PROBE

[classic_oak]

HI JUST GOT MY MACHINE HAVING FUN LEARNING BUT ALOT STILL CONFUSING, (LEARNING A WHOLE NEW TRADE) I WANT TO PROBE AN OBJECT 1.25" HIGH BEFORE I WENT INTO THE PROBE SET UP I ZEROED MY PROBE JUST ABOVE MY SURFACE BOARD. WENT INTO SET UP SET X,Y, THEN SET MY SAFE Z AXIS AT 1.30" SET MAX PROBE DEPTH AT 0. MACHINE DRAGS JUST ABOVE TABLE SURFACE . I THOUGHT IT SHOULD BE GOING UP &DOWN WHILE MOVEING ALONG Y AXIS I SET THE MACHINE UP LIKE THIS LAST WEEK & BROKE THE PROBE. SHOULD I SET MY PROBE ZERO JUST ABOVE MY OBJECT? CONFUSED JEFF

[myxpykalix]

We found out that after breaking my probe 3 times that the connector was wired from shopbot wrong. You might want to call them and go over everything and let them guide you thru a probing session. The lack of good documentation on this subject I think winds up costing them more money by having to repair broken probes by users not doing it correctly.

[classic_oak]

THANKS JACK, DOSE IT SOUND LIKE I DID MY SET UP PROPERLY? JEFF

[rb99]

All caps = SHOUTING!!!

RB

[myxpykalix]

Richard...I said that to a guy who emailed me, and said Why all caps you blind? Turns out he was (legally) so i felt like a boob. lol

Jeff,
I sent my probe back so i don't have any recent experience with mine however a couple things i might look at is this.
insert your probe normally, plug it in, then take your finger and touch the probe and see if the light on the console lights up or turns off depending on what model machine you have.

If i recall mine was set up where the light for input 4 was not lit up then when you touched the probe it would light up and the probe would stop.

Take your probe over an area where there is no table surface. Set up a sample probing routine of 2"x2".
Set your Zzero way up high and then just hold a 2X4 (or anything) underneath it by hand just to see if it will go down to the surface of your object and stop. If it doesn't you won't push into a hard surface and break your probe (again).

I may be wrong on some of these things but because there is no documentation to refer to I will refer to memory.
I believe there is a difference between prt and prs as to whether the light stays on/ or comes on during contact or goes off.

There are so many other variables that may come into play here depending on what model you have.
The best thing would be to call shopbot and have them guide you thru a sample probing routine.
(edit)
As I recall now there was a problem with the version of shopbot software we were running at the time that caused some of the problem of just running in the Y or X.
Is this a new machine or used? You might check what version of software you are running if it is an older used unit. Download the newest version.

[mmason]

be sure you unhook your zeroing plate mine was shorting and causing my probe to plug and almost break. I guess I was lucky.

[classic_oak]

talked with shopbot this morning went over a few things , turns out the probe was wired wrong all i had to do was switch 2 wires at the pulgin seems to be working fine now thanks for your time i am sure i will be back for more help

[myxpykalix]

Thats the problem with memory, its fleeting. Now that you said that I recall that my plugin was wired wrong and they sent me a little plastic tool to take the wire out of the plug and switch it.

[myxpykalix]

oh man...I didn't realize i had already mentioned that in an earlier post....can you spell S-E-N-I-L-E?

[ed_lang]

No Jack, we cannot "see" the "Nile" from here. We are in Virginia and the river is a long way away.

;-)