Detecting Z-Probe Pickup on move command

sinned6915

I am trying to work out how to pick up a Z-probe with a Z move command and stop the move on pickup.

I tired posing this question in a previous thread -
G1 Hn or conditional gcode for movement? but have not gotten anywhere since.

Currently, I am picking up the probe from a fixed dock by 'swiping' it in and out of the dock. It is a NC/NO switch set to use NC.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/oniYwThEA9tGHE679

What I would like to do is eliminate frame mounted dock and put the probe dock on the bed. I think that it will be more useful that way. If you have diffrent thickness bed plates, for delta printers, for laser cutters- anything that has a variable Z datum. I also dont like fixed projections into the work envelope.

My stumbling block is how to structure the command so that Z move is stopped upon probe pickup.

Here is my probe definition from config.g-

M558 K0 P5 C"^zprobe.in" H8 R0.5 F200 T9000 A1 S0.03
                                                ; K0 for probe 0, P5 for NC switch, C for input pin, ^ for enabling the native pullup resistor on Duet2 hardware running RRF3  
                                                ; H dive height of 8mm, F300 probing speed 6mm/sec, T9000 travel speed 150mm/sec,   
                                                ; A3 number of probes 1, S0.01 max tolerance of 0.01

Here is the meta command i have ended up with.

while sensors.probes[0].value[0]!=1000     ; loop to check when probe value changes from 1000 to 0
G1 Z-290  F360                             ; move bed with probe dock up
if sensors.probes[0].value[0]=0            ; when switch is coupled the sensor value will change to 0 
break                                      ;  when sensor = 0, end loop

What happens is that the Z-motion does not stop when the probe is picked up.

I have tried all sorts of things but no luck so far. I can not tell if my syntax/loops are wrong, if the probe type is incompatible.

I have tried changing the probe definition on the fly to NO and probing the dock location so that the system thinks its triggered on pickup.

Can this be achieved with conditional code?

Thanks

Dennis

fcwilt

Here is the meta command i have ended up with.

while sensors.probes[0].value[0]!=1000     ; loop to check when probe value changes from 1000 to 0
G1 Z-290  F360                             ; move bed with probe dock up
if sensors.probes[0].value[0]=0            ; when switch is coupled the sensor value will change to 0 
break                                      ;  when sensor = 0, end loop

Is that the actual code? Nothing is indented as required for while and if

Frederick

OwenD

while sensors.probes[0].value[0]!=1000     ; loop to check when probe value changes from 1000 to 0
G1 Z-290  F360                             ; move bed with probe dock up
if sensors.probes[0].value[0]=0            ; when switch is coupled the sensor value will change to 0 
break                                      ;  when sensor = 0, end loop

Aside from the indentation, you've misunderstood the progression of the code.
The first "while" loop is just going to keep trying to move to Z-290 until the probe is triggered.
It will complete that move before checking again, so even if the probe triggers at -100 it'll keep going in order to complete the command.

You need to use a move that halts upon activation of the probe.
G1 H3 perhaps?
It's going to depend on the structure of your printer.

sinned6915

I might have stripped it out when i copied and pasted it. I pasted the whole thing in its entirety at the bottom.

@OwenD I did try to do something like that at one point- when I did try to

G1 H1 Z-300 F300

The printer 'homed' to the center of the bed where I had defined homez.g first instead of at the current X,Y point. i could not figure it out.

Does the printer geometry matter though? my current priner is a gantry style cartesian. the probe dock is in the bottom left hand corner.

I just re-read the firmware limitations, https://duet3d.dozuki.com/Wiki/Duet_3_firmware_configuration_limitations#Section_Temporary_limitations
I wonder if I am limited by either of these.

Endstop switches and Z probes connected to the main board cannot control motors on an expansion board. This is planned to be fixed in release 3.4.
If you use a Z probe then the Z motors must be connected to the main board. This is planned to be fixed in release 3.4.

How/who/where do I ask if this might be the case for me? How do we approach the devs for something like this?

This is how my drives are defined- I have a later version Duet2Ethernet with an Duex2. I think that the Duex2 is like version 0.8 or 0.9. I am on DW version 3.1.1. I have 3 motors, that I refer to as Z0, Z1 & Z2. Z2 is P5, which I think would put it on the Duex. I have to rework a few motor leads to test this out.

