TB327 Rev2 – Centroid CNC System Test
Overview The purpose of the System Test is to check basic machine functionality and to verify key
parameters are set correctly such as home/limit switches travel limits and probe inputs
If the System Test has not run and passed a message will be displayed on the screen at power up see
figure
This message will continue to be displayed at power up warning the operator that the system test has not
passed
This warning message displayed until system test is completed successfully or machine has
been homed
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TB327 Rev2 – Centroid CNC System Test
System Test Advisement for Hickory
Do not start or use the System Test macro with Hickory or with a system that has software paired
axes
We released Hickory CNC12 software without testing the System Test with Hickory this fell through the
cracks Please read below on how to defeat the System Test requirement from CNC12
The Centroid System Test was created to ensure OEM’s properly setup the CNC Controller and
don’t drop ship a CNC machine Tool to an enduser that has not been properly configured The
System Test has been around for years and has not been updated for use with Hickory
Instruction for how to use the System Test for Oak and Allin1DC without paired axes can be
found in the remainder of this document
Notes For Acorn and AcornSix the System test was removed from CNC12 many years ago since most
of these users are building the CNC control themselves
The System Test is largely trying to verify the Limit and Home switches are properly configured For
Hickory systems that use absolute encoders Limit and Home switches are redundant and most users will
elect not to install them as they are optional items with Hickory systems
The System Test also has an issue with systems that are setup with Software Paired Axes
So do not start or use the System Test macro with Hickory or with system using paired axes
You can eliminate it from the CNC12 start menu by running this macro attached or hand typing each line
in MDI and then closing CNC12 and rebooting the CNC controller
System test will be removed from the upcoming v5 1 CNC12 release and reintroduced in v5 2 after we
have updated it and thoroughly tested it
Z \tech\Technical bulletins\TB327_Draft\TB327_rev2 Page 2 of 12#100 = #1233
#100 = #1234
#100 = #1234
#100 = #1234
M225 #100 "System Test has been defeated\n \n Shut Down CNC12 \n \n Then Power Cycle the CNC
controller \n \n Press ECS to Exit"
TB327 Rev2 – Centroid CNC System Test
Requirements before running System Test
1 Run the Centroid CNC PC Tuner Free download here
https //www centroidcnc com/centroid_diy/centroid_cnc_software_downloads html
2 Follow the CNC Control installation guidance and details found in the CNC control installation
manuals https //www centroidcnc com/centroid_diy/centroid_manuals html
3 Run the com_stress_test cnc Communications stress test program F2 Load navigate to file it
should be in the C \cncm\ncfiles folder and press cycle start
4 Install a License file
5 Review Axis Labels and Directions More info here https //centroidcncforum com/viewtopic php?
f=64&t=3638
6 Create a report zip
7 Make sure machine table is cleared of all items
8 Check direction of each axis and change direction reversal refer to TB137 and limits as
required
9 Setup/calibrate motor rev ’s/per refer to TB36 and backlash refer to TB37 for each axis
10 Set travel limits Note To save time in the home switch test zero out the inputs that aren’t
being used for home switches
11 Run auto tune Allin1DC systems and drag tests Oak/Allin1DC/Hickory/MPU11
12 Empty the spindle of any tools and verify that the spindle face cannot run into the worktable at
the bottom of its travel DO NOT START the system test with a tool in the spindle
Addition requirements for ATC systems
13 ATC systems need to have their tool changers setup and verified by running tool changes
14 Insert at least four tools into the tool carousel Load one into bin #1 and another into the
maximum bin number ex Load into bin 16 if a 16 – Tool ATC The other two tools should be
loaded into the carousel to balance it out In the case of a 16 Tool ATC load bins 5 and 10
The tools must have lengths that differ by at least 0 010 inches 0 25 mm Do NOT use fly
cutters diamond tip tools or none conductive tools
15 Position a TT1 on the worktable and connect the TT1 cable Position the spindle over the TT1
then press F1 Setup F1 Part F9 WCS Table and F1 Return Enter the X and Y values
displayed on the screen in return point #3 and set the Z value to zero Note; make sure the
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TB327 Rev2 – Centroid CNC System Test
spindle face will not run into the TT1 at the bottom of its travel if it doesn’t clear do NOT run
the System Test
Running the System Test
1 To run the System Test press F1 Setup F3 Config enter the password default is 137 and
then press F5 Test The control will load the systest cnc file If for any reason the systest cnc
file does not load manually load it with F2 Load and navigate to the cncm/t directory where it is
located
2 The System Test starts by running the Z axis to home home position The travel limits and
machine home are verified that they are set Travel limits are not tested for axes that are labeled
as M N or S or that have the rotary bit set in parameters 91 94 axes 1 4 and or 166 5th axis
The test also checks parameter 6 and 160 if P6 is set to 1 and 160 is set to a non zero value the
System Test will display a menu where you can select a single test or run all tests
3 Here is a quick list of the Tests; below you can read about them in more detail
1 ATC TT1 Test
2 Quick Home Switch Test
3 ATC – Spindle Test
4 ATC – Tapping Test
5 Home Switch and Travel limit Test
6 ATC – Tool Change Test
7 Note Non ATC system will run tests 2 and 5
