LIMIT SWITCH KIT
ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS
FOR CROSSFIRE AND CROSSFIRE PRO
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CONTENTS
What’s Included 2
Electronics Enclosure Modi cations
Motion Control Board pins 3
EXP Port installation 5
Connect LIM Port 7
Hardware Installation
Assemble Limit Switches 8
Install X-axis Limit Switch 10
Install Y-axis Limit Switch 13
LIM Cable Connection 15
FireControl Con guration
Important Notices 16
Enabling Limit Switches 17
Finding Soft Limits Values 18
Con guring Soft Limits 20
Troubleshooting
Common Issues 22
Contact Us 23
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WHAT’S INCLUDED
Your limit switch kit will include the parts shown in the picture below:
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1. LIMIT SWITCH CABLE
2. LIMIT SWITCH WIRING HARNESSES
3. X-AXIS LIMIT SWITCH MOUNT
4. Y-AXIS LIMIT SWITCH MOUNT
5. LIMIT SWITCHES6.
LIMIT SWITCH PORT
7. HARDWARE
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ELECTRONICS ENCLOSURE MODIFICATIONS
Before installing the limit switches onto the machine, we will rst utilize the EXP
port of the electronics enclosure and the unused pins of the motion control
board. We recommend dismounting your electronics enclosure from the leg tube
of the machine and placing it on its backside during this procedure.
HIGH VOLTAGE WARNING: Please ensure that your electronics enclosure is turned
off, and that the 110V power cable and USB cable are disconnected.
Motion Control Board Pins
Identify the two wiring harnesses that
were included in your limit switch kit.
Note that one of them is color-coded
with a black wire, and the other is
color-coded with a yellow wire and a
green wire (with a red wire for ground).
Unscrew the hex head sheet metal
screws and remove the lid from the
electronics enclosure and identify the
motion control board. Take note of the
two unused 4 pin connectors in the top
left corner and the bottom left corner
of the motion control [Link] green,
yellow, and red wiring harness will
connect to the unused motion control
board pins in the top left corner of the
motion control board (circled in red).
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Connect the wiring harness in such a
way that the motion control board
position labeled GND lines up to the
red wire, LIM1 lines up to the green
wire, and LIM2 lines up to the yellow
wire. Push the connector in rmly to
click it into the mating board
connector.
The black wiring harness will connect to
the unused motion control board pins in
the bottom left corner of the motion
control board.
Connect the wiring harness in such a
way that the motion control board
position labeled 5v lines up to the
black wire as shown. Firmly seat the
connector into the mating connector
on the board until it clicks in place.
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EXP Port Installation
Note that the EXP port slot of the
electronics enclosure is blocked by a
plastic stopper. To remove the plastic
stopper. squeeze the teeth of the
stopper from the inside.
Identify the LIM port that was included
with the limit switch kit. Note that its
blade connectors are attached to wires
that are color-coded yellow, green, and
black. Insert the blade connectors of
the LIM port into the EXP port slot.
From the inside of the electronics
enclosure, pull the blade connectors of
the LIM port through the EXP port slot.
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Identify the washer and ring nut that
were included in the limit switch kit.
First, put the washer onto the blade
connector wires. Then, put the ring nut
onto the blade connector wires.
Thread the ring nut onto the backside
of the LIM port until it is almost fully
tightened.
One the outside of the electronics
enclosure, rotate the LIM port until it is
in the desired position, then fully
tighten the ring nut on the inside of
the electronics enclosure to secure it in
place.
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Connect LIM Port to Motion Control Board
Connect the LIM port’s blade
connectors to the matching color-
coded blade connectors on the wiring
harnesses that were connected to the
motion control board previously.
Your electronics enclosure is now ready to use limit switches, and can be installed
back onto your CrossFire machine.
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HARDWARE INSTALLATION
Assemble Limit Switches
X-AXIS
Identify the X-axis limit switch
mounting bracket, one of the limit
switches, and the hardware that will
mount the limit switch to the X-axis
bracket.
Y-AXIS
Identify the Y-axis limit switch
mounting bracket, one of the limit
switches, and the hardware that will
mount the limit switch to the Y-axis
bracket.