; Drives
M569 P0 S1                                     ; physical drive 0 goes anti-forwards X
M569 P1 S1                                     ; physical drive 1 goes forwards Y
M569 P2 S1                                     ; physical drive 2 goes forwards Z0
M569 P3 S1                                     ; physical drive 3 goes forwards E0
M569 P4 S1                                     ; physical drive 4 goes forwards Z1
M569 P5 S1                                     ; physical drive 5 goes forwards Z2
; M569 P6 S1                                   ; physical drive 6 goes forwards Y

M584 X0 Y1 Z2:4:5 E3                           ; set drive mapping

@fcwilt I do not feel like I understand the indentation convention at all. I tried to structure it from the start putting in the if-elif-else and then indenting below each step. Could you critique me?

Based on what happened i then tried to change the prope type to NO so that when it did get picked up, the state would be NC and thus the probe be 'triggered'. that did not help.

I did try to pepper my macro with statements to display the probe state-

M409 K"sensors.probes[0].value"

so that I can get the console to report the probe value on the start and at the places in the macro that I call it at. actaullly , right now i can not remember if it was the PanelDue or the console on DWC, but its displayed. Wiith the current probe definition, the value is 1000 when the probe is physically disconnected.

M409 K"sensors.probes[0].value"
 
if sensors.probes[0].value[0]!=1000    ; if sensor is value other than 1000 do this
    abort "deployprobe: Probe already picked up.  Manually return probe to the dock"
 
elif 
  G91
  M564 S0 H0          ; allow movement outside of print area and while not homed
  G1 Z6 F6000         ; move Z for clearance
  G90                 ; absolute positioning
  G1 X0 Y-15 F6000    ; move to side of probe dock location
  M400                ; wait for moves to finish
  G1 X0 Y-29.5        ; move exactly above probe for pickup
  M400                ; wait for moves to finish
 
  while sensors.probes[0].value[0]=1000   ; loop to check when probe value changes from 1000 to 0
    G1 Z-290  F360                        ; move bed with probe dock up
    if sensors.probes[0].value[0]=0       ; when switch is coupled the sensor value will change to 0 
       break                              ;  when sensor = 0, end loop
 
  M564 S1             ; limit axis to print area
  G1 Z2 F360         ; move bed  to clear probe from dock 
  G1 X55 F6000        ; move probe out of the dock
  G1 Z5 F360         ; move bed  to clear probe from glass build surface 
  M400                ; wait for moves to finish
  G90
 
else 
 if sensors.probes[0].value[0]!= 0
    abort "deployprobe: Probe not picked up!"

OwenD

@sinned6915 said in Detecting Z-Probe Pickup on move command:

I'm not 100% sure I'm picturing your setup, but based on what I think you're trying to do try this.

if sensors.probes[0].value[0]!=1000    ; if sensor is value other than 1000 do this
  abort "deployprobe: Probe already picked up.  Manually return probe to the dock"

;if we're here we know it's 1000 which I assume is because you have an NC switch as a probe.

G91
M564 S0 H0          ; allow movement outside of print area and while not homed
G1 Z6 F6000         ; move Z for clearance
G90                 ; absolute positioning
G1 X0 Y-15 F6000    ; move to side of probe dock location
M400                ; wait for moves to finish
G1 X0 Y-29.5        ; move exactly above probe for pickup
M400                ; wait for moves to finish


while sensors.probes[0].value[0]=1000   ; loop to check when probe value changes from 1000 to 0
   G1 Z-0.5  F360                        ; move bed with probe dock up 0.5mm at a time until the switch activate.  This will get ugly if the switch fails as you have limits off!


G1 Z2 F360         ; move bed  to clear probe from dock 
G1 X55 F6000        ; move probe out of the dock
G1 Z5 F360         ; move bed  to clear probe from glass build surface 
M400                ; wait for moves to finish
M564 S1             ; limit axis to print area
G90

if sensors.probes[0].value[0]!= 0
   abort "deployprobe: Probe not picked up!  Print cancelled."

sinned6915

@OwenD thank you for your help. I see where I made the indentation mistakes. I apprciate you cleaning up my code and reposting it. I'm REALLY close now, I think a couple of tweakes will do it.

