I am pretty certain it is port 1 pin 15 for touch probe but you need to double check your manual. If you are using merged probe config it will use J11 pin 9 and J12 pin 9 and both will trigger port 1 pin 15 for touch probe in Mach.

I don't want to hijack the thread, but has anyone tried Mach4 yet?

Pete, this must be only the 126/ESS combo only. On my 122 I had my probe cables connected to pins 11 & 13 and it worked fine. EDIT: My apologies, I stated this on my Black Button thread:

With that said I just connected the cables to pin 15 on ports 1 & 2 and pressed the chevron on the 2010 screenset to run the touch off macro. Instantly I get No Probe Active. I then restarted Mach and entered G90 G31 Z0 in the MDI and got the same thing. Not entirely sure what this is saying I am not too sure about but at least I found when things were going south. More googling required me thinks

Just saw your last post Pete, but I don't want merged input. I need 2 distinct inputs because 2 different macros are triggered for the dual toolchange setup on the 2010 screenset

Okay, let other know what you find.

I will, the first trick is finding the right combo to keep Mach happy. Once I have that I will be rockin'.... :)

Gremlins are biting me in the bum lately, wired one motor up (Z axis) to the control box and the associated AM882 instantly goes into Over Current Protection. Taking a break now 'cause its doing my head in, will get some food and coffee into me and go back and try again... ho hum.....

Ok, looking for motor wiring help. My motors are 34H280-45-8A from MS Motor, purchased from AusXMods here in Aus. Well, 1 of them was, the other 3 were purchased from an ex-mechmater but they are the same motors. http://ausxmods.com.au/index.php?mai...products_id=13

I downloaded a spec sheet for them from Automation Technologies who list them as KL34H280-45-8A but they seem to match everything else from MS Motor/AusXMods. http://www.automationtechnologiesinc...motor-6-3-amps



First thing I did with the motors was to connect the coil wires together to check that I had the right wires. That turned out to be Red + Blue, Yellow + Green, Brown + Black and Orange + White. Turning to the Auto Tech spec sheet I wired them in Bipolar Parallel thusly:

A+ : Yellow + Blue, A- : Red + Green, B+ : Brown + Orange, B- : Black + White. Wiring them in this way "locked up" the shaft telling me it must be correct. Connected the motor to the AM882 however makes the controller to instantly go into Over Current Error.

So, thinking I had stuffed it up, it turned to the AusXMods definition of the wiring. Doing it this way failed to lock the motor up in any way shape or form with the shaft just free spining like nothing was connected anywhere. I still went ahead and connected it to the AM882 which quite happily initialised but no matter how many time I pressed keys, Mach would not make the motor spin.

So now I am at a loss as to which is correct so I can go on a fault finding mission. I have emails into MS Motor & AusXMods to try and determine which is correct.

Has anyone else used these motors? If so, how did you wire them? I am at a roadblock now until I can get this working and I can tell you it is bloody annoying.

Cheers

Well I am an idiot, the AusXMods settings are correct. I assumed that because the shaft spins without resistance and the motor was not responding to Mach that the wiring was wrong.

It is infact right, the motor does not lock when the wire are connected as per AusXMods and it does infact spin when you put the correct port and pin numbers into mach. My ESS was obscuring the step/dir led's and until I took the ESS off the 126 I couldn't see them. Eating humble pie right now.

Next question guys.... steps per. Mod 1 rack, 30T pinions, 1:1 (no reduction), 800 microsteps.

Gear calculator from here say 8.488 steps per MM. So I chuck that along with 15240mm/min into velocity and 650mm/s/s accel. All good so far

Ran a file (currently only have the Z powered at this point) to see it moving (which is way cool BTW :) ) and it is slightly off. The file told it to go to -3.51mm yet the DRO showed -3.81mm. Later in the file it was told to go to -6.35 and the DRO said -6.365

Have I got things right?

Now it starts to get psychological.

There will be differences in the commanded position and the D.R.O. reading.
This is due to the resolution of the steps.
It will go to the nearest available position.

Depends how accurately you want to make a part.

