I've had an EMC 2.4.6 machine for about two years now and I've run dozens of parts through it, but recently I've been commissioned to mill a 11" x 10.5" x 4.875" positive mould of (half) of a helmet, and I've run into a bigproblem.
The Z axis on my machine has a range of 5.75" - I know this because not only did I set it up myself, but also I verified it last night while checking over my machine for something I might be doing wrong. I can move the quill down to its soft min_limit, touch off z = 0, then move up to the max_limit. Distance travelled = 5.7499" - so, I know I have the range.
So I put the workpiece on a jig, moved my tool down to the jig surface (on which the workpiece sits) and touched off to zero, and moved the quill back up to ensure adequate clearance of, oh, a 1/2" or so.
I see the program laid out in AXIS and it clearly shows the plot as being contained entirely within the soft limit envelope (none of the axis indicators are showing red), and the entire workpiece shows 5.25" including all moves which is what I programmed into my CAM program. Which is also within the limits of my machine - supposedly.
Yet, when I run the program, I get "Program exceeds machine minimum on axis z", and despite what I do, I can't seem to fix it. I spent all sorts of time screwing with my machine to increase the limits (moving limit switches further apart), adjusting parameters, double checking my configurations... nothing seems to matter.
I read a post somewhere indicating it might have something to do with the size of the program. My program is three parts - ~5500 lines of roughing code, and another ~4000 lines of two types of finishing passes. I've also broken it down into two programs, roughing and finishing with the same results.
I'm looking for clues. If you have any anecdotal solutions to "exceeds limits on axis" problems you've encountered, I would be very glad to hear them.
Torin...