I could use some help

deckingman

@deckingman ................. And doing this NO to NC move will remove some noise from the system, correct?

Not exactly. Here is the thing..........The end stop status is always ignored except when you do a homing move (use the H1 parameter). If you use normally open switches, when you do a homing move, the firmware is looking for a change at the switch from (normally) open to closed. Now if there is a bad connection or a wire falls off completely, the firmware will never see that the switch has closed so it'll continue to try and move the gantry which could potentially do some damage.

So, it is generally best practice to use normally closed switches. That way, if there is bad connection or a wire falls off, the firmware will "think" that the switch is open so it'll stop the carriage.

But there is a catch. Because if you use normally open switches and have a wire fall off, as soon as you start a homing move, the carriage will stop (because the firmware "thinks" that the switch has immediately gone open). But it'll also set that as the homing position - even if it';s half way along an axis. If you didn't spot what happened, and started a print, strange things are going to happen because the origin isn't 0,0 but somewhere else. Now there is a way to catch that but it involves conditional gcode and I really don't think it would be a good idea to go down that road at this stage of the game - you have enough on your plate just getting the thing doing basic stuff.

So for now, wire the switches normally closed (NC) because it'll be safer. Once you get everything sorted and moving as it should, remind me and I'll explain what you can do to catch the unlikely event of a wire falling off.

@deckingman excellent clarification, thank you!

deckingman

@mac said in I could use some help:

@deckingman excellent clarification, thank you!

No worries. I've got my hands fairly full of other stuff so if you don't here from me, it's not because I'm ignoring you - it's just that I'm busy trying to sort out a major upgrade to my own (6 extruder, 7 axis, 4 Duet board) machine. I'll pop in from time to time when I can, but Frederick and the other Ian will get you sorted.

fcwilt

@mac said in I could use some help:

@fcwilt the switch for the Z endstop has the white wire on O. The green wire is on NO, and the NC post is vacant.

The switch for the X endstop has the white wire in the O. The green wire is on the NO, and the NC post is vacant

The switch for the Y endstop has the white wire on the O. The green wire is on the NO, and the NC post is vacant.

I guess we miscommunicated somehow.

Mark

Hi Mark (here I thought it was Mac)

Just a little confusion with wire color. But deckingman was spot on and gave you good advice.

Just FYI, I bet if you look real close at the switch terminals you describe as having an O, it will turn out to be a C for COMMON. On some of my switches the C is almost closed and can look like an O.

Just a little fun fact, nothing important.

Frederick

fcwilt

@deckingman said in I could use some help:

it's just that I'm busy trying to sort out a major upgrade to my own (6 extruder, 7 axis, 4 Duet board) machine.

Now that I am looking forward to hearing about.

Frederick

alankilian

@deckingman said in I could use some help:

But there is a catch. Because if you use normally open switches and have a wire fall off, as soon as you start a homing move, the carriage will stop (because the firmware "thinks" that the switch has immediately gone open). But it'll also set that as the homing position - even if it';s half way along an axis. If you didn't spot what happened, and started a print, strange things are going to happen because the origin isn't 0,0 but somewhere else. Now there is a way to catch that but it involves conditional gcode and I really don't think it would be a good idea to go down that road at this stage of the game - you have enough on your plate just getting the thing doing basic stuff.

One correction here, otherwise it's a good description of NC vs NO.

Because if you use normally open switches and have a wire fall off, as soon as you start a homing move, the carriage will stop

Should say:

Because if you use normally CLOSED switches and have a wire fall off, as soon as you start a homing move, the carriage will stop

deckingman

@fcwilt Oh it's nothing to get excited about. You may recal that I have a failed expansion board and the Duet guys have kindly donated a 6HC main board to replace the two 3HC expansion boards. The deal is that using a 6HC as an expansion board has never been tried in anger, so I'll test it out and we'll work together to resolve any issues that may arise.

But grafting this board onto my machine such that it can connect to the 6 extruders which move on the UV gantry is a major operation. It involves doing away with the AB load balancing gantry (which has no effect on print quality) and removing some frame members which have various cables running though them, as well as extending and re-routing all the wiring that is associated with the two expansion boards. I'm making progress but it's a substantial undertaking.

deckingman

@alankilian Thanks for spotting and correcting that.

@fcwilt could you post a picture or two of the monster you're working on?

@fcwilt that explains it, when I look at them, with a magnifying glass no less, I have this weird feeling that if I could only see a little bit better, that would be a C!

So here's a mystery: 6-30-22, 4:53:37 PM Event: G28 Y, Error: Go/G1: insufficient axes homed. I was trying to Home Y (after I M119'd the end stops to see if they were present, then M119'd each of them while activating one endstop at a time to see if they were working.

Silly me, I assumed that since they were present and working, I could try to USE THEM!

Mac

fcwilt

@mac said in I could use some help:

@fcwilt that explains it, when I look at them, with a magnifying glass no less, I have this weird feeling that if I could only see a little bit better, that would be a C!

So here's a mystery: 6-30-22, 4:53:37 PM Event: G28 Y, Error: Go/G1: insufficient axes homed. I was trying to Home Y (after I M119'd the end stops to see if they were present, then M119'd each of them while activating one endstop at a time to see if they were working.

Silly me, I assumed that since they were present and working, I could try to USE THEM!

Mac

But it was your video that showed your Y axis movement was very erratic leading us to conclude that you needed better steppers.

I have two printers using the board you have and they both work fine. I should make a short video. I will do that tomorrow.

Frederick

@fcwilt I will watch it!

deckingman

@mac said in I could use some help:

@fcwilt could you post a picture or two of the monster you're working on?

I don't think Frederick mentioned anything about him working on a "monster". In case you are getting confused between the two of us, my own "monster" is well documented on my blog and YouTube channel which are linked in my signature.

@deckingman everyone has their monsters.

7 hours, the last 3 of which were “air printing.”

@droftarts link text

fcwilt

This post is deleted!

fcwilt

@droftarts

I think I am losing my mind or perhaps hallucinating from lack of sleep.

I thought I read posts from you suggesting Mack's endstops were on the high end of his axes.

The last time I saw them, in one of his videos, they were on the low end.

Or did I imagine the whole thing?

Frederick

droftarts

@fcwilt I think they were originally, or at least X was, but now they should be on the low end.

Ian

fcwilt

@droftarts said in I could use some help:

@fcwilt I think they were originally, or at least X was, but now they should be on the low end.

Ian

So perhaps I found myself reading near the start of this thread by accident.

That would explain it.

Thanks.

Frederick

@fcwilt for the current record, the X-endstop is on the far left of the X-axis, the Y-endstop is at the rear of the printer, right in front of the motor, and the Z-endstop is at the bottom of the Z-axis approximately 6 inches below the X-endstop. This is where they have always been. I will include pictures.

These are in order: X, Y, and Z.