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Orient the limit switches as shown in the
photo. Pass the bolts through the
mounting holes on each switch. Install the
washers in between the limit switches
X-AXIS Y-AXIS
and the mounting brackets.
Use the included nuts to rmly mount the
switches to the brackets, using a 5/64”
Allen wrench and a 5mm socket wrench.
This is what the completed Limit Switch Assemblies should look like:
X-AXIS Y-AXIS
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Install X-axis Limit Switch
Use two 9/16” box wrenches to
uninstall the bolt shown in the image,
which mounts the X-axis gantry tube
to the Y-axis carriage. Note: if installing
the limit switch onto a 2x2 CrossFire
machine, take care not to bump into
the cantilevered end of the X-axis
gantry tube while this bolt is
uninstalled. Doing so could put the X-
axis out of square with the Y-axis.)
The X-axis limit switch assembly will
mount in between the tube spacer and
bolt pictured here.
Line up the mounting hole of the X-
axis limit switch bracket with the hole
of the tube spacer, then pass the bolt
through the set of holes.
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Your X-axis limit switch assembly
should be oriented like this. Reinstall
the washer and nut back onto the bolt,
leaving them nger tight for now.
Ensure that the X-axis carriage interfaces with the limit switch before hitting the
head of the bolt, as shown in the images below. Rotate the limit switch bracket
around the bolt if necessary.
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Once you are satis ed with the position of the X-axis limit switch, tighten the bolt
and nut using two 9/16” box wrenches.
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Y-axis Limit Switch Installation
Use two 9/16” box wrenches to remove
the nut and washer from the bolt
pictured here. These are the stanchion
plates located closest to the electronics
enclosure.
Pass the Y-axis limit switch bracket
onto the bolt.
Reinstall the washer and nut, leaving
them nger tight for now.
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The Y-axis limit switch bracket has a signi cant amount of play compared to the X-
axis limit switch mounting bracket installed previously. Ensure that the bearing
block of the Y-axis carriage interfaces with the switch before the bearings contact
the stanchion plates.
Once you are satis ed with the position of the Y-axis limit switch, tighten the bolt
and nut using two 9/16” box wrenches.
Your limit switches are now installed onto your machine, and are ready to be
connected to the LIM port of your electronics enclosure using the LIM cable.
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LIM Cable Connection
The nal step before moving onto FireControl is connecting the limit switches to
the electronics enclosure using the LIM cable. Note that the longer lead of the LIM
cable is labeled X-axis, and the shorter lead of the LIM cable is labeled Y-axis.
The blade connectors of the limit switches
and the blade connectors of the LIM cable
leads are color-coded red and black.
Ensure that you match red with red and
black with black.
Finally, use the included zip ties to pair
each LIM cable lead to its associated
motor cable for cable management.
Your limit switches are now ready to use
in FireControl.
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FIRECONTROL CONFIGURATION
Important Notices
IMPORTANT: FIRMWARE VERSIONS
Use of Limit Switches requires Machine Firmware version 1.3LS.
To update, connect to the internet and launch FireControl with the machine
connected to your computer via USB. If you are not running the latest 1.3LS
rmware, you will see a yellow “Machine Update Available” button in the upper
right corner of FireControl; click this to update your rmware. Note: this rmware
update contains only updates related to limit switch functionality.
Once this rmware update has been performed, you must Reset Machine Defaults
via the Machine Settings menu. This will ensure your machine is ashed with the
latest settings required. Note: if your machine homes slowly, homes the incorrect
direction, or tries to home in the Z-Axis, you likely have not performed this step.
IMPORTANT: COMPATIBLE FIRECONTROL VERSIONS
Use of the Limit Switch Kit requires updating settings on your Gen2 Motion
Control Board. These settings are ‘restored’ via the Reset Defaults option within
the Machine Settings Menu. This option is only available on FireControl v21.1.5 or
later. FireControl 21.1.4 contains the required features to operate the limit switches,
but lacks the Reset Machine Defaults option.
If you wish to not update your operational software, you can installed FireControl
v21.1.5, use the Reset Machine Defaults option, then revert back to v21.1.4.
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Enabling Limit Switches
First, limit switch functionality will need to be enabled in FireControl. To do so,
click on the “Machine Settings” icon in the top-right corner of the window.
