Anyone have luck getting autolevelled G-Code to work on the above machine with Mach3? I appear to have some of the typical issues associated with USB controllers: During probing from the levelled G-Code, the probe just moves in X-Y and never descends to touch the board. I've tested out the probe in the Diagnostic Panel and it's working as expected (LED lights up when I touch the probe to the board). I can get the exact same G31 commands which appear in the levelled G-Code to work from MDI, but they seem to just get totally ignored when they are executed from a G-Code file. I also tried manually executing all the autolevelled G-Code commands up to the first G31 command from MDI and G31 works then.
I've tried all the recommended actions I've seen posted in various threads:
1) Prepend G31 with G4 Px pauses(tried x = 1 second, 5 seconds, 10 seconds)
2) Tried G31 with Z-1 and Z-5
3) M2002 macro
4) G52 Z0 instead of G92 Z0
Any other thoughts on what I can try to fix or diagnose the issue further? I'm certainly willing to try a few more things before I totally change directions.
SainSmart Genmitsu 3018-MX3
Re: SainSmart Genmitsu 3018-MX3
Made some progress here but it's a kludge.
I discovered that the macro SainSmart supplies for the Mach3 Autozero Tool button also uses G31, and it seems reliable. So I adapted it into an M31 macro (see below). While it seems to work when the new M31 script is called from a G-Code file, it's not totally reliable (every few attempts the G31 is ignored), so I wrapped it in some re-try attempts. I may be able to get rid of some of the pauses, because they were initially there to see if I could increase the reliability.
Also, since the syntax of parameter passing for Cypress Basic requires the use of P=, Q=, R=, I can't use the AL custom controller options to pass a feed rate and probe depth. And, if I leave the Z-5 F100 on the M31 macro command they seem to get interpreted as a G0 Z-5 and drive the tool into the board. So I have to manually patch up the G-Code to remove these.
I did a run with 55 probe points, then inspected the variables and they all seem to have been set correctly. Haven't tried etching yet ... baby steps.
Also, for some reason the PFG version didn't work. I did get a triplet file, but the X/Y aren't correct and most of the probe values are ~2.0 (probe clearance).
=== M31.m1s ===
Code "G4 P3"
ZNew = -1
Tries = 0
Probe:
Code "G31 Z" &ZNew & " F100"
While IsMoving()
Wend
Tries = Tries + 1
ZCurrent = GetOemDro(802)
If (ZCurrent >= 1.0) And (Tries < 5) Then
Code "G4 P1"
GoTo Probe
End If
Code "G4 P3"
I discovered that the macro SainSmart supplies for the Mach3 Autozero Tool button also uses G31, and it seems reliable. So I adapted it into an M31 macro (see below). While it seems to work when the new M31 script is called from a G-Code file, it's not totally reliable (every few attempts the G31 is ignored), so I wrapped it in some re-try attempts. I may be able to get rid of some of the pauses, because they were initially there to see if I could increase the reliability.
Also, since the syntax of parameter passing for Cypress Basic requires the use of P=, Q=, R=, I can't use the AL custom controller options to pass a feed rate and probe depth. And, if I leave the Z-5 F100 on the M31 macro command they seem to get interpreted as a G0 Z-5 and drive the tool into the board. So I have to manually patch up the G-Code to remove these.
I did a run with 55 probe points, then inspected the variables and they all seem to have been set correctly. Haven't tried etching yet ... baby steps.
Also, for some reason the PFG version didn't work. I did get a triplet file, but the X/Y aren't correct and most of the probe values are ~2.0 (probe clearance).
=== M31.m1s ===
Code "G4 P3"
ZNew = -1
Tries = 0
Probe:
Code "G31 Z" &ZNew & " F100"
While IsMoving()
Wend
Tries = Tries + 1
ZCurrent = GetOemDro(802)
If (ZCurrent >= 1.0) And (Tries < 5) Then
Code "G4 P1"
GoTo Probe
End If
Code "G4 P3"