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  1. #21
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    Jerry I can answer you mach3 compensation question tomorrow......I hope!

    Mike

    No greater love can a man have than this, that he give his life for a friend.


  2. #22
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    I can answer you mach3 compensation question tomorrow......I hope!
    Thanks, Mike






    Jerry

    .



  3. #23
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    Forgive me if you've already mentioned this somewhere and I missed it, but I'm wondering where the wires go that leave the probe? How do they interface with the computer?

    Thanks,
    Jason



  4. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by jsnbrgg View Post
    Forgive me if you've already mentioned this somewhere and I missed it, but I'm wondering where the wires go that leave the probe? How do they interface with the computer?

    Thanks,
    Jason
    You need to run them to one of the inputs on your controller then set your software to tell it this input is a probe.
    Paul



  5. #25
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    Very cool...

    I'm using EMC2, and i see it has touch probe functionality as well... Hmmmmm, too many projects, not enough time.



  6. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by mikegasman View Post
    I use mach3 to run the probe and my machine. The digitizing wizard in mach3 works good
    when probing the writing on the wrench it comes down in the z axes and records the position
    that’s all I’ve done with it so fare it will activate going in the XYZ position.
    Was just sharing what I made with every one who mite want to play with a probe but don’t have the money for it or the time to make a fancy one.

    Can you explain configuration on Mach 3 Digitizing wizard?

    1. Width (x) of digitizing area = X size of the part to digitize.
    2. Height (y) of digitizing area = Y size of the part to digitize.
    3. Z axis travel height = ???
    4. Z axis Probe Depth = ???
    5. X Stepover = ???
    6. Y Stepover = ???
    7. Feedrate = ???

    Thanks



  7. #27
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    Mikegasman,
    Where does this probe connect to the computer/controller? How does the Mach3 program work with the probe?
    Thanx for your time,
    Tom



  8. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by Evolution VIII View Post
    Can you explain configuration on Mach 3 Digitizing wizard?

    1. Width (x) of digitizing area = X size of the part to digitize.max distance the x axis will cover
    2. Height (y) of digitizing area = Y size of the part to digitize.See above
    3. Z axis travel height = ???The start position of the z axis
    4. Z axis Probe Depth = ???the bottom of the z sroke
    5. X Stepover = ???Distance between each probe on the x axis
    6. Y Stepover = ???See above
    7. Feedrate = ???Feedrate the probe will contact the part.

    Thanks
    I would highly recommend you try the 3d probe plugin rather than the wizard. Much faster. It is a little different in the setup but not by much.

    Mike

    No greater love can a man have than this, that he give his life for a friend.


  9. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by topmack View Post
    Mikegasman,
    Where does this probe connect to the computer/controller? How does the Mach3 program work with the probe?
    Thanx for your time,
    Tom
    Tom the probe leads connect to a switch input. I use the -z as my default and have it set up in the Mach config to use as my probe input.....I think! It's getting too late and I need to go to bed, but I think that is correct.

    Mike

    No greater love can a man have than this, that he give his life for a friend.


  10. #30
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    Mike,
    So one wire goes to the 'Z' input on the controller & the other wire goes to ... where?
    Also, when I configure the scanning wizard in Mach 3, is the input signal call ed z home, --z or ++z? I just don't want to connect up everything & then burn out something on my controller.
    Thanx again,
    Tom



  11. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by topmack View Post
    Mike,
    So one wire goes to the 'Z' input on the controller & the other wire goes to ... where?
    Also, when I configure the scanning wizard in Mach 3, is the input signal call ed z home, --z or ++z? I just don't want to connect up everything & then burn out something on my controller.
    Thanx again,
    Tom
    Tom before you go any further, take a breath! Now tell me about your machine, and whether or not you have a breakout board. If so, how many axis etc.

    To answer your above questions..........no! Don't do anything else till we get you comfortable.

    Mike

    No greater love can a man have than this, that he give his life for a friend.


  12. #32
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    Mike,
    First, I want to thank you for your time & second, I really appreciate helping with the details of this project.
    I have a StepMasterNC Bipolar Micro-Stepping 3-Axis Controller Board that connects between my computer & my router. I understand that the Mach3 software wizard will run the program for the scan, however I don't understand the route the signal takes to get the information from the probe back to Mach3.
    Thanx again,
    Tom



  13. #33
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    Tom if you will look on your controller board you should see terminals for limit switches. There should be places for two switches per axis, one positive and one negative. In the case of the z axis, I used my negative limit switch to build a tool set switch which kinda acted like a probe, only in reverse, but still used the probe function. My actual probe for digitizing is wired directly to the limit switch cable running back to my breakout board, (Campbell by Sound Logic) that is connected to my z axis negative or lower limit switch terminals.

    Two wires is it. I hope this helps.

    Mike

    edited: Did you build this board from a kit? Photos?

    No greater love can a man have than this, that he give his life for a friend.


