Probotix Touch Plate help (CNC)

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.

4D

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.

4D

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.

4D

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.

.INI

[HALUI]
# add halui MDI commands here (max 64)
MDI_COMMAND = o100 CALL [1]
MDI_COMMAND = G53 G0 X24.0 Y48.0 Z0
MDI_COMMAND = G53 G0 X24.0 Y4.00 Z0
MDI_COMMAND = o102 CALL [2]
MDI_COMMAND = G10 L20 P0 X0 Y0
MDI_COMMAND = G10 L20 P0 Z0
MDI_COMMAND = G53 G0 X0 Y0 Z0
MDI_COMMAND = G0 X0 Y0
MDI_COMMAND = G64 P0.001
MDI_COMMAND = G64 P0.010
MDI_COMMAND = G64 P0.040
MDI_COMMAND = G17 G20 G40 G49 G54 G90 G64 P0.01 T0 M6

PYVCP.XML

<!-- ZPUCK -->
<button>
<halpin>"o102"</halpin>
<text>"Set Z Origin w/ Puck"</text>
<font>('fixed',10)</font>
</button>

POSTGUI.HAL

#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

Hope this helps!
Dave

I've got essentially the same in my files, Dave.

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've added:
<button>
<halpin>"o103"</halpin>
<text>"Set X Origin w/ Puck"</text>
<font>('fixed',10)</font>
</button>

and:
<button>
<halpin>"o104"</halpin>
<text>"Set Y Origin w/ Puck"</text>
<font>('fixed',10)</font>
</button>

all under <!-- ZPUCK -->, but they may need to be under their own heading. They do show up as buttons on my LinuxCNC screen though.

LinuxCNC has crashed when I've added anything to the POSTGUI.hal file.