G540 signal input

[MArruda]

Hello all,

I'm trying to make a "1 penny touch probe" ( The "One Penny" Touch Probe ) to work with my G540. I have a regular 6 ball & 3 shaft kinematic from wildhorse designs, and I'm very dissatisfied with it- it is constantly staying open and wrecking my scans. This is for a product I'm working on that I have to have a usable 3d model of by the end of the year for work, so it's ticking me off.

Anyway, my question is, I built the touch probe above and wired it into the g540, pulling a signal from one of the inputs- 12v- and outputing to another input. As soon as I connect the probe, the input I'm pulling power from closes, as expected, but so does the output of the probe, no matter if the contacts are closed or not. I know it's supposed to be a 5v input, but I tried it with the 12v from the gecko anyway; I figured, worse case scenario, I'd blow the transistor and have to replace it. the resistors are dropping the voltage to about 8.3 or so.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated,

-Michael

[Jeff-Birt]

You can't try and pull power for your probe from an input, it simply won't work. You need an external power supply.