For those of you that own a Probotix CNC and use LinuxCNC, if you have their touch off plate could you tell me what color the Probe indicator turns when the plate touches the bit? I'm trying to debug why mine doesn't work but don't know how it should work if hooked up properly.
At the moment my probe icon is blue, and doesn't change when I touch my bit to the plate. When I tell LinuxCNC to set Z with the touch plate my router just moves up until it hits the limit switch then shows me an error. To me that seems as though I've already got a short somewhere between the parallel port and the touch plate.
4D,
The icon should be gray until contact is made and then it turns blue.
What happens when you touch the alligator. Clip to the puck surface? That should simulate a touch off.
Your link lead to a page with no text, but I did read all the info I could find about the Z touch off on their wiki.
I just unplugged the cable I made and restarted LinuxCNC and the probe icon is still blue.
I had a look again, and apparently I had my ground and touchpad wires backwards. After switching them and re-connecting the parallel port it seems to work. I didn't think it would matter as all it would need was a connected circuit to set off the Probe indicator, but the CNC frame is ground and so when I connected the alligator clip to the bit that alone closed the circuit. Now all I need is the touch plate connected to pin 13 and the Z touch-off routine works.
If anyone has continuity from the frame through the router down to the bit then no alligator clip or magnet attachment is needed. A single wire from plate down to the parallel port would do.
I've also seen that you can probe to touch off the other two (X and Y) directions somehow. I'll have to do a little more research though to figure out how.
Might be nice/useful to assemble a list of which routers do have continuity from bit to body. The one I use is a Dewalt DW618. We use the same model on the Meteor and Nebula we have in our college shop.
For anyone who does not already have a touch plate, here are a couple photos of my homemade one.
A chunk of aluminum bar from my scrap bin.
Drilled a 5/32" hole in the side to receive the audio plug.
Used their configurator to enter how thick the bar was (.367").
Ran a 2-lead cable from the router to the controller through the cable chain and using an old 25-pin cable end got it wired up to plug into my second parallel port.
I will be making a small rack to hang it off the side of the router clamp once I figure out the best way. It can't touch the frame while not in use or the Probe icon will stay blue.
So far I've been able to add buttons onto the LinuxCNC interface for X and Y touch-off using the puck. I've made copies of the o102.ngc subroutine for X and Y (o103 and o104) but not yet figured out what else I need to edit to get them to actually work.
My hope is to jog the bit to within 1" of the X or Y edges, put my touch plate on its side between the bit and edge, then have the bit probe in the +X or +Y direction until it touches the plate. Then set X or Y zero to their position + the plate thickness. Then have the bit move back one inch.
4D
If you haven't already, you need to go into your .ini file and under the HALUI section, add MDI_Commands for each subroutine.
Think you will figure it out when you see the others. Should look something like this:
MDI_COMMAND = o102 CALL
Just add yours at the bottom. Must restart PC after making changes. Always a good idea to make a backup copy just in case.
I saw and added the MDI_COMMAND lines. Not enough to make my interface buttons work. There was also an entry for o102 in one of the .HAL files for Ztouch/Zpuck which I'm guessing is needed too for the X and Y o103 and 0104 subroutines. I added what I thought might work but then LinuxCNC wouldn't start. Had a backup fortunately so back two steps to a working version.
In my younger years I was a pretty good programmer, but turning 60 in a month seems to have robbed me of my youthful ingenuity. I'll figure this out eventually though.
I know linuxCNC has been around a long time, and evolved greatly to the point it is now. There are a few web-based g-code CAM apps in the early stages of sophistication which pale to the capabilities of linuxCNC yet prove I may not be the only one who ponders making a CAM program from scratch. If only so I would KNOW what the secrets are to making it have all the features I want.
I've been comparing the accuracy of setting Z with a slip of paper or using the touch plate. In both cases I'm setting Z at a level where the board just barely slips under the bit but doesn't lift up at all. Using the touch plate is much quicker though if it can be trusted. The speed comes from keeping it always near the bit to be set beneath it/atop the work at the same time a bit is changed. I have more trouble setting X or Y against the side of the workpiece as the wrong rotated position of the fluted bits can make for a noticeable error.
I thought you already had your buttons working... .Hal files tie your xml together to make them work. Not sure I can help you without having your xml and Hal pin numbers and names.
