11.3
HOMING and software limit switches test
11.3.1
First homing
When axes are scaled correctly and motion directions are correct – it is time for first homing. During
normal work, most comfortable is to use a button for all axes homing („Ref All Home” on the main
screen). During the tests, it is better to home the axes individually from the Mach Diagnostic screen.
On the Diagnostic screen of Mach3 you will see group of buttons for each axis hom-
ing. Before you press one, be prepared for emergency stop by EStop pressing or
on Mach screen.
Every time you press Ref... verify homing of each axis used. After correct homing –
the light indicator next to the button should light green. If motion when homing is
wrong, you can change the configuration in „Config
Homing/Limits”.
If axes homing is correct, you can experiment with increasing homing speed in
„Config
Homing/Limits”.
11.3.2
SoftLimit switches
If axes homing is correct then you can set, switch and check software limit switches. Click on „Jog
Mode” in the manual feed rate panel and set „Cont.”. „Slow Jog Rate” set on e.g. 40%. It is worth to
turn on preview of machine directions by pressing
on the Mach’s main screen. Then, in manual
mode go e.g. with X-axis- on 5mm before hardware switch limit and write down on paper - the X
coordinate from the screen. Repeat this action for all axes.
Open „Config
Homing/Limits” window and enter correct values into SoftMax and SoftMin. For X
and Y axes it is usually SoftMin=0. You should remember that Z-axis usually works in negative direc-
tion, so the SoftMax will be equal to zero, and min. limitation enter in SoftMin.
Close „Homing/Limits”, press
and run homing again. Click on
, to see the green light
around. You can try and go each axis to reach coordinates that are specified in the SoftMax/SoftMin.
The machine should smoothly brake and should not cross any limits of a working area.
After test is successfully finished you can turn the coordinates off by pressing
.
After some parameters change – the controller may automatically go into emergency stop mode, it is
absolutely normal. In that case, you should press
and run all axes homing by pressing „Ref All
Home” on the Mach’s main screen.
C S - L a b s . c . – C S M I O / I P - S - C N C C o n t r o l l e r
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