Message that I posted on the other forum...
Hello All,
I think you can see that I have been working my tail off for the last
bit
I have been working on the display code in Mach3 getting it into
it's own thread. This has been working very well on the systems that I
have here but has needed me to clean up the offsets section of code. The
old offsets worked by reseting the trajectory planner to a new position
and so on.. I have changed Mach3's Gcode interpreter to output all moves
in machine position . This was done to solve some display problems that
we had in the past and also offered some places to add some new tools
(for turn and mill)! The tools that I have added are as follows:
Work Shift : This allows you to shift ALL fixture offsets in Mach3..
What would you use this for you may ask
Well if you are into dry
running your parts you can "shift" the program up in the Z axis to dry
run the part without effecting your fixture offsets. Also if you are
facing parts and the part needs to be a bit deeper to clean the face you
can shift into the part and you get to keep your fixture offset.. The
biggest uses of this is for Probe work! With this you can now shift for
your probe without killing your fixture offset! (this is also a feature
that is on the Fanucs and I wanted it
) Also you will see this
offset in the toolpath (more on why need to know this later )
Head Shift: This one I have never seen (so please bear with me).. As I
was adding the work shift I was thinking that this would be GREAT for
the people that would like to have more then one head on there machine
(A VERY common request we get now) . In testing I found that it worked
great but it had two problems
1. I could no longer use the workshift
the way I would like... 2. The toolpath looked all munched! (shifted
when it should not be) . So I came up with the idea that I would add a
Head shift that will not show in the toolpath! This will now allow you
to have as many heads as you would like on the machine and registers
that you can set the offsets. I am working now to make the soft limits
work with the offsets and expect to be testing soon on the router that I
had in PA. Examples of using this will be after 4.0 release...
Other points that we are working on:
1.) G28 and G30, now work as explained in Peter Smid's book (this will
make Posts work better as well)
2.) The DRO,LED an Button numbers are getting redone to be something
that is a bit more logical
. This is a big job and Brett is just
about done with this.. More on this when it is done.. I am going to add
a compatibility mode so the old screens will work but new features will
not be added to the old numbering system.. I am half thinking about
making a converter program that you can copy and paste text too convert
it into the new 4.0 numbering format.
3.) Data structures are redone in Mach3 so Plugins will not work
The
Plugins will need to be recompiled with the new header files.. Please
don't ask for the header files at this time because I am still working
on them
4.) License for Mach3 is about to be locked per machine ID.. The old
license format has served us well over the past 8 years but it is time
to change with the times
. This will be web based (you don't need to
have the controller computer connected to the web) . It is a simple code
that you need to type in... The license file that you have now will get
you into the data base and allow you to register your machines on the
web page to get your code. I hate to do this to you but we are getting
to many people copying license files and using us for support
. In
the end that is what pays to make it so we can keep working on the
software to make it better and more robust! one last note on the license
junk.. the terms will be the same.. If you are a hobby user (Not cutting
for money) you can run from the one license that you have BUT you will
need to register the machine on the web using the same license name..
5.) Mach3 has been speed up to update at 50Hz from 10Hz, I was able to
do this because I have OpenGL out of the way
This is allowing for
faster FRO and feed holds.. So mach3 is starting to have a very nice
"feel" on the controls (soon to get better after this is finished)
6.) Turn IS next on the list after the first release of 4.0 . I needed
to have the offset code redone before I could pull the trigger on this..
I will be adding full support for a 2nd turret as well as the reversal
of the X axis for the 2nd turret. CSS will be updated to keep the feed
per rev correct (this has been something that bugged me about turn for
some time
) . I have no idea how long it is going to take to make
the changes but know I have my eye on it!
there is a bit more that I am going to do and things that I have done..
but I will keep that for my next message LOL I got a bit long winded on
this one, but was thinking it was time for you to see what was about to
fall out of the workshop!
Thanks and as you can see I need to get back to work!
Brian
