Messages

41

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 default scripts

« on: March 16, 2023, 03:34:27 PM »

Mach4 uses it's own internal m3, m4, m5, m30 ect... unless you add one of these to the profiles's macro folder.  I make my own m30 when we get a machine going, that way I can turn on a stack light and buzzer when the part is finished. 
There is a thread on here somewhere with me asking that very question and one of the Mach4 developers said you needed to be sure certain things were in the macro, I can't remember what they are right off the top of my head.  However, the machine I'm working on does the following:
Turns off the spindle; turns off the coolant; calls a G40 with an mdiexecute api command and then I turn on my buzzer and stacklight. 
I have made custom m3 and m5 commands as well.
Like I said, just make a macro and save it in the macro folder of your profile that you are working with.  Mach4 --> Profiles --> your profile --> macros.  Save it as m3, m5, or m30.  It will replace whatever the stock commands are.

42

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 and Y axis gantry travel / configuration

« on: March 13, 2023, 01:44:27 PM »

It may be a soft limits thing.  I'm not sure how much you can do with Avid's stuff with mach4.  If you can get into the "Configure --> Control" you can check in the Homing and limits tab to see if the axis soft limits are still set to 24"

43

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Cannot Zero X Axis

« on: March 06, 2023, 04:20:47 PM »

So I talked to someone at Vital Systems; he told me to make sure that the Aux Position counts per unit is the same as the motor counts per unit.  He said this is a known issue and is being worked on.  Once I made sure those are the same (even though it isn't enabled) it started working just fine. 

44

Mach4 General Discussion / Cannot Zero X Axis

« on: March 06, 2023, 03:08:38 PM »

I cannot zero my X Axis.
I'm using a lathe profile as my base profile and I've loaded in the wx6 screenset to make a custom knife grinding machine. 
I cannot get my X Axis to zero.  When I hit the X Zero button or type any number into the dro, it will not stay.  As soon as I start to jog the axis it will jump to some number close to what it was when I zeroed it out.  I've got a home switch on the axis; so when I do press X Zero (which would update my axis offset) it should put in the machine coordinate position as my offset.  It absolutely does not do that.  For example, my machine position reads -17.0 and my work offset is -3.4  That is really not right, even if it is a lathe and it was reading the diameter, it shouldn't be what it is.  I'm lost, and I've got to be able to set my offsets.  The only other time I have had this issue is when I tried to use a feedback glass scale on an OD grinder and I couldn't change my offset.  The same thing is happening here and I don't have any kind of feedback on this machine.

45

HiCON Motion Controller / Re: VSI Device Manager won't start.

« on: February 23, 2023, 10:56:48 AM »

We had the same issues yesterday. We solved it by downloading the vcredist_x86.exe from Microsoft. We were supposed to use the X64 version but that did not work so we used the X86 instead and it got rid of the missing dll issues. Link is below.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40784

46

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Debounce in Mach4?

« on: February 06, 2023, 09:20:29 AM »

It was in Mach3, but it was controlled by the motion controller plugin.  Same with Mach4. 
I think the ESS uses filtering per pin... (I may be wrong, it has been a while since I've used the ESS).  I know the HiCON has filtering on everything in one place like mach3 had.

47

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: How does G30 work?

« on: January 19, 2023, 06:06:39 PM »

Good stuff Craig! 
I couldn’t remember which variable it was nor could I remember what it output. I’ve used it a bit for making macro programs, I will probably update a couple of probing macros tomorrow with this refreshed knowledge haha.
I do a lot of 4th axis work with Fusion. I don’t use the extensions at all. I get by without them (also, I had no idea they cost that much).
You just need to be sure that you set your WCS at the center of rotation. My z and y offsets never change on my machines, just the x for part location.   So that is pretty easy.   I’ve played with rotary when it was in preview and used it a couple of times.  Pretty handy. But I’m not paying that price tag for it. I’ll get by without it.

Servos are for sure the way to go, we use steppers for applications where I don’t need to worry about high speed, but here lately, everything I need done needs to be done relatively quickly… so servos it is.  But it is a business expense fortunately for me so no personal funds for that.

48

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: How does G30 work?

« on: January 19, 2023, 05:04:15 PM »

There is a variable that tells you which work offset is active…. It is modal information. Look at #4000-#4025 or so. It may be listed as 1 for 54 and 2 for 55 etc…. Currently headed home from work so I can’t check in Mach.

49

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: How does G30 work?

« on: January 19, 2023, 04:49:35 PM »

Doing some testing just now; starting at Variable #5041, they change when I change the work coordinate system. 
I set my work offsets as G54 X, Y, and Z as 1.00, G55 all 2.00, G56 all 3.00.  It updates the #5041-#5043 appropriately. 
Check and see if you get the same results.

Also, I've never used G30 with a G90, so I had no idea that it would work with G90 nor did I know the behavior (obviously); that's pretty cool.

How are you liking the extensions?  I have little need for them.  The only one that looked interesting to me was Rotary. 

50

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: How does G30 work?

« on: January 19, 2023, 03:37:39 PM »

Craig, can you just set the #5351,#5352,and #5353 variables right from the G Code Program? 
I'm not quite sure I understand what you are asking for; if it is to get the current location for X and Y, then use the following resource.
https://www.machinetoolhelp.com/Applications/macro/system_variables.html
Look here at starting at #5021 and #5041.  These are the system variables for where the machine is currently at (machine position as well as work coordinate positoin)
Just use these to set your positions for X Y. 
You can access these from a macro or from the program you are running. 
You should be able to set the position from the program itself.... exp:  #5351 = #5021

I rarely use Mach 4's api calls for getting positions, I always find the System Variable it is stored in and I use it. 

As far as I know, I have only ever used the Machine position for G30... not the work coordinate system I'm currently in....

Are you wanting to add this to the Fusion post?
let me know what you come up with.