Z-A coupling interlock: prevent collision between Z and A tools

The auxiliary A axis carries a tool that hangs below the Z spindle.
Beyond a small Z descent the two physically collide unless A drops
with Z. Enforce in machine coords:

    A_machine - Z_machine <= K
    K = (A_home_mm - z_home_mm) + couple_z_clearance_mm

With our setup K = (134 - 0) + 22 = 156. At rest A=134 Z=0, A-Z=134
which is fine. Z can descend 22mm before the rule starts forcing A
down with it.

Two complementary layers:

(1) AuxPreprocessor injection (auto-fix uploaded files)
    Tracks modal Z, A and distance mode (G90/G91) while scanning the
    file. When a line would put A above Z by more than the clearance
    we emit a 'G0 A<safe>' BEFORE the line so A is already at the
    safe position when Z descends. Endpoint check is sufficient
    because Z moves monotonically along a single line.

    Errors are raised (not silently auto-fixed) when:
      - the line lifts A above the safe band while Z stays put
        (would require auto-injecting a Z-up which could swing
        through a fixture)
      - the line endpoint targets an A above the safe band

    G91 disables injection with a one-shot warning; the runtime
    check still applies.

(2) Runtime check (ExternalAxis.check_coupling)
    Single source of truth for live motion. Hooked into:
      * Planner.__encode for every line block (covers MDI and
        running programs - gplan emits machine-coord targets)
      * ExternalAxis.execute_to_mm/enqueue_target_mm/enqueue_line
        for direct A motion (covers UI jog/move and planner-A
        dispatch)
    Raises ExternalAxisError on violation; gplan and the API both
    surface the message. Skipped when coupling is disabled or the
    axis isn't homed (mirrors the soft-limit gate).

    Continuous Z jog from the AVR is not gated - it's an active
    operator action without a pre-known endpoint. Operator-driven
    over-travel during continuous jog will be caught by the next
    MDI/file-load attempt.

Configuration in aux.json:
    couple_z_enabled        bool   default true (per agreed setup)
    couple_z_clearance_mm   float  default 22.0
    z_home_mm               float  default 0.0

Surfaced in the new Z-A Coupling section of the A Axis settings
page with a description of the rule. Existing aux.json files get
the new keys via the merged-defaults path on read.

Tested locally with synthetic gcode covering Z descent, combined
moves, A lift while Z deep, G92 reset, G91 mode, and combined
Z+A target violations.
This commit is contained in:
2026-05-03 14:28:57 +02:00
parent 77bda775dd
commit 4d71585a00
6 changed files with 441 additions and 13 deletions