4 If System test fails at any time while testing you will see “Missing parameter line 989” on the
Config Screen Go back to the main screen where you will see the following screen see figure 2
below Load the text file called systest out located in the cncm/t directory and press F6 – Edit to
see exactly what failed See figure 3
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TB327 Rev2 – Centroid CNC System Test
Figure 1 Example of what you’ll see at the main menu when a test fails
Z \tech\Technical bulletins\TB327_Draft\TB327_rev2 Page 5 of 12Figure 2 Systest out text file example of failure message
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
; Checking travel limits and home set
*** FAILURE AXIS 1 INVALID TRAVEL LIMITS
*** FAILED ***
TB327 Rev2 – Centroid CNC System Test
1 ATC TT1 Test This test starts with the following G code message displayed on the screen
After pressing Cycle Start the TT1 needs to be manually triggered twice The best way to do this is by
touching an electrically conductive material to the worktable and the top of the TT1 A right angled Allen
wrench about six inched long works well
How to trigger a conductive Tool Touch Off photo shows Centroid TT1
Before triggering the TT1 you will notice in the message window the message “Waiting for input #15
M101 ” If the TT1 parameters are set correctly the program will stop at a M0 after triggering the TT1 If
the program doesn’t reach the second M0 shortly after triggering the TT1 stop the program Press
to turn on Live PLC debugging and trigger the TT1 to see which input is actually toggling and then
change parameter 44 to the input being tripped If no input is tripped check the TT1 wiring
Z \tech\Technical bulletins\TB327_Draft\TB327_rev2 Page 6 of 125 ; * Connect TT 1 and verify the XY location of the TT 1
6 ; * is set in return point #3 Verify that the spindle
7 ; * face is above the TT 1 when at the Z minus travel
8 ; * limit After pressing CYCLE START
9 ; * trigger the TT 1 twice
10 M0
11 if [#9044 != 0] the #[a] = #9044
12 if [#9044 == 0] the #[a] = #9011
13 M123 L1 ; TT 1 set to be input
14 M123 q0 p#a
15 M101/#a
TB327 Rev2 – Centroid CNC System Test
1 Home Switch Test This test checks to see if the machine can be homed reliably by making sure
the home switches are not too close to the index pulse of the motors If this test fails and you get a
“home switch too close to index pulse” error message refer to Tech bulletin 92 for a description of how to
correct this problem
2 ATC Spindle Test This test is made up of three parts
2 1 First parameter 78 Spindle Speed Display is set to 1 0 to enable live measurement and
calculated spindle speed to be displayed in the CNC status window Parameter 36 Rigid Tapping
Enable/Disable is set to 1 0 to enable rigid tapping and parameter 33 Spindle Motor Gear Ratio is
checked to see if it’s set to 1 0 If not set to 1 0 it will be changed to a 1 0 and a warning will be logged
2 2 The program turns the spindle on for a few seconds and looks for any change in the absolute
encoder position of all axes If no changes are detected the test will error out and log the failure In
which case the spindle encoder wiring and connections need to be checked If movement is detected
parameter 35 is verified that it’s set correctly A wrong value will result in a failure; the failure message in
the systest out file will indicate the correct value Change P35 and run test again A quick check for
spindle direction is made where the spindle is turned on with an M3 to see in the spindle is counting up
or counting down If counting up nothing happens counting down will result in a minus sign being added
or removed from parameter 34 Spindle Encoder Counts/Revolution and a warning logged
2 3 The test now records the average spindle deceleration time from 2000RPM
Then spindle speeds of 10% 20% 30% … up to 100% of maximum spindle speed set in the Control
Configuration are checked and recorded in systest out The spindle speeds are commanded and then
the actual speeds are recorded after several seconds The commanded speeds are compared to the
actual and must be within 3% to pass If a failure occurs check P34 is set correctly and that the inverter
has been programmed for the correct maximum output frequency To check parameter 34 turn the
spindle 10 times by hand and divide the difference in encoder counts by 10 The absolute encoder
position can be read off the PID screen
3 ATC Tapping Test Starts at machine home and taps down three inches at 1000RPM The Z axis
movement should be very smooth however if you notice a jerky motion it is probably due to P34 having
the wrong sign +/ For example if P34 is set to 4096 and you have jerky motion on Z axis change P34
to –4096 Another problem could occur with a “Z axis cannot follow the spindle” error This means you
have the wrong number of counts in P34 i e 8000 instead of 4096 although the correct value for P34
should have been determined in spindle test
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TB327 Rev2 – Centroid CNC System Test
5 Machine Home Switch and Travel Limit Test
5 1 Home Switch test The machine home test starts by checking the values stored in the plus/minus
home switch fields in the Machine Configuration – Motor screen
There are two checks made before the test begins The program first checks the “Machine home at
pwrup” setting in the Control Configuration If set to “Jog” the test is skipped and a warning is logged in
systest out In most cases it should be set to “Home switch” or “Ref Marks HS” The second check
looks for any axis that has at least one home switch input defined except for rotary configured axes or
axes with an “M” “N” or “S” label Reference Mark homing will have both plus/minus home switches set
to zero So any axes that fail this check will generate a warning in the systest out file
