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Author Topic: Mach 3 Plug-in and Grex Current status.  (Read 26174 times)

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Offline chad

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Mach 3 Plug-in and Grex Current status.
« on: January 18, 2007, 05:27:45 PM »
I am going to lock and sticky this post as a place Just for the latest on Mach3 and The g100 plug-in.

Mach3 plug in: The plugin is in a beta stage and is for the most part functional. Most mach functions are implemented, but not all.

Grex hardware: The hardware is finalized and a shipping product.

Grex Firmware: The current version of firmware is for the most part functional. There are some things that are being added and debugged before a official release expected some time in 2/07 (last I heard). The firmware is being written by a third party. In other words Not ArtSoft and not Gecko. This Person is named Steve and he has don amazing things and it is no small task. he is working as fast as he can and we will just have to be patient.

Things that Mach3+Grex will NOT do at this time until the new firmware is released:

   Spindle sensing- ridgid tapping- threading.
   MPG Inputs. ( I believe art has one enabled for test but don't take my word on that)
   Soft limits
   Backlash correction
   Probing
I have seen, and have have heard of others having problems with the Grex randomly stopping during a job- so be careful.

Mach 4 is no longer supported or updated. It has been replaced with the latest version of Mach 3 and the Grex (or g100) Plug in.
Mach Quantum Does not at present work with the Grex. This will come later. Mach Quantum is still a test bed for some new features that Artsoft wants to experiment with. It is not a production stable release and should be treated with care. 

That is all I have for now as I Hear more I will update this thread.

Thanks,
Chad


Re: Mach 3 Plug-in and Grex Current status.
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2007, 08:00:30 AM »
Chad there is still no news from Steve at this tme :(  I will talk to Art about it next time I see him :)

I know Steve must be working very hard, we have see a bit of software for the pod but it was not the full rev.
Fixing problems one post at a time ;)

www.newfangledsolutions.com
www.machsupport.com

Offline chad

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Re: Mach 3 Plug-in and Grex Current status. update from art
« Reply #2 on: February 22, 2007, 12:46:31 AM »


I have the new G100 firmware, got it today. IT will take awhile for me to redo the plugin, its in horrible need of changes,
and some very complex debugging and such. On the bright side, at least now the work on this end starts.. on the down side,
at least the work on this end starts. :)

Im extremely backlogged at the moment, timing is bad, Im in the middle of several things, so the G100 , though a priority
for me, will take awhile..

Thanks,
Art
www.artofcnc.ca

Offline chad

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Re: Mach 3 Plug-in and Grex Current status.
« Reply #3 on: February 23, 2007, 03:01:36 AM »
Hi:

I thought Id better mention this in a letter with the proper heading, I mentioned it in a responce to
another user the other day. I now have the new G100 firmware, it looks very good, but is a very large rewrite in several ways.
You will be seeing reference to it on the various groups, so just to keep the G100 owners informed....

I have begun the rewrite, (I can jog and do IO now.:) ), and work continues. Many things have changed in the way the G100
operates, and in its protocol. Steve has completely rewritten the messaging classes, and most of the logic classes, so this will
take awhile, on the bright side, he will be an expert at helping me with what I run into. So it may not take as long as I originally thought.
The more I play in there, the more Im understanding the interface. I hope to have some preliminary plugins within a few short weeks,
perhaps sooner. Expect trouble, but expect that trouble to be solvable now. The Spindle can now be a separate axis on its own,
with no tie to the GCode axis, so that will fix the requirement for a spindle frequency. Ill keep you posted on periodic progress,
I know many of you want test versions as we go, so Ill release as I can and when I feel we hit particular milestones in the rewrite.

The old plugin didnt avail itself of many things the newer plugins can do, so Ill make this a complete upgrade , basically a new plugin,
there wont be much left from the old one, so it will take a while to complete. Im in the middle of 3 projects I feel I cant drop, so
Ill be parallel developing , while I wait on one thing, Ill work on another..

