Another new Altmill 4x4 owner so forgive my ignorance. I’ve completed the assembly and have managed to get to the point of moving and navigating in GSender using the Sienci computer. I was even able to manually spot mark my sacrificial bed for pilot holes to screw the bed down. What I have not been able to do is successfully home in the Y axis. I’ve had no trouble homing in the X or Z axis. I’ve been going through trouble shooting articles/posts on this topic. I “think” I understand the difference between hard and soft stops but I’m not certain I have it correct. Does anyone have a concise explanation that they could share? I’m trying to use this bit of struggle as a learning opportunity.
And I should have added: Other than homing, what advantage is there in having the limit switches? Do they have any other function?
@DPofFB I thought I knew the difference but as I was typing my response, I realised that I didn’t really know.
As far as your homing issue, are you homing each axis separately? That’s the best way to troubleshoot homing issues. If so, what problem do you have when trying to home Y ? Error #, alarm #, or nothing?
@DPofFB They are also used for squaring the Altmill.
I’m any case, homing is very important to determine the location of the machine zeros (at the rear left for the Altmill).
Also, if you have a power loss or power cycle the SLB and the zeroes are lost, homing will relocate the zeroes very accurately. This is very important in the middle of a job. My tests show within 0.01mm for X and Y. Never tested for Z.
Thank you.
I have tried homing individual axis and have no trouble in the X & Z axis. Y axis is throwing an Alarm (17).
Sometime you just have to stop and think/reason. I didn’t have the left rail sensor screwed all the way in. I adjusted it with the hard stop turned off and it is homing now. BTW, I think and in my mind confirmed, that the hard stop is the limit switches and the soft limit is what the software sees as the size of your machining area.
@DPofFB It’s good that you figured it out, Dennis. It’s much more rewarding and eductional, I think, when we can resolve our issues ourselves.
IMHO, you have the “definitions” correct.
Have fun.