I rewired the steppers so that all the Z motors are on the Duet board. I enede up putting X & Y on the Duex board. It gets a little fussy becasue reading the RRF FW limitations, the extruder, associated heater and thermistor that go together also have to be on the SAME board.

I will put config.g snips at the end in case someone else needs to see what I did.

I did confirm that the probe value is 1000 when the switch is not connected; 0 when connected; and 1000 when the NC is broken.

3 . Here is a video of the probe deploy, bed leveling and probe retract. The dock is just 2-sided taped to the glass bed for now.

EDIT: https://youtu.be/bkqzr3B-ufs

alt text

If you watch the probe pickup, the green LED lights up when the pairs of magnets between the carraige and probe make contact. The LED goes off when the NC goes to open. (The magnets mechanically and electrically couple the switch to the circuit).

What I do not like is that the bed continues to move well after probe is picked up and even after the switch is triggered. I tried to slow down the feedrate on the probe pickup. I did not try reducing the step.

It quite literally crashes the prbe into the bed and the bed lifts off the pivots. If the bed was fixed, I think it would be damaged.

Any thoughts on how to stop the bed quicker?

You can see the LED reflection blink when the switch is triggered.

Here is the deployprobe.g -

if sensors.probes[0].value[0]!=1000    ; if sensor is value other than 1000 do this
  abort "deployprobe: Probe already picked up.  Manually return probe to the dock"
 
; if we're here we know it's 1000 which I assume is because you have an NC switch as a probe.
 
G91
M564 S0 H0          ; allow movement outside of print area and while not homed
G1 Z10 F6000         ; move Z for clearance
G90                 ; absolute positioning
G1 X0 Y15 F6000     ; move to side of probe dock location
M400                ; wait for moves to finish
G1 X0 Y0            ; move exactly above probe for pickup
M400                ; wait for moves to finish
 
 
while sensors.probes[0].value[0]=1000   ; loop to check when probe value changes from 1000 to 0
   G1 Z-0.5  F200                       ; move bed with probe dock up 0.5mm at a time until the switch activate.  
                                        ; This will get ugly if the switch fails as you have limits off!

G1 Z1 F360          ; move bed  to clear probe from dock 
M400
G1 X100 F6000       ; move right so probe moves out of the dock
M400
G1 Z5 F360          ; move bed to clear probe from glass build surface 
M400                ; wait for moves to finish
M564 S1             ; limit axis to print area
G90
 
if sensors.probes[0].value[0]!= 0
   abort "deployprobe: Probe not picked up!  Print cancelled."

here is the retractprobe.g file -

; *******************************************************
; retractprobe.g
; ********************************************************
M400
if sensors.probes[0].value[0] != 0
    abort "retractprobe: Probe not currently picked up!"

M564 S0                             ; allow movement outside of print area
G90	                            ; absolute positioning

G1 X100 Y0 Z5 F12000                ; move to the starting point 
G1 X60 Y0 F12000                    ; move to the entry position for the dock
G1 X0 Y0 F600                       ; move to the dock position
G1 X0 Y20 F12000                    ; move to the side adjacent to the dock
M400
G1 X100 Y20 F12000                  ; move to the right to clear dock
G1 X145 Y0 Z10 F6000                ; move to start point at middle front 
M400
M564 S1 ; limit axis to print area

if sensors.probes[0].value[0] != 1000
    abort "retractprobe: Probe not correctly dropped off in dock!"

Here are the tweaks to my config.g file: I had to put all the Z motors on the Duet board.

