I have been running my CNC machine for about a year now and have been getting tired of all of the tool changes and always having to re-do the Zero Z setting by hand.

I decided to buy the 2010 screenset just to have the tool changes functions which would make things easier. The problem is that I can't get the Auto Z up and running. I have tried everything. Whenever I start the Auto Z function the Z axis moves very slightly down toward the table then moves back up to whatever I have the Clearance Plane set at. After that the software states that the Z axis is now at zero even though the tool never even came close to the touch plate.

I have searched through these, and other, forums and have tried the solutions offered to get rid of noise. A 300 ohm resister placed in-line on the +5 volt pin did not help nor did a .1uf capacitor so I guess I have ruled out noise. I am hoping to get a little help with this as my life would be much easier if I could get this tool change function up and running.

I am running Mach3 Version R3.043.066 with no issues other than this one.

Here are a few questions for you...

1. The touch plates are wired into pin 15 on my breakout board and I allowed Mach3 to automatically detect it and it did successfully. Should the touch plates be wired into a 5 volt pin instead?

2. To eliminate noise, if that is truly my problem, should the resistor be wired in-line on the 5 volt pin? What should the value of the resistor be?

3. What about the capacitor? Should it also be wired in-line on the five volt pin or should it be wired ACROSS pin 15 and the 5 volt pin? What should the value of the capacitor be?

4. Are there any other possibilities other than noise I need to look at?

If you have the answers I seek please be very specific in describing your solution.

Thank you all for your help.

Problem Solved!

It did turn out to be noise...of course. Apparently, everyone in the world has the same noise problem with their Auto Z setup.
After reading about everyone else with the same problem I fixed it with a .1uf capacitor wired ACROSS the +5 volt pin and the pin that is wired to the touch plate.

I had the same problem.... took out the breakout pcb and cut the run back onto the board to keep from interfering.  Was pulling the voltage from 5.09 down to 3.69v..  caused intermittent failures...

Sorry you didn't get an answer, but I never saw this until now.

With the 2010 screenset, if the Auto Zero doesn't work correctly, the cause is 99.9% likely to be noise.

thank you