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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Posts
    15

    Mach3 Tool change problems

    Hi everyone,
    I am pretty new to CNCing, just to get that out of the way to start with. I have spent the last month getting to know the lingo and what does what, so please bare with me a little. I also apologize if this gets long, but I want to give everyone enough info to help. I have done a ton of searching with no luck, so you guys are my last hope. LOL Anyway, I have own a Bridgeport series 1 manual mill for sometime now and just recently picked up a CNC Master 4 axis knee mill (Bridgeport copy). It has the drives and motors upgraded to Gecko drives with a smooth stepper ethernet BOB. And I am using the current version of Mach3 (from what I can tell). I used Fusion 360 to build my part and do the CAM. I had someone with a lot of fusion experience help me with it so that should be good.

    I have the Tormach TTS system for all of my tools. I have ref. home and then built my tool library with all my tool offsets. Everything seems fine there. I can put a tool in and zero it to G54 and change tools and use the mdi screen to go to g0g54g43h5z0 and it will go to z height correctly. And I have tried it with other tools just changing the "H" value to the correct tool and it will find g54z0 correctly on all tools. So I am pretty sure I have this part correctly done.

    So my problem is I have an op that has 4 tool changes in it. All done in fusion360.

    This is how I start things:
    1. I ref home
    2. I put my stock in and I zero g54. And I make sure the tool offset light is green under the offsets tab.
    3. I load the gcode for my part.
    4. I hit the cycle start and it asks for the first tool (tool 5). I put in the tool and hit cycle start again.
    5. Everything is fine. It runs through the code and then stops. I hit cycle start again and it asks for the next tool (tool 2). I change the tool and hit cycle start again. The spindle will start up and then it goes up and hits my limit switch and tells me the emergency stop has hit and the machine stops. Uggg.

    I have went into fusion and posted each tool change op as separate operations to make sure it was not that. Everything went fine and built the part as planned. But I want to make it do it all in one operation and it just stop and ask for tool changes. I have built a fixture for all of my parts and each stage zeros from the same point on the fixture for simplicity.

    From what I can tell when it gets ready for a tool change the spindle just pulls up to home z0 and waits for a tool change. But after I change the tool and start back up it seems like something in the code forces the spindle to go higher. A couple of times right past the limit switch and I can hear the motor trying to break the machine. Not good at all.

    So I basically carved down the code with just 1-2 gcodes to move the table and then let it ask for a tool change again. Just to make it faster so I can check everything out and get is sorted. I don't know if that is a good thing or not as I am just learning. But it seems ok and it does produce the same problem when asking for the next tool. So below is basically the start and end of each segment that asks for the tool change. I just carved out all the extra table movements to make it easier to read.

    I am pretty much at a loss and I hope someone can help. Thanks for your time.



    (1001)
    (PUTTER BACK FULL OP)
    (T2 D=0.25 CR=0. - ZMIN=0.1305 - FLAT END MILL)
    (T3 D=0.1875 CR=0.0937 - ZMIN=0.1349 - BALL END MILL)
    (T5 D=0.5 CR=0. - ZMIN=0.01 - FLAT END MILL)
    (T9 D=0.125 CR=0.0625 - ZMIN=0.5267 - BALL END MILL)
    G90 G94 G91.1 G40 G49 G17
    G20
    G28 G91 Z0.
    G90


    (ADAPTIVE1)
    M5
    M9
    T5 M6
    S5100 M3
    G54
    M7
    G0 X1.1125 Y-5.5494
    G43 Z1.5814 H5
    Z1.0401
    G1 Z0.9901 F30.6
    X1.1126 Y-5.5491 Z0.9845
    X1.1128 Y-5.5482 Z0.979
    X1.0141 Z0.1851
    G0 Z1.5814
    G28 G91 Z0.
    G90


