Z axis configuration issue

Howdy,

I may have screwed-up my config., can someone help me sort this?

This is a gantry router.

I attached a copy of my configuration.ini file.

What's happening here:

In my config file I have,
X0 Y0 are home = lower left side of my machine table. (Looking down on it).
Z-6 has my head all the way up. (I think this is right).

My drawings and Gcode put my drawings at X0Y0Z0. (The center of ALL my drawings are such).

Home in the Axis GUI needs to have an off set of say X -2.500 and Y -1.500. to put the drawing/tool paths inside the machine limits and at a good place to run my Gcode.
Z0 puts the drawing/tool paths on top of my Z home/Z machine limits line.

Shouldn't Z0 be on the deck?

Z home is -6, I thought Z0 would be down, why dose it illustrate in Axis GUI on top of home?

My guess is I have my [Axis_2] moused up!

What say you folks?

Thanks

normally, if Z=0 is at the table surface Z=6 would be the top of your travel. Generally when the machine is homed Z=0 would be home position and Z=-6 would be the table surface, then the work coordinate system would be used to set Z=0 to be equal to the table surface.

Clear as mud?

Let me make sure I have this right.

You hook the wingding dangler to the wizzypoper throat plate and cross wire that to the chrome reverse muffler bearing, add a fresh goats eye, along with some dried lizard tail (according to taste) and you should have it.

Am I right?

I'm not sure the config is right or not, but I found some really odd offsets that I was able to correct and it's working as it should. (Or at lest it's working, that's not to say it's right, it just works).

Thanks Todd

Todd,

If I make the top of travel Z6 it homes the wrong way, I have to use Z-6 to get it to travel up to home.
Have I got the switches mixed up?

You have gantry routers as I recall, and you run an Anaheim controller/motors.

Your help on this would be really worth while to me.

Thanks in advance

First thing we need to make sure you have the directions correct for your axis.

When you jog your machine in the Z, does the table move or the spindle? When you jog in the positive direction (press the page up button) does the spindle go up or down?

When you press the page down button the spindle should be traveling closer to the table (spindle moving down, or table moving up) and the Z axis numbers should be getting smaller (or more negative).

It isn't always intuitive, especially on a moving table machine, where you have to think of the movements as the spindle relative to the work piece.

John pointed you to the way to control the homing direction.

Not that a machine set up backwards or weird in someway can't work, it is just that the code to run it would not be conventional. Your already using somewhat non-conventional code, having the workpiece origin defined as the center, usually the workpiece origin is such that all of the work piece is contained in positive coordinats (but it doesn't have to be).

JT, I'll take a look at that link shortly.
Thank you, it's been a while sense I did the config and I may have closed the book on that prematurely.

Todd,
My router has a moving spindle,
when I page up it goes up,
page down it goes down,
page down moves the spindle towards the table (closer to the table),
when paging down I have an ascending negative number (the negative number is growing larger).

When I set the radio button to "Z" and open the "Touch off” and load 6.00 in the “coordinate system” P1 G54, that puts the Z0 of my drawing/toolpaths at the bottom of the "machine limits” box on the Axis GUI splash screen (the table top being Z0) .

I think I have this set correctly, I am having some trouble with “Work piece off sets” but I woke up this morning with an epiphany in that regard and I'm about to try that idea.
If I'm still out in the weeds later I might need help with a link on how to clear old off set data.

On another subject:
Any chance you have any good used Anaheim 34D3118 2.8 VDC 9252 motors layin around?

Thanks for looking at this

The easiest way to clear the offsets in a coordinate system is G10 L2

G10 L2 P1 X0 Y0 Z0 (clears offsets for X,Y & Z axes in coordinate system 1)

I have some old NEMA34 Anaheim steppers laying around but I don't think they are the ones you want (or if they are much good).

Do you have a bad one you need to replace? I'd look at some other sources for step motors, Anaheim seems a bit over priced.

My Y axis motor is acting a little odd, just thought I would look into having a spare.

Do you know of a good supplier for DC steppers that are compatible with the Anaheim drive control by chance?

It depends on what Anaheim drive your using.

With their old unipolar drives (what we have), I've probably had more problems with drive to motor wiring and connections than anything, flowed second by drive failures (and wiring connections in the drive) than I have had motor problems.

For me when a stepper motors have failed it has usually been that the bearings either go bad or get so loose that the stator and rotor contact, with predictable results.