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Looking for a specific, detailed howto guide for XYYZ gantry setup
- ArcAiN6
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28 Sep 2025 22:35 #335518
by ArcAiN6
Looking for a specific, detailed howto guide for XYYZ gantry setup was created by ArcAiN6
While i'm no stranger to linux, i have to admit, trying to get my machine up and running in LinuxCNC is the equivalent of throwing a toddler into the deep end of the pool, and expecting them to win a 500m butterfly race. I need help with this. because my experience with LinuxCNC thus far, just makes me want to wipe the hard drive, and find literally anything else.
There's just NO documentation on how to do it. There are small hints here and there, and a plethora of forum posts that tackle small bits of this or that, but not a single unified, digestible "this is what you have to do" type of guide. I've spent the better part of a week, crawling google, bing, facebook ,the forums, the documentation, the github, and it's just EVERYWHERE. Most of it, is seriously old, and outdated information.
At the end of the day, i just feel swamped with a mountain of unusable information, configuration files, and a plethora of "almost there" configuration wizards, and i've made absolutely zero progress.
Yes, this may seem like a rant, and honestly, it kind of is. Something as simple as slaving one motor to another shouldn't be this convoluted. A simple drop down and checkbox in the wizard should have been all that was needed to slave A to Y.
// END RANT //
All i need, is a step by step proceedure for slaving my A drive to my Y drive.
There's just NO documentation on how to do it. There are small hints here and there, and a plethora of forum posts that tackle small bits of this or that, but not a single unified, digestible "this is what you have to do" type of guide. I've spent the better part of a week, crawling google, bing, facebook ,the forums, the documentation, the github, and it's just EVERYWHERE. Most of it, is seriously old, and outdated information.
At the end of the day, i just feel swamped with a mountain of unusable information, configuration files, and a plethora of "almost there" configuration wizards, and i've made absolutely zero progress.
Yes, this may seem like a rant, and honestly, it kind of is. Something as simple as slaving one motor to another shouldn't be this convoluted. A simple drop down and checkbox in the wizard should have been all that was needed to slave A to Y.
// END RANT //
All i need, is a step by step proceedure for slaving my A drive to my Y drive.
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- tommylight
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28 Sep 2025 22:57 #335522
by tommylight
Replied by tommylight on topic Looking for a specific, detailed howto guide for XYYZ gantry setup
Since you failed to mention, i am assuming this is a parallel port setup, so is it?
I think the 2.10 version of LinuxCNC will have tandem axis in wizard for parallel port, for Mesa there is already any combination possible in the wizard.
There is no howto as it is very simple, open wizard, choose axis and what axis is tandem, some math with motor/pulley/final drive/, and save, test.
Also, it seems you came form Mach3 side of things as there is no slave in LinuxCNC, there is tandem joints and can be more than two fro the same axis.
And using LLM for this is still just plain useless, and so is google, next time try duckduckgo.com it still seems to find stuff that is fully hidden to google.
Finally, a qustion before you wander again to the deep end of the pool:
Do both sides of Y have their own home switches?
That is a must to be able to square the gantry any time the machine is homed.
But, if you do not need gantry squaring, you can:
-wire both motors to the same drive, in series as the cable length is not an issue, or in parallel but both cable sets must be the same length
-wire both drive inputs to the same PC output, be it parallel or Mesa or Pico or Remora or Rio
-set in software/HAL to output of Y axis to both drives, simply by choosing Axis Y twice in the wizard.
All of these do not require any home switch, and can not do gantry squaring. But they do work with switches.
I think the 2.10 version of LinuxCNC will have tandem axis in wizard for parallel port, for Mesa there is already any combination possible in the wizard.
There is no howto as it is very simple, open wizard, choose axis and what axis is tandem, some math with motor/pulley/final drive/, and save, test.
Also, it seems you came form Mach3 side of things as there is no slave in LinuxCNC, there is tandem joints and can be more than two fro the same axis.
And using LLM for this is still just plain useless, and so is google, next time try duckduckgo.com it still seems to find stuff that is fully hidden to google.
Finally, a qustion before you wander again to the deep end of the pool:
Do both sides of Y have their own home switches?
That is a must to be able to square the gantry any time the machine is homed.
But, if you do not need gantry squaring, you can:
-wire both motors to the same drive, in series as the cable length is not an issue, or in parallel but both cable sets must be the same length
-wire both drive inputs to the same PC output, be it parallel or Mesa or Pico or Remora or Rio
-set in software/HAL to output of Y axis to both drives, simply by choosing Axis Y twice in the wizard.
All of these do not require any home switch, and can not do gantry squaring. But they do work with switches.
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- ArcAiN6
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28 Sep 2025 23:36 #335524
by ArcAiN6
Replied by ArcAiN6 on topic Looking for a specific, detailed howto guide for XYYZ gantry setup
Yes. It is a parallel BOB.
In stepper configuration wizard, i set Y as normal axis, and the secondary motor as Y tandem. (read that somewhere here in the forums)
Both sides have their own limit switches.
Testing in the configuration wizard:
Setting Y axis as normal, and the additional motor as Y tandem.
Then going forward to "test" only 1 motor moves.