    (POCKET)
    M5
    M9
    M1
    T2 M6
    S4000 M3
    G54
    M7
    G0 X1.7155 Y-2.8753
    G43 Z1.5814 H2
    Z0.2951
    G3 X1.8134 Y-2.6589 Z0.2821 I0.0489 J0.1082 F24.
    X1.7155 Y-2.8753 Z0.2691 I-0.0489 J-0.1082
    X1.8134 Y-2.6589 Z0.256 I0.0489 J0.1082
    X1.7155 Y-2.8753 Z0.243 I-0.0489 J-0.1082
    X1.7547 Z0.1522
    X1.755 Z0.1561
    G0 Z1.5814
    G28 G91 Z0.
    G90


    (FILLETS)
    M5
    M9
    M1
    T9 M6
    S5000 M3
    G54
    M8
    G0 X2.0871 Y-4.7165
    G43 Z1.5814 H9
    Z1.0801
    G1 Z1.0126 F10.
    X2.0872 Y-4.7159 Z1.0087
    X2.0875 Y-4.7142 Z1.0053
    X2.0881 Y-4.7115 Z1.0025
    X1.9431 Y-3.7734
    X1.9574 Y-3.769
    G0 Z1.044
    Z1.5814
    G28 G91 Z0.
    G90


    (LOWER FILLETS)
    M5
    M9
    M1
    T3 M6
    S5093 M3
    G54
    M7
    G0 X1.448 Y-4.7352
    G43 Z1.5814 H3
    Z0.5489
    G1 Z0.1679 F20.
    X1.4483 Y-4.7354 Z0.1642
    X1.4493 Y-4.7359 Z0.1607
    X1.606 Y-1.4528 Z0.1491
    Y-1.4535 Z0.1541
    G0 Z0.2143
    Z1.5814


    M9
    G28 G91 Z0.
    G28 X0. Y0.
    M30

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    15362

    Re: Mach3 Tool change problems

    Quote Originally Posted by Siddhi View Post
    Hi everyone,
    I am pretty new to CNCing, just to get that out of the way to start with. I have spent the last month getting to know the lingo and what does what, so please bare with me a little. I also apologize if this gets long, but I want to give everyone enough info to help. I have done a ton of searching with no luck, so you guys are my last hope. LOL Anyway, I have own a Bridgeport series 1 manual mill for sometime now and just recently picked up a CNC Master 4 axis knee mill (Bridgeport copy). It has the drives and motors upgraded to Gecko drives with a smooth stepper ethernet BOB. And I am using the current version of Mach3 (from what I can tell). I used Fusion 360 to build my part and do the CAM. I had someone with a lot of fusion experience help me with it so that should be good.

    I have the Tormach TTS system for all of my tools. I have ref. home and then built my tool library with all my tool offsets. Everything seems fine there. I can put a tool in and zero it to G54 and change tools and use the mdi screen to go to g0g54g43h5z0 and it will go to z height correctly. And I have tried it with other tools just changing the "H" value to the correct tool and it will find g54z0 correctly on all tools. So I am pretty sure I have this part correctly done.

    So my problem is I have an op that has 4 tool changes in it. All done in fusion360.

    This is how I start things:
    1. I ref home
    2. I put my stock in and I zero g54. And I make sure the tool offset light is green under the offsets tab.
    3. I load the gcode for my part.
    4. I hit the cycle start and it asks for the first tool (tool 5). I put in the tool and hit cycle start again.
    5. Everything is fine. It runs through the code and then stops. I hit cycle start again and it asks for the next tool (tool 2). I change the tool and hit cycle start again. The spindle will start up and then it goes up and hits my limit switch and tells me the emergency stop has hit and the machine stops. Uggg.

    I have went into fusion and posted each tool change op as separate operations to make sure it was not that. Everything went fine and built the part as planned. But I want to make it do it all in one operation and it just stop and ask for tool changes. I have built a fixture for all of my parts and each stage zeros from the same point on the fixture for simplicity.

    From what I can tell when it gets ready for a tool change the spindle just pulls up to home z0 and waits for a tool change. But after I change the tool and start back up it seems like something in the code forces the spindle to go higher. A couple of times right past the limit switch and I can hear the motor trying to break the machine. Not good at all.

