[vangalvin]

I have been working on a little project but have kind of come to a standstill.
It is essentially a drawing machine however the Y can only move in one direction and it is not possible to make it reverse.

What I would like to do is take the output from say Artcam using its laser option in to Mach3. The X axis will run backward and forward then wait for feedback from the roller saying that it is in position for the next pass then allow the Z/X to complete the next pass. I created an M code to pause Mach3 until a micro switch is triggered and as resolution is not a huge issue in this project (1 mm lines are more than adequate) was thinking of trying to create a PP that passes the Y to the M code and tells it to count the required triggers of the switch before doing the next pass.

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Oh and the Z is supposed to be a solenoid driven pen so a simple ON/OFF for this should not be a huge issue.

[hub]

I have been working on a little project but have kind of come to a standstill.
It is essentially a drawing machine however the Y can only move in one direction and it is not possible to make it reverse.

What I would like to do is take the output from say Artcam using its laser option in to Mach3. The X axis will run backward and forward then wait for feedback from the roller saying that it is in position for the next pass then allow the Z/X to complete the next pass. I created an M code to pause Mach3 until a micro switch is triggered and as resolution is not a huge issue in this project (1 mm lines are more than adequate) was thinking of trying to create a PP that passes the Y to the M code and tells it to count the required triggers of the switch before doing the next pass.

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Oh and the Z is supposed to be a solenoid driven pen so a simple ON/OFF for this should not be a huge issue.

Vangalvin,
Why not move Y in both directions?
If not possible, make your toolpaths so that Y moves only +.
The Z axis solenoid would be simple, just wire it to Z DIR pin and ignore the STEP. It will give you an on/off signal.

Hub

[vangalvin]

Vangalvin,
Why not move Y in both directions?
If not possible, make your toolpaths so that Y moves only +.
The Z axis solenoid would be simple, just wire it to Z DIR pin and ignore the STEP. It will give you an on/off signal.

Hub

The X is a fixed gantry and the roll feed underneath will only feed the material one way, kind of like a dotmatrix printer hence why I am limited to only going in the + direction. reversing it or rebuilding it to go +/- is not an option sadly.

The way I see it is that I have to alter whatever post I am using and add an M code with a Param that then tells Mash3 to get the current position, work out how far it needs to move then loop until its gone that far. once done it will continue with the G-Code. As i only need 1mm resolution the microswitch is set up so as to track the feed and send an input signal to one of the inputs.