Recent Posts

51

Mach3 and G-Rex / Re: Mach3 Circles - weird behavior

« Last post by Graham Waterworth on April 15, 2024, 08:55:18 AM »

Check you have the correct circle mode set incremental or absolute, this can be set in the config or in the g-code using G91.1/G90.1

52

General Mach Discussion / Re: M98 Subroutine Directory

« Last post by iluvemybike on April 15, 2024, 07:13:22 AM »

Roger
I know you know it works, but WOW. Thank You so very much for posting this.
Greatly appreciated.
Doug

Yes, you do need the parentheses, AND the minus sign
m98 (-c:\Projectdir\Project1.txt)   or .tap

Macvh3Mill.pdf, section 10.8.7, re M98, option b),

Cheers
Roger

53

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: m6 on newest version 5325 not working

« Last post by gorf23 on April 14, 2024, 08:58:33 PM »

Andy,

Not sure if you are still checking this message.
But i was still having trouble with the m6 till a couple days ago, the only thing i have tried is that i was using the wx6 screen set, and a couple days ago i switched to the wx4 and haven't had a problem with the wx4, not sure if i had some sort of a glitch in the wx6 set or what but its working ok with the wx4 set

gary

54

Mach3 and G-Rex / Mach3 Circles - weird behavior

« Last post by damien.walker on April 14, 2024, 07:52:57 PM »

Hello everybody, relative newbie here, just getting my plasma table going but I'm having a weird problem cutting circles.

Here are some bullet points that hopefully show my problem, and what works and what doesn't:

1) I have successfully cut a couple of outline irregular shapes.
2) This problem came to light cutting bolt holes in a shaped plate.
3) The hole circle cut starts accurately and then veers off with the circle then being cut offset from the correct position. With multiple holes to cut, the error appears to be cumulative, but the outer panel shape (rectangle with rounded corners) cuts correctly but in the wrong place due to the cumulative circle errors. The final object cut, looks a bit like a cedilla (e.g as in garçon in French)
4)I can cut a rectangle accurately.
5) I can cut a rectangle rotated through 45degrees accurately (ie both x and y axis moving at the same time).
6) I can cut a hexagon accurately.
7)I cannot cut a stand alone circle....doing this displays the same behaviour as described in point 3).
My CAD package correctly draws and displays circles
9) MACH3 displays the correct shape when  I load the GCODE file (for any shape, complex or simple)
10) If I cycle through the GCODE with the scroll bar, MACH3 correctly displays the tool position superimposed on top of the predicted toolpath.
11) If I run the GCODE programme, I get the strange behavior described in point 3).

Clearly the movement instructions in my GCODE are correct because MACH3 displays the shape correctly and follows the shape with the scroll bar

Whilst my x and y steppers have encoders, there is no feedback to MACH3 so the fact that MACH3 displays the 'damaged' cut path when it runs the code, tells me that it has to be MACH3 doing something weird to my GCODE before sending it to the hardware. ie it's not backlash or sticky slides, it must be MACH that is doing this.

Does anyone recognise this behaviour please and know what the cause is?

Many thanks!

55

General Mach Discussion / Re: Read in DRO continuously

« Last post by TPS on April 14, 2024, 05:16:46 AM »

there are two ways to do this.

1st use macropump macro witch is running (if activated in Config -> General Config) where you can place your
code and it will be excecuted arround every 10ms

2nd you can make a brain (Operator -> Brain Editor, the use Operator -> Brain Control to activate)
witch will be excecuted faster.

56

General Mach Discussion / Re: Motor running screen won’t open?.

« Last post by johndolecki on April 13, 2024, 06:34:05 PM »

Yea I just reloaded everything and motor tuning is back

Thanks

57

General Mach Discussion / Re: Motor running screen won’t open?.

« Last post by Tweakie.CNC on April 13, 2024, 09:30:55 AM »

Unfortunately, I think a re-install is the only way forward.
This is the stock answer:-

'If you click on Mach3 Menu -> Config -> Motor Tuning and it just won't open, but everything else works, you will need to reinstall Mach3 again.

Something in Mach3 or the registry in Windows for Mach3 got messed up.  You should not need to do anything other than rerun the installer for Mach3 and then it should just work the next time you run Mach3.   That being said, it would be a prudent idea to make a copy of your entire "C:\Mach3\" folder first, just in case something goes wrong'.

Tweakie.

58

General Mach Discussion / Re: Need some foundation advice please on my lathe please.

« Last post by boydage on April 13, 2024, 05:13:38 AM »

Don't you just need to incorporate another tool offset for the drill holder?  You would just put a known diameter rod in the chuck and touch it off in the same way.

Touchoff I can do with a axis setter sitting in a jig I made in the chuck, and a G31 move. Its the offsets and clearances for 0deg and 90deg tools all set on the same saddle.

I was hoping someone here would confirm this. So I now have a 4 tool rotating turret pointing at the chuck in the X. In addition, on the same saddle I now have two holders at 90deg pointing in the Z direction. I expect its a basic tool setup but the clearances is something I will be holding my hand over the estop. Like how on earth am I not going to crash this machine, not once, lots. Hmmm - we all know the feeling its just how long ago we felt it. Me? It will be tomorrow.

