Hi all. I have an older gantry router I bought new around 2008. It has served well enough, but I am finally getting around to improving my probing capability. I still use the software bundle that came with it at the time. Running Mach3 on a dedicated XP machine that has never seen the internet. Rhino CAD/CAM for drawing/posting.
I have successfully installed a Z auto-zero script, and made a touch plate out of angle, and that has worked fine for a couple years.
So the other day I downloaded the Blue Screen, and installed the BlueProbeVer3 modifications to get the probing features. The screen looks as it should, and I get movement from clicking the cardinal directions, but am getting some odd responses. The first time I loaded Mach after the initial install of the Blue, the spindle would go in the opposite direction, and when the bit was touched with the probe plate (doing it manually with the Z at a safe height) the spindle would take of at rapid traverse speed until I hit E-stop.
Reloaded, clicked around zeroing axes and such, tried again and WORKING PERFECTLY!! Yay, but it didn't last. Now, it travels in the correct direction, but when I touch the plate to the bit, it stops (as it should), but momentarily, and then jumps anywhere from a fraction of an inch, to a few inches, again at rapid.
I suspect my problem lies with the fact that I am running Mach3 Version 2.60. It has always had a few annoying bugs, and in fact will often jump in a similar manner when I try to manually zero the X or Y axes to a touch plate embedded in my table, hence the desire to upgrade.
So my question to you folks is: can you tell me which version I should update to, that is known to be reasonably stable and will run BlueProbe correctly? I'm thinking of just going to 3.042.020. Again, the whole system is a bit dated, but it still serves my needs for now....
Do you think an update is a good plan, or should I be looking elsewhere? Is there a big difference between the 2. and 3. versions of Mach, i.e. potentially not working with my Gecko drives out of the box? PS I don't think noise is an issue in this case, the LED works like it should on the BlueScreen, but I'm not eliminating it as a possibility.
I appreciate any advice you all may have for me!