Blackbox v32 autosquare (or manual square)

Hello, can you describe in more detail what you mean by "Wire Y2 switch parallel to Z"?

 

OK, thank you very much for the clarification. Now I understood.

 

After reading, I'm not sure I understood correctly. Should the wiring diagram look like this - I attach the drawing.

I would like it to work like this video -

 

Great thanks for the valuable tips and help

 

Hello again, I have two more questions:
1) Is this likely to work on regular limit switches?
2) If it doesn't work (no response) on the Y2 limit switch (according to the schematic I wrote down in the earlier pdf) could the cause be a badly uploaded firmware from this site http://svn.io-engineering.com:8080/?driver=ESP32&board=BlackBox X32 to my controller?

 

Hello again. Thanks to your help on the usual autosquareh stubs it started to work properly
I bought NPN NC inductive sensors and replaced the usual limit switches with inductive ones. And the problems started. BB X32 does not see those hooked up together to the Y2 and Z axes. I tried various solutions swapped places, rewired cables, checked connections unfortunately without success. The other sensors work fine.
I would appreciate any tips I'm running out of ideas how to solve this

 

Thank you for the information this is what I was afraid of I am facing a lot of work with rebuilding the installation.

 

You are definitely right. I will pay for my bad decisions with extra work and lost time.
Again, thank you very much for your help and support.

 

There seems to be a lot of confusion for Y axis auto-squaring. With a perfectly squared machine things can happen that cause the Y axis motors to go out of sync. I followed Peters link "http://svn.io-engineering.com:8080/?driver=ESP32&board=BlackBox X32" Selected Y axis auto-squared, clicked" Generate and download the firmware". I flashed the blackBox x32 with the new firmware. I spent some time getting the homing directions setup correctly and auto-square works wonderfully.
I am using inductive proximity sensor switches on all axis. I placed one on each end of the Y axis and wired them in parallel. Select the Home icon and the Z axis homes to the top and backs off correctly then, X and Y start moving toward their respective home. The Y axis hits one of the limits and backs off then goes through a procedure to determine that is is an equal distance from both Y limits. (The process moves one Y motor at a time so It can determine which limit it is hitting). I adjusted the limits to make sure the Y axis motors sync up.
I have attached my settings file because there are several settings that must be correct to make this all work. Your settings may differ.
I hope this helps to clear some of the confusion.

Peter, Please review this to make sure it is stated correctly and add any comments as needed.

 

I have auto squaring but only need it as I am really bad at leaving tools lying around on the axis rails and machining area My machine has a dual-motor Z as well as a dual-motor Y, so it is twice as easy for 'user error' to knock the machine out of square.

I am with Peter on this one in that auto-squaring should always be a secondary tool for a machine that is aligned to be square during build, but I do find it very handy when I have messed up and nearly crushed my sander again!

I use a mix of microswitches and inductive sensors with the XYYZZ design: there are a couple of switch locations that are hard to keep clear of debris, and I had a microswitch jam, so I use inductive there instead. It is really easy though to mount inductive sensors in ways that are very imprecise, and you need good ones to start to get close to the accuracy of a microswitch. Microswitches are so versatile as you can use them in both 'collision' and 'roll-over' modes and get very similar accuracy, but an inductive in 'roll-over' mode is asking for trouble.

Evan

 

What are collision and rollover mode?

 

Collision mode is where the sensing plate is approaching the sensor head-on, and if the switch activation does not stop the machine, the sensor may get damaged. The roll-over mode is where the sensing plate could pass-by the sensor if the motors do not stop. For a microswitch, it is usually best if the lever arm has a roller on it if you are going to use the roll-over mode.

EDIT: Peter has just done a much better job in posting pictures while I was typing!

 

For an inductive sensor in the collision mode, the metal plate can cover the full area of the sensing element, and as the plate gets closer, the sensing signal rises rapidly, allowing the best precision and repeatability to be achieved.

In the roll-over case, there needs to be a small gap between the sensor plate and the head of the inductive sensor, and as the plate passes over the sensor, the sensing area that is covered grows, eventually triggering the sensor. The big problem that occurs is that vibrations in the machine (and there will always be some even on very rigid setups) alter the clearance distance between the sensor head and the plate, changing the point where the 'area coverage' trigger would occur. The repeat accuracy (i.e. the precision) is often poor.

A micro-switch in roll-over mode is usually far less sensitive to variations in the gap height regarding when the trigger point occurs, although microswitches are still most precise in the collision mode too where there is only one gap that can vary.

EDIT: Yes as Peter has noted, a failure in the collision-mode is often down to a one-off issue in configuration, or that a wire has broken; a software crash is very unlikely to keep pulsing a stepper. To be on the safer side, if using collision mode, I always wire my switches as normally-closed so that if a wire breaks, it looks like a switch activation.

 

Thank you for the insight. I always try to mount both types of limit switches in rollover mode. I tend to trust solid state over mechanical but in this case I believe you are right. The sensing distance is max 4mm gap. if anything moves inductive sensers could become collision casualty. It makes sense to use normally closed switches (like E-Stop)for safety reasons.

My next objective is to build a floating torch head.
lastly I need to figure out how to wire the arduino THC to a 1:1 signal from a Lotos LTP5500D-cnc. I am hoping to use a simple resistive voltage divider. Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

I had auto-squaring working but something has changed. Now the Y axis hits one limit Backs off
Then the other side moves toward the limit and back as if it had hit the other limit but in fact it did not and remains out of square. Any clues as to what is wrong?

 

$22=17?