; Probe Definiotns
; set Z probe type to switch and the dive height + speeds.  Probe A times
M558 K0 P5 C"^zprobe.in" H8 R0.5 F200 T9000 A1 S0.03
                                                ; K0 for probe 0, P5 for NC switch, C for input pin, 
                                                ; ^ for enabling the native pullup resistor on Duet2 hardware running RRF3  
                                                ; H dive height of 8mm, F300 probing speed 6mm/sec, T9000 travel speed 150mm/sec,   
                                                ; A3 number of probes 1, S0.01 max tolerance of 0.01 
;  ****
; Drives
; in order from left to right on the board
;   4  - 3  - 0  -  1 - 2  
;   X - E0 - Z2 - Z1 - Z0
;
M569 P4 S1                                     ; physical drive 4 goes forwards 0
M569 P3 S1                                     ; physical drive 3 goes forwards E0
M569 P0 S1                                     ; physical drive 0 goes forwards Z2
M569 P1 S1                                     ; physical drive 1 goes forwards Z1
M569 P2 S1                                     ; physical drive 2 goes forwards Z0
; Duex Drive Assignements
; in order from left to right on the board
;  6 - 5
;  X - Y
M569 P5 S1                                     ; physical drive 5 goes forwards Y
M569 P6 S1                                     ; physical drive 6 goes forwards X

;     X  Y Z0:Z1:Z2 E
M584 X6 Y5 Z2:1:0 E3                           ; set drive mapping

M671 X0:290:290 Y163.5:307.5:17.5 S15          ; Z0 left screw at -88,110 pivot point 0,163.5
                                               ; Z1 back right at 340,302 pivot point 290,307.5
					       ; Z2 front right at 340,-2 pivot point 290,17.5
                                               ; max correction S is 15mm

fcwilt

@sinned6915 said in Detecting Z-Probe Pickup on move command:

I rewired the steppers so that all the Z motors are on the Duet board. I enede up putting X & Y on the Duex board. It gets a little fussy becasue reading the RRF FW limitations, the extruder, associated heater and thermistor that go together also have to be on the SAME board.

That didn't hurt be it wasn't necessary, at least with firmware 3.1.1 and Duet 2/Duex 5 combo.

As to stopping bed movement - did you consider trying to arrange some sort of sensor that could function as a Z end stop sensor just for purposes of picking up the probe?

With G1 H1 commands movement stops when the associated end stop sensor is triggered.

Frederick

sinned6915

@fcwilt said in Detecting Z-Probe Pickup on move command:

With G1 H1 commands movement stops when the associated end stop sensor is triggered.

I did try that at one point. iirc, the carriage jumped to the position defined in the homez.g file.

What mystifies me right now is that I believe that the probe value has to go from 1000 to 0 since the circuit goes from open to closed as evidenced by the LED illuminating.

I will try G1 H1 again. Perhaps I need to try G1 H1 with a Z grater than 0 - like this?

G1 H1 Z2.0

fcwilt

@sinned6915 said in Detecting Z-Probe Pickup on move command:

I did try that at one point. iirc, the carriage jumped to the position defined in the homez.g file.

I don't know what you mean by that.

When the end stop is triggered during a G1 H1 move the firmware sets the current position for the axis in question to the min/max of that axis as defined in the M208 for that axis. It uses min or max depending on the configuration of the end stop as being at the low end (uses min) or high end (uses max).

After the G1 H1 finishes you will need to reset the Z position, using G92 Znnn, to the correct position.

If the end stop is at known Z position that would be simple but I don't fully understand how this probe change feature is implemented.

I will try G1 H1 again. Perhaps I need to try G1 H1 with a Z grater than 0 - like this?

G1 H1 Z2.0

Since G1 H1 moves are usually done in relative mode, set using a G91 command, a G1 H1 Z0 command would do exactly what is says - move 0 mm

Frederick

sinned6915

To use the G1 H1 command, the probe has to trigger. If NC as currently set up, it has to couple the probe AND the probe has to trigger for it to work. That means that the probe value will register 1000 when the circuit is open, then 0 when the probe is picked up, then has to go to 1000 again for trigger.

I tried temprarily changing the probe defiition to be NO instead. I was thinking that this way, the open probe would go closed as soon as the electrical continutiy was made and trigger the reading.

Now that I have working meta command I will try to retry that in the lines above and below the proper loop statement.

fcwilt

@sinned6915 said in Detecting Z-Probe Pickup on move command:

To use the G1 H1 command, the probe has to trigger. If NC as currently set up, it has to couple the probe AND the probe has to trigger for it to work. That means that the probe value will register 1000 when the circuit is open, then 0 when the probe is picked up, then has to go to 1000 again for trigger.

