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Re: Viewing status flags / Individual parameters

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 8:55 pm
by cncsnw
The switch is "made" when it fails. The physical switch on the rotary seems to operate as expected, making and releasing as the mechanical flag passes.
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I am not sure I understand "made", "active", or "released". Can you describe the behavior in terms of "open" and "closed"?

I am fairly certain (but not 100% certain) that the home switch will be activated (mechanically tripped) only briefly near the home position, and that it will be wired using normally-closed contacts.

That being the case, the input should be closed most of the time, and open in a narrow range near the home position.

On the Alt-i screen, a closed input will be Green, and an open input will be Red.

If the input is remaining closed (Green) when it should be open (Red), then perhaps you have fluid contamination in the switch. Perhaps the fluid in the switch is just conductive enough to sometimes make the switch seem closed when it is open, and sometimes not.

With the rotary axis interface plug unplugged from the RTK3, you could try measuring resistance between pin 1 (the rotary home input) and pin 2 (the input common). See page 14 of the attached manual. You could also test whether shorting and un-shorting pins 1 and 2 on the RTK3 header reliably causes INP30 to change from Red to Green and back.

Re: Viewing status flags / Individual parameters

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:54 pm
by Sportbikeryder
Thanks. My reference to "make" a switch would be to close it, potentially incorrect as you note it is common for switches to be normally closed and open only when in contact with the home flag.

That said, when functioning correctly, the Alt-i screen shows the input as "red" when the switch is not on the home trigger and "Green" when it is the home trigger.

Upon Initial startup, the switch will remain "green" redardless of rotary position. After the odd disconnect / reconnect multiple times sequence it will be "red" when not on on the home trigger, and "green" when on the home trigger.

I will measure resistance at the connector pins as well as remove the cover and home switch and check the fluid contamination, as well as verify the NO or NC condition when in contact with the home flag.

Thanks for the clarification on the open / closed condition on the alt-i screen and the tip for coolant/ liquid contamination.

John

Re: Viewing status flags / Individual parameters

Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2021 12:29 am
by cncsnw
That said, when functioning correctly, the Alt-i screen shows the input as "red" when the switch is not on the home trigger and "Green" when it is the home trigger.
Okay, that would mean that the switch is wired normally-open. I would expect homing with M91 or M92 would not work as one would normally expect, though it would ultimately home to a repeatable place.

It is possible also that your homing macro does not use M91 or M92. If you post a report, then we can look at what the homing macro actually does with the 4th axis.

Re: Viewing status flags / Individual parameters

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2021 11:06 am
by martyscncgarage
If its a mechanical switch, I might suspect the switch....you could disconnect the rotary home input to trick the control into seeing a switch input to test that. Just get an external switch and wire it in, when the control homes the rotary, trip it. (You have to be sure is the original rotary NO or NC) Does the control respond and set home for the rotary?
Marty

Re: Viewing status flags / Individual parameters

Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2021 2:40 pm
by Sportbikeryder
Just as an update, I took everything apart, including the home switch, and sprayed every connection with cleaner. While I didn't see anything explicitly obvious, the rotary homing seems to be working as expected now.