In the Machine Settings popup, click the
slider toggle “LIMIT SWITCHES” button.
Toggling this slider will expand the window
with more options; ignore these for now and
press “Save”.
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Finding Soft Limit Values
With limit switches enabled, the Machine Coordinate
tab is now available.
Machine coordinates differ from traditional work
coordinates; while work coordinates measure steps
from the user-set work zero, machine coordinates
measure steps from the machine’s home.
Command the homing process to begin by pressing
the blue “HOME” button under the digital read-out
(DRO).
After the machine is homed, the DRO should read 0.000 for both X & Y. We’ll be
using the machine coordinate read-out to nd the appropriate soft limits to set for
your machine.
Manually jog the X-axis towards the end of travel; as you get close, toggle the jog
mode to 1/16” step. The goal is to get the machine as close to the end of travel as
possible without crashing.
For the CrossFire PRO, get the X-axis Carriage Assembly as close to the bolt head
near the end of the gantry tube as possible; for the CrossFire, get the X-axis
Carriage Assembly as close to the X-axis Bearing Mount as possible.
PRO CROSSFIRE
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The same process is utilized to nd the Y-axis soft limit. For both the CrossFire and
CrossFire PRO, get the bearings of the Y-axis carriage as close to the stanchion
plates as possible.
At this point, the Machine Coordinate DRO should be displaying nonzero X and Y
values. Take note of these, as they will be set as the soft limits.
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Configuring Soft Limits
Returning to FireControl’s Machine Settings
window, open the “Soft Limits” drop down list
and select “Enabled”.
The X and Y values you found previously will be used to set the soft limits. While
the machine coordinate DRO will measure & display thousandths of an inch
(0.001”), soft limits must be entered to the nearest hundredth of an inch (0.01”).
Make sure to round down to avoid setting a soft limit that is too high. The DRO will
display the Y position as a negative value, but the Y-axis soft limit should be
entered as a positive value.
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Press “Save” to set the soft limits. With soft limits set, you will now see an outline
of the machine’s travel area in FireControl’s Program Toolpath Visualizer.
Limit switch assembly, installation, and con guration are now complete!
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TROUBLESHOOTING
I hit a hard limit, and FireControl won’t allow me to jog
away from it.
If you hit a hard limit, you will need to jog the opposite direction a few times,
dismissing the error message each time the popup appears. Another option is to
power off the CNC electronics enclosure and turn the lead screw by hand until the
limit switch is back in its neutral position.
The soft limits are reducing my travel area.
The Y-axis limit switch bracket has a notable amount of play relative to where the
bearings actually would come into contact with the stanchion plates. If your cut
area is signi cantly reduced in the Y-axis, you might have installed the Y-axis
bracket too far away from the stanchion plates. Loosen the nut where the Y-axis
bracket mounts, and reposition the bracket in such a way that the Y-axis carriage
interfaces the switch just before the bearings would contact the stanchion plates.
In FireControl 21.1.5, you will set your own custom soft limits. Try to set these to be
as close as possible to the travel limit at the end of each axis that is opposite the
hard stops.
In FireControl 22+, there are preset soft limits for each machine: CrossFire,
CrossFire PRO, and CrossFire XR. The preset soft limits are very conservative
estimates to account for slight variances in frame squareness. The presets can be
overridden by using ‘customize’ instead of the preset.
My machine is homing slowly, homing the incorrect
direction, or trying to home the Z-Axis.
You need to “Reset Machine Defaults” after your machine rmware has been
updated. This ensures the proper homing settings are ashed to your Motion
Control Board. This Reset button is found at the bottom of the Machine Settings
Menu. This will reset your soft limits; take note of your current soft limit values so
you can easily recon gure them.
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My machine is experiencing an issue that isn’t listed
here, or I have a question that is not addressed in this
guide.
Our support team is always happy to help!
Email: support@[Link]
Phone: (833) 526-4797
Web: [Link]/support
We also have a dedicated community of CrossFire users on our Forum. Another
user may have had the same issue or question, and posted the resolution there so
it could be referenced by others. Our support team is also active on the Forum.
Forum: [Link]
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