Have you tested your subroutines? If you go to the MDI tab (F5) and type in: o103 call, that will run subroutine o103.
Not at my computer right now, but check out the LinuxCNC manual, they have examples for buttons and subroutines.
Dave
This is what I have for my Z puck. Are you using the same input as Z or do you have additional inputs.
I can't tell you what parport pins or names to use, but the context of adding a button needs entries in all of these 4 places (.INI, PYVCP.XML, POSTGUI.HAL, .HAL).
In the POSTGUI.HAL file, where it says "mdi-command-03", the number has to be which number MDI-COMMAND it is. This one is the 3rd command (starting counting at 0). Make sure to get your syntax correct or you will get errors.
#HALUI_ZPUCK
net z_probe pyvcp.o102 halui.mdi-command-03
.HAL
# PROBE
# set up the probe input for the tool sensor and the z-puck
# the tool sensor is normally closed, the z-puck is normally open
# we will put them on two seperate pins and 'or' the two signals together
setp debounce.2.delay 100
net deb2.0 debounce.2.0.in <= parport.1.pin-15-in
net deb2.1 debounce.2.1.in <= parport.1.pin-13-in-not
net tool_length_in or2.6.in0 <= debounce.2.0.out
net z_probe_in or2.6.in1 <= debounce.2.1.out
net probe-in motion.probe-input <= or2.6.out
I've added
MDI_COMMAND = o103 CALL [2] and
MDI_COMMAND = o104 CALL [2], but I'm not sure what the [2] does or if it needs to be different for each subroutine.
I m not sure what the numbers are for either, but do think they need to be different.
Can you post the error message or email to me? Usually about the last line gives you the answers.
Yes, I've got just one touch plate hooked up per Probotix' instructions Pin 13 I believe on parallel port 2. I lay the plate flat for Z, and stand it on edge for X and Y.
I'll copy down the error the next time it shows up. At the moment I've been debugging my subroutines to work more reliably. I also discovered that my subroutines do run using buttons on the screen, but not the buttons that I added. When I added them to one of the files it apparently shifted what happens using the previously existing buttons.
Such is the muck created when trying to reverse engineer an existing configuration. I don't feel so bad knowing if I screw it up completely I can run their configurator again to restore it.
Next on my agenda is to see if I can get the original buttons working again.
After going back and forth between the LinuxCNC interface and the POSTgui.HAL file I've finally gotten all my Set X/Y/Z origin using the puck buttons working. I still have a couple of the original buttons to get working again, but at least I've begun to figure out how it all works. The PostGUI.HAL file makes numerical reference to the MDI-Commands in the linuxCNC.ini file. Not perfect sense, but by making a change then seeing what the effect was to the linuxCNC interface I slowly deduced what number related to what button to what MDI-command line.
Now I'm thinking about what shape of touch plate would be easiest to use setting 0 for X/Y/and Z axis. Considering a piece of 3/8"x3/8" or 1/2"x1/2" keystock with the cable connected to the square end. Then no matter which way it was rotated it would work in any direction. If the bar wasn't too long I could stand it up doing X and Y if there wasn't much room against a part edge to zero against.
So far I've got all but one working. I did discover a bug I'll need to work out for the Z axis subroutine but that shouldn't be too hard. It was the default one created by the configurator and left alone as far as I remember. The subroutines for X and Y touch-off I wrote from scratch. I think I'll go back and make the Z subroutine work more like the X and Y do. All start with the bit jogged to within an inch or so of the material. The routines I wrote set the current position as zero, probe slowly toward the plate, then stop when they touch it. The current position plus the plate thickness is then set as zero. Then the bit moves back one inch.
The current Z routine takes more time than it needs by moving up to touch the top limit switch before probing down to touch the plate. Once it hits the plate it moves all the way back to the top of travel and stops there. Far more travel than it needs to do.
I got the Z axis puck subroutine debugged and improved. Very satisfying. I'd have been happy if that was all I accomplished during this adventure.
Still can't seem to get "Go to Home" button working again though. Not sure it is needed so I might just comment it out so it doesn't show on the screen.
For those used to using LinuxCNC, what do you consider to be HOME?
1. Where the router/spindle moves to after homing?
2. Where you set X, Y, and Z to zero on your material?
3. The room your CNC is installed in?
4. The State you live in?
5. A state of mind?
6. Something else entirely?
Thanks!
Just bored and curious.
4D
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