View File

@@ -185,6 +185,136 @@ class ExternalAxis(object):
'[%.3f, %.3f] mm' % (
self.axis_letter.upper(), target, lo, hi))
# ----------------------------------------------- Z-A coupling
#
# The auxiliary tool hangs below the Z spindle. Beyond a small
# Z descent the two collide unless A drops with Z. The
# constraint, in machine coords, is
#
# A_machine - Z_machine <= K
# K = (A_home_mm - z_home_mm) + couple_z_clearance_mm
#
# Enforced before any motion (planner blocks, MDI, jogs). The
# AuxPreprocessor injects pre-position A moves into uploaded
# files so well-formed gcode runs without having to think about
# this. Disabled when couple_z_enabled is false.
@property
def couple_z_enabled(self):
try:
return bool(self.aux._cfg.get('couple_z_enabled', False))
except Exception:
return False
@property
def couple_K(self):
"""Limit constant K (machine-coord units): the maximum value
of (A_machine - Z_machine) before the tool collides. Returns
None if the rule isn't applicable (coupling disabled or
config missing)."""
try:
cfg = self.aux._cfg
clearance = float(cfg.get('couple_z_clearance_mm', 0.0))
a_home = float(cfg.get('home_position_mm', 0.0))
z_home = float(cfg.get('z_home_mm', 0.0))
return (a_home - z_home) + clearance
except Exception:
return None
@property
def couple_clearance_mm(self):
"""Raw clearance from config: how far Z may travel below its
home before A has to start dropping with it. Used by the
AuxPreprocessor to inject pre-position A moves into uploaded
gcode."""
try:
return float(self.aux._cfg.get('couple_z_clearance_mm', 0.0))
except Exception:
return 0.0
def _z_machine_now(self):
"""Read Z's current machine position from State, or None if
Z isn't homed/reported yet. The AVR reports absolute machine
positions in <axis>p; the work-coord display is computed by
the UI as zp - offset_z, but here we want machine directly."""
try:
st = self.ctrl.state
zp = st.get('zp', None)
if zp is None:
return None
return float(zp)
except Exception:
return None
def _a_machine_now(self):
"""A's current machine position. ExternalAxis tracks this
directly in self._pos_mm (mm in machine coords - we don't
apply G92 to A internally; offset_a is informational)."""
try:
if self._pos_mm is not None:
return float(self._pos_mm)
# Fall back to whatever the ESP last reported.
return float(self.aux.position_mm)
except Exception:
return None
def coupling_for_preprocessor(self):
"""Return the dict the AuxPreprocessor wants for in-file
injection, or None when coupling is off. We assume the
operator authors gcode in a frame where the at-home position
is A_wc=0, Z_wc=0 - which matches our home-zeroed setup.
Files that use a different convention will fall through to
the runtime check."""
if not self.couple_z_enabled:
return None
return {
'enabled': True,
'clearance_mm': self.couple_clearance_mm,
'a_initial_wc': 0.0,
'z_initial_wc': 0.0,
}
def check_coupling(self, target_a_machine=None, target_z_machine=None):
"""Validate that a proposed motion respects the Z-A coupling.
Each argument is a target *machine* mm position; pass None to
keep the current value of that axis. Raises ExternalAxisError
if the resulting (A,Z) pair would violate the constraint.
Skipped when:
* coupling is disabled in aux.json,
* the auxiliary axis isn't homed (we haven't established a
reliable A position yet - the soft-limit gate uses the
same convention),
* Z's current position is unknown (no zp reported yet -
avoid spurious failures during boot before the AVR has
sent its first status frame).
"""
if not self.couple_z_enabled:
return
try:
homed = bool(self.aux._homed)
except Exception:
homed = False
if not homed:
return
K = self.couple_K
if K is None:
return
a_now = self._a_machine_now()
z_now = self._z_machine_now()
a = float(target_a_machine) if target_a_machine is not None else a_now
z = float(target_z_machine) if target_z_machine is not None else z_now
if a is None or z is None:
return
eps = 1e-4
if a - z > K + eps:
raise ExternalAxisError(
'Z-A coupling violation: A=%.3f mm and Z=%.3f mm '
'(machine) would put A above Z by %.3f mm; max '
'allowed is %.3f mm. Drop A or raise Z first.' % (
a, z, a - z, K))
# ----------------------------------------------------------- conversion
def mm_to_steps_delta(self, delta_mm):
@@ -324,6 +454,9 @@ class ExternalAxis(object):
'not connected)' % self.axis_letter)
self._check_soft_limit(ext_mm)
# Coupling: A is in machine coords directly (we don't apply
# a G92 offset to A), so target_a_machine == ext_mm.
self.check_coupling(target_a_machine=ext_mm)
steps, abs_mm = self._compute_move(ext_mm)
if steps == 0:
self._pos_mm = abs_mm
@@ -350,6 +483,7 @@ class ExternalAxis(object):
raise ExternalAxisError(
'External axis %r not available' % self.axis_letter)
self._check_soft_limit(ext_mm)
self.check_coupling(target_a_machine=ext_mm)
steps, abs_mm = self._compute_move(ext_mm)
# Internal mirror only - drives subsequent delta computation.
# state.<axis>p is left to the AVR's status reports.
@@ -383,6 +517,7 @@ class ExternalAxis(object):
raise ExternalAxisError(
'External axis %r not available' % self.axis_letter)
self._check_soft_limit(ext_mm)
self.check_coupling(target_a_machine=ext_mm)
steps, abs_mm = self._compute_move(ext_mm)
delta_mm = abs(abs_mm - (self._pos_mm if self._pos_mm is not None
else 0.0))