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Mach4 General Discussion / Re: parameter 1801
« Last post by cd_edwards on November 09, 2025, 04:15:25 PM »it helps when you edit the correct parameter.ini in the proper directory.
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Mach4 General Discussion / parameter 1801
« Last post by cd_edwards on November 09, 2025, 03:07:25 PM »What is setting parameter 1801. I've edited the parameter's file and used NIL, -7.0000 and also deleted the 3 lines. It keeps coming back. this is in the latest beta from Oct 30/25.
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Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Probe/Touch Off Error
« Last post by tbadger on November 07, 2025, 07:18:44 PM »Turns out it was, you guessed it, USER ERROR. I had copied what I thought was an unmodified script from another, older screen set. The issue was that "Iframe" should be "Tframe". Once that was corrected throughout the script, it now works correctly.
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Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 on 2 computers working together
« Last post by Bill_O on November 06, 2025, 06:21:26 PM »Craig,
I don't need the 8 axis to be coordinated.
At the most it will be 4 axis.
I am not worried about IO
I use a Pokeys 57U for my pendant now and can easily use it if i need the extra IO
I did mention to my boss about Mach is supposed to at some point be able to have multiple instances.
Because it is not available now i think i can just use multiple laptops and IO between them to run the machine.
I appreciate the assistance.
Bill
I don't need the 8 axis to be coordinated.
At the most it will be 4 axis.
I am not worried about IO
I use a Pokeys 57U for my pendant now and can easily use it if i need the extra IO
I did mention to my boss about Mach is supposed to at some point be able to have multiple instances.
Because it is not available now i think i can just use multiple laptops and IO between them to run the machine.
I appreciate the assistance.
Bill
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Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 on 2 computers working together
« Last post by joeaverage on November 05, 2025, 06:49:51 PM »Hi,
a Hicon is not going to help that much.
Mach4Hobby has a maximum of SIX coordinated axes, as does Mach3 which preceded it and Mach4Industrial. Mach4Hobby and Mach4Industrial can also have six out-of-band axes.
The ESS is limited to six motors. Thus a Hicon, may help there, as you can have eight motors, but Mach4 still can only control six coordinated motors.
Mach4 can have ONE any only one active motion control, it can however have auxiliary input boards. For example if you have an ESS as motion control, but require more inputs
then its not uncommon to use a PoKeys 57E as an auxiliary IO board. Note however Mach cannot drive motors attached to the 57E, and the data going to and from the 57E is refreshed
approx every 25ms, and thus none of the IO of the 57E could be considered realtime.
I suspect what you really want, and I believe Mach4 is in fact capable of, even if not released publicly is a version of Mach4 that can have multiple instances. Lets say you have Mach4 running two instances,
then each would have its own active motion controller, say an ESS on each. Mach4 was always intended to be multi-threaded, but its synchronisation between two threads which is the sticking point.
Smurph will know more about it.
Craig
a Hicon is not going to help that much.
Mach4Hobby has a maximum of SIX coordinated axes, as does Mach3 which preceded it and Mach4Industrial. Mach4Hobby and Mach4Industrial can also have six out-of-band axes.
The ESS is limited to six motors. Thus a Hicon, may help there, as you can have eight motors, but Mach4 still can only control six coordinated motors.
Mach4 can have ONE any only one active motion control, it can however have auxiliary input boards. For example if you have an ESS as motion control, but require more inputs
then its not uncommon to use a PoKeys 57E as an auxiliary IO board. Note however Mach cannot drive motors attached to the 57E, and the data going to and from the 57E is refreshed
approx every 25ms, and thus none of the IO of the 57E could be considered realtime.
I suspect what you really want, and I believe Mach4 is in fact capable of, even if not released publicly is a version of Mach4 that can have multiple instances. Lets say you have Mach4 running two instances,
then each would have its own active motion controller, say an ESS on each. Mach4 was always intended to be multi-threaded, but its synchronisation between two threads which is the sticking point.
Smurph will know more about it.
Craig
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Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 on 2 computers working together
« Last post by Bill_O on November 03, 2025, 08:02:16 AM »Steve,
It will all be a very repetitive operation.
Having the motors split will also help in some time issues.
I can have motors 1-4 doing an operation and have motors 4-8 doing an operation without needing to be in sync with motors 1-4
Bill
It will all be a very repetitive operation.
Having the motors split will also help in some time issues.
I can have motors 1-4 doing an operation and have motors 4-8 doing an operation without needing to be in sync with motors 1-4
Bill
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Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 on 2 computers working together
« Last post by Bill_O on November 03, 2025, 07:56:52 AM »Chad,
I could use a Hicon. I did look at them before but went with the ESS.