Review of homing process when homing to a switch
1 The axis moves toward the home switch at the slow jog rate until the home switch is tripped
2 The axis moves away from the switch until the home switch closes
3 The axis moves further away by a small amount 0 0025 inches
4 The axis moves in small increments away from the switch until the encoder index pulse is located
Axes with a minus home switch defined will have multiple measurements taken
of the home position found by using an M91/ command and the position after step 3 in the homing
procedure The measurements are logged along with error measurements and other data To pass the
test all home position measurements must be within 0 0005 inches of the first measurement If the test
fails and the error is within 0 0010 inches of a motor revolution the follow message will be logged
“SUSPECTED LIMIT SWITCH PROBLEM” Otherwise “SUSPECTED ENCODER INDEX PROBLEM”
will be logged
Now the distance between the home position and the off switch position position after step 3 are
checked to ensure that they are not less than 1/8 or greater than 7/8 of a motor revolution If less than
1/8 or greater than 7/8 of a motor revolution a failure occurs and a “Home position too close to encoder
index pulse” message is logged See figure 4 To correct this failure move the limit switch or trip dog a
distance that corresponds to a ½ revolution of the motor The full turn distance is recorded in the
systest out file If unable to move decouple the motor and rotate the motor shaft 90° clockwise
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TB327 Rev2 – Centroid CNC System Test
When attempting to resolve the problem by rotating the motor shaft note that this method will affect the
results of the home switch test at the other end of travel which means that it is possible when the test is
repeated that the opposite end which passed will now fail In this case you must rotate the motor shaft
90° clockwise once again
If an axis has a plus home switch set the same measurements and analysis are performed on it
5 2 Travel limits test When there are two home switches the overall travel defined in the
Machine Configuration – Jog parameters must be less than or equal to the distance between the minus
and plus home positions but within 1 0 inch 25 4mm For example the distance between the plus and
minus home positions is 24 135 inches which means the travel limit must be within 23 135 – 24 135
inches to pass the test
If only one or no home switches set for an axis two moves are made One from the home position out to
the minus travel limit and another from the home position out to the plus travel limit If the travel limits
are too long the test will be stopped by either a “Full power without motion” or “ limit tripped” message
After the travel limits are tested and have passed all axes move to the center of the travel limits
Z \tech\Technical bulletins\TB327_Draft\TB327_rev2 Page 9 of 12Figure 3 The index
pulse in this position
would produce an error
The correct position
would be in the shaded
region of the circle
TB327 Rev2 – Centroid CNC System Test
6 ATC Tool Changing Test Starts by performing a series of tool changes These tool changes are
done in such a way to alternate carousel directions and maximize carousel travel For example a 16 –
Tool setup would run a series of tool changes like T1 T8 T2 T9 T3 T10 etc and would continue in this
manner until 48 tool changes 3x the maximum number of bins have been completed
After every tool change the tool height is checked using the TT1 The first time a tool is measured the
Z axis machine position is recorded On subsequent tool checks the machine position is compared to
the initial recorded position The test will fail if subsequent tool measurements are not within 0 005
inches of the initial position
Assuming a few tool changes have been completed some possible causes for the wrong tool being
picked up are
• Parameter 161 ATC Maximum Tool Bins is set wrong Ex P161 = 16 but the tool carousel
holds 20 tools
• Not using a brake motor for the carousel or there is a faulty brake motor
• The state of the tool counter sensor after a tool change is not electrically open This can be
caused when the wrong type of tool counter sensor Normally Open or Normally Closed is
matched to the mechanical setup of the counting mechanism
• The tool counter sensor or wiring is faulty
• Electrical noise See TB 206 for guidance
https //www centroidcnc com/dealersupport/tech_bulletins/uploads/206 pdf
Completed System Test
When the CNC Control passes the test the systest out file will say passed and the message “Machine
setup not completed” will no longer appear at machine power up
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TB327 Rev2 – Centroid CNC System Test
WARNING If you run the system test after it’s already passed the systest out file will be overwritten and
the control system will need to be run through the system test again
Suggested Perform the Euclid Block Milling machining test program as a final step in CNC machine tool
commissioning
Sample Euclid CNC Machine test g code programs one generated by MasterCam and the other by
Intercon are included with CNC starting with v5 08 The MasterCam generated one has use specifics in
the comments within the g code file itself users can edit as needed The Intercon icn file is also
included for those that wish to modify the Intercon Euclid block test program to their specific needs as
well Either one does the same job in the end which is to determine machine accuracy and proper setup
during final commissioning of a milling machine or router
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TB327 Rev2 – Centroid CNC System Test
Document History
Revision 2 created on 2024 03 12 by #490
Revision 1 created on 2023 11 17 by #490
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