    So I basically carved down the code with just 1-2 gcodes to move the table and then let it ask for a tool change again. Just to make it faster so I can check everything out and get is sorted. I don't know if that is a good thing or not as I am just learning. But it seems ok and it does produce the same problem when asking for the next tool. So below is basically the start and end of each segment that asks for the tool change. I just carved out all the extra table movements to make it easier to read.

    I am pretty much at a loss and I hope someone can help. Thanks for your time.



    (1001)
    (PUTTER BACK FULL OP)
    (T2 D=0.25 CR=0. - ZMIN=0.1305 - FLAT END MILL)
    (T3 D=0.1875 CR=0.0937 - ZMIN=0.1349 - BALL END MILL)
    (T5 D=0.5 CR=0. - ZMIN=0.01 - FLAT END MILL)
    (T9 D=0.125 CR=0.0625 - ZMIN=0.5267 - BALL END MILL)
    G90 G94 G91.1 G40 G49 G17
    G20
    G28 G91 Z0.
    G90


    (ADAPTIVE1)
    M5
    M9
    T5 M6
    S5100 M3
    G54
    M7
    G0 X1.1125 Y-5.5494
    G43 Z1.5814 H5
    Z1.0401
    G1 Z0.9901 F30.6
    X1.1126 Y-5.5491 Z0.9845
    X1.1128 Y-5.5482 Z0.979
    X1.0141 Z0.1851
    G0 Z1.5814
    G28 G91 Z0.
    G90


    (POCKET)
    M5
    M9
    M1
    T2 M6
    S4000 M3
    G54
    M7
    G0 X1.7155 Y-2.8753
    G43 Z1.5814 H2
    Z0.2951
    G3 X1.8134 Y-2.6589 Z0.2821 I0.0489 J0.1082 F24.
    X1.7155 Y-2.8753 Z0.2691 I-0.0489 J-0.1082
    X1.8134 Y-2.6589 Z0.256 I0.0489 J0.1082
    X1.7155 Y-2.8753 Z0.243 I-0.0489 J-0.1082
    X1.7547 Z0.1522
    X1.755 Z0.1561
    G0 Z1.5814
    G28 G91 Z0.
    G90


    (FILLETS)
    M5
    M9
    M1
    T9 M6
    S5000 M3
    G54
    M8
    G0 X2.0871 Y-4.7165
    G43 Z1.5814 H9
    Z1.0801
    G1 Z1.0126 F10.
    X2.0872 Y-4.7159 Z1.0087
    X2.0875 Y-4.7142 Z1.0053
    X2.0881 Y-4.7115 Z1.0025
    X1.9431 Y-3.7734
    X1.9574 Y-3.769
    G0 Z1.044
    Z1.5814
    G28 G91 Z0.
    G90


    (LOWER FILLETS)
    M5
    M9
    M1
    T3 M6
    S5093 M3
    G54
    M7
    G0 X1.448 Y-4.7352
    G43 Z1.5814 H3
    Z0.5489
    G1 Z0.1679 F20.
    X1.4483 Y-4.7354 Z0.1642
    X1.4493 Y-4.7359 Z0.1607
    X1.606 Y-1.4528 Z0.1491
    Y-1.4535 Z0.1541
    G0 Z0.2143
    Z1.5814


    M9
    G28 G91 Z0.
    G28 X0. Y0.
    M30
    All your Z moves are positive moves, they have to be negative moves, negative is down positive is up, you are not doing your offsets correct, your cam output is incorrect also, set your tools to the top of your work piece
    Mactec54

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Posts
    15

    Re: Mach3 Tool change problems

    Quote Originally Posted by mactec54 View Post
    All your Z moves are positive moves, they have to be negative moves, negative is down positive is up, you are not doing your offsets correct, your cam output is incorrect also, set your tools to the top of your work piece

    Mactec54 thanks for the reply. I am not sure how else to change this. Here is the process I use to setup everything.

