...And this post is a partial vent after spending 3 hours just trying get about 10 minutes worth of machining done.....

I've been having these consistent problems with movement. I DON'T think this is a CNCRP problem per se, but since everyone here tends to have
the same hardware stack, I thought I'd start here.

First, my machine details.

CNCRP Pro 4x2, nema 23, leadshine controller, ESS, Windoze 7 PC, Mach 3 (yes, the *approved* version of it). I have the CNCRP z-axis probe. I also have their proximity sensors hooked up, and a Z-axis proximity sensor which I use for homing the machine (documented in another thread here).

Here's what I'm having issues with.

  • After homing the machine and loading a program, and having set my fixture location, as soon as I hit continue, it tries to move the Z axis to 0. The command is usually "G28 G91 Z0.". This is generated by Fusion360 post processing. For some reason, it doesn't seem to really know where Z0 is. It moves all the way up and .... SOMETIMES... trips that Z axis proximity switch. I'd say it's a about 50% of the time. The other 50%, it's very close but it gets there, stops and then continues (usually wanting a tool change).

    Should I just remove that Z0 or try to see if I can get it to not generate? Why would it need to go to Z0? And is that machine zero? It's clearly not what I zeroed the bit at.
    So I usually just clear the limit switch error, move it down a bit in Z, then continue.

  • Similar to the first item, after I do a tool change and tell it to continue, it tries to move Z-axis up again. I don't know why this is, there is no instruction to tell it to do that. Once again, it will hit the prox switch about 50% of the time. Have to clear it, move down, and continue.

  • Sometimes after I tell it to continue, it moves V-E-R-Y S-L-O-W-L-Y, sometimes in all three axis'. Usually this means it has lost it's way, if I don't stop it, it will continue to try and do the next op, but usually at a high and wrong Z value, Ie it is just cutting air


  • Tonight, after having this last item occur, I rewound the program and took it to the current op, did "set next line", "run from here", etc. Mach3 was just acting wonky. It would just to some weird place in the op, to to the M1/tool change spot that is expected. I tried closing and reloading the program. I restarted Mach 3, I even rebooted the the entire system. Even after doing all that, it still was acting bizarre. Finally after a couple more tries of "run from here", it started working. At one point, I told it to "run from here", only to find it back at the top of the G-codes!


  • ESS runs out of data. Yeah, as if the rest aren't enough, I keep getting ESS out of data errors. Tonight, it happened right after startup. I HADN'T EVEN LOADED A FILE. Was just moving it around to set my location, and get that damn popup telling me to re-home my system. I'd just done it 2 minutes earlier. Doesn't happen a lot though.


Seems to me like something is buggier than hell here. My suspicion is Mach3. What say ye? Could it be my combo of mach3 and windows version?

I've attached the program that was giving me the issues tonight, but it is not unique to this one.