hello all!!

trying to finish the retro on my 96 Arrow 500 and we're a little stuck on the ATC.
during normal operation of the spindle, the spindle runs with the speed command (M3/M4 S***)
when changing a tool the spindle needs to run as a axis - "C" to allow the spindle to orient to a position that allows the alignment lobe to fit in the tool holder.
The C axis reads in degrees 0-360+ and the tool change needs to be done at approx. -90 degrees

our problem is - once the "C" DRO reads +/-185,000 degrees, or over, it will home the spindle but will not reset the DRO to 0, so the spindle can move to -90 degrees for the tool change to complete. it will change a tool if the C reads +180000 or -180000 degrees. since it is set to degrees it only takes about 8 seconds at 4000 RPM to reach this 180000 reading.
i have changed the Rotational DRO to roll over so it only ever goes to 360 degrees thinking that might fix it but the encoder keeps piling on the degrees in the "C" axis reading window

has anyone run into this before?
are we looking at the orient feature the wrong way?

thanks for any input

Mac

setoemdro(805,0) ' resets the C axis to zero, used in a macro ".m1s" file

I assume you are running a servo spindle and use swappaxis() while running the ATC ?  IF so then everytime you call the C axis with Swappaxis() you need to Refhome the C axis to the INDEX signal so mach3 knows where it is at and then apply the rotational move to get you to the orientation point.

IF you try to run them parallel I am afraid you will overrun the max values of c in a hurry. OR you may can set the C to offline when not running the ATC But you would still need to refhome the C when you need to use it.

Just a thought, (;-) TP

thanks for the input guys but, as i was told, these options do not work with the interpreter 1000
(guess i should have told you about that piece of the puzzle)

sorry 'bout that

anyway, it looks like the issue is inside the interpreter - MachMotion is working on it right now - i'll keep you posted on what becomes of this

thanks again

Mac