Software upgraded, pause/resume problems now

[bleeth]

I did consider a possible wiring degradation at the last section, particularly since it has been accidentally snipped and then spliced, but eliminated that as a cause based on 2 things:
1. I have spent too many years splicing low and high voltage wires on boats and buildings without problems.
2. The problem poked up it's ugly head virtually immediately after software/Alpha upgrade and had never done it previously.

I should have a chance to play around with it this weekend and plan on doing a severe cleaning of the plate per Bob's suggestion and verifying connections and grounding, as well as a few other typical maintenance items and see how it goes from there before I start monkeying with changing software version again.

[adrianm]

Interesting aside to the issues people have with the latest software.

Today I've cleared out the area I keep my PC in and tidied up the wiring. As I've read several times that the hub isn't needed for 3.8.x I took it off and plugged straight into the PC.

Big mistake. I couldn't get more than five to twenty minutes of cutting done before the yellow "lost USB communications/ShopBot no longer recognized" box appeared and everything froze. Turning the control box off and on plus rebooting the PC was the only way to recover.

The ShopBot was always visible in the USBView.

After a couple of hours of that I put the hub back in and I'm now partway through the 4th sheet of the day without any problems.

[srwtlc]

If your plates were dirty and not making contact, you'd have damaged bits and zero plates as the routine will keep driving the tool down into the plate until the drivers fault out or you have lost enough steps to run out of commanded move distance. It would be no different than running the routine and not placing the plate under the tool, it would drive it into the table. The fact that it doesn't do that, means that it's making contact. This goes deeper than that.

I'd like to see those of you that see this happen repeatably try something. If you are running 3.8.xx, open the zzero.sbp file (in your C:\SbParts folder) and place the following at the top of the file...

'Tap the Z plate to the tool to continue
PAUSE UNTIL 1,1

If you are running 3.6.xx, you'll have to place this at the top of the file...

'Hit OK, then tap the Z plate to the tool to continue. Quit to exit.
PAUSE

WAITHERE:
&TEST=%(51)
IF &TEST=1 THEN GOTO START
PAUSE 1
GOTO WAITHERE

START:

Note that for this one there is a 1 second pause in the loop. You may have to hold the plate in contact for more than just a quick tap.

I've had this happen numerous times, but not as much lately and just had it happen again for the first time in quit a while. I'm adding this test to my routine to see if it happens again. Since I know that my input 1 circuit has always made connection, I seldom if ever test tap it before running the routine. I'm not testing the connection with this, but am testing a theory.

[PNast]

Just posting an update. Still have not had any Z-Zero failure since soldering the alligator clip and I do a lot of bit changes. I have included pictures of my setup. I screwed the zero plate to a scrap piece of poplar that is secured to the table, this has been zeroing very accurately between bit changes. I also clean the zero plate with an alcohol wipe once a day. Hope this helps those having Z-Zero problems. -Paul

[David Iannone]

I am using the latest SB software as I upgraded my 2001 PRT about a month ago to the 4g board upgrade. I use the same old zero plate that came with machine. I have had no glitches at all. I used to get occaitional communication error. But have not even got that after upgrade. I use an old old win xp desktop with nothing but sb control on it and use a thumb drive to feed it files.

I never do windows update either. I know windows is not supporting win xp but I figured that didn't matter to me since I don't update it and I don't even have antivirus loaded.