Touchplate not working

[goranmax]

Hello all...

I hope some one can help me wit setting up my Touch plate in Mach3 /CNC machine.

I just started to build my machine and I cane across some strange problems setting up my Touch Plate that I purchased over Ebay.

This is the touch Plate: Link

this is my Bord Setup from Ebay. Link

I connected the Touch Plate to a limit switch port on the board...in Mach3 Imput Signal / Probe Port 1 Pin Number 13.
in Mach3 page Diagnostics...I see the Digitize signal when touching the Plate with a bit.
I assigned the Button Auto Tool Zero over Operator over Edit Button Script and tested a few different scripts for Touch plate that I found over the internet.
But non worked.......
So the Z Axis is moving down...to find the Touch Plate.......when touching it...it still keeps moving.
So Mach3 gets no info to stop.....and keeps moving down.

what is wrong here.....
Can it be that my Board is not compatible or not working with Touch plates???

hope some is so kind to help me..

regards
Goran

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[goranmax]

Anyone???!

[coherent]

The input pins on your breakout board aren't just for limit switches. Use a pin that is unused. The other wire from the probe should go to ground on your breakout board In Mach check enable probe in Mach3 configuration setup input tab. Set port (most likely 1) and pin to correct input pin #. Active low setting correct? It should not show probe activated on the diagnosis screen unless you are touching the clip to the plate. If it's on and goes off when you touch it, change the active low setting. It's just a simple ground. If it's working when you touch the clip against the pad, it should work when the clip is attached to your bit.

You can assign a keyboard key to test it then test with the probe itself if it working correct with the keyboard test and then shows working correctly when the clip touches the pad. also. I'd disable any limits until you figure it out. You don't want a probe and limit/homing switch using the same pin number. I don't know what screen set you are using or macro, but you need to be using a macro that lowers the Z until the probe is activated... stops the z then raises it and set the z to zero subtracting the material top to probe height distance. If you don't have a Z zero macro do some research. There is a lot on info available on the web and forums. If you don't know how the add your own buttons or macros and your screen set doesn't have a z zero, check into getting the 2010 screen set from Ger21 which includes a number of probing routines/macros. There are also a few free screen sets that include the z zero on the mach forum.
Good luck

[goranmax]

Hi

Thank you for info.
I have puchsed the 2010 screenset and give it a try,

thank you

[ger21]

Are you using the parallel port?
What version of Mach3?

[goranmax]

Hallo Gerry.

Im using Mach3 Version R3.043 .
My CNC connected over Parallel Port to my breakout Board.
Touch Plate connected to pin 13.
In Mach3 page Diagnostics...I see the Digitize signal when touching the Plate with a bit.
In the 2010 Screenset I see Probe Active light on when touching the Plate....when releasing the Plate from the bit...light turns of.
So that seems to work....or not?

But still can it be that my Breakout Borad...is not compatible with a touch plate?...do not know if I wired it up correctly
cause don't know where the Ground pin is??


Thank yo sooooo much for your Help

regards
Goran

[coherent]

Hallo Gerry.

In Mach3 page Diagnostics...I see the Digitize signal when touching the Plate with a bit.
In the 2010 Screenset I see Probe Active light on when touching the Plate....when releasing the Plate from the bit...light turns of.
So that seems to work....or not?

Goran

Sounds like it's working. You just need to check all the required settings for the probe's macro and try it. Keep a finger on the emergency stop in case there is an issue, but the screen set instructions explain pretty well how to set it up.

[ger21]

Im using Mach3 Version R3.043 .

There are 60 different 3.043 version. What's the full version number?
Do not use 3.043.066.

In the 2010 Screenset I see Probe Active light on when touching the Plate....when releasing the Plate from the bit...light turns of.
So that seems to work....or not?

Sounds like it's working.

[goranmax]

uuhhh I had the 3.043.066.
Well I have installed Mach3 older version : 3.042.020

but still same issue.

also with this version .....when probing........Z Axis is moving down...verry slow and just a few mm.
so what is wrong here????.....I.m getting crazy.

