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I'm using LinuxCNC as part of a wire EDM, and it's also my first experience with Linux of any sort.

When I load a job, a 2D representation appears on the Preview tab and on the figure is an "X", where cutting will start. Depending upon the shape of the blank and the outline of the part, it's sometimes better to have the starting point elsewhere. Is this something that can be changed within LinuxCNC, or can it only be done in the program that generated the G-code file (Vcarve, in my case)?

Thanks

Hm.
Drive connected to adapter, but they aren't talking. Seems everything is set right, i dont see any mistakes.

hmmm

sorry for the confusion, i have 6 drives powered by 2 power supplies. each power supply is powering 3 drives. my machine setup is 5 axis  with the X (gantry) has a tandem, total of 6 axis.

Hi,
I'm refreshing / updating a minimill I built back in 2010.  It's been idle for probably 12 years or so, and I decided to dust it off and see if it still worked (and if I remembered anything at all about it!). This was partially prompted because I learned that maybe FreeCad could generate tool paths...?  (unconfirmed, but I think hearing that is what piqued my interest again.)

Anyway, it's an old beast - I've installed a new disk and installed the latest linuxcnc I could download, set up the RTAI kernel (I'm using a parallel port, not a Mesa board - for now at least, and my latencies were sometimes getting up above 100 nS).

Sorry, that's all just context - the point: My home / limit switch is not working for my Z-Axis.  Mind you, electrically it works - I had it operating under the old OS / EMC2 before upgrading, and I've confirmed with a voltmeter that it's getting a 5v signal, and the switch opens when I push it.  But when I push it, I see no indication in LinuxCNC that limit has been hit.  
This was discovered right after running through the StepConf wizard. I looked around a bit, and saw that StepConf had written "max-home-u" instead of the expected (by me) "max-home-z" into my .hal file.  For x & y, it had written "min-home-x" and "min-home-y".  

So, I double-checked that I'd selected the right entry in stepconf wizard (I had), and tried again.  Same.  In fact, the error even existed in the .stepconf file:
<property type="string" name="pin12" value="max-home-u"/> <!-- Jason: Should be max-home-z instead, and that's essentially what was shown in the UI. -->

So, I manually changed the entry in the hal file to say the max-home-z value that I expect is correct.  I also saw that max-home-z was already present in another part of the file (where that value is 'mapped' to the limit and the home inputs.). EDIT : When I came back to add detail and attachments, I couldn't confirm this - I swear I saw it before, but maybe I was actually looking at the info for the X or Y axis.  I can't find it for Z now.  That's my leading suspect at the moment, now!

net max-home-u      <= parport.0.pin-12-in-not
became
net max-home-z      <= parport.0.pin-12-in-not

I restarted linuxcnc, and that didn't fix it.  I restarted the whole computer, and it still didn't fix it.  I'm at a bit of a loss.  

I did a lot of searching, and my AI sidekick told me I'd found a known issue in StepConf Wizard, but I don't actually see much confirmation of that in reality.  I did find this thread (forum.linuxcnc.org/49-basic-configuratio...is-homing-and-travel) so I suspect it at least one person before has been affected by it. Unfortunately, I didn't see any indication that that issue was ever really resolved.  

I guess you'll like to see my .hal and .ini files, if you are inclined to look into this at all (helpful unknown reader!), so, I'll attach them as soon as I have them handy.  I'm walking back and forth to do everything now, because that computer is too uncomfortable to sit and type at for any stretch, and I don't have SSH working yet.

Thanks!
Jason 

 

AkkiSan wrote:

What are you using?

 

If this was for me, by now probably over 70 or 80 (i would bet more) of Mesa cards, on over 40 machines, from EMC2 to the latest LinuxCNC 2.10 still in development.
Most of them use LinuxCNC 2.8.4, and all of them use old "enterprise" computers and laptops from Dell, HP. Lenovo and Fujitsu.
But none of them use probing, so far.
-
Do the issues occur without probing involved?

Oh sorry, this was not meant as a complaint or rant.

My intention was to make clear, that basically all my completely different setups are failing to work - including
the ones which include a Mesa card. Which, at least to what I understood, is recommended or even the only option
after the golden parallel port times.

