Work with probe

I installed this probe screen on Debian Wheezy with LinuxCNC 2.7.4. I have to the best of my ability followed the installation instructions in this thread.
My first use of the probe screen would be to locate hole centers for reworking.

The screen appears, it looks OK, values can be set and buttons can be clicked.

What happens is that the application seems to not use my parameter entries. When I click a function key the probe retracts about 10
mm, goes down about 10 mm, goes forward about 5 mm and stops with one of these errors regardless of parameter values

17:35:07 Error: G38.2 move finished without making contact.
or
17:34:01 Error: User probe error

I even tried to set all parameters to "0" to see if there was any different response. Always back 10, down 10 forward 5, stop.
The direction is the expected one, Search X+ and it backs up to the left.

How can I diagnose and debug this?

Wirewrap wrote:

How can I diagnose and debug this?

Here is a list of variables that can be found in the files macros/*.ngc and python/probe_screen.py

I have the same issue. Being new to this package I am sure it is what I am doing wrong. It seems very erratic. Seems like the
probe does not have time to move up when it moves to the side and then says probe already tripped or something like that. I have been keeping the parameters at the default because I really don't know that they really do yet. When I figure this out I will post my fix. Thank you so much for this creation and fun thing to explore.

How do I display variables used by the probe screen while running the probe screen?

EDIT:
I just found them, they are HAL pins.

I wonder if the erratic behavior is related to the problem I ran into where calls return before the function is complete. At the time I seemed to be the only one running into the problem.

The following change to probe_screen.py fixed my problems:

Orig:
def ocode(self,s, data = None):
self.command.mdi(s)
self.stat.poll()
while self.stat.exec_state == 7 or self.stat.exec_state == 3 :
if self.error_poll() == -1:
return -1
self.command.wait_complete()
self.stat.poll()
self.command.wait_complete()

New:
def ocode(self,s, data = None):
self.command.mdi(s)
self.stat.poll()
while self.stat.interp_state <> linuxcnc.INTERP_IDLE :
if self.error_poll() == -1:
return -1
time.sleep(0.1)
self.command.wait_complete()
self.stat.poll()
self.command.wait_complete()

okiejim wrote:

I have the same issue. Being new to this package I am sure it is what I am doing wrong. It seems very erratic. Seems like the
probe does not have time to move up when it moves to the side and then says probe already tripped or something like that. I have been keeping the parameters at the default because I really don't know that they really do yet. When I figure this out I will post my fix. Thank you so much for this creation and fun thing to explore.

Sounds like you possibly have the probe connected incorrectly in HAL. If you open halmeter and look at the pin motion.probe-input it should be false unless the probe is tripped. It sounds like motion.probe-input is true unless the probe is tripped.

If that is not it then you may have to add a debounce component between the original input pin for the probe and the motion.probe-input pin to take any electrical or mechanical noise out of the probe signal.

Jim

Seems like the probe screen works as expected until there is an error message printed when using the "hole" routine.
After that error, no parameters can be changed, the input box in the panel changes, but the corresponding ps_ variable does not change as seen in the Halconfiguration watch window.

Ken, I have been looking at your "safe_probe_init" file for several days but have not been able to get it interfaced to try it out. Can you provide some notes on what needs to be done to implement your code and get it working? Also are there any updates to your code since you posted it? I'm using the gnoccapy screen on linuxcnc 2.8 pre. Can this configuration use your single file that has multiple subroutines inside of it that are accessed via the required symlinks?

It's been a long time since I looked at this code (or used it for that matter). I'm not familiar with gnoccapy, so I don't think I can help you.

Sorry about that.

Ken

Thinking about it some more...

1 -- Do you have a working probe? If not, get your probe working first.

fairngs:
have you a working probe connected to Probe-in in your Hal config
what exactly are you having problems with ?

message me and i'll try and guide you through any setup