Lazycam has been undergoing a rather drastic upgrade as well, and will be a month or so till Im ready to release it I think, I may get
all the features in prior to initial relase, I may not. Pocketing (as in the new video) and Offsetting (Kerfing) and Hot Wire -2d, are done, but we want to get
isolation profiling and turning done before release. The LazyCam-Pro release will require a license. Its projected at $75.00 for a Pro license
for LCam, due to royalty and license agreements I have signed, but I do have the flexability to release early if I cant get isolation done
in time, and lower the price to $50.00 for those that dont mind being the testers of the initial modules. Or I may opt to allow a 2-3 month
pricing of $50.00 with the realisation that there will be lots of bugs to find in the initial couple of months, so the initial users deserve a break on it.

These turning and pocketing modules are very high capability modules and will be very popular for the "Cam challenged". LazyCam will stay
free of course as it stands now with just import capabilities. Ive tried to keep the costs down, but I think 75.00 for the functionallity it will offer
is a very good deal all things considered , we'll see how you feel when you get a chance to play with it.

The ncPod is till undergoing some final adjustments in its firmware as well, its taking longer than I hoped (doesnt all firmware..), but
seems to be working fairly well at most sites, a jog bug has been discovered in a few test sites, but other than that it appears to be working
well, the neww firmware for it will give ramped homing routines, fix the jog bug, and then probing can be completed. That will just about do
it for the ncPod.

Latest Galil plugin seems to be working well by reports, and is in full release.

The Delta-Tau plugin has been started, but is delayed as well due to some technical issues, we're working on that as the lower priority
as its not a general user item..

The Chinese version of Mach3 is getting closer to completion, a side project I had to get going, the chinese seem to be going crazy
for Mach3 this year, so its another unexpected job that cropped up..

Mach3's lockdown has started to truly lock down. A couple small bugs still exist, Im searching and watching for those, but bug reports
on Mach3 have dropped over 80% over the past 3 months, so the lockdown is almost complete. When that happens, and the above three
projects are ready to go, then Quantum work will restart , and things will start to tie together..

Well, thats it, I hope it answers some of your questions about whats going on, and whats coming out..and approximately when.. As someone mentioned
this week, the loosest schedule in the world are software schedules, you just never know what youll hit, but all the above look to be on a good track now,
so Im hopefull for th enear future on all of them.

Thanks,
Art
www.artofcnc.ca
Re: Mach 3 Plug-in and Grex Current status.
« Reply #4 on: March 01, 2007, 07:28:15 AM »
I wanted to post that after talking to Art he thinks that the G100 is looking better then ever! Steve is working on the DDA's to link the Arcs and lines in the G100 Lib, after that it should be at a point we can start testing the G100 on the mills here at the shop.

I will post here after I test the new software.
Fixing problems one post at a time ;)

www.newfangledsolutions.com
www.machsupport.com

Offline chad

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Re: Mach 3 Plug-in and Grex Current status.
« Reply #5 on: March 13, 2007, 01:05:50 AM »
HI all. Just a quick update.

So there is a new version of the software (plugin and firmware) for the g-100.

I have not installed it yet, so i don't know what is up yet.

My recommendation would be to hold off for a week or two and let some of the bugs shake themselves out. If you are the type who likes living on the edge than go for it but don't be surprised if things get a little wiggy!! 

Chad
 

Offline chad

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Re: Mach 3 Plug-in and Grex Current status.
« Reply #6 on: March 15, 2007, 05:13:24 PM »
Hi Chad:

Your right , I shoudl ahve updated the Web group, Id appreciate your updaeting them there..

>>am asking for a list of stuff and weather it works or not as of yet. I am
looking for things like:

Spindle indexing NO

probing, NO

homing YES

and soft limits, - NO, well partially..

analog in - YES
analog out - YES
mpg - YES ( I think)
inputs - YES
outputs - YES
the little jog bug - GONE
the random program stop bug - GONE

Thanks,
Art
www.artofcnc.ca
Re: Mach 3 Plug-in and Grex Current status.
« Reply #7 on: April 04, 2007, 05:25:22 PM »
MPG = No ;)
Fixing problems one post at a time ;)

www.newfangledsolutions.com
www.machsupport.com

Offline Chaoticone

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Re: Mach 3 Plug-in and Grex Current status.
« Reply #8 on: June 07, 2007, 07:26:53 PM »
MPG=Yes  ;) Mine seems to work best in multi step mode with the rate set to 10%. Step/velocity does work, but not perfect. My mill is set up so that my knee only moves about 10% of the X & Y. In step/vel. I haven't be able to tune it so that .001 = .001 yet, but still trying.

Brett
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