[jmc2010]

I'm in the final stages of setting up my machine and getting all dialed in. One of the last stages is setting up the probe for setting z at 0 and whatnot. I ended up going with the Wildhorse Innovations Econo-Probe, but I had no idea it would be so lacking in setup instructions. Anyone out there have a similar setup that can point me in the right direction? Here is what I have

Mach3 < Ethernet Smooth Stepper < Leadshine MX3660

I have the probe hooked up to Input 4 on the MX3660, and the LED on the unit does light up on it when its depressed. I have the ports and pins set to port 1 pin 9 and active low enabled. No matter what I've changed, I can't seem to get the "probe active" light to light up in Ger's 2010 Screenset. Is there anywhere other than the ports and pins that I need to enable this to get it to work? I'm pretty new at this. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jason

[MobiusConcepts]

I'm in the final stages of setting up my machine and getting all dialed in. One of the last stages is setting up the probe for setting z at 0 and whatnot. I ended up going with the Wildhorse Innovations Econo-Probe, but I had no idea it would be so lacking in setup instructions. Anyone out there have a similar setup that can point me in the right direction? Here is what I have

Mach3 < Ethernet Smooth Stepper < Leadshine MX3660

I have the probe hooked up to Input 4 on the MX3660, and the LED on the unit does light up on it when its depressed. I have the ports and pins set to port 1 pin 9 and active low enabled. No matter what I've changed, I can't seem to get the "probe active" light to light up in Ger's 2010 Screenset. Is there anywhere other than the ports and pins that I need to enable this to get it to work? I'm pretty new at this. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jason

Are the common (GND) wires from all of your power supplies (especially the ones powering your econo-probe and MX3660) connected together at a common point?

[jmc2010]

Are the common (GND) wires from all of your power supplies (especially the ones powering your econo-probe and MX3660) connected together at a common point?

The only power that the econo-probe is getting is the 12vdc from the input terminals. I would guess that the commons are the same since the inputs are powered by the controller (MX3660)?

[jmc2010]

PROBLEM SOLVED!

First of all, thanks to Jeff Alessi for letting me call and walking me through the trouble shooting on this.

Problem 1:
I had the pin in ports and pins set to 9, when it was actually supposed to be pin 13. The documentation (or my understanding of it) was a little hazy about the pins. In the DB25 connector pin assignments, it says that input 4 is assigned to pin 9. Further down the documentation, in the appendix C, it shows the input 4 to be on pin 13.

Solution 1:
Set pin to 13

Problem 2:
The LED and its resistor allow enough current to flow to the device, that it wasn't allowing it to pull low triggering the signal for digitize. This scenario is detailed in their technical documents for the probe.

Solution 2:
Snip one leg of the LED's wires, disabling it.

Problem 3:
After getting the probe to signal, it was giving an intermittent signal when the probe was depressed. We determined the the intermittent signal was caused by noise from the shielding that was grounded to the chassis ground of my control panel.

Solution 3: Disconnect the shield's ground from the chassis.. BINGO... Solid light on the digitize LED when the probe was depressed.

I hope this can help someone else down the line that runs into this problem with a similar setup.

Jason