Messages

3341

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Define own global Variables to use in macros

« on: December 25, 2018, 06:27:23 AM »

Hi,
the screen load script is in the GUI 'chunk' whereas the m6 macro is in the Gcode interpreter 'chunk'.

A variable in one chunk is not available in the other.

There is a way to pass data between chunks......use registers. In the Docs folder:

Mach4 CNC Controller
Lua Scripting Guide

Section 4 from page 14.

Craig

3342

General Mach Discussion / Re: loss of Estop and limt swich signals

« on: December 23, 2018, 10:39:50 PM »

Hi,
the general consensus is that an Ethernet connected board has lower latency and better electrical noise immunity.
If I'm not mistaken all the reputable manufacturers current models are Ethernet connected.

Gerry favours CNCDrive products like the UC300 and UC400. I favour the Ethernet SmoothStepper by Warp9. Other users favour
the Ethernet connected 57CNC by PoKeys. All of these products are good, they are all around the same price, give or take $50 and all three
companies support their devices. You'd be happy with any of them and I would anticipate you'll get many years of use from any of them
provided you don't do anything silly to blow them up.

Let us know how you get on. I know it may seem like an expensive step but my experience is that buying a good external motion controller
was one of the best CNC investments I've ever made.

Craig

3343

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Tuning Counts per Unit

« on: December 23, 2018, 10:21:26 PM »

Hi,
when you say you are moving 40 inches...how are you doing it? I presumed, perhaps mistakenly an MDI move like G0 X40.
It may pay to issue a G40 (cancel cutter radius compensation) prior to your move just to be sure that Mach is not doing anything weird.

If you enter an MDI move then Fusion is not even part of the equation.

Craig

3344

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Tuning Counts per Unit

« on: December 23, 2018, 05:39:57 PM »

Hi,
my understanding is that Mach uses the decimal numbers including the fractional part in its calculations but the trajectory data
dispatched to the motion controller is integer.

To use your example if you called a move of 10 units mach would calculate 9408.222 steps are required but would issue the integer
amount 9408 steps to the motion controller.

I'm not sure whats going on with Fusion.

The single most important point is that if you issue a move of 40 inches your machine MUST move 40 inches, not 40.1 or 39.9 but 40.00.

I suspect that either Fusion or Mach or both is making tool diameter allowances which describe the difference.

I go back to the above, tune Mach so that a command of 40 inches causes the machine to move 40 inches. Once you have found that 'steps per'
number LEAVE IT ALONE. It will stay fixed for the life of the machine. All other variances are to do with either Machs Gcode interpretation and/or
your CAM program. You will have to sift through until you find the discrepancy but leave the 'steps per' alone.

Craig

3345

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4

« on: December 23, 2018, 01:49:08 PM »

Hi,
1) Yes you can do this, note that typically the jog rate and the feed rate are separate. If you wish to link them you can use this API:

LUA Syntax:
rc = mc.mcJogSetRate(
      number mInst,
      number axisId,
      number percent)

Description:
Set the jog rate of the given axis as a percentage of the axis' maximum velocity.

You could write a small script in the PLC script which would then continuously cause the jog rate to be the same or some fixed percentage of the feed rate.

2. I can not find any settings for OEM switches eg. Start-Stop break.

OEMs are a Mach3 term and do not occur in Mach4 at all. You need to read the manual:

Mach4 CNC Controller
Lua Scripting Guide

found in the Docs folder of your Mach4Hobby directory, particularly section 5.1 page 18. You will find that Mach4 signals
are handled in a different manner to Mach3, in particular they are not polled as in Mach3 and consequently lend themselves to treatment
in a Signal Library Table. Understanding how the Signal Library Table works is a major breakthrough in your understanding of Mach4
and a perfect example of the 'function as a first class value' programming paradigm that is offered by Lua. A simple concept.....but Oh so
valuable!

Thereafter you will find input signal (ISIG_INPUT*********) and output signals (OSIG_OUTPUT*********) listed in the API.chm in the docs folder.
I have attached aof list, I find it useful enough I have put it in the Docs folder as well. There are hundreds of signals defined.

Craig

3346

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 xml for gecko g540

« on: December 23, 2018, 02:09:52 AM »

Hi,
I also have an ESS and that should make it somewhat easier to generate a profile.

First you need to settle on a template or approximate template for your machine. I have a homebuilt three axis bed mill
and so the wx4.set screenset was appropriate for me. Thus when I fired up Mach I made a copy of the built in Mach4Mill
profile and named it ESSMill. I nominated the wx4.set screenset to be used.

