New Elite Forman, VCarve Pro, Palm Router, using touch Probe, Using the post processor that turns on the router and vacuum. All motor cables and power cables are separated other than the router and Z motor are both under the Z axis bracket on top of the Stiffy, Motor wires on the left and router power on the right but are separate after that.
My process: The machine is homed, bit is loaded, load the file, use the probe to zero XYZ on the workpiece (all probe offsets are verified), click Go to Work Origin and the machine moves into place, hit Rewind then Cycle Start.
At this point one of 3 things happen. 1) The program runs flawlessly, 2) The Z runs to the top of travel and I get a Z Motor Alarm and have to start over, 3) The Z axis try’s to shove the bit thru the table, luckily the router has not been turned on yet and I start over with good results the next time.
After going thru this process several times I have made note of the Z height after hitting Go to Work Origin. It appears that the saved Z zero is not holding. If the Z height, after GtWO does its move, is around 4.5 inches above my workpiece (read on the Masso, cutting .75 in material) then the GCode runs great. If not…get ready for a CRASH or an Alarm.
qmclarry – I also have the issue of the Z sliding all the way up when I select “go to work origin.” It has only hit the top and set off the alarm once on me. I assume this is for an auto changer or to give space to change a bit. I suspect there is a setting for this travel distance, but I haven’t looked into it yet.
I’m interested as well to see if someone has a solution to this……
Update: Got to thinking maybe EMI. The only place there is router or vacuum power any where close to motor wires is on top of the Z Slider. I have removed the router cable from the clamp on top of the ZS. It still goes by the same general area but I rigged a way to keep it a little further from the motor and control wires. I ran several files today without an issue. Hopefully that was it. I will report back in a few days for verification.
Did moving the wires clear up your z issues? I’m wondering if my ghost in the machine is EMI related. I still have my router wiring inside the tray with the z axis cables and am having similar random z axis crash issues on starting a job - some times fine other times it tries to run thru the piece before turning the router on - despite meticulous zeroing and rechecking workspace origins before starting a job. I’m pulling my hair out trying to figure out if it’s a me issue or a machine issue. While I’m open to either explanation, I feel pretty confident I’m crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s (at least all the ones I know to dot and cross ;). Would greatly appreciate any insight of you found a solution / cause as the issues we are having sound very similar.
Good morning Sir,
Sorry for the delayed reply, I just saw this.
Check the tools and offsets tab for any preloaded bits that have offsets associated with them. There were a few already on my controller when I received the unit. Hopefully these were placed there during testing and just didn’t get deleted prior to shipping. Where ever they come from, they were causing a newby all kinds of trouble. When starting a job with the same tool number in my code as one that was already loaded on the Masso tools and offsets page, the Masso would reference the offset that it had on that page and not what I had probed. After I figured out what was going on, I deleted all of the preloaded bits and all associated offsets and it has been good ever since. Hope this helps, good luck!