Recent Posts

21

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 - C82 - PlasmaSensOut - Z axis

« Last post by grivalsky on March 09, 2026, 02:22:18 PM »

The signals from the THC went up and down correctly because I saw them on the monitor when the UP and DOWN lights came on. I also had ARC connected, because when the sheet metal started to wave, the cutting was interrupted because it lost ARC. Similarly, when I simulated the up and down movement on PlasmaSensOut, I saw the signals on the monitor, but the plasma did not respond to them. That's why I wanted to try installing the new plugin ESS_Mach4_v320. I didn't change anything in the configuration, I just installed the new plugin and the Z axis stopped working even in manual jogging mode. I don't understand why? When I uninstalled the new plugin and installed the original ESS_Mach4_v278.1. The Z axis works correctly but does not respond to THC. I also noticed that during cutting I could not even manually correct the Z axis. I don't know if this is correct or not. Then I reinstalled the entire Mach 4 and installed ESS_Mach4_v320. I tried to move only the Z axis so that I wouldn't have to configure the entire thing unnecessarily. With the ESS_Mach4_v320 plugin, I don't want to move the Z axis at all, even in jogging mode.
I don't know if I understood correctly: if no program is running and the plasma is just standing still, I can't move the Z axis using THC UP and DOWN even if I have THC ON turned on like in jogging mode?

22

MachPro General Discussion / Re: PLC Scripts

« Last post by cd_edwards on March 09, 2026, 01:36:13 PM »

In an ideal sense, we prefer to not have custom programming on the newer software as it becomes a nightmare to support. We are working on documentation on how to handle all these things.

thank you for verifying what I'm suspected from the start of the beta program. Mach it seems is locking down features from consumer use. When Mach removes the Edit->screen function, I'll be saying goodbye and thanks for all the fish. I understand the support view point. but locking it down so the consumer ie me and many others is rather short sighted. Fixing bugs in the program that have been IN mach for years now would definitely be worthwhile. But then I'll assume it will never be backported to Mach4. That sucks. We all paid good money for a program which was supposed to be and usually is a massive upgrade from Mach3.

23

MachPro General Discussion / Re: PLC Scripts

« Last post by cd_edwards on March 09, 2026, 01:24:08 PM »

Edit Screen -> PLC script edit.
Add that snippet to the PLC script. Exit editor and then exit from Edit screen. It will ask if you want to save.
Say yes and your done. there should not be any reason to restart Mach at that point.

As for the config->control->settings light stack, it is NOT similar to what you are putting in place. It is meant for a tower Light that has 3 positions. And you have no control really on those.
the PLC.Towerscript() has alot more to say about machine status and is programmable to change what you'd like to see. I'm the one who wrote the towerscript and looked at various methods to implement
what I wanted, which did include the settings light stack.

Colten

24

General Mach Discussion / Re: UC100 USB motion controller

« Last post by kolias on March 09, 2026, 01:06:13 PM »

Many thanks Paul for your time,

Reading the info you provided along with further search I now understand the US100 does not want any access to the Internet since it has its own drivers and works independently.

Have a good day

25

General Mach Discussion / Re: step motors

« Last post by paul.stephens on March 09, 2026, 10:37:59 AM »

Check to make sure that your Step and Direction (Or Pulse, Direction) wires are not swapped.

26

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 - C82 - PlasmaSensOut - Z axis

« Last post by paul.stephens on March 09, 2026, 10:35:21 AM »

Hi,

You may need to assign your up and down pins to THC up and THC down on your inputs. You will also need an ARC OKAY signal from your THC in order for Axis Override to happen.

Basically, with a digital THC in Mach, we need two things. An ARC OKAY signal, and a signal that tells Mach to go Up or Down.

The M3 process is basically just probe, pierce Height, wait for ARC OKAY. If there is no ARC OKAY signal, Mach will fault out. If there is an ARC OKAY, we will continue with the process.

How to Get an ARC OKAY signal:

• Have an ARC
• Have a Digital THC able to read the arc
• Have the Digital THC send the 5-24v to an input on your motion controller
• Once the Mapped signal Activates, Mach will start looking for the ARC UP or ARC DOWN signals to decide to move or not.

Determining up or down with a Digital THC.
Voltage must be within Deadband of your target voltage.  If Voltage exists outside of your Deadband, you will have either a THC UP or THC DOWN signal.

Common issues:
If Z is only going up or going down and your ARC voltage is within the Deadband of your target voltage, odds are very high that you have EMI and you will need to find ways to eliminate it.

27

General Mach Discussion / Re: i/o boards

« Last post by paul.stephens on March 09, 2026, 10:18:23 AM »

A few things you can do to help eliminate your noise issues.

Add more earth Grounds to your machine, its common to have quite a bit of noise around your spindle motor, so grounding the case our frame may help.
Use twisted pair, shielded and foiled cables that are grounded on each side for noise reduction.
Check your Earth Ground to verify it is good, you do not want residual voltage there. If you have a bad earth ground, then it wouldn't matter what hardware you use, it would be less than desirable results.
Try a Ferrite Core Noise Suppressor, they're really cheap and the easiest to implement.

28

MachPro General Discussion / Re: PLC Scripts

« Last post by tbadger on March 09, 2026, 09:56:11 AM »

Thanks Paul - looking forward to the documentation. As I'm not a coder, but can figure out mostly how to add custom stuff that others have built and get it to work. Since Mach Pro has changed so much, its a challenge sometimes to figure out where to get things done.  While exploring further, I did note the Compile Scripts button on the Service tab. I think it is mostly getting used to the changes and knowing how things are done in Pro.

I think some clear examples of what might be considered typical of what someone might want to do would be helpful. In other words, beginning to end.

BTW, I am on the Beta, so happy to review the doc in progress.

29

General Mach Discussion / Re: UC100 USB motion controller

« Last post by paul.stephens on March 09, 2026, 09:53:44 AM »

UC100 is a USB based motion controller, It requires udp and tcp ports to communicate, but that will not require internet access to do that. You may need to open these ports on your pc, as some PC's seem to be particular about devices. Please Refer to the UC100 manual and web page for instructions of how to get set up.
https://cncdrive.com/UC100.html
If you have complications with installing the USB drivers on Windows 10 or 11 then please follow the instructions on this website: http://www.szentkereszty.net/uc100/

30

MachPro General Discussion / Re: PLC Scripts

« Last post by paul.stephens on March 09, 2026, 09:48:41 AM »

In MachPro there's actually already a built in method for handling Light Stacks inside of Configure → Control → Settings. Alternatively you can also handle it through the GMS plugin as well.
If you prefer the lua code route, under the Service → Maintenance tabs, we have a Compile Scripts button that should apply your custom programming and most changes, so you no longer have to power cycle Mach.

In an ideal sense, we prefer to not have custom programming on the newer software as it becomes a nightmare to support. We are working on documentation on how to handle all these things.