Mach 3 m2home is lit all the time

[sweetwood]

I was hogging too much wood and hit the esc real fast. I accidentally hit some other keys too. Anyway, my m2home is lit on the software side all the time. I can move the Y axis by jogging and even crash it into the hard stop. The Y axis sensor (on the machine) lights up when it triggers...just like it should. When I try to "RefAllHome," it homes X and Z only. That's all I have, what is going on here?

[sweetwood]

anyone have any advice?

[neilw20]

On screen one, turn off softlimits so you can jog off the limit switch.
Reference machine, then turn softlimits back on.

If machine thinks an axis is outside limits and soft is on, it won't allow movement.

[sweetwood]

thanks for the reply neil! i can jog the machine everywhere.

Symptoms:

-M2home is lit in the software interface under diagnostics.
-On screen 1 the Y axis has a red indicator around it (the others are green).
-Mach 3 can control the 3 axis (pl) by jogging and even run programs.
-Can't home the Y axis when hitting refallhome or in the config.
-The Y sensor lights up when putting metal in front and running it to the end (the sensor on the cnc) and appears to be working properly.
-Config's seem to be correct. Active Low, etc.

[neilw20]

From the diagnostics screen you can reference each axis individually.
Try referencing at a reduced feed rate.
You should see the M2 light change as you hit it.
If there is too much hysteresis in the sensor you may need to make the slow zone a bit longer on the homing/limits setup page.
When it homes it moves untill the switch is hit, reverses and sneaks up on the switch. If it does not reverse far enough to make the switch change, then referencing fails.

[sweetwood]

The light on the M2Home in the Mach 3 diagnostics is permanently on...regardless of the sensor. I can jog the machine anywhere and run programs (unreferenced of course). The problem is why is the M2Home light on permanently??? I'm thinking it's a fried parallel port or something of this nature from the bit of research I've been doing. I'm going to look into that right now and get a new parallel port from Fry's. Hopefully it's not any of the other hardware.

[neilw20]

You need to determine whether it is the port, the sensor, or faulty configuration.
You initially said the sensor worked the M2 light, or did I read it wrongly?
Can you temporarily swap wires with a good channel to narrow down the area of the fault?

[sweetwood]

Good idea Neil. I did that and on the control box, the light on the card switched. I did a bunch of stuff. Anyway, looks like it's the sensor as I have continuity to the board from all the wires going to where the sensors go.

[neilw20]

Just noticed your signature..
My son is heavily into (aged) guitars, Gibson SGs and the like including a 75 year old Gibson L35 acoustic I found. One owner!
Do you make guitars with your CNC?

[sweetwood]

yup. i make guitars. stupidest business EVER!!! haha.

[neilw20]

Stupid business, maybe, but some pictures would be great.

[sweetwood]

http://www.sweetwoodguitars.com/gallery.cfm