If i swap which is Y normal, and which is Y tandem, the other motor moves, and the original motor does not.
Deciding to go ahead and finish the configuration wizard, and test it in linuxcnc, the same issue occurs. It attempts to home only one motor
This is the issue i've been trying to find a solution to.
In stepper configuration wizard, i set Y as normal axis, and the secondary motor as Y tandem. (read that somewhere here in the forums)
Both sides have their own limit switches.
Testing in the configuration wizard:
Setting Y axis as normal, and the additional motor as Y tandem.
Then going forward to "test" only 1 motor moves.
If i swap which is Y normal, and which is Y tandem, the other motor moves, and the original motor does not.
Deciding to go ahead and finish the configuration wizard, and test it in linuxcnc, the same issue occurs. It attempts to home only one motor
This is the issue i've been trying to find a solution to.
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- tommylight
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28 Sep 2025 23:43 #335525
by tommylight
Replied by tommylight on topic Looking for a specific, detailed howto guide for XYYZ gantry setup
Upload hal and ini files here so we can have a look.
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28 Sep 2025 23:53 #335526
by ArcAiN6
Replied by ArcAiN6 on topic Looking for a specific, detailed howto guide for XYYZ gantry setup
Attachments:
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- PCW
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29 Sep 2025 01:05 #335529
by PCW
Replied by PCW on topic Looking for a specific, detailed howto guide for XYYZ gantry setup
If i swap which is Y normal, and which is Y tandem, the other motor moves, and the original motor does not.
This is not really clear, dd you swap the hardware or the Y and Y2 functions in the hal file?
(that is, did you verify that the parallel output pins 8 and 9 work as expected)
This is not really clear, dd you swap the hardware or the Y and Y2 functions in the hal file?
(that is, did you verify that the parallel output pins 8 and 9 work as expected)
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- ArcAiN6
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29 Sep 2025 01:20 #335530
by ArcAiN6
Replied by ArcAiN6 on topic Looking for a specific, detailed howto guide for XYYZ gantry setup
i left the pin asignments as they were, just changed the dropdown to change it from normal Y axes, and Tandem.
i.e.
Pin 4 and 5 set as Y-Step and Y-DIR
Pin 8 and 9 set as Tandem Y-Step and Tandem Y-DIR
This causes the left motor to move when testing, right motor does nothing
Pin 4 and 5 set as Tandem Y-Step and Tandem Y-DIR
Pin 8 and 9 set as Y-Step and Y-DIR
This causes right motor to move, left motor does nothing
I didn't swap any of the physical signals, just that one setting in the stepper config wizard.
If i set the machine to XYZA, and set both motors are normal, making pins 8/9 the A axis. i can jog both motors individually in the wizard's test feature.
i.e.
Pin 4 and 5 set as Y-Step and Y-DIR
Pin 8 and 9 set as Tandem Y-Step and Tandem Y-DIR
This causes the left motor to move when testing, right motor does nothing
Pin 4 and 5 set as Tandem Y-Step and Tandem Y-DIR
Pin 8 and 9 set as Y-Step and Y-DIR
This causes right motor to move, left motor does nothing
I didn't swap any of the physical signals, just that one setting in the stepper config wizard.
If i set the machine to XYZA, and set both motors are normal, making pins 8/9 the A axis. i can jog both motors individually in the wizard's test feature.
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29 Sep 2025 12:39 #335543
by tommylight
Replied by tommylight on topic Looking for a specific, detailed howto guide for XYYZ gantry setup
You should most probably save the config then run it, then home the machine as jogging will not work for tandem axis before homing.
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29 Sep 2025 16:52 #335558
by ArcAiN6
Replied by ArcAiN6 on topic Looking for a specific, detailed howto guide for XYYZ gantry setup
as i've stated. it only tries to home 1 of the two motors
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29 Sep 2025 19:55 #335567
by ArcAiN6
Replied by ArcAiN6 on topic Looking for a specific, detailed howto guide for XYYZ gantry setup
I think i might have figured it out.
because the homing seek rate was super slow (so i didn't break anything) it was difficult to tell, but one of the motors was actually moving in the opposite direction, giving it the appearance that only one motor was moving. (i've already ordered replacement motors, as it seems one was stronger than the other)
i had to manually change the hal file
'''
setp parpart.0.pin-09-out-invert 0
'''
After that, they both were moving at the same speed and rate, in the same direction.
Final Note:
Thank you guys for the help, and sorry about the opening rant. the frustration was VERY real for me.
because the homing seek rate was super slow (so i didn't break anything) it was difficult to tell, but one of the motors was actually moving in the opposite direction, giving it the appearance that only one motor was moving. (i've already ordered replacement motors, as it seems one was stronger than the other)
i had to manually change the hal file
'''
setp parpart.0.pin-09-out-invert 0
'''
After that, they both were moving at the same speed and rate, in the same direction.
Final Note:
Thank you guys for the help, and sorry about the opening rant. the frustration was VERY real for me.
The following user(s) said Thank You: tommylight
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- Configuring LinuxCNC
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- Looking for a specific, detailed howto guide for XYYZ gantry setup
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