In addition. I managed to write a M6 toolchange that works with my machine. But now I need to add in two more lines for these two tools so the tool is changed, and the correct offset is set. No idea how to do that? Below is the portion of my M6 if anyone is keen to take a look? Not sure where to start although ChatGpt helps a lot. And BTW I am using Mach 3 Turn. I do have a copy of Mach 4 on my router, but would prefer to keep the machines with their own controllers.

'If NewTool= 1 Then
           '   ActivateSignal(OUTPUT4) 'Begin rotating turret'
          '    If IsActive(INPUT1) Then 'Turret has rotated until selected tool is in position'
          '    DeActivateSignal(OUTPUT4) 'Stop turret from spinning"
          '    Sleep(1000)
          '    ActivateSignal (OUTPUT8) 'Reverse Turret"
          '    If IsActive(INPUT2) Then 'Tool locked signal'
          '    DeactivateSignal(OUTPUT8)
             
          '    Exit Sub
             
'If NewTool= 2 Then
             ' ActivateSignal(OUTPUT5) 'Begin rotating turret'
             ' If IsActive(INPUT1) Then 'Turret has rotated until selected tool is in position'
             ' DeActivateSignal(OUTPUT5) 'Stop turret from spinning"
            '  Sleep(1000)
            '  ActivateSignal (OUTPUT8) 'Reverse Turret"
            '  If IsActive(INPUT2) Then 'Tool locked signal'
            '  DeactivateSignal(OUTPUT8)
             
            '  Exit Sub
             
'If NewTool= 3 Then
          '    ActivateSignal(OUTPUT6) 'Begin rotating turret'
          '    If IsActive(INPUT1) Then 'Turret has rotated until selected tool is in position'
          '    DeActivateSignal(OUTPUT6) 'Stop turret from spinning"
          '    Sleep(1000)
          '    ActivateSignal (OUTPUT8) 'Reverse Turret"
          '    If IsActive(INPUT2) Then 'Tool locked signal'
            '  DeactivateSignal(OUTPUT8)
             
             ' Exit Sub               

                                       
'If NewTool= 4 Then
            '  ActivateSignal(OUTPUT7) 'Begin rotating turret'
            '  If IsActive(INPUT1) Then 'Turret has rotated until selected tool is in position'
            '  DeActivateSignal(OUTPUT7) 'Stop turret from spinning"
            '  Sleep(1000)
            '  ActivateSignal (OUTPUT8) 'Reverse Turret"
            ' If IsActive(INPUT2) Then 'Tool locked signal'
            '  DeactivateSignal(OUTPUT8)
             
             ' Exit Sub 

59

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Load Gcode File not working in macro

« Last post by cncmagic on April 12, 2024, 08:27:20 AM »

incorrect...on so many levels that I needed to go and have a beer and stop laughing... Mach4 does what its designed for well.. that is to run a cnc machine.. you know.. 2 axis.. 3 axis.. maybe more.. when you push it into area's it was not specifically designed for, by yourself (without the Artsoft programming and tech support) , no matter how smart you believe yourself to be, you'll probably run into problems. So if you post that you wrote your own macro to connect Mach4 to your Apple phone via Bluetooth and then want to use a web browser to change tools, and also put a window up in Mach4 to use a camera or play songs with CarPlay, and your having problems and getting faults when you run your code, and obviously being one smart programmer, it must be Mach4 that's the problem, I shake my head and wonder why you even bother and waste so much of your time. and everyone else's who reads your post.  guess you have nothing better to do.. I do however so bye-bye

60

General Mach Discussion / Read in DRO continuously

« Last post by Vido on April 12, 2024, 06:13:55 AM »

Hello, I am currently using MACH3 Mill for a water jet cutting system. Now I have created DRO's which show the pressure and the amount of sand. I would like to have, for example, that when I change the pressure in the DRO, the pressure is changed automatically (while the machine is moving). The value in the DRO for the pressure is converted into an analog signal (0-10V) and the analog output controls the proportional valve for the pressure. This works without travel commands (G01, G02, ...), but as soon as I run the program and then change the pressure, the program stops in its actual line and the new pressure is no longer applied.
At the moment I have programmed this using macros. The output signal (0-10V, analogue) for the pressure is read in via the DRO (programmed with do while). The problem is that this is ONLY done for this macro. If I jump to the next program line, this macro is no longer active (instruction over) and therefore MACH3 does not accept the "new" DRO as a  instruction to change the analogue signal for the pressure.

Is there a way to run a macro continuously and without being influenced by other commands or running the program?
There is also the FRO where you can gradually increase or decrease the feed speed by 10%, the same applies to the spindle speed.
For this purpose, the two macros “spindlespeed” and “FeedRate” are available in the macro directory of MACH3 and they contain the following:

Feed = CommandedFeed()
SetFeedRate(Feed)



 And for the spindle speed:

"rpm = GetRPM()
SetSpinSpeed(rpm)

Since these are also macros, why are they applied PERMANENTLY and WITHOUT interrupting the program?



I would need something like:

pressure = GetUSERDRO(1302)           //DRO(1302) is the pressure DRO
SetModOutput(80, GetUserDRO(1302)     //address 80 is the one for the pressure (analog) signal

And this has to been checked continuously!!     

It doesn't have to be a macro, could it be another command?

Thank you