[deanbayley]

Hi Guys,

I have just received my Sable 2015, it looks very well built but the tiny bit of documentation is in Chinglish, as some of you may no know it comes with a connector for the limit switches and ESTOP but no switches or even a suggestion as to where to put them.

I have setup EMC2 so that the 3 pins are "* Limit & Home".

I always imagined that you would simply click a button and the machine would home itself.

I bought 3 small microswitches with levers and soldered them up, when i changed the EMC config from "Both Limits *" to "* Limit & Home" a button apeared "Home All Axis" when i clicked it the Z axis started moving painfully slowly, i imagine as slow as it was able, i understand that once you were near the limit you'd want it to go super slow to make it accurate but surely there is a more sophisticated way of homing than manually jogging the axis nearly there and then clicking home all?

Also what is the accepted method of achieving consistent drill depth, one thing i haven't been able to figure out is how you set the depth, do you just carefully jog the Z axis down so it is touching the work piece and home it?

All very exciting as its my first day using a CNC machine, not got all that far though, spent half the day looking for a propper ESTOP switch as i could see the importance of been able to just hit a button next to the machine just before the controller tells the machine to rip its self to bits.. :drowning:

Thanks!
D.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Hi Guys,

I have just received my Sable 2015, it looks very well built but the tiny bit of documentation is in Chinglish, as some of you may no know it comes with a connector for the limit switches and ESTOP but no switches or even a suggestion as to where to put them.

I have setup EMC2 so that the 3 pins are "* Limit & Home".

I always imagined that you would simply click a button and the machine would home itself.

I bought 3 small microswitches with levers and soldered them up, when i changed the EMC config from "Both Limits *" to "* Limit & Home" a button apeared "Home All Axis" when i clicked it the Z axis started moving painfully slowly, i imagine as slow as it was able, i understand that once you were near the limit you'd want it to go super slow to make it accurate but surely there is a more sophisticated way of homing than manually jogging the axis nearly there and then clicking home all?

Also what is the accepted method of achieving consistent drill depth, one thing i haven't been able to figure out is how you set the depth, do you just carefully jog the Z axis down so it is touching the work piece and home it?

All very exciting as its my first day using a CNC machine, not got all that far though, spent half the day looking for a propper ESTOP switch as i could see the importance of been able to just hit a button next to the machine just before the controller tells the machine to rip its self to bits.. :drowning:

Thanks!
D.

I will suggest something a bit controversial - Don't bother with home switches! I put home switches on my knee mill, but ever since I started using probing to reference the machine to my work fixtures, I see no need for homing. It's a definite must-have for a production machine, but for a home shop, I think completely unnecessary, and actually more work than just using probing to zero directly to your work.
Setting the Z reference position is also quickly and easily done by probing, using the G31 command, which is a REAL time-saver.
After having microswitches for home/limit switches, I would also suggest instead going with optical or proximity switches. Mechanical switches will introduce a small uncertainty (not important for limits, but very important for home switches), and they are prone to fouling by chips/oil/coolant if not completely enclosed or sealed.

Regards,
Ray L.

[deanbayley]

I tried something i saw on a blog, he put a contact on the board and a crocodile clip on the bit, i did the same and used a continuity tester to see when the 2 surfaces were touching...

I manually jogged down in 0.005mm steps (which takes ages if you don't get it really close to start with) and once they were touching i "Touched Off" i then jogged it up, turned on the spindle and clicked run.

It all went fine, i noticed that the lines were much bigger than the end of the bit, it looks like the spindle isn't very good, its just the super cheap die grinder that was bundled in with it, for the price i wasn't expecting much, i'm thinking i'd be better using my DREMEL 400 Series DIGITAL..

Or do you think i'd be much better investing in a Kress 1050 FME? The included mount is already 43mm so it would be a drop in replacement...

What i was wondering was, when you touch off, are you setting the height of the material or are you setting the lowest point it can travel?

So lets say i was cutting something out of wood, would i touch off at the top of the wood and it would cut downward from there?

Can you move the home position in EMC?

Thanks!