D.R.M. as an old workmate of mine once said.
D.R.M. = Does it Really Matter.
Keep up the good work.
Waiting with baited breath.:)

Your calculations will be close but you should use the built in steps per unit function in Mach to fine tune the steps per mm on your settings menu

This is not the same thing as incorrect steps/unit.
Unless your resolution is extremely course, you should not see results like this. The DRO should read whatever the commanded position is, rounded to the nearest step.
Was this using MDI? Are you sure it wasn't a typo?

Thanks guys...

Al, I would like it to be as close as possible, otherwise what is the point of building a cnc machine? My last machine was spot on or close to it (within .005) in terms of file and DRO, I want this one to be the same as it is classes above the last one.

Pete, will be doing the whole Mach calc when I get further, currently only the Z is semi operational.

Gerry, yup, there was a bit of a memory typo. Just ran a couple of files again and got the following:

File -3.175- DRO -3.184
File -3.20 - DRO -3.3019
File -6.35 - DRO -6.3679
File -18.5 - DRO 18.5142

Its all over the shop so will do more tuning and create a file specifically for the MM when that done. Wiring up the final motors today so hopefully the whole machine will be moving later today....

One more thing guys, I need to get another gas spring so was wondering where your Z top is in relation to the Z plate and the rollers? Does the bottom stay within the bottom set or the middle set?

I have enough rack to take it up to the middle set of rollers, its just my gas spring that is stopping it.

Current one is 585mm charged to 150Nm....

Cheers

The higher your reduction ratio the smaller the increments. I am sure you know this. My reduction is 7.2 with 10 micro step on a 1.8° motor (2000 steps per revolution) with 30 tooth gear and my step movement is 0.0003" (0.0076mm). What is your calculated per step movement? Use a dial indicator and switch your jog mode to single step and check your movement to see if it matches the amount your DRO states. You can also use this for finding if there is backlash occurring from something.

Thanks for that Pete, by chance I am now ready to start doing just that.

This afternoon was a huge milestone for me, all motors are now running and the machine moves by itself now. Lotsa little things to button up but I am smiling ear to ear, and that don't happen very often :)

Going to button up the Z axis and do some tramming and then I am going to give my Sharpie holder a run to test things out. Will post what happens when it happens :D

So I did what Fox did..... the beast draws pictures! Sharpie holder from Kyle work really well.....

Now I move on to finish things up so I can cut stuff.....

Excellent work, your table is too clean...:)

Ah...but you can't see what's out of shot!! :D Thanks Tom, been a long time getting to this point, just a teensy weensy bit to go......

While I am at it I also drew an Aztec/Mayan Calendar. Sharpie wasn't sharp enough for the detail at this size but at least the machine makes circles like it should. More than happy......!

Cool ! Congrats !

Nice machine, perfect draws.

Thanks Ros, appreciate the comment.

While I am here, I am working on getting my proxies working. Just wanted to double check that they can be used as both limit/lift protection AND home switches at the same time. I am currently setting them up for homing, something I never had on my last machine. I am a little confused by having lift or limit trip an estop while all the while acting as homing. Am I right in this assumption or will I need separate home & limit/lift switches to accomplish what I am after.....

If you are using Mach it is smart enough to use them as both. Your configuration defines their use.

Cool, thanks Tom. Should have my little relay board all done later tonight so I can try it all out.

I'm proud to declare that I'm from the "no limit switches required" camp :D

BUT it doesn't mean I can't get involve in conversation on setting up one. :p

I know the same switch does home, limit & lift duties. In Mach3, it comes with the home & limit function very well defined. Once you did your configurations properly, Mach3 will do the trickery. BUT the lift function is not a standard feature. so you might have to do some programming or just leave it as it is. you will know when the screen flashes "limits"

Thanks Ken, am about to try the limit thingo. All the homing is now done and working. Infact, I have homed the machine a number of times as a) I never had a machine do it and b) it's kinda cool to watch it happen :D

Off to try the limits.... with my hand over one of my 4 e-stops ;)

Now I am really happy.... limits now working as well and I even figured out how to get off them :) One step closer to cutting, spindle power and cooling now my target.

The finish line is right around the next corner, floor it!:cool: