[greenjeens]

Im having a heck of a time with my z axis. The z axis goes down but not far enough to touch my limit switch. My limit switch is wired normaly open. Normally open from switch to 5v on breakout board, Common terminal from switch to a ground terminal on breakout board. Im using a floating torch mount and z axis from no sleep studios. I have been messing with different settings and just cant figure it out. Looking in Mach 3 diagnostics screen the light for the z home goes out when i click the limit swith manually. Im at a loss as what to do. If i could post a video of what it does that would probably describe in great detail what its doing but i dont think i can post up videos here. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[mactec54]

greenjeens

It could be that you have the soft limits set, & this will stop the axes before it reaches the switch, so can you home the machine, which is Z all the way up to the top switch, once you have homed the machine, & have soft limits set/active, it will not go past the set number in the soft limit settings

[greenjeens]

Maybe im missing some limit switches then. I only have one at the middle as in this video, that activates when the TOM is touched. Which is the problem i cant get the z to travel far enough to touch it. Am i suppose to have a limit switch at the top of the z axis on this set up? How do I change the limits for the z axis in mach 3?

[greenjeens]

Disregard that youtube link thats not the right video.

[greenjeens]

ShopDroids Floating Z - YouTube this is thd video.

[greenjeens]

Here is my machine, sorry not very good quality, and not a good view of the z axis. Were getting a major hail storm, and i had to move the machine off to the side to fit two vehicles in our garage otherwise i would post a better video up. Diy plasma cnc - YouTube

[Mzones]

I agree about the soft limit issue.
Also it seems that you have the limit switch connected as a homing switch, in your setup.

[greenjeens]

here is how my z axis looks.

[greenjeens]

Attachment 188518 here is a screen shot of my Homing/soft limits in Mach 3 if that helps. Im sure its not setup right. I'm kind of a newbie when it comes to mach3, and sheetcam but I am learning how to use it.

[mactec54]

greenjeens

With the Home/limit switch were it is the Z axes won't go up past it, You would need to move it up higher, or turn off the limit switch, in ports/pins, the soft-limits are as default

They are not the problem but if you turn off the limit switch, once you home the machine to your switch, you can then turn on the soft-limits, just change the numbers in the soft-limits to suit your machine travel, so you don't crash into the end of the axes travel

[greenjeens]

Looks like I figured it out took some time, but I have the micro switch set wired wrong so I switch the ground/5v terminals around on the switch. Diy cnc test 2 floating torch head. - YouTube, here it is doing what its suppose to be doing. I still think I have the Soft limits wrong but its not affecting my test piece so far.