    My tool offsets in my library
    1. I took all tools out of the spindle and have setup G59 to be my tool setup. It basically send the X and Y to the same spot which is a flat spot on my vise that is fixed. I have a 2" gauge height block and I set it on the vise and I bring the spindle down and zero it out there. I have tool 0 chosen and I zero the DRO,

    2. I put in my longest tool and bring it down and zero it out. I look at the DRO and lets say it is +3.5566. I open up the tool table and in the height section I put in 3.5566 for which ever tool it is.

    3. I do this with all of my remaining tools.

    Then when I am ready to start a job I put in my first tool say tool #5 and I set mach3 to G54 and I zero X and Y to the sides of my soft jaws at the left corner furthest away from me. I then set up Z to the top part of the same location. This is the jaw that is mounted in the fixed jaw of my vise and it is where all of my coordinates in Fusion360 is based off of. Now all of my cuts are above this location, but only by an inch or so if that. There is plenty of room left on the quill to travel above the work piece. So that is probably why everything shows positive numbers, cause they actually are from G54 zero. This is the only place I can touch off to have it fixed for the entire operation start to finish for production work. As everything else will have moved at some point.

    Please let me know if this is correct or not. I have a friend that does CNC work all day long and this is how he helped me set it up. All though he works on a Tormach and a Haas and does not work with Mach3 at all. But I would think the same types of operations would work fine with my setup as well. Any help is greatly appreciated.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    15362

    Re: Mach3 Tool change problems

    Quote Originally Posted by Siddhi View Post
    Mactec54 thanks for the reply. I am not sure how else to change this. Here is the process I use to setup everything.

    My tool offsets in my library
    1. I took all tools out of the spindle and have setup G59 to be my tool setup. It basically send the X and Y to the same spot which is a flat spot on my vise that is fixed. I have a 2" gauge height block and I set it on the vise and I bring the spindle down and zero it out there. I have tool 0 chosen and I zero the DRO,

    2. I put in my longest tool and bring it down and zero it out. I look at the DRO and lets say it is +3.5566. I open up the tool table and in the height section I put in 3.5566 for which ever tool it is.

    3. I do this with all of my remaining tools.

    Then when I am ready to start a job I put in my first tool say tool #5 and I set mach3 to G54 and I zero X and Y to the sides of my soft jaws at the left corner furthest away from me. I then set up Z to the top part of the same location. This is the jaw that is mounted in the fixed jaw of my vise and it is where all of my coordinates in Fusion360 is based off of. Now all of my cuts are above this location, but only by an inch or so if that. There is plenty of room left on the quill to travel above the work piece. So that is probably why everything shows positive numbers, cause they actually are from G54 zero. This is the only place I can touch off to have it fixed for the entire operation start to finish for production work. As everything else will have moved at some point.

    Please let me know if this is correct or not. I have a friend that does CNC work all day long and this is how he helped me set it up. All though he works on a Tormach and a Haas and does not work with Mach3 at all. But I would think the same types of operations would work fine with my setup as well. Any help is greatly appreciated.

    There is no difference of what machine control you are working with, there are ways to setup like you are doing, that can work, but it seems he is doing it incorrect as well

    If you home your machine, moving your Z-axes down everything should be a Negative reading in the Dro, if not you have your Z axes reversed, and you need to correct this

    Your tools need to be set to the top of your work piece, that you are going to cut, tool Offset is using G43 Z--- H--- value work positions X---- and Y---- use G54 through G59
    Mactec54

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Posts
    15

    Re: Mach3 Tool change problems

    Yes my home is all zero in my DRO and everything else is negative at that point. I am only touching off on my soft jaw cause I am trying to setup for production in the future. So I need one fixed location that cannot be changed no matter which op I am in. I have 2 main ops and the 1st is to use blank stock and mill the back side. This leaves a small part of the stock that has not been milled. So I have made the soft jaws so it has the profile of the newly milled back. And I can now flip the part over and clamp it back in and then finish the 2nd op from the same location on the soft jaw. So basically I am touching off on the top of the work piece. I do understand where you are coming from and if I was doing just a single piece I would touch off on the top of the actual work piece.

