[mlchman]

Hello, I am a total newbie that just got a X6-2200L. I am running the Mach3 that came with the machine although I did buy a license in advance of receiving the machine. I am also a total newbie to Mach3. The machine assembled fine and everything seems to be working with one exception- when I hit Ref All, the Z moves up and runs into the home switch and tries to keep going. The stepper motor keeps turning and the DRO keeps increasing. I have to hit Reset on the Reset switch on the control box to stop the stepper. I thought the Ref All was to home the machine at the beginning of each work session. I can Zero the DRO when not in Machine Coordinates but when I go back to Machine Coordinates, the DRO is way off. I thought the Ref All was supposed to home the axises by hitting the stop and backing off a small distance and zero the DRO machine coordinates.

I have cut a couple of the test g-code files and the machine works fine.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

mlchman

[Mmpie]

In the diagnostics screen you can see if the switch is activating when you press it down with your hand, a green light will flash in the corresponding box. Obviously it isn’t activating right now, make sure it’s plugged in properly first and the contacts are clean and in good contact. Cable could be broken somewhere or a wire popped off inside the connector etc. IIRC the switch cable had a join to extend for X and Z somewhere after the 6 core breaks out for the Y switch (could be wrong, I replaced all my cables but I’m sure I remember it being like that) You should also have got some spare switches with the machine you can try plug one of those in to see if they work. Also check X and Y switches trigger in mach3.


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[mlchman]

I forgot to mention - I went to the Diagnostic tab. The 3 indicators for the Home Switches are always unlit and they light up when I manually trip the switch so I think they are doing what they are supposed to do.

[Mmpie]

I forgot to mention - I went to the Diagnostic tab. The 3 indicators for the Home Switches are always unlit and they light up when I manually trip the switch so I think they are doing what they are supposed to do.

Ok, wiring is good and it’s a config issue then. Did you install mach3 exactly the way omio instructions tell you to? There’s a button somewhere


***edit: operator menu > edit button script****

that allows you to click on a button in the screen and see the script attached to it. It should have something like

GetOEMdro
[136]
[137]
[138]

It’s not that I’ve slept since I last looked at it but something along those lines. The numbers correspond to the inputs for each switch.



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[mlchman]

Ok, wiring is good and it’s a config issue then. Did you install mach3 exactly the way omio instructions tell you to? There’s a button somewhere


***edit: operator menu > edit button script****

that allows you to click on a button in the screen and see the script attached to it. It should have something like

GetOEMdro
[136]
[137]
[138]

This is what is in the Ref All script:
DoButton( 24 )
DoButton( 23 )
DoButton( 22 )
DoButton( 25 )
?
DoOEMButton(133)
DoOEMButton(134)
DoOEMButton(135)

[mlchman]

I did exactly as the instructions say. I have not installed the pendant. The light in the diagnostic page light up yellow when the home switches are activated.

I appreciate all your help.

[Mmpie]

That looks right, although I don’t think the question mark should be there. Which button/input # flashes when you press each of the X/Y/Z switches manually?


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[mlchman]

Sorry, it does not have the question mark in the script, that was inserted when I pasted.

X = M1Home
Y = M2Home
Z = M3 Home

Is it possible I am not doing something correctly which is causing the issue? After I turned on the computer and controller, I click the Ref All button. Z starts moving up, hits the home switch and doesn't retract and the Mach3 DRO keeps going up.

[Mmpie]

Hmm, all looks to be right.

Run through the home switches part of this link make sure it’s all set up properly if this doesn’t throw anything up then I’m afraid you will have to wait for one of the folks who know more about this sort of stuff to pitch in as I’m all out of ideas.

They’re wired up and connected properly.
The LED’s activate in Mach so it knows they’re activated
The refall button script is correct

Not sure why it’s not working. Have you tried turning everything off, closing Mach and restarting? Not that I can see why that would make any difference but...

http://www.micro-machine-shop.com/Mach3Mill_Setup.pdf


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[extent]

When it's rammed against the top and you've hit reset if you check the diagnostics page without touching anything else is the LED lit up?

While the Z is actively trying to home and stalling out does anything happen if you manually trigger the X and Y axis endstops?

[dharmic]

^^ This - I had to play a bit with the spring lever on the microswitch on Y and Z to get them to reliably trigger from carriage engagement (as opposed to pressing the lever manually) before the carriage ran out of travel.

[mlchman]

Problem is solved. It was a newbie oversight. When I ran it up to the top of Z to check for lights in the Diagnostic screen. I came to the realization that it was not going high enough to trip the home switch. The bellows were completely compressing and stopping the travel just before it tripped the switch. I had to add a small piece of steel to the bracket bolted to the side of the spindle mount. I adjusted the bracket and now the switch trips before the bellows is fully compressed.

