Connecting Touch Probe and Tool Hight Measurement Plate to Acorn at the same time <answered>

[swissi]

I have a Tool Hight Measurement Touch-Plate connected to Input 6 on the Acorn board and a passive Touch Probe to Input 7. Both probes are permanently connected (NC and open when tripped) and I'm not using a Probe-Detect signal. In the CNCWizard I configured Input 6 as "ToolTouchOff" and Input 7 as "ProbeTripped". With these settings, the Wizard is going to configure Parameter 11 as well as Parameter 44 with 50006 but I can't find any parameter that has the Input Number (50007) of the Touch Probe configured. The Tool Hight probe on Input 6 works as expected when using the automated tool hight measurement function in tool setup. However using any probing function with the Touch probe does not work as the trip signal from the Touch Probe on Input 7 is being ignored and the Touch Probe crashes. Changing Parameter 11 to 50007 gets the Touch Probe functions working but the Tool Hight Measurement functions no longer work.

I would assume that the Input number configured in Parameter 11 should be the trigger signal for the Touch Probe and the Input number configured in Parameter 44 is the trigger signal for the Tool Hight Measurement Touch-Plate but it looks like Parameter 44 is being ignored and only the Input number specified in Parameter 11 is being used.

Is this a SW bug or is there any other Parameter that needs to be set to make Parameter 44 work for the Tool Hight Measurement Touch-Plate?

[cnckeith]

please post a fresh report.zip file.

[swissi]

Attached a screenshot of the Input/Output Map of the ConfigurationWizard and a copy of a fresh Report-File.

[Centroid_Tech]

Based on your description, it sounds like the value of parameter 11 should be set to -50007. If the ProbeTripped input OPENS when it's tripped, then the value of parameter 11 should be a negative value. If the ProbeTripped input CLOSES when it's tripped, then the value of parameter 11 should be a positive value. That is because the probes that Centroid offers are normally open and close when they are tripped.

That logic is also true for the ToolTouchOff input. If the ToolTouchOff input OPENS when it's tripped, then the value of parameter 44 should be a negative value. If the ToolTouchOff input CLOSES when it's tripped, then the value of parameter 44 should be a positive value.

At the main screen press ALT+I to bring up the PLC Diagnostic menu. You will see 4 rows of red and green dots. The top row are your inputs. Look at the colors of inputs 6 and 7. What color are they when they are not tripped? What color are they when the inputs are tripped?

That explains why your ProbeTripped wasn't working correctly but that doesn't explain why your ToolTouchOff stopped working once you set parameter 11 to 50007 as that has nothing to do with it. There must be something else that is not set correctly or you are trying to do something that you have not mentioned in your post. That is why we always need a current report from the system in order to see what you have things set to.

[swissi]

Both LEDs for Input 6 & 7 are normally red and turn green when probe is tripped.

I have the same probe as pburgh mentioned in the post "Passive Probe issues" and based on the information in that post, setting Input 7 to "ProbeTripped" and NO seems to be the correct setting. When I set it to -50007 and run a probing cycle, the cycle instantly stops after pressing the Cycle button.

I have done several config tests with the ConfigurationWizard and I can't make any sense out of the settings the Wizard does. These is what the Wizard does:

1. In CNC12 I set Parameter 11 & 44 to 0 and saved the settings. I closed CNC12, went into the Wizard and set both Input 6 & 7 to unused and saved the config. I restarted CNC12 to verify that both Parameters 11 & 44 and they were still at 0

2. I closed CNC12, went into the Wizard and set Input 7 to "ProbeTripped" and NO (Input 6 was still set to "Unused"). I saved the configuration and started CNC12 to check Parameters. Parameter 11 was now set to 50007 as it should be and the probe cycles are working fine. Parameter 44 was still set to 0.

3. I closed CNC12 again and went back into the Wizard and added Input 6 with "ToolTouchOff" and NO. The Wizard was asking for additional information to setup the probe. I saved the configuration and restarted CNC12 to check the Parameters and what I see here doesn't make any sense to me. Both Parameter 11 & 44 are now set to 50006 and 50007 is nowhere to be found anymore in any Parameter. The Tool Hight Setter does now work but the Touch Probe doesn't. Changing anything in Parameter 44 doesn't make a difference but when I change Parameter 11 back to 50007, the Touch Probe works again but the Tool Hight Setter doesn't. It is obvious that the Touch Probe functions as well as the Tool Hight Setting functions are both using the Input configured in Parameter 11 as trip signal, ignoring what Input has been configured in Parameter 44.