    I am using g54 for my fixture zero. And g43 for my offsets, but that is prebuilt into the Gcode at the tool changes. I hope that made sense.
    Thanks!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Posts
    30

    Re: Mach3 Tool change problems

    HI,

    Strangely I had exactly the same problem just a couple of weeks ago. My machine had been working fine and suddenly started showing exactly the symptoms you describe - spindle headed upward into the limit switch at every tool change during a program.

    Turned out the thing I'd changed was the config of the Safe Z value - see Config\Safe_z Setup...

    This gets picked up in the standard M6End.m1s macro that gets executed for every M6 in your program. Since I actually wanted safe z defined for other reasons, I got round the problem by commenting out the majority of the macro. My macro now looks like this - note the 'REM' added to the start of each of the last 7 lines. I'd bet you'd get the same result if you just disable Safe_Z moves in the config.

    REM The default script here moves the tool back To m6start If Any movement has occured during the tool change..

    x = GetToolChangeStart( 0 )
    y = GetToolChangeStart( 1 )
    z = GetToolChangeStart( 2 )
    a = GetToolChangeStart( 3 )
    b = GetToolChangeStart( 4 )
    c = GetToolChangeStart( 5 )

    rem If(IsSafeZ() = 1) Then
    rem SafeZ = GetSafeZ()
    rem If SafeZ > z Then StraightTraverse x, y,SafeZ, a, b, c
    rem StraightFeed x, y, z , a, b, c
    rem Else
    rem Code"G00 X" & x & "Y" & y
    rem end if





  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    15362

    Re: Mach3 Tool change problems

    Quote Originally Posted by Siddhi View Post
    Yes my home is all zero in my DRO and everything else is negative at that point. I am only touching off on my soft jaw cause I am trying to setup for production in the future. So I need one fixed location that cannot be changed no matter which op I am in. I have 2 main ops and the 1st is to use blank stock and mill the back side. This leaves a small part of the stock that has not been milled. So I have made the soft jaws so it has the profile of the newly milled back. And I can now flip the part over and clamp it back in and then finish the 2nd op from the same location on the soft jaw. So basically I am touching off on the top of the work piece. I do understand where you are coming from and if I was doing just a single piece I would touch off on the top of the actual work piece.

    I am using g54 for my fixture zero. And g43 for my offsets, but that is prebuilt into the Gcode at the tool changes. I hope that made sense.
    Thanks!
    The problem is where is home when you have all zeros in the Dro
    Mactec54

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Posts
    15

    Re: Mach3 Tool change problems

    Quote Originally Posted by davidloomes View Post
    HI,

    Strangely I had exactly the same problem just a couple of weeks ago. My machine had been working fine and suddenly started showing exactly the symptoms you describe - spindle headed upward into the limit switch at every tool change during a program.

    Turned out the thing I'd changed was the config of the Safe Z value - see Config\Safe_z Setup...

    This gets picked up in the standard M6End.m1s macro that gets executed for every M6 in your program. Since I actually wanted safe z defined for other reasons, I got round the problem by commenting out the majority of the macro. My macro now looks like this - note the 'REM' added to the start of each of the last 7 lines. I'd bet you'd get the same result if you just disable Safe_Z moves in the config.

    REM The default script here moves the tool back To m6start If Any movement has occured during the tool change..

    x = GetToolChangeStart( 0 )
    y = GetToolChangeStart( 1 )
    z = GetToolChangeStart( 2 )
    a = GetToolChangeStart( 3 )
    b = GetToolChangeStart( 4 )
    c = GetToolChangeStart( 5 )

    rem If(IsSafeZ() = 1) Then
    rem SafeZ = GetSafeZ()
    rem If SafeZ > z Then StraightTraverse x, y,SafeZ, a, b, c
    rem StraightFeed x, y, z , a, b, c
    rem Else
    rem Code"G00 X" & x & "Y" & y
    rem end if




    Thanks for the reply. I did get everything working on mine. I found someone that had wrote a custom M6start.m1s file and I modified it. Now everything works as it should. Took some playing with it, cause I had to get the max heights correct. But all is good. Part of that was to comment out most of my M6end.m1s file as well.

