Pm-940m-cnc (pre-assembled)

[chocadile]

Hi everyone,

I was hoping I could get some help with Homing switches for my machine. I've been trying to get the 940 cnc to perform the ref all home, and my switches are not working as they should be. When in the diagnostics screen the light comes on when I press the buttons manually. Although when I try to home the machine it travels pass the stops as if they're not being recognized.

My limit switches are working just fine. When those are pressed the machine stops jogging the table and z-axis.

I'm out of ideas as to what is causing my home switches to not be recognized during the homing process. I've looked over Cut2Cut's set up screen shots and it would appear we have the same settings. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I can provide any additional info if it'll help diagnose the problem or at least point me in the right direction. Thanks

 

[TomS]

Hi everyone,

I was hoping I could get some help with Homing switches for my machine. I've been trying to get the 940 cnc to perform the ref all home, and my switches are not working as they should be. When in the diagnostics screen the light comes on when I press the buttons manually. Although when I try to home the machine it travels pass the stops as if they're not being recognized.

My limit switches are working just fine. When those are pressed the machine stops jogging the table and z-axis.

I'm out of ideas as to what is causing my home switches to not be recognized during the homing process. I've looked over Cut2Cut's set up screen shots and it would appear we have the same settings. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I can provide any additional info if it'll help diagnose the problem or at least point me in the right direction. Thanks

Assuming you are using Mach3, what version do you have loaded? I had the same problem using ver. 066. Reloaded 062 and it's been working fine for the last 2 to 3 years.

 

[chocadile]

Assuming you are using Mach3, what version do you have loaded? I had the same problem using ver. 066. Reloaded 062 and it's been working fine for the last 2 to 3 years.

Hi Tom,

I am running Mach3 version R3.043.066 I will give loading .062 a shot and see how that works. Thanks for suggestion I'll post back and let you know how it goes.

 

[chocadile]

I was able to download and install .062. I backed up my previous settings and loaded that .xml file into my .062 Mach3 install and I'm still experiencing the same problem with the home switches. Unfortunately I am not able to check any of them but the z-axis because that is the first axis to home. With it not recognizing the home switch, stopping, and zeroing I can not test the x-y axis for function. I have to e stop the machine because the z-axis keeps traveling north. The only test I can perform is at the diagnostics tab where I can see the LEDs lit when pressing the home switches. I am now going back and forth with Mach3 support to try and get this figured out.

I've emailed them my .xml setup file, one thing they mentioned were my input pins being setup incorrectly. I have my input, and all of mach3 set up the same a CUT2CUT, I believe. I have not had any other problems with the machine so far running these settings. I asked why the limit switches would work and not the home switches if the input pins were incorrect. I them emailed the the nmotion.dll file to hopefully get some clarification.

Thank you Tom for the help I'll continue to update as I go along. Hoping the next post will be about my problems being resolved haha.

 

[TomS]

I was able to download and install .062. I backed up my previous settings and loaded that .xml file into my .062 Mach3 install and I'm still experiencing the same problem with the home switches. Unfortunately I am not able to check any of them but the z-axis because that is the first axis to home. With it not recognizing the home switch, stopping, and zeroing I can not test the x-y axis for function. I have to e stop the machine because the z-axis keeps traveling north. The only test I can perform is at the diagnostics tab where I can see the LEDs lit when pressing the home switches. I am now going back and forth with Mach3 support to try and get this figured out.

I've emailed them my .xml setup file, one thing they mentioned were my input pins being setup incorrectly. I have my input, and all of mach3 set up the same a CUT2CUT, I believe. I have not had any other problems with the machine so far running these settings. I asked why the limit switches would work and not the home switches if the input pins were incorrect. I them emailed the the nmotion.dll file to hopefully get some clarification.

Thank you Tom for the help I'll continue to update as I go along. Hoping the next post will be about my problems being resolved haha.