D.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

I have no clue how EMC does things, I use Mach3. But, the G31 command exists for doing probing. It moves the specified axes toward a specified position until an input is activated. In Mach, there is a dedicated "probe" input, that is typically defined as active low. You either use an insulated probe in the spindle, connected to the probe input, and having a pullup resistor, or a plate like you describe. When the insulated probe touches any metal, or the tool touches the plate, the probe input goes active, and the G31 command terminates. The machine position at that point then tells you exactly where the edge/surface is located. With a few simple macros, this can be very effectively used to zero a tool in all axes to any edge, face, centerpoint, setting tool length offsets, tool wear offsets, etc. I use macros for automatically setting tool length, zeroing work coordinates to workpiece corners and edges, mid-points between faces/edges, centerpoints of holes/pockets, aligning a vise parallel/perpendicular to an axis, even for aligning edges to a specific angle relative to an axis or axes. Probing is a HUGE time-saver, and very well worth the time it takes to learn and setup.

Regards,
Ray L.

[Waldermac]

Do you know where a good place is to learn and gather the materials to set this up?

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Do you know where a good place is to learn and gather the materials to set this up?

There are numerous threads, here, the ArtSoft (Mach3) forum, and the Mach1Mach2CNC Yahoo group. All my probing macros are posted on the ArtSoft forum and the Yahoo group as well.

Regards,
Ray L.

[acondit]

I tried something i saw on a blog, he put a contact on the board and a crocodile clip on the bit, i did the same and used a continuity tester to see when the 2 surfaces were touching...

I manually jogged down in 0.005mm steps (which takes ages if you don't get it really close to start with) and once they were touching i "Touched Off" i then jogged it up, turned on the spindle and clicked run.

It all went fine, i noticed that the lines were much bigger than the end of the bit, it looks like the spindle isn't very good, its just the super cheap die grinder that was bundled in with it, for the price i wasn't expecting much, i'm thinking i'd be better using my DREMEL 400 Series DIGITAL..

Or do you think i'd be much better investing in a Kress 1050 FME? The included mount is already 43mm so it would be a drop in replacement...

What i was wondering was, when you touch off, are you setting the height of the material or are you setting the lowest point it can travel?

So lets say i was cutting something out of wood, would i touch off at the top of the wood and it would cut downward from there?

Can you move the home position in EMC?

Thanks!

D.

Home is wherever you define it to be. What you change based on a particular workpiece is the work offset. Look up G53 and G54-G59.3.

Alan

[hoss2006]

Do you know where a good place is to learn and gather the materials to set this up?

I have a complete writeup on the work I did last year with probing,
you can download the codes and screensets and watch several videos on how to use them.
I just posted a new update here as well with some new codes and will be posting the new screenset soon.
Hoss

[acondit]

Dean,

You are probably better off asking these EMC2 setup questions in the EMC forum. If you are looking for an Emc2 setup answer most of the Mach stuff is irrelevant. Somethings about them are quite similar in a generic sort of way, but the procedures for setup are quite different. So for me, if it is setup stuff I use the EMC forum but if it is machining stuff then I use the other forums.

For example, I read a lot of the stuff that Hoss2006 writes because it is really well done and can give you some great design and/or machining ideas.

Alan

[hoss2006]

Doh, what a dope, EMC2 not Mach, sorry wasn't paying attention.
We get a little Mach minded on here.

[acondit]

Doh, what a dope, EMC2 not Mach, sorry wasn't paying attention.
We get a little Mach minded on here.

Well, with all the great stuff that you do with Mach, I wish you were an EMC2 user.

Alan

[deanbayley]

Well i've been playing for a few days now, i've worked out touching off, there are 3 things i want to do in EMC2:

All shown in this video: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc-9gTFj-y4"]YouTube - Laser Zero finder[/ame]

Auto Touch Off
Laser Cross Alignment
Jog Dial Control

I'm wondering if this can be done in EMC2 or if i need to switch over to Mach3?

Mach3 seems really really over complicated, Also i've read that its much more prone to missing steps than EMC2?

I have 1 computer dedicated to controlling my machine so windows 2000 would prob be the best?