    I looked and I do have it set to allow safeZ. I have no idea what it's affects are though. Do you think I should still mess around with it? Can you give me a little more detail of its use?

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Posts
    15

    Re: Mach3 Tool change problems

    Quote Originally Posted by mactec54 View Post
    The problem is where is home when you have all zeros in the Dro
    Thanks for your help Mactec54. I got it figured out. It had to do with some settings that were set under the settings tab for tool changes and I had to create a custom M6Start.m1s file. Now everything works as it should.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Posts
    30

    Re: Mach3 Tool change problems

    Quote Originally Posted by Siddhi View Post
    Thanks for the reply. I did get everything working on mine. I found someone that had wrote a custom M6start.m1s file and I modified it. Now everything works as it should. Took some playing with it, cause I had to get the max heights correct. But all is good. Part of that was to comment out most of my M6end.m1s file as well.

    I looked and I do have it set to allow safeZ. I have no idea what it's affects are though. Do you think I should still mess around with it? Can you give me a little more detail of its use?
    I think the problem lies with the line

    If SafeZ > z Then StraightTraverse x, y,SafeZ, a, b, c

    If you have a safe z defined and it happens to be higher than the current tool position, then the machine will do a rapid move (StraightTraverse is equivalent to G0) to a position above the original x,y but at the safe z height. The problem arises if you define safe_Z in absolute coordinates at the top of your Z travel - the obvious place for most people - The StraightTraverse or 'G0' move will take tool length offset into account and will attempt to move the tip of the tool to the safe z instead of the z axis carriage. This will move the carriage above the safe z height by an amount equal to your tool length and hence hit your limit switch.

    I'm afraid I don't know where else Safe Z is likely to be used, hence I decided to modify the M6 macro rather than disable the safe z definition, but I've a funny feeling that if it's used anywhere else, that too will result in your spindle heading upwards into the limit switch.

    With any luck someone else will explain how you're supposed to use this setting.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Posts
    15

    Re: Mach3 Tool change problems

    Quote Originally Posted by davidloomes View Post
    I think the problem lies with the line

    If SafeZ > z Then StraightTraverse x, y,SafeZ, a, b, c

    If you have a safe z defined and it happens to be higher than the current tool position, then the machine will do a rapid move (StraightTraverse is equivalent to G0) to a position above the original x,y but at the safe z height. The problem arises if you define safe_Z in absolute coordinates at the top of your Z travel - the obvious place for most people - The StraightTraverse or 'G0' move will take tool length offset into account and will attempt to move the tip of the tool to the safe z instead of the z axis carriage. This will move the carriage above the safe z height by an amount equal to your tool length and hence hit your limit switch.

    I'm afraid I don't know where else Safe Z is likely to be used, hence I decided to modify the M6 macro rather than disable the safe z definition, but I've a funny feeling that if it's used anywhere else, that too will result in your spindle heading upwards into the limit switch.

    With any luck someone else will explain how you're supposed to use this setting.

    Ah that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for explaining that for me. I will look into those settings. I think what I did was cheat it with my M6Start file and I told it to stay below where it was going with this code.

    Code "G53 G0 Z-1.0" So basically stay 1" below machine zero. I had to play with this setting until it would not hit the estop.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    15362

    Re: Mach3 Tool change problems

    Quote Originally Posted by Siddhi View Post
    Ah that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for explaining that for me. I will look into those settings. I think what I did was cheat it with my M6Start file and I told it to stay below where it was going with this code.

    Code "G53 G0 Z-1.0" So basically stay 1" below machine zero. I had to play with this setting until it would not hit the estop.
    If you setup the soft limits, it won't go and trip the limit switch / Estop
    Mactec54

  13. #13
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    Apr 2018
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    15

    Re: Mach3 Tool change problems

    Quote Originally Posted by mactec54 View Post
    If you setup the soft limits, it won't go and trip the limit switch / Estop

    How do I setup the soft limits?

