ATC Tool Bin XYZ Locations Lost Again – Occupied Bin Data Prevents Recovery

General Chat
1

I’m running into an ATC problem again and I’m hoping someone can help me recover from it without having to rebuild my entire CNC12 profile.

Today I broke the bit in Tool #4. I replaced the bit in that tool holder and was having some trouble getting the job restarted. During troubleshooting I restarted CNC12 and also powered the machine off and back on.

After restarting, my ATC configuration ended up in the state shown in the attached screenshot.

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The strange part is that the TOOL RACK section is now completely empty, but CNC12 still remembers the custody/status of the individual tools under OTHER TOOLS:

  • Tool 1 = Spindle
  • Tools 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 = In bin
  • Tool 6 = Out of custody

The tool diameters and height offsets are still there, but LOC X, LOC Y, and LOC Z are all 0.0000.

So it appears that CNC12 has lost the actual tool-bin definitions/locations while retaining the information saying that the tools are still sitting in those bins.

That puts me in a circular situation. CNC12 thinks the tools are in bins, but it no longer knows where those bins are. If I try to go back through the bin-location/configuration process, it won’t let me properly start over because it believes the bins already contain tools. At the same time, I can’t use the ATC normally to unload those tools because the rack locations are gone.

What is especially frustrating is that this has happened to me before.

After getting everything working previously, I intentionally made a duplicate of my known-good CNC12 profile specifically so I would have a backup if the ATC configuration disappeared again.

I tried loading that duplicate profile today, but surprisingly it shows the same missing Tool Rack information.

That raises a few questions:

  1. Where are the ATC tool-bin XYZ locations actually stored?
  2. Are the bin definitions/locations stored separately from the tool custody information?
  3. Are any of these ATC settings stored somewhere outside the individual CNC12 profile, which would explain why my duplicate profile shows the same problem?
  4. Is there a configuration/database file containing the tool-bin locations that I can restore from a backup?
  5. Is there a way to manually reset the custody status of these tools so I can re-run the tool-bin location setup from scratch?
  6. Most importantly, what could cause the Tool Rack/bin configuration to disappear after a restart while the tool assignments, height offsets, and custody information remain?

I really want to understand how to properly back this up going forward. I created the duplicate profile specifically because I thought it would preserve a known-good ATC setup, so finding out that it doesn’t appear to protect against this failure is concerning.

For now I have stopped trying to move anything with the ATC because I don’t want CNC12 attempting a pickup/drop-off with missing location data.

Screenshot attached showing the current Tool Library state.

Also, I don’t want this post to come across as me being unhappy with the ATC itself. Other than this issue, the ATC is FREAKING AWESOME. When everything is working, I am loving every minute of using it. It has comp

letely changed the way I run jobs. I just need to figure out why I keep ending up in this particular software twilight zone before I finish pulling my hair out. :slight_smile:

Any help recovering the existing bin configuration, figuring out what is causing this, or identifying exactly which files/settings I should be backing up would be greatly appreciated.

2

I don’t have an answer for you but could this be a computer related problem?

3

it totally could be, I’m not competent enough in all that stuff to determine that though :winking_face_with_tongue:

4

By chance did you improperly shut down CNC12?

In terms of getting your library back, unfortunately you’re going to have to re-learn you tool bins. We have a backup solution in testing right now.

Contact me via DM and I can help you reset the state you’re currently in so you can do that.

5

ok eric I am in the same situation, we did have a power outage.

6

If you need help, send me a message, I can walk you through what Eric had me do.

7

I just had this happen to me as well. I ran a rotary job on Sunday and all was well. I shut the machine down and the computer. When I started the machine and CNC12 tonight I tried to load a bit and got a note saying it wasn’t there. I looked at the tool library closer and noticed that all x,y, and z values are zero in “other tools” but the tool bin table was empty.

Is there a recommended startup and shut down procedure that we should be using?

I also noticed tonight that tool bin 2 and 5 had the tops of the collet holders a little lower than the others. These were the bits I was using on my last job. Upon closer observation it appears that the tools were pushed too far into the holders. I found this odd since I ran another rotary job just prior using different tools in different bins and those are put back correctly. I grabbed one of them and pulled it up into the correct position and noticed that the holder is now loose in the finger grabby thingy. Perhaps it stretched a bit with the holder being put in too far and the near 100 degree heat. I’m hoping they will come back into shape. If not I will have to replace them.

I’ll wait on doing anything until I can install the new update. Then I will go through the entire setup and calibration process again and see what happens. I’ll definitely keep an eye on the tool bins to ensure they aren’t being set too deep.

8

Firstly: Sorry this happened to you. This is a bug that we discovered and are in the process of fixing. There’s going to be a two stage set of releases for this fix, the first of which should be available today.

The bug: If you start CNC12 and it can’t connect to your control box (it’s turned off for instance) than it can potentially wipe your tool library.

Recovering your tool library unfortunately (right now) means having to re-find your bins. The easiest way to do this is go load a file that’s in c:\cncr\avidatc\atcutils\toolibraryreset

Run this like a g code job and it will wipe all of the remaining data from your tool bins. Then go to the Setup Utilities in the ATC app and re-find your bins.

The update we are releasing today will help alleviate this issue by backing up your tool library whenever you home your machine, and then give you a one click restore button should it disappear again.

This is a solid workaround until we release a new version of Centroid (version 5.42 likely) that has this bug permanantly fixed.

I’ll post up here on the forum as soon as that update is available for everyone.

9

This explains it. I added a touchscreen monitor yesterday and while trying it out I opened CNC12 while the control box was turned off.

I’ll keep my eye open for the initial update to be released today. Is this the u32 update you mentioned in another thread?

10

Yup, should be online today

11

Update on the update:

https://www.avidcnc.com/support/instructions/software/downloads/cnc12beta/

It’s live!

12

Eric, when you do a patch like this does it matter if the cnc is turned on/connected?

13

It actually has to be off or it won’t apply

14

Okay awesome thanks! :+1: