrow. To be honest I kind of ignore the Smoothstepper and just do everything from Mach3, maybe it's time I got a better grip on it.

[GEOFFREY]

Eddy, that machine looks great, but I would not have expected less from you!!! G.

[Ger21]

From what I understand, 3.043.066 and .067 are very buggy, and it's best to use 3.043.057 or .062.

Yes, the SS homing issues have kept me from even considering a Smoothstepper.
Whenever I get my next router finished, I'll be going with a CSMIO/IP-S, unless I move away from Mach.

[EddyCurrent]

All being well it should be ready to do a test cut tomorrow, the bed isn't fitted yet but that won't stop it having a go. Edit: just thought, I might not have suitable cutters for anything detailed.

Got the temperature controller fitted, ideal for under £9, it brings the fans on at 25 degC at the moment, it was 21deg ambient in the shed today (logs were good burners) so they were on and off quite regular.
Second photo shows the remote sensor in the ventilation hood, it's held in place with a 'girder clip' for cables.
Also I moved the monitor/keyboard arm further up the wall so that it clears the highest part of the machine when moving, it looks a bit mental but Aldi had a nice little 2 step set of caravan steps just the right height for comfortable access, plus it's a bit of physical exercise.



Now to the homing problem.
This my setup;

* The X axis (the longest) has two stepper motors, X and A axis, each driving a ball screw.(A is a slave of X)
* I'm saying that the gantry is rigid enough so that I only need one homing switch on the X motor side.
* I'm also saying that if Mach does it's dance with the switches where it backs off slightly once activated, my gantry is stiff enough that the AM882's trip on stall at the slightest racking which is another reason I only want one homing switch on X.
* A ESS SmoothStepper is installed.
* Mach3 version 3.043.066
* SmoothStepper plugin version 10o1d1h

Edit: input 5 of the bob has stopped working for some reason, I was going to use this as input for a separate home switch on the A if I decided to go with two switches.

So I got all the setting as right as I could in Mach3 and the Smooth Stepper dialogues. The important one here was to tick the box called 'Home Slave With Master Axis'

Hit the ref Z button in Mach3, axis homed no problem
Hit the ref Y button in Mach3, axis homed no problem
Hit the ref X button in Mach3, axis tried to home but nearly wrecked the machine due to one side jumping severely.

I unbolted the ball nut bracket from the A axis side and tried again, the problem was the X motor was driving but the A motor remained stationary.
Uninstalled Mach and installed version 3.043.062, same SmoothStepper plugin, still no good, same results.
Installed SmoothStepper plugin version 10h2d1a, it worked !
Uninstalled Mach3 version 3.043.062, installed version 3.043.066, it worked !

I also tried other versions of the SmoothStepper plugin without success.

So the combination that works for me is Mach3 version 3.043.66 or version 3.043.62 and the SmoothStepper plugin version 10h2d1a.

It's interesting that if you read the Warp9 forum they talk about a version of the plugin that has a homing dialogue page that let's you specify homing parameters similar to the offsets in Mach3 but that version of the plugin failed to work for me. The version that works, 10h2d1a, does not have a homing dialogue page so everything is done from inside Mach3.

[firetrappe]

I also tried other versions of the SmoothStepper plugin without success.

So the combination that works for me is Mach3 version 3.043.66 or version 3.043.62 and the SmoothStepper plugin version 10h2d1a.

It's interesting that if you read the Warp9 forum they talk about a version of the plugin that has a homing dialogue page that let's you specify homing parameters similar to the offsets in Mach3 but that version of the plugin failed to work for me. The version that works, 10h2d1a, does not have a homing dialogue page so everything is done from inside Mach3.

Thanks for the info Ed. Sounds like you tested your E-stop circuit a few times during the process!

I think i'll definately try that combo on my setup first. Hopefully it will work even though i'm using 2 homing switches on the X-axis. I'll let you know how I get on.

Si.

[Boyan Silyavski]

* I'm saying that the gantry is rigid enough so that I only need one homing switch on the X motor side.
* I'm also saying that if Mach does it's dance with the switches where it backs off slightly once activated, my gantry is stiff enough that the AM882's trip on stall at the slightest racking which is another reason I only want one homing switch on X..

Is that still valid? I am right there and having very similar ideas

[EddyCurrent]

Is that still valid? I am right there and having very similar ideas

If the gantry racks then it is that small a movement I don't care. I disconnected one side and tried to push it, I could feel no movement but I did not use a dial indicator.
The AM882's have tripped on stall but only when I've tried to get too much speed/acceleration from the machine, when tuned to sensible values they do not trip.
I don't know if they tripped due to racking or something else.
I am still using only one homing switch on the X axis and that is working fine for me, your machine (silyavski) will be stiffer then mine I imagine so it should work for you too.
If anyone has doubts they should probably use one motor and connect the two ball screws with belts.