UCCNC owners and support thread

[BanduraMaker]

Is there a macro for a squaring routine that will square the y axis using an adjustable limit switch like MACH 3 has? I could use it.


Currently only one side has a home switch. It is the left side of the Y axis. The right side is just the slave axis.

Um...you need a home switch on each side to do this.

When the code encounters an M6 command, i need the machine to travel to a park position, turn off the spindle and wait while I change to a different tool. When I'm done changing tools, I'll press a button. Then, I need it to zero the z axis on a touch probe and then, restart the spindle and continue executing the code from the M6 command.

I've written some macros to do just this. If you pm me with your e-mail I can send them to you. Use at your own risk blah blah usual disclaimers etc. etc. of course.

[dubble]

You should set the homing sequence as Z, X, Y.
The A-axis should not be set in the sequence, because that axis is the slave of the Y, so when the Y will home then the A will also home in the way as I described in my previous post.

[1Jumper10]

You should configure separate home switches for the 2 sides and then hen homing the axis first the 2 motors will move the gatry to the limit switches, the 2 axis will move together until one switch gets pushed, then this axis stops.
The other axis keeps moving until it reaches the other limit switch and then this axis also stops and then the 2 axis moves off the limit switches together. So, if the 2 limit switches are in the corrent positions then the gantry will be automaticaly squared.

Ok. Thanks dubble.
In my General configurations for homing sequence, the homing sequence is first Z, then X then Y. A is slaved to Y and is not homed. When I install a home switch on the A axis, should I set my homing sequence as Z, then X, then Y, then A? From your reply, A axis will home separately from Y even though its slaved to it. Do I have to do anything else with the configuration of the A axis other than add it to the homing sequence in General Configurations?

You answered my question while I was posting. I'll set the homing sequence as Z,X,Y.

[dubble]

Again, the homing sequence should be Z, X, Y.
The A axis should be excluded from the homing sequence.
The home pin should be different for the A-axis than for the Y axis otherwise if the home pins are the same for the Y and A axis then the squaring will not happen,
because then the software will check one home switch only. But if you set the home switches to different pins then the squaring sequence should happen...

[1Jumper10]

Um...you need a home switch on each side to do this.

Yes, I know. But before I added another limit/home switch I wanted to be sure the software was capable of using it to square the gantry.



I've written some macros to do just this. If you pm me with your e-mail I can send them to you. Use at your own risk blah blah usual disclaimers etc. etc. of course.

Thank you for the offer. PM inbound.
I've figured out a lot since I posted the question that you are replying to. The software does have this functionality built into it but its pretty rudimentary and I havent been able to customize it to be more useful. Right now when the Gcode calls for a tool change, I've got it set to raise the Z axis right where it is and stop the spindle. I then manually jog it over to the edge of the table, change tools. re-zero the Z for the new tool length by jogging it slowly down to the workpiece surface and checking for contact with a thin piece of paper. Then hit the cycle start button. It re starts the spindle waits for a 9 sec dwell time then travels to its last position in the code and continues on. Its slow and tedious but its working for now.

[robiel]

When I set my logitech trackball to use both left and right click as a center click it does not work to zoom your software. Likewise, my Lenovo trackpoint keyboard middle click does not work either. I recommend you also provide left click or right click with ctrl or alt as an alternative. It's unpleasant to have to zoom with your button.

Also, please allow setting a default text editor other than the brain dead notepad.exe.

[dubble]

I'm not sure what Windows message does the logitech trackball and the Lenovo trackpointer producing when used, we have handled the standard Windows middle button press event for the zooming function.
Unfortunately we do not have either devices, so cannot really test what messages they producing...

The text editor will be changed in the next software release, we wrote our own text editor application which loading much faster than notepad.exe, because we were also not satisfied with the Windows notepad.

[dubble]

And left+right click sounds a good idea to substitute the middle button, I will look after this and will try to implement it.

[1Jumper10]

Well, i tried the squaring function by using home switches on both sides of the y axis. I have them set up on two different input pins per dubbles instructions. Didnt work. The left side trips the home switch slightly before the right side. When it does it tries to back off the left side switch while the right side is still trying to approach home switch. I had to hit the e stop every time i tried it. I ended up moving the right side home switch out of the way so it would never trip and setting the a axis homing pin input to 0. Essentially disabling it even though its still on the machine. For this to work I think the program needs to stop and wait when it detects one side home switch, continue advancing the other side until it also detects its home switch then, back both sides off of the switches together. I might be doing something wrong but it seems like a software issue to me.

