PM-45M-CNC Setup and Configuration with Mach3

Tom, Do you place your tool setter on top of your workpiece (or wherever Z=0 for the part you are making) or do you zero to a known location and use the tool offset table?
Is the Z-Setter spring loaded? It does not look like it from the picture and if it is not spring loaded, how to you keep from having problems with over-travel when setting Z?

Thanks
 
joehardee said:
Just like say after a couple of days running and playing around with the pmdx and smoothstepper on my mill, I am total happy with the upgrade. It is was well worth the couple of panic attacks I had. Just to confirm the backlash comp works , probe it works, my flood coolant works, my imach pendent works right for change. I would like to thank GaryL for the hard work he went through to make it so easy for me to do also a thanks to Boswell for noting the wiring differences in these machines and the quick replay time. Now on a new subject Has any one had any luck with a tool touch plate to auto Z0? what Im meaning is when i go to say g28 and change to a new tool it would come down and hit the plate or something and set zero for the tool.
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Joe, I glad to hear that you got it a ll working. Just being able to use Probeit was work the effort for me.
 
Boswell said:
Tom, Do you place your tool setter on top of your workpiece (or wherever Z=0 for the part you are making) or do you zero to a known location and use the tool offset table?
Is the Z-Setter spring loaded? It does not look like it from the picture and if it is not spring loaded, how to you keep from having problems with over-travel when setting Z?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I don't use the tool offset table, yet. Haven't progressed to jobs that use more than 2 or three tools. As I become more proficient and run more complex jobs then I'll need to learn how to use the offset table. So to answer your question, I set the tool setter on my work piece to set Z zero. Takes less than 30 seconds to set the tool height. It is not spring loaded and I've not had a problem with over-travel. To make sure I haven't lost connection I go to the Diagnostics screen and touch the tool setter to the tool and make sure the light comes on. And I have the feed rate set low. Can't remember the exact number but it's less than 10 IPM. Also have my hand on the e-stop just in case.

Edit: There is script available on the net that not only sets your Z zero but also updates the tool offset table. Can't remember where I found it and haven't tried it so don't know how well it works, if at all.

Tom S.
 
Boswell said:
Joe, I glad to hear that you got it a ll working. Just being able to use Probeit was work the effort for me.
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I have a probeit question. When you do a basic xyz probe. from the basic xy page. dose it set the z at the half the diameter of the probe you entered. Meaning when i go to zero after im done the ball is below the z surface that i just probe.
 
Joe, I have never used Probit to set Z. Only x and y. I have a LED based z-setter that I use manually to set Z. Unless you are going to use a Tool Table, there is no value that I can think of to use the probe to zero the Z. You will just have to redo the Z Zero when you put the tool in you are going to cut with.
 
Yesterday I was in the process of re-calibrating my probe with Probit and I had an un-commanded spindle event. 2500 RPM with the probe in a chuck. Hit the Big Red E-STOP button to shut it down. Lucky I did not have my hand close so the only damage was to the probe. The wire was broken. I will spice it back but odds are the wire is damaged in places that are not obvious but we will see. The real scare was the un-commanded spindle turn on. I don't know if this was a Mach3 issue, a Probit issue, a SmoothStepper issue or the BOB.

I think that I will ensure that I have the E-Stop engaged anytime that I have my hands near the moving parts. A good reminder that these are dangerous machines and it is easy to get complacent with them.
 
Ray C said:
Here's an updated version (Draft II) of the Software and Driver Setup manual and an additional draft document covering Homing and Setting Limit Switches. There are two documents because of their large byte size. The first document is just cleaned up a little with no changes to the technical content.

Please let me know if this stuff is helping you folks so I can get some idea if I'm knocking myself out for nothing... Comments and suggestion for content and to improve readability are welcome.


Once again, I'd like to thank a nameless person for proofreading the latest doc... Once we get beyond "draft" status, I'll put editor information in there. I'm going to keep these in "Work Instruction" format as I hate pedantic manuals with all kinds of headings, titles, lists of figure -and all that crap. Beef. I want beef -no fluff.


Ray...

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Ray,
Thank you for your very thorough PM-45M-CNC setup instructions. I am an electrical engineer and mentor to a high school robotics team which purchased a PM-45M-CNC machine in June of 2015. It took a year before the school was finally able to get the budget to get the machine wired with power. Anyway, we are now in the process of trying to get the machine to work. I have Mach3 installed on a laptop and the Jamen JNC-40M version 1.58 driver successfully installed. I can run Mach3 and it recognizes the machine. I was able to easily follow your instructions for configuration. Unfortunately, the machine just does not work! Here are some of the symptoms:
When I attempt to press the Mach3 "RESET" button, a message pops up that the Emergency Stop button or a limit switch is active which is preventing the machine from exiting the reset state. I verified the machine was not at any limit switch and that the emergency stop buttons are not depressed and I still get the same message. The warning said it could autoconfig the inputs to correct the issue (I assume this changes the active state settings). Anyway out of frustration I told it to autoconfig the I/Os but unfortunately the machine behaves in the exact same way after attempting this. Unfortunately, it scrambled the I/O settings, so I reconfigured the I/Os again per your instructions.
When you look at the diagnostic screen in the Mach3 the input "lamps" are constantly flashing on then off then on then off etc. I have a feeling this is not right. The states should be static when the machine is not in motion. So, is there a communication setting that is off? I was concerned that maybe the USB cable was bad, but another one behaves the same way. I then connected a ground wire from the machine ground block to the computer to see if there was a ground noise issue with no improvement. Any ideas? I'm hoping someone has seen this before and knows exactly what to do. I have not been able to get the machine to move at all. We also have a pendant which does not function either.
 
RD,

This may not be a solution but it may help narrow down whether you have an interference / ground issue. There is a "debounce" setting in Mach 3 that delays false E-stop and limit switch signals. By not recognizing short spikes of electrical noise it basically filters out the false signals. The larger the number you set in the debounce settings the finer the filter. The negative aspect of setting the debounce setting too high is it will delay the amount of time a real E-stop is engaged by the user. I used 200 recently and it solved an intermittent issue I had with false E stop / limits being triggered falsely while my nearby coolant sump pump was running. Prior to using coolant I didn't have the issue.
Anyway, I believe the debounce setting is in the general settings upper right corner. Do a YouTube/google search and you'll see others explain the same issue I had. Yours is more extreme, however.

If you have more issues I'd consider a different controller card that interfaces with Ethernet instead of USB. I'm told USB can be very problematic for consistent CNC control.

Ps. If the pendant was included with the mill, it's known to have severe issues. Probably best to remove it from the equation ! Sadly

Cheers,

Jake
 
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RD, Glad to hear that you are starting to get it setup. As Jake suggest, simplify things as much as you can to start with. When you say that the input lamps are flashing on and off. Do you mean ALL of them or some of them. Are they random or is there a pattern. One step might be to only enable/configure the E-Stop in Mach3 and then troubleshoot it. It should not be flashing under any normal condition and so if the e-stop input is flashing it could be an intermittent connection (random flashing), a Power Supply issue (it should be a Normally Closed circuit so the board is providing power) or a problem with the board or driver.

Anyway these are some ideas to get started with. Please share your troubleshooting steps and results and we can brainstorm ideas.
 
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