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Well i've been playing for a few days now, i've worked out touching off, there are 3 things i want to do in EMC2:

All shown in this video: YouTube - Laser Zero finder

Auto Touch Off
Laser Cross Alignment
Jog Dial Control

I'm wondering if this can be done in EMC2 or if i need to switch over to Mach3?

Mach3 seems really really over complicated, Also i've read that its much more prone to missing steps than EMC2?

I have 1 computer dedicated to controlling my machine so windows 2000 would prob be the best?

Well, that's funny, because Mach3 people think EMC is over-complicated! I think they both have a LOT of flexibility, which means there's a lot to learn. But, with Mach3, you can learn in stages, starting with a few very simple things. I found it very easy to learn the basics. As for being "prone to missing steps", that is pure hogwash. I've been using Mach on a servo-driven knee mill for the last year, and it's been reasonably solid. I've had a few problems due to using the SmoothStepper, and using mostly development releases of the code, but they've generally been pretty minor. Either Win2K or WinXP will work just fine with Mach3. You'd probably find almost any probing function you ever needed already exists somewhere for Mach3. And, if not, you can certainly hack any of the existing code, since all the probing macros are written in VB, so pretty easy to modify.

Regards,
Ray L.

[deanbayley]

Hi Ray,

I going to order: This cross laser, this jog wheel (Shuttle Xpress) and this spindle (Kress 1050 FME)

All sound good?

D.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Hi Ray,

I going to order: This cross laser, this jog wheel (Shuttle Xpress) and this spindle (Kress 1050 FME)

All sound good?

D.

I have no experience with any of those, especially with EMC. If you're planning to use Mach3, make sure the ShuttlePro plug-in supports the ShuttleExpress - I'm not sure it does.

Regards,
Ray L.

[acondit]

Well i've been playing for a few days now, i've worked out touching off, there are 3 things i want to do in EMC2:

All shown in this video: YouTube - Laser Zero finder

Auto Touch Off
Laser Cross Alignment
Jog Dial Control

I'm wondering if this can be done in EMC2 or if i need to switch over to Mach3?

Mach3 seems really really over complicated, Also i've read that its much more prone to missing steps than EMC2?

I have 1 computer dedicated to controlling my machine so windows 2000 would prob be the best?

Those should all be doable in EMC2. My approach would be to write some gcode subroutines to implement them. The touch off on the surface is a piece of cake with a touch probe. I have been using a Logitech Attack 3 with my EMC2 system. Once you know the offset from the laser crosshair to the center of the tool that is really simple to do also.

Alan

[deanbayley]

Hi Guys,

Firstly i'd like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has replied..

Sorry for not being clear, i'm going to dual boot my CNC controller with Win2K/Mach3 and EMC2 and give Mach3 a go, my comment about Mach3 looking over complicated referred to the default skin which from a noobs perspective looks awful, there is so much packed into 1 little space it looks impossible, with the mods seen here it looks A LOT easier, and those touch tools look like massive time savers...

Also checked the Plugins Page and the Xpress is now supported

Will loadup Mach3 on Monday morning and let you guys know how i get on..

Thanks again!

D.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Hi Guys,

Firstly i'd like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has replied..

Sorry for not being clear, i'm going to dual boot my CNC controller with Win2K/Mach3 and EMC2 and give Mach3 a go, my comment about Mach3 looking over complicated referred to the default skin which from a noobs perspective looks awful, there is so much packed into 1 little space it looks impossible, with the mods seen here it looks A LOT easier, and those touch tools look like massive time savers...

Also checked the Plugins Page and the Xpress is now supported

Will loadup Mach3 on Monday morning and let you guys know how i get on..

Thanks again!

D.

Yes, the default Mach3 screenset tries to be all things to all people, and ends up being over-complicated. I created my own screenset containing only the functions I actually use, and it has only two screens, with nice, big, clear buttons. I'd be happy to send you a copy if you like. Otherwise, just pick out the handful of things you need in the stock screenset, virtually all of which are on the first page, and ignore the rest. If you only focus on what's necessary, you should be able to get Mach3 up and running in under an hour.

Regards,
Ray L.

[deanbayley]

I'd be happy to send you a copy if you like.

Yes please

D.