G540 and Mach3 setup for dummies...

I'm still waiting for the lathe to show up so I can make stepper motor stand offs, motor couplings and ball screws. So, I spent last night hooking up the G540 to the PS and watching tape paddles spin wildly while I hacked an old microsoft joystick. I set up the auto tool probe and limit switches. This wasn't too hard but a bit confusing at first for a newbie like me. I watched the videos on the mach3 website and it helped considerably, but I still had to make a few guesses. Fortunately, no smoke leaked out. Here's a quick "how to" set of notes. If I have anything wrong here or can add something else that's important, please chime in! (like that's not gonna happend if I have it wrong...) (chair)

Cheers! -4ist

I guess it would help if I actually attached something...


Here’s the tweaks I had to make to Mach3 to get it set up with the G540:

1) To get to run, just plug it in as advertised. Download the XML from the gecko site and put it in the mach3 folder. When you run mach3 loader, load the 540B profile.
2) The E-stop needs to be set up or the G540 will not run without turning off the charge pump. Do this by going to config – general configuration then check “Charge Pump On in E Stop”. Now the green light will come on assuming you have jumped pins 10 and 12. Your motors should spin…
3) I downloaded the auto tool probe from Hoss. He has a ~2 minute video how to do this. To define the tool probe, I used input #2 (pin #2 on the G540) by going to config – ports and pins and scrolled down to “probe” . Check “Enabled” and “Active Low”. Set “Port#” to “1” and “Pin Number” to “11”. You also need to scroll up to “Y Home” and change the value in “Pin Number” from “11” to “10”. I’ll explain why later. Go to the Offsets and probing screen and test it by touching pin#2 on the G540 to pin#12. Check that the green “Contact” LED lights up.
4) The G540 XML sets up all 4 input pins (1-4) for limit switches. This will eliminate any other inputs such as tool probe or spindle speed from being installed later. One technique is to use one limit switch per axis that will also serve as a home switch for that axis. Soft limits can be set for the opposite end of that axis rather than installing a second limit switch for that axis. When Homing the machine, Mach3 will home one axis at a time and when there is an open signal from any of the three switches that are closed in series, Mach3 will set a home point for that axis and move to the next axis. Though the setup video instructs not to use the same pin number on anything in the “Pin Number” column in ports and pins, in the case of home switches, you need to do precisely that. Since You are using input pin #1, port #1, pin #10 needs to be selected with active low for X,Y, and Z axis.
5) The last change I made was in Config – Motor Home / Soft Limits. As I have limit switches for X and Y on the minus extremes, I need to set the home direction toward that switch. Default is for the positive extreme. Simply check “reverse” for axis X and Y. Z will probably at the top of the column so for homing purposes, leave the “reverse” box unchecked.
6) Here is also where you set the soft limits. Play with this to find numbers you like. I started with 3.00 in the “Soft Max” column, and 0.00 in the “Soft Min” column. This is obviously just for testing and will later need numbers near 8 for the X and 4 for the Y . Z – no clue yet…

Hope this helps!

Nice writeup 4ist, Mach's default homing sends the Y towards the column and the X to the right.
This way all moves from there are positive. Some VMC's are the opposite.
Doesn't matter much unless you get into using work offsets and forget to use -'s in your programs.
It was easier setting up the ATC's not having to remember to add a bunch of -'s.
Hoss

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hoss2006

Nice writeup 4ist, Mach's default homing sends the Y towards the column and the X to the right.
This way all moves from there are positive. Some VMC's are the opposite.
Doesn't matter much unless you get into using work offsets and forget to use -'s in your programs.
It was easier setting up the ATC's not having to remember to add a bunch of -'s.
Hoss

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Yeah, I guess I was having so much fun watching the motors spin around that I guessed incorectly which way the axis was spinning. Perhaps I looked at the shaft on the wrong end of the motor.. dunno...
-4ist