I tried temprarily changing the probe defiition to be NO instead. I was thinking that this way, the open probe would go closed as soon as the electrical continutiy was made and trigger the reading.

Now that I have working meta command I will try to retry that in the lines above and below the proper loop statement.

Now I'm really confused.

There was a while loop above trying to monitor the probe state while moving small amounts on the Z axis.

Are you still trying to do this?

Frederick

T3P3Tony

@sinned6915 there have been quite a bit happening on this thread. can we start from the beginning.

With the bed probe mounted on the magnets, with the bed well out of the way, when you probe the bed does manually triggering the switch work as expected?

If it does then for the pickup can you break it down into individual commands (sent from the console) and confirm they each work individually.

At the core of this is this while loop:

while sensors.probes[0].value[0]=1000
   G1 Z-0.5  F200

does that work when executed separately ?

sinned6915

@T3P3Tony if i manally deploy the probe, everything works as expected.
here is old vid if it helps. https://photos.app.goo.gl/3KEhDJKUdSbfTjS2A

the switch is your garden variety SPDT microswitch. the NC - C are connnected to the magnets. when the halves couple, the circuit is complete to the controller.

i incrementally built the move commands to align the carraige over the dock. i have verified that with no probe, P=1000. When I manually couple the probes, P=0

the issue is the while loop.

the controller is not reazling the circuit is complete and the probe value goes from 1000 to 0.

if you watch the video from this point, you see the point where the probe is coupled- the LED lights up. then as the bed continues to move, the probe is trigered and the LED goes out as the switch is depressed.

https://youtu.be/bkqzr3B-ufs?t=10

i will make a macro of just the loop and post results in a moment

fcwilt

@sinned6915 said in Detecting Z-Probe Pickup on move command:

the issue is the while loop.

the controller is not reazling the circuit is complete and the probe value goes from 1000 to 0.

Does this switch change state at the correct location for stopping movement?

If so did you consider my comments about using the switch as a temporary Z endstop which would stop a G1 H1 move when the switch triggered?

Thanks.

Frederick

sinned6915

the statement by itself does does not work.
i made a macro to execute it -
alt text

homes X & Y axis. I even gave it an M564 S0 H0

I also tried to manually issue G1 Z-100 H1 but did not get anthing.

alt text

fcwilt

@sinned6915 said in Detecting Z-Probe Pickup on move command:

I also tried to manually issue G1 Z-100 H1 but did not get anthing.

A G1 H1 Znnn move will only work if that switch is configured as a Z endstop.

Recall that a G1 H1 stops when an endstop associated with the same axis is triggered. If not endstop is triggered it stops moving when it has moved the specified distance.

For example, this will move until a Z endstop is triggered or Z has moved 50mm.

G91
G1 H1 Z-50

Frederick

sinned6915

@fcwilt paneldue doe not refresh fast enough to reflect the moment when the probe halves couple. i can not tell what the controller sees.

i am trusting the LED illumination as a failsafe indicator. the LED is mounted to the top half. it uses the same ground as the probe. so when the probe circuit is completed, the LED will light up.

when the NC is broken, the LED goes out.

my config lines for the probe as endstop:

M574 Z1 S2                                       ; configure Z-probe endstop for low end on Z
....
M558 K0 P5 C"^zprobe.in" H8 R0.5 F200 T9000 A1 S0.03

fcwilt

@sinned6915 said in Detecting Z-Probe Pickup on move command:

@fcwilt paneldue doe not refresh fast enough to reflect the moment when the probe halves couple. i can not tell what the controller sees.

i am trusting the LED illumination as a failsafe indicator. the LED is mounted to the top half. it uses the same ground as the probe. so when the probe circuit is completed, the LED will light up.

when the NC is broken, the LED goes out. .

So if movement stopped with the LED comes on it will be OK?

Frederick

sinned6915

@fcwilt EXACTLY!
probe not attached P=1000
probe attached, P=0

fcwilt

@sinned6915 said in Detecting Z-Probe Pickup on move command:

@fcwilt EXACTLY!
probe not attached P=1000
probe attached, P=0

So this switch is currently configured as a Z probe?

Frederick