Note later in the setup I will recommend you make a copy of your preferred screenset and give it an individualized name also.
I doesn't matter to start with......but it will in a few months when you download the latest Mach4 build from NFS.

You will have to put the Warp9 ESS plugin file (Warp9Mach4.m4pw) and its signature file (Warp9Mach4.sig) in the Plugins folder
of your Mach4Hobby directorty.

Now open your Mach4 profile (whatever you called it) and go to Configure/Control/Plugin tab and enable all the plugins you require.
Note that Mach will insist that you shut down then retstart, it will happen a lot while you are setting up your profile. A shut down
casues the new settings you have made to be flushed to your .ini file and a restart causes Mach to read all those new settings and cause
the various modules/fragments to be activated.

The next step is to open Configure/Select Motion Dev... and select the ESS as your motion device. It will occur in the list of options only if the
motion plugin is present (including its signature file) and has been previously enabled.

You now have to follow the setup instructions from Warp9 to ensure that Mach4 can communicate with the ESS. I found this somewhat of a battle
as the Warp9 provided ESS setup software file refused to work on my machine, I had to do it manually and it took a few days to get all the bits
lined up. As it turns out my problems were largely self induced, I had overlooked some of the firewall settings....hence my PC rejected some of the
setup procedures.

Once you have got the ESS to communicate with Mach4 the you can start populating the .ini file. Daz-the Gaz has some good videos about setting up the ESS
the first time in the video section of this board.

The thing to understand about the setting up the ESS plugin is that a lot of the settings you make will automatically be duplicated by corresponding
setups in the Mach4 (Control) plugin. I found this confusing to start with, I would set an input in the ESS plugin and then go to the Mach4 plugin
expecting to have to make a complimentary setting but it had already been done......I came along and stuffed it up. You need to be aware that
about 75% of the settings you make in the ESS plugin are automatically propagated to the Mach4 plugin. Of course that leaves 25% which are not....
which ones you ask......I can't bloody remember! If I recall motor tuning and motor assignment is strictly a Mach4 plugin setting whereas input signals
and output signals need only be set in the ESS plugin.

The first and most important settings you will make in the ESS plugin are the Pins Config. Your G540 has a particular layout of its pins and because you will
be plugging the G540 into port 1 of the ESS you MUST set the pins in the ESS plugin to MATCH the G540. For instance according to the G540 manual pin 2
of the DB25 connector is X-AXIS-STEP thus your setting in Pins Config port1 pin2 will X_Axis_Step or some other convenient alias. Now in the ESS Outputs Signals
page Motor0 Step  will be port1 pin2 or X_Axis_Step or whatever other alias you decided on.

To start with I would assign only the Estop (pin 15 of the DB25) and the X axis step/direction signals (pins 2 &3 of the DB25).You should be able to jog
the X axis. Most people try to set everything up at once and come unstuck and horribly confused. Just start by getting the Estop and one axis to work,
once you've mastered that the chances are the rest will come easy.

Let us know how you get on.

Craig

3347

General Mach Discussion / Re: loss of Estop and limt swich signals

« on: December 22, 2018, 09:09:53 PM »

Hi,
my opinion of those boards is scathing at best....I wish you luck.

A few days ago I made a similar comment to another user......and he has proven me wrong and managed to get his RnR board to work.

http://forum.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,38954.0.html

Maybe a PM to comet might produce enough information to get it to work.

Failing that buy yourself a US or European made board, they may be much more expensive but they work....and will carry on working for years.

Craig

3348

General Mach Discussion / Re: loss of Estop and limt swich signals

« on: December 22, 2018, 08:39:30 PM »

Hi,
what model/type/flavor is your motion control board?

Craig

3349

General Mach Discussion / Re: bitsensor usb controller

« on: December 22, 2018, 11:52:24 AM »

Hi,
there are a limited number of file formats which can be attached. Also each file attached must have a unique name, so if someone loaded a file
of the same name three years ago.......It may be appropriate to lodge the file on the net somewhere and then link to it.

Its may well be the instructions of how you got it to work rather than the .dll file would be more valuable to others.

Just as a matter of interest now that you have got the board to work have you tried G31 probing?

Craig

3350

General Mach Discussion / Re: I need help with a Mach3 error

« on: December 21, 2018, 06:18:41 PM »

Hi,
it may be that your CAM program is producing incompatible arc Gcodes for your Mach3 installation.

Double check the IJ mode is set to incremental on the Config/General Config page per the attached.

Craig