Author Topic: PMDX-424 Probing Error, Hangs Mach4  (Read 2326 times)

thebuildbug

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PMDX-424 Probing Error, Hangs Mach4
« on: April 11, 2020, 07:40:13 AM »
Hello,

I'm using a PMDX-424/PMDX-407 to control a home built woodworking CNC mill. The mill
is up and running well, yet I'm having problems with probing motions.

                 Mach4: Hobby 4.2.0.4300
           PMDX-424: [Rev D PCB]
        PMDX Plugin: 0.53.263
PMDX Bootloader: 1.15.76
  PMDX Firmware: 0.60.208
                      OS: Windows 10 Pro (64-bit)

While probing I'm intermittently encountering one of the following problems (they do not occur simultaneously).

1) The tool strikes the touch plate, motion stops, and Mach4 is disabled.
    Frequency of occurrence: ~ 1 in 4 probing attempts
    This results in the following error in the log file (see attached log)
         2020-03-21 16:34:04.559 - PMDX [ERROR]: Too many discarded motion samples after sync
         2020-03-21 16:34:04.559 - PMDX [INFO]: MachEnable(0) from 'looking for sync pos from motion planner'
         2020-03-21 16:34:04.559 - API: mcCntlEnable(inst = 0, FALSE) (PMDX-SmartBOB-USB)
   When this occurs I'm able to re-enable, jog the machine, submit gcode via the MDI, and try again (Mach4 & PMDX plugin seem to recover)

or

2) The tool strikes the touch plate and Mach4 becomes unresponsive. Clicking anywhere in
   Mach4 GUI results in an hour glass cursor appearing. Windows reports Mach4 is "Not Responding"
   and I'm forced to kill the Mach4 process and restart. I have not been able to retrieve a log when this occurs.
   Frequency of occurrence: ~ 1 in 10 probing attempts
   
Sometimes the probing will work perfectly for a while and then starts having problems again.   
   
Example Gcode:
  F10
  G31 Z-2.0000
(The gcode is submitted by a button in Mach4 using the API i.e. mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(INST, myGcodeCmd))

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Steve Stallings

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Re: PMDX-424 Probing Error, Hangs Mach4
« Reply #1 on: June 25, 2020, 10:59:33 PM »

There have been multiple reports of probing bugs that PMDX has not been unable to replicate and we would like to have assistance collecting more detailed data on this problem.

If you are able to help, please send us Debug logs generated while attempting to probe. It is best minimize the size of the log file by not running a lot of G-code other than the probe cycle.

General instructions for using debug logs are on this FAQ page:
How to capture a debug log file and send to PMDX?
https://faq.pmdx.com/index.php?solution_id=1002

The settings for debug logs are found in the SmartBOB plugin screen in Mach4 here:

Configure > Plugins > PMDX SmartBOB  ... then select the Debug tab

Mach4 cannot not be in the enabled state when accessing the Configure functions.

The SPECIFIC settings that should be used for this probing test log are:

Debug mode - select only "Debug"

Debug device - select only "File"

Enable additional debug logs - select these 3
                               "Motion log"
                               "Position log"
                               "Packet log"

Message logging options - none selected

Then exit the setup screen by clicking on OK and the Plugin configuration screen will close.

After changing the log settings, exit Mach4, then restart it.  Do as little as necessary to prepare for the probe motion. Please keep notes and send us a description of everything you did. It makes it easier to wade through the log files.

Then execute the probe cycle. Repeat the probe cycle until you get a failure. Describe what happened, including the error messages that you get, and tell us how many times you did the probe cycle before it failed. 

Then go back into the plugin configuration Debug tab and "Restore Default Settings" (unless you plan to run several debug attempts) and then shut down Mach4 so it will close the debug log file.

If you have Mach4 installed in the default location, you will find the log files at:

C:/Mach4Hobby/Profiles/<your profile name here>/PMDX-SmartBOB-USB.log
C:/Mach4Hobby/Profiles/<your profile name here>/PMDXVersionInfo.log
C:/Mach4Hobby/Profiles/<your profile name here>/PMDXMotionDebug.log
C:/Mach4Hobby/Profiles/<your profile name here>/PMDXPositionDebug.log
C:/Mach4Hobby/Profiles/<your profile name here>/PMDXPacketDebug.log

If the resulting files are more than a few of megabytes, we may need to help you generate smaller files.

We would also like to have a "Packaged Profile" from the Mach4 profile that was used to generate the log files.

Lastly, tell us what version of Windows you are running and describe your computer briefly.

Do not post the files in the forum.

Please send the files as email attachments to our support email address found here:

http://www.pmdx.com/ContactUs

Sorry for the extra step, but we prefer to not post email addresses in forum messages where they may be harvested by spammers.

Thank you for your assistance.

Steve Stallings
PMDX
Steve Stallings
www.PMDX.com

James

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Re: PMDX-424 Probing Error, Hangs Mach4
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2020, 09:52:17 PM »
uc 100 will fix it. i had the same issue.

rafiki

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Re: PMDX-424 Probing Error, Hangs Mach4
« Reply #3 on: July 05, 2020, 09:50:51 AM »
James, What is uc 100?