I also hate ladder logic so would prefer to use 2 pcs and program in LUA.
I may change my mind after a while though.
Bill
I could use a Hicon. I did look at them before but went with the ESS.
I also hate ladder logic so would prefer to use 2 pcs and program in LUA.
I may change my mind after a while though.
Bill
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Mach4 General Discussion / Probe Calibration Tab/Screen
« Last post by Cudaman1970 on November 01, 2025, 03:07:04 PM »Hello everyone.
I just updated from Mach3 to Mach4 Hobby while changing to a new PC that will be dedicated to only run my CNC mill.
I've been using Mach3 for 11 years, it has worked pretty well but thought an upgrade would be good. I have the latest version of Mach4 installed and working.
One thing missing in the newer build of Mach4 is for the probe, missing is the calibration tab/screen.
On YouTube I have seen video's showing that tab and how to calibrate the CNC probe, it shows a calibration screen and how to calibrate the probe using a know artifact, say a 1" master I.D. gauge.
Am I just missing where the calibration screen is, or is it just not there in the newer builds?
Thanks to anyone that can help!
I just updated from Mach3 to Mach4 Hobby while changing to a new PC that will be dedicated to only run my CNC mill.
I've been using Mach3 for 11 years, it has worked pretty well but thought an upgrade would be good. I have the latest version of Mach4 installed and working.
One thing missing in the newer build of Mach4 is for the probe, missing is the calibration tab/screen.
On YouTube I have seen video's showing that tab and how to calibrate the CNC probe, it shows a calibration screen and how to calibrate the probe using a know artifact, say a 1" master I.D. gauge.
Am I just missing where the calibration screen is, or is it just not there in the newer builds?
Thanks to anyone that can help!
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Mach4 General Discussion / Probe/Touch Off Error
« Last post by tbadger on November 01, 2025, 01:49:50 PM »Recenlty I've been getting an error when I run the Touch Off UI the second time. It works the first time and after probing Z, I run my program. Then I change the bit and run the Touch Off UI again, but it does not load. I see this error in the UI:
Lua: Error while running chunk
Viewing the log, I see this:
C:\Mach4Hobby\ScreenScript.lua:925: attempt to index a userdata value (global 'Iframe')
stack traceback:
C:\Mach4Hobby\ScreenScript.lua:925: in function 'btnTouch_Left_Up_Script'
This is the Lua code referenced:
I've not made any changes to the screen, modules, or anything else that I'm aware of recently Short of reinstalling Mach 4 and having to reconfigure everything. Any input on why I'm seeing this? I've run it as Administrator and not as Administrator and get the same error and issue. Running on Windows 11.
Lua: Error while running chunk
Viewing the log, I see this:
C:\Mach4Hobby\ScreenScript.lua:925: attempt to index a userdata value (global 'Iframe')
stack traceback:
C:\Mach4Hobby\ScreenScript.lua:925: in function 'btnTouch_Left_Up_Script'
This is the Lua code referenced:
Code: [Select]
function btnTouch_Left_Up_Script(...)
--Touch Button script
if (Iframe == nil) then
--TouchOff module
package.loaded.mcTouchOff = nil
mcTouchOff = require "mcTouchOff"
Iframe = mcTouchOff.Dialog()
else
Iframe:ShowMenu()
Iframe:Raise()
endI've not made any changes to the screen, modules, or anything else that I'm aware of recently Short of reinstalling Mach 4 and having to reconfigure everything. Any input on why I'm seeing this? I've run it as Administrator and not as Administrator and get the same error and issue. Running on Windows 11.
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General Mach Discussion / Re: weirdness with 2010 screenset and csmio after 6 years of use!!
« Last post by dragon35 on October 31, 2025, 07:16:56 PM »Turned out that for some strange reason mach3 was loading older macros for the tool change. The CS-labs controllers do not support G31 probing. Following contact with Ger, the creator of the 2010 screenset he told me to edit macros to use the M31 alternative. I couldn't understand initially how the toolchange had worked so well for so long and was now showing classic signs of the G31 probe issue. Ger told me to edit three macros so I began looking at them and thought this seems so familiar and I was sure there were macros especially for the CS-labs controllers that were included with the screenset. I checked the original installation files and still had the CS-labs specific macros, checked them against the ones Mach3 was using and they were different?? replaced them with the CS=labs specific macros and all works fine. Goodness knows how the macro file s changed but all is well now. Bit of a head scratcher though.