When I hit Ref All Home, the Z goes to the top and trips the home switch, backs off and approaches the switch again but at a much slower pace, trips the switch and backs off and stops. It then moves on to the other 2 axises and does the same. Machine Coordinates DRO is reset to 0.

Thanks fr all your help.

[dharmic]

Nice!

A few of us have just removed the bellows. Whilst they are at first glance a great idea, they have downsides. They limit travel by a surprising amount. They make accessing the Z rails and ballscrew for cleaning / lubrication a major exercise. And what dust etc does get through behind the bellows stays hidden so you have no idea of what unpleasantness is building up back there.

[Mmpie]

Something so simple

Yes I got rid of the bellows too. The hiwin bearings and ball nut both have wipers on, so they should keep most the crap outside. Even with them removed Z travel is still prohibiting, particularly with typical jobber length drills.

Off topic but just thought I’d share, this beasty turned up today







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[dharmic]

Hey MrSpangles

The BOB you have there looks pretty much the same as the one I used. Sadly it's long enough since I did mine that I can't remember what I used for sure. I think I went with a 12V supply for the UC400-Eth etc, but this was mostly driven by the laser module I was adding at the same time. The UC400Eth came with a DB25 connector cable IIRC so that was an easy connection. I needed to do some cable lengthening for the stepper drivers too.

Tell ya what, if I get the chance this week I'll open up the black box and take some photos.

[dharmic]

So some quick ones (easier than I thought as I never bothered putting all the cover screws on last time I was in there).

This is the case back now - I've added connectors for the laser output and a normally closed probe input, and converted the USB hole for the ethernet input for the UC400. Also drilled a couple of mounting holes.





Looking down with the lid off. The new power supply was 12V and runs the UC400 and the laser module happily. Bonus - it nestles in nicely between the stepper supply and the VFD. I did have to buy some connectors for the BoB and splice them into the stepper control cables. Not my cleanest work, I probably slapped it together to test it all and it worked, and I never got around to tidying it all up. The new control electronics all sits on a basepate I cut and drilled out of 4mm ali plate, to hold it all together and to act as a heatsink for the laser driver. The mounting to the back of the case is done with the UC400 plate.



Closer look at the power supply. Massive overkill for just running the UC400 and BoB, but about right for the laser module.



A closer look at the electronics. The ribbon cable connecting the UC400 to the BoB came with the UC400, I ~think~. There's a 5V regulator on the UC400 and I used that to power the logic side of the BoB, just need an appropriate IDC connector. Apart from that nothing too exciting, just wire in the inputs and outputs as you'd expect. The PWM output for the spindle control is converted nicely to a 0-10V signal by the BoB and also got routed out to the laser for a little bit of power control.


This is how I did the Normally Closed probe input - it's just a little FET and pullup resistor running in parallel to the normally open input. Saved me stuffing around with the ports&pins in Mach3 every time I wanted to use the tool height probe or switch to the touch probe.


Hope this is of some help, if you need any more details let me know before I put it all back together on the weekend.

[Mmpie]

Is that still the hong nam BOB dharmic?

I am thinking of converting my omio into a dedicated laser or plasma.


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[dharmic]

According to the silk screen on the back of the board, it's a "GTeam Design MACH3 Interface board" 5 axis for under a tenner I reckon they're all much the same

[dharmic]

Also - serious? To me, the omio mechanicals seem a little overkill for a cheapo laser and too small to be useful for plasma. I'd keep it as a 2nd machine or flog it to fund a bigger laser, personally.

[Mmpie]

Well my thinking is this. I already have the machine frame, electrics, the nice tooling plate bed giving a decent flat(ish) starting point and all that built into an enclosure. The enclosure could fit a slightly larger frame inside but I wouldn’t get much for selling and buying or building new will cost a lot. If need be I can build a smaller and lighter gantry that will move quicker and easier. The VFD can be repurposed for my floor drill to get rid of the beaten up reeves drive which vibrates like a bee-atch and starts to melt the belt when running for a couple of minutes, I don’t use the drill for heavy drilling only for tapping small M3 > M5 holes in sheet and drilling out broken bolts so the loss of torque would be inconsequential.

So there would be very little waste, just the spindle (which I’m sure I’ll find another use for) and maybe the extrusion that forms the gantry and overall cost for the project wouldn’t be all that high.

The main thing I want it for is for prepping aluminium sheets ready for machining on a fixture and for cutting the odd custom one off/small run sheet work we need to do, both of which will easily fit inside the omio working area. Laser is my preference but I know they’re not the best for cutting aluminium. Need to do some research there.


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