I have been using my dspmc controlled mill for about 4 years, and this week decided to implement a Tool Length touch plate.

The touch plate is working fine, after playing around with various resistors and schemes.

I wired one end of a 330 ohm resistor to a wire, which connects to the 24 volt buss. The input to the J4 board connects to the insulated touch plate surface, and also to the other end of the resistor. Reading the voltage between ground and the touch plate
surface is about 23.7 volts.
Touching the copper touch plate surface to a tool in the spindle turns on the digitize LED on the diagnostics page, so all seems good to go.

Trying to run a touch-off program in conjunction with the dspmc setting in the config seem to interfere. The machine Z axis stops properly, and backs off .050 as per program, and the setting in the dspmc config, but then the machine starts wandering off very slow in Y positive direction.

What kind of program is supposed to work in conjunction with the config settings in the dspmc settings?

John

Since my first post yesterday, I reduced the ohms resistor to 160 in order to get the voltage closer to the 24 volts of the system. It now reads slightly below the system.
Also, I tried the tool setting macro in the 2010 screenset, as I use that screen. The screen set was developed for routers, and not mills with quick change tooling. However, the primary macro, called the "Simple" tool set macro will move down to a touchplate, and using the plate thickness value entered into the screen tab, will set the tool in the spindle to the work surface.

I ran the "2010" macro, and it set the tool, in this case an edge finder, to the exact work surface, and retracted to the also preset height above the work. The macro worked perfectly without any strange movements multiple times. In his manual, Ger says these macros in his screenset are modifications to the Big Tex screen, and other mods done by
that Mach3 guru, poppabear.

However, I am still looking for a macro that works for setting tool offsets into the Tool Table, and has the reliability of the 2010 macro.

John

Update to my question about a multiple tool offset macro;

After spending quite a few hours with the 2010 "Simple" tool setting macro, I have modified it to my satisfaction.

John