  14. #14
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    Jan 2005
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    15362

    Re: Mach3 Tool change problems

    Quote Originally Posted by Siddhi View Post
    How do I setup the soft limits?
    Config

    Homing / Limits

    You can set these soft limits to the max work area for all axes, or any size you want to make your work area, once they are set the machine won't go beyond the set point

    There most likely many videos on this on YouTube
    Mactec54

  15. #15
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    Apr 2018
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    15

    Re: Mach3 Tool change problems

    Quote Originally Posted by mactec54 View Post
    Config

    Homing / Limits

    You can set these soft limits to the max work area for all axes, or any size you want to make your work area, once they are set the machine won't go beyond the set point

    There most likely many videos on this on YouTube

    Ok thanks. I know which limits you are talking about.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Posts
    30

    Re: Mach3 Tool change problems

    Yeah, soft limits would most likely do the job, but I've found them pretty troublesome in the past. You may for example find that you have to turn them off in order to re-ref your machine as they seem to stop homing moves too.

    I've also found with my machine that if I set the Z-axis upper limit to 0 and then type G0 Z1, then the Z-axis will stop at 0.25. The command G0 Z-1 is then refused because the axis is already beyond the soft-limit. Once in this position, I have to jog the machine below the 0 softlimit before g-code execution can resume. Pretty annoying.

    This is such an issue, that I've had to modify the code behind the 'Ref all axes' buttons to the following to get them to work reliably once soft limits have been set.

    'start by de-refing all the axes
    DoOEMButton(240)


    'Make sure soft limits are off for the homing actions
    If GetOEMLED(23) Then
    DoOEMButton(119)
    Sleep(250)
    End If

    'Ref Z
    DoOEMButton(1024)

    'Ref Y
    DoOEMButton(1023)
    'Ref X
    DoOEMButton(1022)
    'Ref A
    DoOEMButton(1025)

    'Zero X encoder
    DoOEMButton(133)
    'Zero Y encoder
    DoOEMButton(134)
    'Zero Z encoder
    DoOEMButton(135)

    'Wait for all the homing moves to complete
    While IsMoving
    Sleep(1000)
    Wend

    'Turn soft limits back on
    DoOEMButton(119)

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    15362

    Re: Mach3 Tool change problems

    Quote Originally Posted by davidloomes View Post
    Yeah, soft limits would most likely do the job, but I've found them pretty troublesome in the past. You may for example find that you have to turn them off in order to re-ref your machine as they seem to stop homing moves too.

    I've also found with my machine that if I set the Z-axis upper limit to 0 and then type G0 Z1, then the Z-axis will stop at 0.25. The command G0 Z-1 is then refused because the axis is already beyond the soft-limit. Once in this position, I have to jog the machine below the 0 softlimit before g-code execution can resume. Pretty annoying.

    This is such an issue, that I've had to modify the code behind the 'Ref all axes' buttons to the following to get them to work reliably once soft limits have been set.

    'start by de-refing all the axes
    DoOEMButton(240)


    'Make sure soft limits are off for the homing actions
    If GetOEMLED(23) Then
    DoOEMButton(119)
    Sleep(250)
    End If

    'Ref Z
    DoOEMButton(1024)

    'Ref Y
    DoOEMButton(1023)
    'Ref X
    DoOEMButton(1022)
    'Ref A
    DoOEMButton(1025)

    'Zero X encoder
    DoOEMButton(133)
    'Zero Y encoder
    DoOEMButton(134)
    'Zero Z encoder
    DoOEMButton(135)

    'Wait for all the homing moves to complete
    While IsMoving
    Sleep(1000)
    Wend

    'Turn soft limits back on
    DoOEMButton(119)
    You must of been doing something wrong in your setup, I have used it on 2 machine for around 10 years and has never ever failed, once you home your machine on start up it auto turns on and stays that way until you shut your machine down, now if you want to reference your machine then you turn off the soft limit ( press the soft limit button ) reference your machine and then turn soft limits back on, nothing more to it, I never have to do this but that is all you would do
    Mactec54

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