I guess the question here is, how do I need to configure the parameters to force the Automated Tool Hight Setting functions to use the Input configured in Parameter 44 as a trip signal and not the Input configured in Parameter 11?

[Muzzer]

Real bad echo in here.

Take a look at this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=60&t=1630.

It took me MANY hours to finally figure this out, with the Centroid boys claiming there was no problem all the while. Then the update to the latest version (4.12) messed it up again and I worked out how to get it working again - for some inexplicable reason, they inverted 2 of the parameters for version 4.12, so if you are going to use any settings from this, take them from my post near the end of the thread (May 14th).

Sounds as if you want a similar setup to mine: probe and plate with NC contacts (pretty sure my plate is NC) and ideally a probe detect input to stop the spindle trying to probe (crash) if the probe isn't present / plugged in.

Mine works fine now. The plate is fixed to the table and hard wired in (the ONLY way to get it co-existing with the probe), the probe is plugged in when needed. If you try to probe without it plugged in, it won't. If you have the probe plugged in, you can't jog fast etc etc. Works nicely. Can't wait to see what changes in v4.13 or whatever.....

Murray

[cnckeith]

hello. with all the different types of probes out there as you might imagine there are MANY combinations that can be used.
here is a guide to help sort out probe setup with Acorn CNC12
Note: on the next CNC12 release the Acorn setup Wizard will automatically take care of all of this buy simply answering a few questions, but for now you have to answer the question here and fill in the parameter settings yourself.

1. Probe installed ?
a. If not, set parameter 11 to 0 or do nothing.
b. If so, what input is the probe installed on? Set parameter 11 to that input number.

2. What type of input is it?
a. If it closes when the probe is tripped then parameter 11 should be a positive value.
b. If it opens when the probe is tripped then parameter 11 should be a negative value.

3. Does the probe have a detect signal installed?
a. If it doesn’t, then set parameter 18 to 0.
b. If it does, what input is it installed on? Set parameter 18 to that input number.

4. What type of input is it?
a. If it closes when the probe is connected then parameter 18 should be a positive value.
b. If it opens when the probe is connected then parameter 18 should be a negative value.

5. Tool touch-off device installed?
a. If not, set parameter 44 to 0 or do nothing.
b. If so, what input is the tool touch-off device installed on? Set parameter 44 to that input.

6. What type of input is it?
a. If it closes when the tool touch-off device is tripped then parameter 44 should be a positive value.
b. If it opens when the tool touch-off device is tripped then parameter 44 should be a negative value.

7. Does the tool touch-off device have a detect signal installed?
a. If it doesn’t, then set parameter 257 to 0.
b. If it does, what input is it installed on? Set parameter 257 to that input.

8. What type of input is it?
a. If it closes when the tool touch-off device is connected then parameter 257 should be a positive value.
b. If it opens when the tool touch-off device is connected then parameter 257 should be a negative value.

9. Using tool touch-off device to set the Z Reference?
a. If not, then do nothing.
b. If so, then add 2 to parameter 43.

10. height of the tool touch-off automatically taken into account when measuring tools?
a. If not, then do nothing.
b. If so, then add 1 to parameter 43 value. And set parameter 71 to the height of the tool touch off device.

Note: Probe detect signal cannot be the same input as the tool touch-off device but that the probe tripped signal can be the same as the tool touch-off tripped signal as long as both signals are using the same NO or NC logic. Thanks.

[swissi]

I've done extensive testing and reverse-engineering on the interactions between CNCWizard and CNC12 and got a very good understanding of what works and what doesn't.

See my post

The Ultimate Guide to Touch Probe and Tool Height Setter Configuration on Acorn, CNC12 v4.12

[cnckeith]

Please see updated Probe CNC12 v4.12 instructions attached. edited 10-4-18 3:45 pm