Firecontrol home / origin confused

[DesignerX]

Occasionally when I start Firecontrol and the Crossfire XR the software ~thinks~ the torch is outside of the table dimensions. What is the proper / easiest way to tell the software where the torch is located?

Pressing machine “home” doesn’t work for me as the software will think it’s way off the table and the table runs until it hits a limit switch (and I’ve had it crush a limit switch in the Y axis.)

I’m a big fan of my Crossfire XR and outside of this home/origin problem it runs like a champ.

Please point me towards an easier solution that turning everything off and manually dragging the torch to an edge then enabling Firecontrol with disabling limits and monkeying around with turning everything off/on multiple times to get the software unconfused.

Thanks in advance.

I’m also curious at to why my setup sometimes remembers where the torch is located and other times is totally confused. I typically shut everything down in the same order each time.

[ds690]

Does this happen when you load a program?

If so, it’s not thinking the torch is outside the table limits. It’s the program that is outside the table limits.

The origin is in one of the four corners of the design or the center. Wherever the origin is, Firecontrol places that point at the X/Y zero.

If the origin is in the lower left corner of the design and the X/Y zero is at the home position, this places the design outside the table limits.

[DesignerX]

Thanks. This happens before I even load a program. I turn on the computer, firecontrol then power up the servo control unit. Within firecontrol a small warning/toast says the limits have been exceeded and the X and Y buttons will do nothing until I disable the automatic limits and manually jog the torch (which doesn’t properly “reset” the software location to match the true torch location.)

[ChelanJim]

I wonder if there is a switch, broken wire or connection to a switch that is malfunctioning. The system is reacting to something when you turn it on and it doesn’t make sense, that if everything is working correctly, it would sense you are out of bounds.

[rat196426]

Did you set up the table parameters and limit switches in fire control menu. Will machine home when you select home machine on firecontrol screen? Make sure you didn’t get left and right Y axis switch wiring reversed at control box plugs. Does your Y and X 0 location setting on table match on your cam software you are using?

[elcangrejo]

Designer X, are you still having this problem. I just posted about something similar. But, I found an older thread first.

[Solved] XR Machine dead in the water!

I see this went down hill from the original issue. I’m having the same problem. Immediately thought it’s a power supply problem, because the axis’s can be pushed around and they are not locked. Anybody got a picture of the Potentiometer location? And what voltage are we aiming for? I have one of the original batch of machines and haven’t really had any problems.

Mine shows outside limits, but can’t home. X and Y don’t move, but Z can. X and Y motors don’t appear to be energized.

Had my machine working well for a couple years now.

[EricH]

Did you ever find a solution? I am having the exact same issue.

[DesignerX]

@EricH , I cannot say I necessarily found a solution but was able to get past this problem after many attempts in FireControl of homing, restarting the application, computer and control box in various order. Along with powering off the control box while FireControl was running and manual moving/dragging the gantry. Mainly trying different things in frustration… some combination finally got me past it. Just be careful not to break a limit switch as they’re super inexpensive but a pain to access.

It’s extremely frustrating when this happens but somehow I’ve been able to get past this the few times it’s occurred. In my particular case there is no issue with reversed drivers, erroneous limit switches or anything broken… it’s just a case of the software thinking it’s currently positioned waaay off the table for some reason.

I should say this has happened on very rare occasions for me (like 3 times in ~2 years). FireControl gets confused and… in my opinion needs some sort of software option to tell the application “THIS IS THE REAL ORIGIN!” or “YOU ARE CURRENTLY AT POSITION X and Y”.

Still lovin’ my CrossFire XR. Hang in there and good luck. You may want to consider calling Langmuir support… they were supportive/responsive when I reached out.

Sorry I can’t be of more help. Hang in there.