[robiel]

And left+right click sounds a good idea to substitute the middle button, I will look after this and will try to implement it.

Left+Right click would still not work with logitech since it turns the left+right into a middle click that doesn't work. I don't mind having to hold a ctrl or alt key down with a left click. Another possibility is to zoom with left click plus scroll - I've seen that done a lot. Zooming with the mouse is something everyone wants to do. You can implement several methods and let the user choose the one that works best. Ctrl + and Ctrl - are nice for people stuck with a keyboard.

Thanks for your quick response.

By the way, please keep us posted on when the UCB300-5LPT version of the UCBCNC is ready for testing.

John

[ger21]

Speaking of the toolpath display.
I find it nearly impossible to rotate the display around the Z axis. It rotates fine around the X and Y axis, but I can never get it where I want it because it won't rotate around the Z.

[infer66]

Anyone here with a Xzero Raptor - leadshine MX3660 combo that likes to share his settings.

[dubble]

Guys,

I will check what can I do about the "middle button click" substitution. The best would be if we could get some info about what exact windows messages does these devices producing for the middle button click,
because if they doesn't work means they does not produce the standard middle mouse button click event.
Using the +ctrl or other modifier keys could be implemented, but I think the best would be if there were no need to do this and if the middle button would work on all devices ... I'll try to dig into this ...

Gerry, you are right, the XY plane is rotated only in all viewes, except in the ISOmetric view.
We thought it is much better to rotate only these axis, otherwise the handling of the rotation could become hard to handle, because the mouse moves on 2D only.
If you have suggestions about how to change this I'm here to listen.

1Jumper10: I will aks my collegue to recheck this home/gantry squaring function, we do not have a machine with this config, but will check the signals with a logic analyser. My collegue told me last time that it should work, but will let you know what we found.

And I'll update you about the software development, we are slipped now a bit with the new release development, should have been done by the end of January, but still testing it...

[ger21]

Gerry, you are right, the XY plane is rotated only in all viewes, except in the ISOmetric view.
We thought it is much better to rotate only these axis, otherwise the handling of the rotation could become hard to handle, because the mouse moves on 2D only.
If you have suggestions about how to change this I'm here to listen.

If you could duplicate the way that Mach3 rotates, that would be great. Mach3 is very easy to rotate any way you want.

[dubble]

Gerry, Thank you for the advice, but this is what I really liked to avoid to do, because I really don't like how this works in Mach3. I remember I often did not even know how to rotate the toolpath back to the top view in Mach3 after making some rotations.
Also several customers pointed out as a positive side of the UCCNC that it's toolpath view is much easier and more handy to use than Mach3's.
So I think in Mach3 this is overcomplicated and too hard to use...

[ger21]

For me, Mach3 is much easier to rotate.
How about this:
Keep it the way it is where it only rotates X and Y, and add a modifier key to rotate around the Z axis only, like the ALT key. This would leave it like it is, but give much more control if you need it.

[vmax549]

To get back to the top veiw from any rotation simply double click the left mouse button.

Just a thought, (;-) TP

[dertsap]

Any idea if or when g18/19 will be implemented , these are pretty important features to have in a control software

[1Jumper10]

Here's a problem ive run into a couple times now. Not sure if im doing it wrong or there's a software bug: When im cutting a file and for some reason, such as a broken bit, i have to stop it and I use the "Cycle Stop " button i have a problem re starting it. It doesn't matter if i back up a few lines and use the "Run From Here " button or, just restart with the "Cycle Start " button. It resumes cutting but it won't restart the spindle! I try starting the spindle with the M3 command first and it starts but it turns off the spindle when it resumes the file! Very frustrating. I had to change my spindle programming to manual control so I could restart a file i had paused. Is it a bug? Or am I doing something wrong?

[Bad Wolf]

Some great conversation around getting the spindle to work with UCCNC, I have yet to venture down that path with still finalising my DIY CNC build, but I'm sure it will help greatly. Thanks to all that provided input.