Re: Learning BDI Emc - Outputs

["William Scalione" <wscalione-at-nc.rr.com>]

> 
> Using BDI 2.04 I ran ./emc.run and was familiarizing myself with its
> operation which I thought I was beginning to understand untill I ran
> into this problem.
> 
> I verifed the outputs using IO_Show and to be sure, I connected a
> voltmeter to the parallel port to check it out.  The voltmeter
> confirmed the IO_Show indications.
> 
> Using the jog controls I could toggle the dir signal.  Then I found
> that when I  hit "Home", although the position indicators went to
> zero, there was no output on the parallel port.  
> 
> If this is the way that EMC is supposed to operate, then shouldn't
> the "Home" label be known by something else  -  such as "Reset
> Position Indicators" or does Home really mean a command to the table
> to go to its home position?
> 
> If the latter is the case then how come there is no output on the
> parallel port when this command is issued?  I would expect that the
> output just to start going until it reached a program limit.
> 
> Please understand I'm trying to learn the system.
> 
> So, next I decided to try doing some editing to the emc.run and
> emc.ini.
> 
> I first did 
> cp emc.run emcbp.run
> cp emc.ini emcbp.run
> 
> Then I edited emcbp.run and changed the line 
> from INIFILE=emc.run
> to INIFILE= emcbp.run
> 
> Then I ran 
> ./emcbp.run  
> F1, F2 
> and hit Home to home X, the computer locks up (lost keyboard and
> mouse control) so had to hit the computer reset switch.
> 
> Under the header in the emc.run I noticed the line
> #Touch the file .debug_scripts in your home directory if you like
> #to see all your commands echoed.
> 
> I did this and after rebooting I looked at that file and it held
> nothing.
> 
> Question is, how do I overcome the lockup problem?
> 
> Jack Ensor
>

Jack,

EMC "thinks" your home switches are allready tripped so what
you need to do is change the "Home Switch Polarity" from 1 to 0
or 0 to 1. (Opposite of what it is right now). There is one entry
for each axis in the INI file. Now when you hit the home key for
each axis it should head towards the home switch. If the axis
goes away from the home switch you will need to change the
"Homing Polarity" in the INI file, 0 to 1 or 1 to 0 That will take care 
of the homing problem.

As far as the lockup problem, If you are using steppermod this is
a known problem in the BDI 2.04 version. It will sometimes lock
up on the first move after starting up. If it does NOT lock up you
will not have any problems until you restart the program. Then you
will be back to hoping you can make it past the first move again.
The solution is to upgrade to a newer version or use freqmod.
Also if using steppermod, make sure the period parameter in the
INI file is commented out. If using freqmod you need to uncomment
it and possibly change the value to a higher number.

Bill