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

[cnckeith]

I used swissi's guide, and had some discussions with him. I get the 916 error. << Please follow Centroid_Tech's procedure above>>>.



I also just noticed: when I type G28 and a space, or G30 and a space I immediately see in Red 'Feed Hold' under the line 'Spindle', even before pressing enter and cycle start. <<< the SPACEBAR is a keyboard shortcut key (Feed Hold) which places the system in a Feed Hold state so when pressing the SPACEBAR while typing in the MDI block, that is placing the system in Feed Hold. That's not an issue because you need to press Cycle Start in order to run that code anyways which in turn cancels the feed hold. so same difference. >>>

[Muzzer]

Good write up, I'm sure I will use it when I set up a touch probe. Andy

The next software revision will make it easier to setup probes and this might have to be revised OR completely rewritten, but until then, its a good starting point.

Marty

They said they'd made improvements last time when they put out the 4.12 update (from 4.10?) and the bottom line was I had to spend another hour or so trying to figure out what they had changed on top of the many hours I'd invested previously to get it working again. I think we can look forward to another reverse engineering session....

As you can see from Swissi's work, it's still a long way from being straightforward. I'm guessing that there is a lot of legacy content in there from way back that nobody recalls or understands that means a small change in one place often has an unexpected affect on some other function. Ideally it would be designed to give the required result rather than being "knife and forked".

One of the key challenges is trying to accommodate one or both NO and NC probes, of each of TT and TP, with and without one or both probe detect inputs, which is arguably 8 different common configurations. It's easy to plug in a standard Centroid TT and a Centroid TP and say "look it works for me". To test it thoroughly you'd want to try out the different combinations. The approach you take depends on whether you are out to show there is nothing wrong or if you are trying to actually make it robust. There are many industries where the latter is a non negotiable requirement, not least on functional safety grounds

[martyscncgarage]

Good write up, I'm sure I will use it when I set up a touch probe. Andy

The next software revision will make it easier to setup probes and this might have to be revised OR completely rewritten, but until then, its a good starting point.

Marty

They said they'd made improvements last time when they put out the 4.12 update (from 4.10?) and the bottom line was I had to spend another hour or so trying to figure out what they had changed on top of the many hours I'd invested previously to get it working again. I think we can look forward to another reverse engineering session....

As you can see from Swissi's work, it's still a long way from being straightforward. I'm guessing that there is a lot of legacy content in there from way back that nobody recalls or understands that means a small change in one place often has an unexpected affect on some other function. Ideally it would be designed to give the required result rather than being "knife and forked".

One of the key challenges is trying to accommodate one or both NO and NC probes, of each of TT and TP, with and without one or both probe detect inputs, which is arguably 8 different common configurations. It's easy to plug in a standard Centroid TT and a Centroid TP and say "look it works for me". To test it thoroughly you'd want to try out the different combinations. The approach you take depends on whether you are out to show there is nothing wrong or if you are trying to actually make it robust. There are many industries where the latter is a non negotiable requirement, not least on functional safety grounds

Bottom line. Centroid is making EFFORTS to be accomodative to the users and simplify things.
I should remind everyone that Acorn is now 14 months old, it has undergone several hardware improvements and the software continues to be updated and improved upon. Hardware, software and schematics will continue to be revised, so that's to be expected.
That's Centroid expertise and dedication to supporting the product.

You're statement is correct. There are many combinations of probe configurations out there. There are also users that don't understand electronics, and CNC control very well. So trying to be as basic as possible is important. CNC controls get much more complex.

My .02 on things

[Gary Campbell]

Muzzer…
Make sure that you take into account how many variables might need to be accommodated in a "perfect" system. One of the things that is alleged to have killed of Mach is that the developer tried to accommodate too many features for tens of thousands of unique conditions. Many of which resulted in unintended consequences.

In most cases, even tho it doesn't make me happy in many, I would prefer that Centroid's development team would define a feature, and then the specs or range of conditions by which it would work similar to what has been done regarding encoders.

[digdagdigedag]

Yesterday, I have updated my CNC12 software to version 14.4.

I saw that there are several new options in the wizard regarding the probing.

As I am planning on installing a new touch probe for the z-axis (e.g. viewtopic.php?f=63&t=1493&hilit=part+zeros ) , I am not quite sure how to start. How would the 'ultimate guide' be affected (if at all) with the new version 14.4 ?

Thanks
Uwe

[cnckeith]

ultimate guide doesn't apply to v4.14.. use the link in the Wizard to the Probe Setup Guide.
here is it for your convenience. http://www.centroidcnc.com/centroid_diy ... _setup.pdf