Soft limits profile issue.
Hi all! I had some serious issues to make the spindle running on my CNC. After a lot of tries and errors, I found that it was a matter of an XML profile file. So I downloaded an XML provided by the manufacturer of the breakout board. And the spindle was able to start correctly. Well almost, I'm still dealing with speed issues. However, I found something else that was an XML depending and that's the Soft limits. So on another profile that I've created the soft limits work, but on the one from the manufacturer they don't, no matter how I change the setting in the Home and limits. So it's not because I have wrong values for the x,y,z values in the Home and limits. It's mostly because of the profile. Is there a way to change it and how? Can I copy a working section from my other XML profile and replace it with the current one? Now when I think again the XML from the manufacturer may not be able to set also a pulley ratio, which is my other issue. When I change the ratio, the spindle is not changing the HZ on the VFD.
Thank you in advance!
Re: Soft limits profile issue.
Don't mess directly with .xml file.
Everything can be done through Config menu.
Go to: https://www.machsupport.com/help-lea...oduct-manuals/ and read manuals.
Re: Soft limits profile issue.
Hi,
SoftLimits only work and make sense AFTER you have Referenced or Homed your machine....and I don't just mean zeroing the DROs.
Consider this analogy. You have a rectangular paddock and an automatic lawnmower to mow it. You don't want the mower to bang into the fence....
so how do you do it. You could have a switch on either the mower OR the fence that stops it if it bangs into the fence, aka Limit switches.
Another alternative is SoftLimits. Lets say there is a single rock somewhere in the SW corner of the paddock, inside the fence. The fence is 75m to the North
of the rock, 100m East of the rock and 25m South and 25m West of the rock. You can now program the mower so it knows where the fences are, but you MUST
first take the mower to the rock so it knows where the reference point is. If you just turned the mower on at the middle of the paddock it would run into the fence
on the North side but never reach the South and Western fences because it was not Referenced (Homed) before starting.
Do you have Home switches on your machine? What is you Homing or Referencing procedure? SoftLimits only make sense once you have done so.
Craig
Re: Soft limits profile issue.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
joeavaerage
Hi,
SoftLimits only work and make sense AFTER you have Referenced or Homed your machine....and I don't just mean zeroing the DROs.
Consider this analogy. You have a rectangular paddock and an automatic lawnmower to mow it. You don't want the mower to bang into the fence....
so how do you do it. You could have a switch on either the mower OR the fence that stops it if it bangs into the fence, aka Limit switches.
Another alternative is SoftLimits. Lets say there is a single rock somewhere in the SW corner of the paddock, inside the fence. The fence is 75m to the North
of the rock, 100m East of the rock and 25m South and 25m West of the rock. You can now program the mower so it knows where the fences are, but you MUST
first take the mower to the rock so it knows where the reference point is. If you just turned the mower on at the middle of the paddock it would run into the fence
on the North side but never reach the South and Western fences because it was not Referenced (Homed) before starting.
Do you have Home switches on your machine? What is you Homing or Referencing procedure? SoftLimits only make sense once you have done so.
Craig
Hi Craig. Yes, I'm always homing my axis before starting to cut. I press the main home button, which is 0-ing all the axis. But the problem is really in the profile. With another profile, the Soft limits are working fine. I compared the 2 XMLs and there is no difference according to these values. I think that it might be related to the plug-in used to connect with the breaking board. In it, I also have offsets when 0-ing, and I'm not sure how these offsets are affecting the final dimensions.
But I think that the main problem is the profile. With the profile that Soft limits are working, the spindle is not working. So I'm really confused. Smells like a bug, but I can't get what is causing it.
Re: Soft limits profile issue.
Hi,
Quote:
I'm always homing my axis before starting to cut. I press the main home button, which is 0-ing all the axis
But does the machine actually drive to the Home switches? Zeroing the axes DRO is not the same as Homing.
Craig
Re: Soft limits profile issue.
Hi,
do you have limit switches? When you Home does the machine drive to the switches?
I have used Mach4 for the last seven years and would not go back to Mach3 if you paid me.....but for all, it sounds like the machine is not driving to a repeatable and defined
location. If it does not do so then Soft Limits are meaningless and more often than not cause an enduring error.
I ask again, do you have Home switches and do you use them?
Craig
