Centroid Community CNC Support Forum

Man oh man! All this over a probe that is working? If I was Centroid I would have simply only supported NO probes. Period. (that's normally open, not "no")

If you wish to eliminate the detect circuit, either use a switch to short the contacts when removed or connect you probe using a stereo phone jack that will do just that for you. Here is a schematic that should be simple enough to figure out: (first picture)

Another option would be to use a "Probe Flipper" circuit. This allows use of a NC probe and changes the "gender" to NO for the Acorn. Another nice feature is that one LED shows when a probe is connected (I would use green) and the other (I would use red) shows when the probe trips. (Second picture)

Gary,
luckily you are not Centroid

I find it kind of funny that everybody seems to agree that NC-type home/limit switches have a clear benefit over NO-type switches but when it comes to probes they seem to forget that logical thinking. Puzzles me...

-swissi

Just a small diversion instead of starting a new thread my problem is after installing 4:18 and getting back to working I have a TT device working on input 7 as before I tried my wildhorse probe on input 6 as before using probe detect and open when tripped this seems to be working fine except for when it trips on the part it does not back of as before rendering the machine static until i raise the Z axis to clear funnily enough it seems ok to jog further on to the part but not off as I would need.
The probe is plugged in permanently and previously worked in this manner. I am quite sure this is not the correct way it was envisaged but if I could find a way to get the probe to clear contact or a simple link wire to a spare input but I am afraid as comprehensive as the pdf is I am struggling with a simple 2 wire probe after i dropped my slightly better one going back and to.
Best Regards
Bob.

Bob,
your Report file clearly does not match what you are saying and it looks like you manually changed parameters outside the Wizard because the parameters don't match the Input settings in your PLC file.

You also say that you used a Probe Detect for the Wildhorse Touch Probe but none of your Inputs has been configured as "ProbeDetect". Did you mean "ProbeTriggered"? I know the Wildhorse Touch Probe and it's a NC-Type probe so if the Wildhorse probe is on Input 6, Input 6 would need to be inverted but your report files says it's not. Also both parameters for the touch probe and the TT are configured with the same input number so there's no way your config can work properly.

If you can confirm or correct the information below, I can tell you how to configure your probes:

Touch Probe Wildhorse: Input: 6, Type: NC (opens when triggered), no Detect Signal but permanently connected
TT: Input 7, Type: NO (closes when triggered), no Detect Signal, permanently connected

-swissi

Thanks Swissi perhaps I confused both myself and you. I have checked and can confirm that the probe is on input 6 probe tripped mechanical open*
Tool touch off input 7 conductive closed* touch off tripped/triggered.
This is as the report enclosed. The probing is working fine at present apart from not being able to move off the correct way and the tool touch off is effective.
Thanks for your help.

Bob,
sorry I had multiple Reports open and I must have looked at the wrong report. I was able to reproduce what you are saying. The probe protection is reversed. It does let you jog to the wrong side and it doesn't matter if you have a ProbeDetect signal or not. I never noticed that as I always clear the probe by jogging in the Z- direction.

I guess this one needs to go on the improvement list for version 4.20

-swissi

Thanks a lot Swissi apart from this anomaly everything seems to be working just fine. I can carry on until it is sorted as long I am not going mad.
At least now I can set up the probe length with the touch off tool which I couldn't do before so we are moving forward.
Many thanks
Bob.

If I may post a further question here when I set parameter 18 to input 6 my probe it does magically inhibit the spindle after I load the Probe in the MDI but I can't seem to load the next tool in the MDI to move on. Even though I enter M6T2 and press cycle start it seems to show it is loaded but when I press manual spindle start it shows Active probe loaded.Also when I press cycle start to start the program I still get the fault. I have to remove the parameter to get back working again.
I know I don't have to use it but it seems neat that it's a shame not to.
Regards Bob.

Bob,
you should not mess with the Probing parameters by setting them manually outside the Wizard unless you know exactly what you are doing.

Parameter 18 is for the ProbeDetect Input that will tell CNC12 that a Probe is attached so it CANNOT be the same input as the probe trigger. Just think about it! Of course if the Probe is NC it will be closed when not tripped so if you use the same Input for ProbeDetect, CNC12 will engage the Spindle Inhibitor but what happens when the Probe trips? The signal opens and that means the ProbeDetect signal also disappears and CNC12 thinks the Probe has been removed.

If you want the Spindle Inhibitor, you MUST configure a second Input as ProbeDetect. Just use Gary's schematics above to wire one or just use a simple switch that you flip on manually when you connect the probe.

-swissi

Thanks Swissi I'll just go back to leaving it alone it was just a whim. As I have only a 2 wire probe i wouldn't know how to get a third wire out to the probe detect.
Kind regards
Bob