Messages

7521

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Minimum PC requirements vs real life (Newbie)

« on: July 09, 2015, 04:10:05 AM »

Hi Bruce,
you are obviously way more knowledgeable than I about dedicating cores and similar and that may prove to be an excellent solution.
My experience is not so much that the CPU gets overloaded but rather it gets a stream of high priority interrupts with certain processes
or apps. What reading I have done suggests interrupts are an important mechanism that Windows uses to communicate between threads.
Further those interrupts are assigned a priority by Windows with little or no control by the user.
Competing interrupts screw with the pulse stream generated by the Mach pulse engine. Admittedly I still use a PP and of course have made myself
vunerable to this problem. From what I have heard in the forum is that an external controller relieves the CPU of demanding interrupt timing and
much improves Machs ability to run smoothly.
Are you of the opinion that a dedicated core is less suspect to competing interrupts than a multiple cores running the same thread?

There are some questions I have about external controllers as well. I understand that Mach becomes a trajectory planner and sends via a buffer
by USB or Ethernet to the controller. What I want to know is wether the contents of the buffer have to be flushed thru to the controller before
the controller can signal back to Mach some external event like a limit switch or probe switch event. If that is the case then the latency of USB
could be significant if you were expecting a critically timed event signal. It may be for that reason that Ethernet controllers seem to enjoy a better
rep than USB amongst our most experienced users.

Craig

7522

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Minimum PC requirements vs real life (Newbie)

« on: July 03, 2015, 04:10:59 AM »

Hi  ITGuy,
how did you get on? Did you find a combination to suit the customer?
Can't help but think you can spend as much as you like on a computer but the slightest hitch with competing software/graphics/LAN/anti virus
and you end up with a stall at best and a CRASH at worst. A crash can be very expensive, thousands... and if an operator happens to be in the firing
line injury is assured.
I suffered a crash in exactly that manner, namely a 3d redraw was sufficient to starve Mach3 and an axis stalled, on resumption it crashed and bloody near
taking my hand as well. My limit switches were poorly configured and response was to slow anyway. Since then I have made it a rule that NO other
software be installed let alone running while my machine is energised. LAN, firewall, antivirus nill/nada/zip, I mean nothing that may even remotely
interfere and have never had a problem since.

Craig

7523

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Mach3 support for windows 7?

« on: July 03, 2015, 03:32:10 AM »

Hi,
the Mach pulse engine will not operate in a 64bit OS. The pulse engine is responsible for timing the pulses sent to your breakout board via a LPT.
The original pulse engine code was written by Art Fenerty and is a very trick piece of code. It runs at kernel level and in a manner that Microsoft never
anticipated or approved. Think of it like a virus albeit benign.
It is this code that has allowed Mach to develop as it has, without a pulse engine a Windows platform cannot (on its own) control a real time machine.
In recent times external motion controllers have been developed which relieve the PC from timing the pulse stream and Mach becomes a trajectory planner
only, a much simpler proposition with a PC. They start at around $100 and just about everyone who has used one swears by them. I cannot say as I haven't
tried...yet. If you insist on having a 64bit OS then an external controller is required end of story.
I have not heard anyone say that Mach runs better in 64bit and doubt that it does. CAD and CAM programs probably benefit but I refuse to have them on
my machine controller anyway.
Note that Art has written a new or updated PP driver for Mach4 called Darwin. A $25 licence fee applies. It is by his description 'the best of the breed'. I have not tried
it but others who have support Art's contention. It will still only run in 32bit Windows.
Make the choice; 64bit and external controller or 32bit and use PP.
I have found no compelling reason to go 64bit and I keep spending my money on tools and upgrades to my mill to be concerned about it.

