424, 407, Mach4 Lathe not homing

[Rad319]

- Dell Optiplex 745, 3Ghz, .99Gig, 32bit, XP Professional service pack 3
- PMDX-424 Rev B, ver 0.46.221 and PMDX-407
- Mach4 licensed, build 3206
- machine is a Shopmaster Patriot that originally came with Mach3 installed on it.  This machine has typical X, Y, Z, axis plus A axis for lifting the bridge.  Stepper motors are driven by a G540.  Spindles are driven by a VFD, which is controlled by the PMDX-407.  1PPR index supplied as an input to Mach4.

Problem is lathe will not home.  I press Ref X and the Enable button becomes Disabled.  History reads: ...SmartBOB X axis homing error, axis flagged as not homable.

I press Ref Z and get the same message in history except it references the Z axis.

If I press Ref All a message box appears and says Referencing Complete.  History says:
- X Axis not homable
- Unexpected home request while Mach4 disabled, ignoring

Pressing X-/+ and Z-/+ moves the axis in the proper direction.  X and Z will work ok from the MDI.

I have Mach4 mill running successfully.  After getting Mill running, I tried Lathe and got the results mentioned above.  I went through motor mapping, inputs, and homing settings and could not find a problem.  So after sleeping on it, I cloned the Mill profile that worked, opened the screen and changed the view to wxLathe.  Then I went through the settings to get everything working as I believed it should for the Lathe.  I discovered my mistake doing this was the tool table was my Mill tool table, so not very helpful.  So I went back to a new wxLathe clone and set it up once again.

Any tips would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance.
Dick

[Bob at PMDX]

This is a known issue with profiles cloned from the default Mach4Lathe profile from build Mach4 build 3206 or later.  There is a work-around for this in an upcoming SmartBOB plug-in release, but that doesn't help you now.

If you are semi-handy with a text editor (Notepad, or whatever you like to use but NOT a word processor like Microsoft Word), you can fix this yourself.  I will presume that you have installed Mach4 in the default location of "C:Mach4Hobby".  If you installed it somewhere else, substitute your actual install directory in the steps below.

(1) Open "MyComputer", or Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer) and navigate to this directory:
         C:Mach4HobbyProfilesYourProfileName
where the "YourProfileName" should be replaces with whatever the name of the profile that you are using (such as "MyLathe").

NOTE: If you are using "Mach4Lathe" as your profile, PLEASE MAKE A COPY! This profile name WILL BE OVERWRITTEN should you ever re-install Mach4, or install any newer version of Mach4.

(2) Look for a file named "Machine.ini".  Open that file in your text editor.

(3) Search for all instances of "CanHome=0" (without the quotes).  Change them to "CanHome=1" (again, without the quotes).  There are usually 3 occurrences.

(4) Save the file and exit your text editor.

(5) Start Mach4 and try to home your machine.  You should be able to home the machine now.


Here is how to make a copy of your profile:
(1) Start the "Mach4 Loader" from the icon on y our desktop
(2) Highlight the "Mach4Lathe" profile by clicking one time on it
(3) Click on the "Copy Profile" button
(4) In the "Copy Profile" window that pops up, enter a new name for your profile.
(5) You can leave the "Screen Set" field blank and the new profile will use the same screen set as the original.
(6) Click on the "OK" button.
(7) In the Mach4 Loader dialog, select your new profile name and click "OK" to run it.

Bob

[Rad319]

Thank you for the FAST response Bob!

I'll make the change this weekend.

Best regards,
Dick