CNC Proximity Sensor Setup

[@edavilleman]

Could you share how you set up the sensors in mach4

[@benjaminusey382]

From what I have experienced, limit switches should be normally closed. In the normally open configuration, if there is a break in your signal wires you will not know until you crash into your hard stop. In a normally closed configuration, if there is a broken signal wire, you will get a fault at startup.

[@buildbug3979]

Good point. I agree, normally closed (N.C.) proximity sensors are standard on commercial machines and are a safer option. I wish I had mentioned this in the video. I had to settle for the N.O. versions because I had trouble finding N.C. versions at the hobbyist prices/suppliers I use. If you have a good source for N.C. sensors please share it as I'm sure others would find it useful. On a side note, MachSupport has a good video (kzbin.info/www/bejne/f4nYpnqIdqiIZ6s) in which they walk through adding code to Mach4 to automatically enable soft limits every time you click the 'Enable' button. I have added this to my machine. It won't prevent a sensor failure but hopefully it will restrict the failure to occurring during the homing procedure when the machine's movement is slower. Then during normal machine operation Mach4 will not allow any movement beyond the soft limits and thus you should "hopefully" never even get close to the proximity sensors. All that said, if you want/need foolproof, normally closed sensors are the way to go. Thanks for bringing it up.

[@billbyrd9845]

Where did you get the beautiful cable labels?

[@buildbug3979]

I have a Dymo Rhino 4200 label maker (www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005MR516Y/). It's capable of printing wire labels in a couple of different formats. It's a pretty good tool but I will say that the firmware of the labeler seems to be designed to waste label material whenever possible (I assume to get you to buy more of their expensive label cartridges).

[@jsflood]

@@buildbug3979 I got a Brother P-Touch and it is always wasting 20mm on every print. So when I start a print I have a queue of text that I print and use the sissers to cut up the lables to save it :-D Great video and CNC btw.

[@markgatchell942]

Did you wire all of the proximity sensors into one input?

[@OldePhart]

please let em know how the squaring goes. I couldn't make that work without stressing the carriage, at that point didn't see a purpose