Craig

7524

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Minimum PC requirements vs real life (Newbie)

« on: June 21, 2015, 03:06:35 AM »

Hi Bruce,
I run Mach3 on a dual core Atom no probs. I am using PP's currently so 32 bit OS.
Mach3 is a pretty basic program and does not require or even benefit from a powerful cpu, neither does it benefit from a ' you beaut' gpu provided the
supplied gpu is adequate to not steal time from the cpu.
If you use an external motion controller then the demand on the cpu is even less.
I don't have a firewall as my platform is never connected and runs ONLY my machine. It is becoming somewhat tiresome to transfer code by memory stick
it must be said but then I've never had a fault with the controller either.
My advice is sell your customer a cheap and cheerfull platform and leave him budget for more tooling.

Craig

7525

General Mach Discussion / Re: Pen plotter, rc servo up and down?

« on: May 13, 2015, 08:14:10 AM »

Hi,
I used to fly RC quite a bit years ago. From memory the Futaba servos I used required (I think!!) 0.5ms pulse to
drive to full extent one way and 2.5ms pulse to drive full extent the other way and the refresh rate was about
20ms. That would require a base PWM frequency of only 50Hz. Not sure that spindle control PWM as enacted
by Mach would do that.

Craig

7526

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle stopped during code running

« on: May 13, 2015, 07:58:09 AM »

Hi,
I assume your spindle is DC motor? If so a Hall effect current sensor would be a fairly easy way to sense
spindle load or stall condition.
Most Hall effect sensors require +15-15V supply of 10mA or so and an op amp comparator and a couple of zeners for threshold
detection....
I could probably help with a circuit diagram if you want.

Craig

7527

General Mach Discussion / Re: New laptop or Desktop? Using ethernet smoothstepper

« on: May 13, 2015, 07:07:57 AM »

Hi all,
I've read quite a few posts where users have had difficulty running Mach under Windows7 so much so that many have abandoned the effort
in favour of XP.
When building my new platform I decided on Windows 7 Embedded (Standard). It was reasonably straight forward and have had absolutely
had no issues with the result. My guess is that the normal retail version of Windows 7 has a lot of security code that can interfere with Mach.
The embedded version, or least my mix of it, all but eliminates that code. I am no expert but it is my belief that is the reason I have succeeded
so easily where others have not.
Windows 7 Embedded (Standard) can be downloaded free from MS and used for a month without registration or six months if you register.
I registered and tried it out and liked it enough for me to jump through the hoops to get a runtime licence. I'm not a huge fan of MS but I can't
fault this deal.
I would give you better than even odds that it would solve the intermittent fault that you describe and its free to try.

Craig

7528

General Mach Discussion / Re: New laptop or Desktop? Using ethernet smoothstepper

« on: May 07, 2015, 07:43:11 AM »

Hi,
laptops don't have a parallel port and various posts I've read where users have tried to retrofit a PP have struggled.
Additionally laptops employ some sophistication to reduce power use and some of those strategies interfere with Mach.
If you are prepared to delve into the OS to defeat or disable those features the a laptop works fine but best with an
external controller.
Desktop platforms are more suitable for PP use.
If you read from the forum at any length you will find plenty of posts about what PP's work and what don't. What I've
picked up are 'serial to parallel adaptors' don't work. If the machine doesn't have a genuine PP built in or a PCI or PCIe
slot to put a card in then PP is likely to be frustrating if not plain impossible.

Craig

7529

General Mach Discussion / Re: New laptop or Desktop? Using ethernet smoothstepper

« on: May 06, 2015, 08:02:22 AM »

Hi,
unless your machine is portable does it really matter if the control platform is portable?

Craig

7530

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: standalone Mach3 controller

« on: May 06, 2015, 07:56:48 AM »

Hi all,
must say I caught myself feeling aggrieved that MS could so easily 'obsolete' a device still so new on the market.
As John points out it is a well made machine and will still run as intended for years to come. I can only presume
that you were aware of the limitations, namely only running MS authored software, at the time of purchase and
agreed with it.
The trade in deal sounds like MS have had to rethink that strategy. For all my bellyaching about MS I still use it
and value for money its pretty good. Apple appears a worse predator to me but they have a hell of a fanbase!
No matter what deal MS offer $780 plus is still over the top for a device that's going o be covered in crap
in the workshop.

Craig