If you go to the Diagnostics screen you can Home each axis individually. Look in the upper left corner.

Sorry to hear loading ver. 062 didn't solve your problem. Hopefully the Mach Support guys can fix it. If not, post a screen shot of your input signals and maybe we can help.

 

[chocadile]

If you go to the Diagnostics screen you can Home each axis individually. Look in the upper left corner.

Sorry to hear loading ver. 062 didn't solve your problem. Hopefully the Mach Support guys can fix it. If not, post a screen shot of your input signals and maybe we can help.

Hi Tom,

I found the ref tabs in the diagnostic screen and started trying to home the axis one by one. I found that the Z and X axis still do not want to cooperate. The Y axis on the other hand homes and zeros just fine. This is very interesting. At least I'm a third of the way there now haha. I've taken screen shots of some of my settings that I hope will shed some light on my problems.

If there are any other set up tabs you'd like screen shots of please let me know. I just grabbed the ones I thought would be most helpful.

Thank you again for the help Tom it's greatly appreciated.

 

[TomS]

Hi Tom,

I found the ref tabs in the diagnostic screen and started trying to home the axis one by one. I found that the Z and X axis still do not want to cooperate. The Y axis on the other hand homes and zeros just fine. This is very interesting. At least I'm a third of the way there now haha. I've taken screen shots of some of my settings that I hope will shed some light on my problems.

If there are any other set up tabs you'd like screen shots of please let me know. I just grabbed the ones I thought would be most helpful.

Thank you again for the help Tom it's greatly appreciated.

Before I start offering suggestions a couple of questions. Do you have separate limit and home switches? Are your switches wired in series? Looking at your Inputs screen shot it looks like you have your switches wired to individual inputs.

 

[chocadile]

Before I start offering suggestions a couple of questions. Do you have separate limit and home switches? Are your switches wired in series? Looking at your Inputs screen shot it looks like you have your switches wired to individual inputs.

Tom,

Yes I have separate home and limit switches. I do believe they are wired in series. I have attached pics of my home and limit switches.

 

[TomS]

Tom,

Yes I have separate home and limit switches. I do believe they are wired in series. I have attached pics of my home and limit switches.

Thanks for the clarifications. What I've read is these Jamen boards can test your patience.

Take a look at your Inputs screen. There is a note that says you can use only pin numbers 10 thru 13 and 15 as inputs. You are using pin numbers 1 thru 6. I'm thinking Mach is looking for signals from pins 10-13 and 15 and not seeing the signals from pins 1 - 6. Also your Port# is set as 2. Reading through the attached Jamen manual it should be set to Port #1. You need to determine the pin number on your breakout board that the limit and home switches are wired to then change your Input screen to match. Take it a step at a time so you know what change solved the problem.

A close up picture of your breakout board showing pins numbers would be helpful.

Edit - if your switches are wired in series then you will be using two input pins, one for your limit switches and one for your homing switches. Unless all of your switches are wired together in series in which case you will be using one input pin.

 

[chocadile]

Thanks for the clarifications. What I've read is these Jamen boards can test your patience.

Take a look at your Inputs screen. There is a note that says you can use only pin numbers 10 thru 13 and 15 as inputs. You are using pin numbers 1 thru 6. I'm thinking Mach is looking for signals from pins 10-13 and 15 and not seeing the signals from pins 1 - 6. Also your Port# is set as 2. Reading through the attached Jamen manual it should be set to Port #1. You need to determine the pin number on your breakout board that the limit and home switches are wired to then change your Input screen to match. Take it a step at a time so you know what change solved the problem.

A close up picture of your breakout board showing pins numbers would be helpful.

Edit - if your switches are wired in series then you will be using two input pins, one for your limit switches and one for your homing switches. Unless all of your switches are wired together in series in which case you will be using one input pin.

Hi Tom,

My machine is using the nMotion board as the control board. I believe this came in the newer versions of the PM-940-CNC.