  14. #34
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    Mike,
    Thanx for the info; I am giving you the link to 'http://www.stepmasternc.com/datasheet3axissop-1.pdf' for the board I am using (I think/ it is in a case & I haven't opened it yet). If you look at the board layout, it shows several edge connectors on the right hand side. I believe I would connect one of the wires of the probe to ground & the other one to the 'z' axis. I am sending an email to the company to ask them the same question.
    Thanx again; if you can think of anything else that would help me (everyone), please let me know.
    Tom



  15. #35
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    Tom according to the pdf, the probe hooks to the 5+vdc Log (logic) terminal and the ground. Are these servos? I see encoder connections.

    Mike

    No greater love can a man have than this, that he give his life for a friend.


  16. #36
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    Mike,
    Beats the hay out of me. I have emailed the maker/ hopefully they can enlight us.
    Tom



  17. #37
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    I want to suggest how it could be wired up. When there is nothing "touching," all rods remain in electrical contact with all balls: so there is an electrical path from one probe wire through the rods and balls to the other probe wire.

    Imagine one of those wires connected to the same ground as the electronics in the controller (voltage = zero). As long as contact is maintained (nothing touching), the voltage anywhere and everywhere along that unbroken path remains the same (0V).

    Imagine +5V connected to one end of a resistor (few Kohms) and the other end of that resistor connected to the remaining probe wire. The voltage at this end of junction, the side of the resistor away from the +5V, is 0 volts AS LONG AS there is an electrical path CONNECTING it to the ground at the other wire, but otherwise it would be indeterminate, or would "float." It doesn't float in this case, and IS determinate, because of the presence of the +5V. (The voltage is said to be "pulled up" to 5V when the short is removed, but returns to 0V when the short is present; this behavior is the source of the term "pullup resistor." The resistor is there for when the short IS present: without the resistor, there would be a dead short across a power supply, and either the supply or the short will lose, usually violently. With a resistor in between, current is limited to a reasonable value.)

    A wire from the bottom of the resistor (where it connects to the probe wire, on the opposite side of the 5V) is the source of a "signal-voltage-in" "ACTIVE-HIGH" in this case because the thing of interest causes the voltage to go from low-to-high. (The very same voltage, "ACTIVE-LOW", signals when touching has been lost.)

    Although I've mentioned three connections (+5V, ground, signal voltage), only two wires run from the controller to the probe: ground, and the ACTIVE-HIGH signal voltage to the signal-in pin, typ. on a breakout board, BECAUSE at or near that pin, inside the case, you'll connect the pullup resistor between that wire and +5V. (Inside the controller is the natural place as +5V is typically already present.)

    [TANGENT WARNING!!]
    BTW, I think the difficulty of understanding pullup and pulldown resistors is that people tend to think of resistors as "dropping" the voltage (Ohm's Law: Voltage drop across R, V=I*R), but they NEVER think about what that means when the current is ZERO.

    According to Ohm's Law the voltage drop across a resistor when there's no current through it is EXACTLY 0 volts. BUT, connect the dots here, that means the voltage on ONE side of the resistor is EXACTLY THE SAME as on the other side. This is I think what's unnatural. If a powerline falls touching one end of a car, the voltage on that end of the car is certainly thousands of volts, and we certainly believe that the voltage on "the other end(s)" of the car is the same--but typically we think that because we're thinking of the metal being a conductor with R=0, and (mis)applying Ohm's Law about how we think about it: the voltage drop in this case is actually 0 V because it's 0 Amps X 0 Ohms.

    But if a tree branch fell and hung suspended from the line where you could reach up from the ground and pull it off, would you? (NO) Should you? (NO) Your sense is (mis)telling you, "Well, it's not a dead short like an aluminum ladder, wood is an insulator!" (WRONG, and LIKELY DEAD WRONG).

    The key is that--as there is 0 current "flowing" in the wood's non-zero resistance, no voltage will dropped: the voltage at the end of the branch within your reach (DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT...) is still at thousands of volts.

    The clever will note that, "Yes, UNTIL I touch it, after which current WILL flow through the branch [and THROUGH HIMSELF too] and the voltage WILL drop from thousands of volts [to lesser thousands of volts BUT STILL BIG ENOUGH TO KILL HIMSELF]." True, at the moment you [WHO WILL NOT EVER] touch the branch, you complete a circuit: ground at the substation through the power source, through the high-voltage line, throough the branch, through you, to the ground, back through the ground to the substation, your body will also DROP SOME VOLTAGE, in exactly the proportion that your body's resistance (salty water) is to the total resistance of you+branch--AND CURRENT WILL FLOW. How much voltage? Let me pose it differently: "Given that ALL IT TAKES to defibrillate your heart so it won't move blood is 16 MILLIAMPS, do you think you'd have to get ALL of the thousands of volts to do the job?" (If it does happen to you, for whatever reason, for heaven's sake, stay calm, and at least try to do that heart-pumping thing with your fists to give yourself CPR before you black out.)
    [END TANGENT]

    But.

    I digress.

    The point is "tree branches are pullup resistors too". That's what I meant to say... [DON'T USE THEM. WHATEVER YOU'RE THINKING, THERE ARE BETTER WAYS.]

    --
    Dan


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