Issues started with 2.8.x on Wheezy. At that time, only the probing was affected, but I found that out
much later, after I deleted the 2.7 partitions bc I probed on a non-LinuxCNC machine.
Fixed it with a flipflop:
forum.linuxcnc.org/38-general-linuxcnc-q...move-deadlock#332412  
But there's sth wrong in the code, probably related to the RT system, as a longer latency makes things
significantly worse.

Everything with Bookworm and >=2.8.x doubled the latency and also brought the bespoken queue and
now also joint following errors. This does even happen on a Machinekit setup, after upgrading to a
tool center point capabale version on a five axis machine.
The most annoying thing is that there is no workaround. Not even increasing the following limits to absurd
values do help here. So the machine stops (without any mechanical errors) and there's nothing one can do.
On one machine this excusively happens with a rotary table. Randomly.

GUI doesn't matter. I only use the "blue one" and Axis. Stock settings, no plugins or mods - zero difference.


I have this Mesa Ethernet thing and the RPi variant. Both also have these issues with a bookworm setup.
What are you using?
 

You da man! An H7 and TMC5160 combination should get me up and going. For starters I'm just going to control x, y, and z-axes, but at some point I may add two more drivers for the spindle and a coolant pump.

I've been fiddling with those Chinese-made encoders that they put on everything from calipers to linear rails (which I have bolted to my mill axes for DRO). Eventually it'd be neat to close the loop entirely -- as well as get an old computer joystick wired into a few GPIO's to be able to "jog" the machine manually.

But it all starts with x, y, and z...

Thanks so much!

What versions of LinuxCNC?
What GUI is being used?
What "probing" is used?

Take some pictures of the wiring and upload them here on the forum so we can have a look.
Do you have a DVM or even better an oscilloscope? Or a simple small LED?
You can use those to check if the drives get any signal on the inputs, easy to check by changing direction of the axis being checked as that should swing from 0 to ~3.3 or 5V.

You have 6 motors, but only 3 axes?

How's that possible.

Are all your axes tandem?

The drivers should default to enabled, not disabled!

When you are testing, you want stuff to work (safety concerns notwithstanding).

It won't work if it's disabled!

I have been using LinuxCNC/EMC1-2 for more than 20 years by now; currently, on five machines (one with Machinekit) - and every single of them now has issues with newer versions:

- probe tripped during movement  
- queue full  
- joint following errors  

It's a wild mix of interfaces and computers, two parallel ports, two Mesa cards, a RPi 5 (Mesa) and a Beaglebone Black (PocketNC).  
I have never ever experienced joint following errors before. I also made millions (guessing here, hehe ) of probe movements without any issues.  

Now, I'm not even able to finish a single milling job longer than 15 minutes without error.

I already went back to Wheezy (this also halved the latency again) and duplicated the setups without containing any probe pins,  
just to keep things going. Of course, I always forgot to switch back and rammed mills into the length probes and elsewhere.

While browsing the forum, I noticed that many others seem to have the same issues, but there have to be working setups.  

One machine was already converted to grbl. I always thought about this as a joke, and I now have to use my phone instead
of my handwheel - but it's actually not that bad. I also checked Acorn CNC and Masso, probably the way to go unless I find
time to develop sth on my own - the 87th standard. Lol.


I would like to stick with LinuxCNC, so which >>working<< setups could you propose?


Thx,
AS

Thank you guys so much for the heated debate about power supply. I have 2 power supplies each powering 3 of the drives. it worked like a charm with Pokeys57 board. I am not getting any juice out of the drives to the stepper motors, I tried the 1K pullup resistor, no luck. I to use a 10kΩ pull-up resistor from each PoStep Pin 1 to Pin 9 (+5V) to ensure drivers default to disabled state. and still nothing. I really don't want to go back to Mach4 & Pokeys board. I am just hitting a wall! 
Thank you!

While my new controller is on its way, could you tell me where I can find examples of electrical diagrams for connecting the board to peripheral devices (servo motors, encoders, sensors), especially in terms of their common ground? I don't want to make any mistakes again. Thanks!

unknown wrote:

A perfectly managed mess one would tend to think.

YES! I use the expression "organized chaos" when explaining my shop to others, but the meaning is pretty much the same.
Thank you.

A perfectly managed mess one would tend to think.