ATC Project - Debug phase

Changing the stepgen connection did the trick on jogging, sort-of.  Jogging now starts without needing the enable pin.

However, jog-fwd still has issues - again, probably related to my config.

• Test 1
  • jog-fwd HIGH < moves one pocket fwd, no search, state = 20
  • (wait for it to stop moving)
  • jog-fwd LOW < moves back one pocket at slow speed, state = 6, then 9, then 0
• Test 2
  • Same functions, except turn off jog-fwd before it stops
  • same results
• Test 3 (works)
  • jog-rev HIGH < moves one pocket rev, no search, state = 20
  • (wait for stop moving)
  • jog-rev LOW < slow back and forth search to correct pocket, state = 0
• Test 4 (works)
  • jog-rev HIGH < moves one pocket rev, no search, state = 20
  • (don't wait for stop moving)
  • jog-rev LOW < slow back and forth search to correct pocket, state = 0

I changed decel-time, align-dc, speed, and width and no change in the jog-fwd behavior.  I even changed the scale to force it past the sensor and it still searched back to the original pocket.

Wow, thanks to both andypugh and spumco. I recently finished the mechanical side of the carousel and I am now in the process of preparing the test of the carousel.comp (and then the integration into probebasic, which does of of the comps work in macros...).
Looking forward to testing this.

Out of curiosity: This works with 2.8.2 as well or only within 2.9? (I don't immediately see a reason as to why that would be the case).

I can't see why it wouldn't work.  Keep in mind that 'counts' mode version(s) have not been pushed to 2.8 on github.  I believe Andy pushed counts to 2.9/master a little while ago, but not sure which of the 4 or 5 versions he's posted on the thread are in master.

And yes, I'm trying to integrate carousel.comp in 'counts' mode with Probe Basic.  Given my inexperience with this side of things, it's been a challenge.

Assuming you want to use the existing PB screen buttons to manage the ATC, you have to (sort-of) follow the ATC control scheme created by the PB devs.  They don't just have a single "M6" remap file that handles everything.  They've broken up the control sequence in to multiple files, and near as I can tell there are a number of .ngc files in the subroutines folder which aren't used anywhere (legacy or abandoned).

The main issue with integrating carousel with PB is that the PB remap files contain the bidirectional pocket calculations and motor controls... which is unneeded if using carousel.  Carousel handles everything for you - you tell it a pocket and it does all the heavy lifting.

Those remap files also contain - I think - commands that control/manage the on-screen ATC widget so it follows or displays the correct pocket & platter alignment.  There's no documentation on the qtpyvcp page for passing gcode stuff back to cutom widgets.

I haven't gotten to the point where I can test out my remap modifications... maybe tonight is the night.  Either way my intention is to have a go and then report back how I got from OEM Probe Basic to Carousel Probe Basic.

How are you driving jog-fwd and jog-rev ? Jogging waits for the jog key to be released _then_ does the final alignment.

The easiest way (if you don't have physical job buttons) is to use sim-pin:

I'm driving the pins through halshow.  I have halshow open during testing so I can adjust values and watch the state changes.

The newer halshow version has a number of features that make using it easier - such as screen buttons to set pin states.

To trigger jog-fwd & jog-rev, I click on the 'set' and 'clear' (or whatever they are named) buttons from the halshow screen.

I could be wrong, but I don't think using this method of driving the pins is the underlying cause of the jog issues.  If it were, then I don't think jog-rev would work perfectly while jog-fwd is acting up.

I plan on doing my first ATC commissioning tonight, and I have both jog pins connected to digital-out-nn pins in hal for that test.  Probe Basic has on-screen ATC jog buttons that I've mapped to an  Mxx.ngc file which contains M64 Pn / M65 Pn lines.

I can do the above tonight, or some other jog pin trigger if you think it would help eliminate user error.

Yes, it's acting like that in both directions, whether I set & clear the pin quickly or wait for the initial move to end.

And it works for jog-rev.  But jog-fwd does the final alignment back to the original pin.

GuiHue wrote:

Out of curiosity: This works with 2.8.2 as well or only within 2.9? (I don't immediately see a reason as to why that would be the case).

It should work with any LinuxCNC version.