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  1. #1
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    Exclamation Dual motor gantry and Mach3 features that don't...

    FYI, I'm using a KFlop board and Mach3.

    I noticed as I'm fine tuning my mill that some of the features that I was looking forward to using in Mach3 don't work with dual motors on a gantry.

    The two that I've stumbled across so far are:

    1) Goto Zero - Only drives the X-axis, not the A-axis which is where my X-axis slave is.

    2) The Axis Calibration on the Settings page. Again, only drives the X-axis.

    Without encoders for position feedback, you can literally rip you machine in half if not careful. Thank goodness for E-stops! Encoders will be coming very soon.

    I'm not sure if there's anything I can change to make these work or if that's just the way it goes.

    Any input is appreciated.

    Thanks,

    Dennis

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    Member TomKerekes's Avatar
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    Hi Dennis,

    Those features should work. The way slaved axes work wih KFLOP is that KFLOP does the slaving. From Mach3's point of view the slaved axis doesn't even exist. It just moves the X axis and KFLOP causes your A axis to follow.

    The A axis shouldn't even be defined in Mach3. Also in KFLOP the DefineCoordSystem should not include the A axis.

    So I'm not sure what is going on. Somehow the A Axis is de-slaved or maybe just disabled somehow.

    Can you give more information?

    Regards
    TK

    Regards
    TK http://dynomotion.com


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    I also notice that I can jog continuous and both motors run, but if I do a step jog, only the X-axis runs and when I try to run a part program only the X-axis runs.

    I've attached my init program. The A-axis is defined (ch3) in the DefineCoordSystem . If I remove it I get this error:
    C:\Mach3\PlugIns\InitStepDir3Axis.c:218: too few arguments to function

    What other information can I give you?

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    Last edited by nova24; 02-08-2012 at 01:31 AM. Reason: Forgot attatchment


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    Just a note, I created a new Mach3 profile and set it up with just the absolute basics needed to get the machine to run, but still no luck. I just wanted to make sure I hadn't set anything in Mach3 that was messing me up.



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    Member TomKerekes's Avatar
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    Hi Dennis,

    Yes the DefineCoordSystem function requires 4 parameters for XYZA. To specify that A axis is not part of the coordinate system specify the axis channel for the system as -1. So for example

    DefineCoordSystem(0,1,2,-1);

    Regards

    Regards
    TK http://dynomotion.com


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    Tom,

    That was it.

    Thank you!

    Dennis



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    Quote Originally Posted by TomKerekes View Post
    Hi Dennis,

    Yes the DefineCoordSystem function requires 4 parameters for XYZA. To specify that A axis is not part of the coordinate system specify the axis channel for the system as -1. So for example

    DefineCoordSystem(0,1,2,-1);
    I've move from JP7 to JP5 to try and resolve this motion issue I'm having with my Y-axis.

    Do I change the DefineCoordSystem command from:

    DefineCoordSystem(0,1,2,-1);

    to

    DefineCoordSystem(4,5,6,-1); ?

    The reason I'm asking is the slave axis ch(7) is moving, but the master axis ch(4) is not.

    I've attached my init for reference.

    I've also left everything in Mach3 unchanged figuring the KMotion plugin will handle the axis mapping to Mach3.

    Thanks,

    Dennis

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  8. #8
    Member TomKerekes's Avatar
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    Hi Dennis,

    I don't see anything wrong. It actually wasn't necessary to change to axis channels 4-7 to use OutputChan0 4-7. You could have just changed the OutputChan0 settings. But anyway what you have should work. Maybe a wiring problem? You might check the states on the Digital IO Screen for IO36 and IO37 which are Step/Dir for Generator #4. You probably won't be able to see pulses with the slow sampling rate of the screen but the direction should change.

    Regards
    TK

    Regards
    TK http://dynomotion.com


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Dual motor gantry and Mach3 features that don't...

Dual motor gantry and Mach3 features that don't...