[A_Camera]

uuhhh I had the 3.043.066.
Well I have installed Mach3 older version : 3.042.020

but still same issue.

also with this version .....when probing........Z Axis is moving down...verry slow and just a few mm.
so what is wrong here????.....I.m getting crazy.

The macro is probably written for inches and you are probably using mm units. You must set up your units, steps per and all the other parameters for your machine, and some macros need to be changed as well. You can't just take the Mach3 installation as it is because it may not work. The latest Mach3 is downloadable from Artsoft, just install that version and add your license. Reading the Mach3 manual is very useful, can save many hours of forum discussions and waiting for the right answer.

[goranmax]

Hi

My Mach3 is set to mm configured it from the start in units....set steps per unit.
I can also see it in the original mach3 screen under Settings tab.
when doing a set steps per unit test ......to see if my my machine runs accurate to 10-50-100-500 mm ..it doese.

do you men I have to change the macros from the 2010 screenset too????

[A_Camera]

Hi

My Mach3 is set to mm configured it from the start in units....set steps per unit.
I can also see it in the original mach3 screen under Settings tab.
when doing a set steps per unit test ......to see if my my machine runs accurate to 10-50-100-500 mm ..it doese.

do you men I have to change the macros from the 2010 screenset too????

...but what happens if you type G1 X0 Y200 F3000 does it move fast or slow? It should move with 3000mm/min speed.

What is your maximum speed and acceleration for each axis?

I don't know the 2010 screenset, I use standard Mach3 which I modified to my needs. Anyway, my guess was that the button macro feed rate was in inches and that is painfully slow for mm. But Gerry can probably confirm if the 2010 screen set macro must be changed or not.

[ger21]

The 2010 Screenset works in inches or mm's.

Are you using the parallel port? Or a motion controller with a plugin?
If it's a motion controller, send me an email and I'll send you some different macros to try.
Also, if you have a motion controller with a plugin, it may require a different version of Mach3.
Try using 3.043.062

Can you tell me, with as much detail as possible, exactly what is happening? Step by step?

[goranmax]

Hi Ger. ... sorry for my bad English.

I tried Mach3 version 3.043.062 over parallel port...
and all seemd OK when touching the touch plate in my hand seemed to work
Mach3 recognized the plate when touching reference plate too.

So I referenced my axis. Tried the probing on the machine. But not working.

So what happens....the Z Axis moves down for probing and stops after
About two cm. Message Z axis is now zerod!

I tested it a few times. Without a mill. Same issue. Z Axis
Keeps moving and stops.

I'm not really sure if my board works like it should.
I connected my touch plate to a limit switch pin on the board.

Can I ask you witch breakout board do you use. I might consider
to purchase a board like you have.

This is so frustrating

[ger21]

So what happens....the Z Axis moves down for probing and stops after
About two cm. Message Z axis is now zerod!

This is normally caused by noise triggering the probe input. Many people add a capacitor to the input pin, which can help with the noise.

[goranmax]

HI Gerry

I got it to work now.

No Noise issue...it was related to my computer that I used .

I just took a different computer with all the same Mach3 settings and it works now.

But anyway...thank you all for the help

regards
Goran

[goranmax]

Hi Gerry

Thank for you help.

Good that the probing works now.

But now I have a question after the probing when the G-Code is loaded .....the probing starts again...

at the point after G-Code loaded.....it says start spindel....then it goes to probing again while spindel is on????

what could be wrong here



regards
Goran

[ger21]

Sounds like you have an M6 at the beginning of your g-code, and the g-code is not stopping the spindle before the M6.
Is this a Vectric post? If so, you might want to try one on my website.

Also, you probably want to uncheck "Manual Spindle Control" on the toolchange tab.

[goranmax]

Hi Gerry

Do you might have other post procesors for other aplications ??
like for vetric Aspire. For exporting the gcode correctly?

I think that aspire is really bad specially when importing 3d objects.
I have tested and it will not work that I get good results like
In oder aplications.
When exporting the gcode from aspire your post processor works great. But not the result of the milling.
It will be verry helpful if you have a other so I can test and purchase other software.

Thanks for the help