Messages

391

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: wxLathe screen weird problem

« on: December 24, 2022, 07:34:33 PM »

Hi,
the presence or otherwise of an ESS is not the issue.

Some screensets have an extra tab, some don't.
For example, I updated my Mach4 build on my machine only to find that the new wx4.set did not have a machine diagnostics tab,
so, I added a new tab and programmed it the way I wanted it. I tried copying that part of an existing screenset that had the page that I wanted
but did not have that much luck trying to do so. I'm sure is possible but I didn't invest enough time to work out how.
I just programmed the block of data I needed...took about three hours.

Craig

392

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Different use for Mach4

« on: December 22, 2022, 03:52:50 PM »

Hi,
I have retro fitted a large Cincinatti Guillotine in recent times. The backstop is driven by a servo and gearbox, and it has a dog-clutch
type drive engagement to operate the blade, in turn driven by servo driven linear actuator. Given that I'm so familiar with Mach4 I elected to use it and an ESS.

In reality Mach4 has vastly more capacity than required for this application, but it does have an editable screen etc, which all makes a conversion possible.

Craig

393

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Cant get motors to turn

« on: December 22, 2022, 02:15:41 PM »

Hi,
going to need a bit more information .

When you power up Mach4 does the ESS start communicating as signalled by the LEDs on the ESS?
Does the MB3 generate output signals, in particular does it have LEDs on the axis drive Step/Dir outputs?
The MB3 has differential Step/Dir outputs....how have you wired them to the axis drives?
What are the axis drives?
Do the axis drives require/have the required Enable input?

Craig

394

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 on Homag Retrofit

« on: December 20, 2022, 04:28:48 PM »

Hi,
there are two ways to run Ethercat with Mach4.

The first is as Cbyrdtopper has suggested, that is to use a VitalSystems board. That means that the PC runs normally but the Vital Systems board is a buffered (with
respect to the trajectory data from the PC) but handles the realtime Ethercat comms.

https://www.automationtechnologiesinc.com/products-page/mach4-ethercat-system/ethercat-motion-controller

The other alternative, and is relatively new, about 18 months or so, is a solution by Kingstar. The idea is that one of the multi-core CPU cores is dedicated as a realtime scheduler.
This is made possible by using RTX software by Interval Zero. This in effect makes your PC genuine realtime. Kingstar have added the software to make the PC an Ethercat master
and the RTX/realtime core provides the Ethercat comms which are by definition realtime.

To my knowledge the only way to buy this solution is to buy a PC, a medium spec ex lease PC probably, that has a high spec Ethernet card fitted, and supplied with the RTX software
and Kingstar software pre installed. The PC and required licenses (think that includes Mach4Hobby) is about $1600USD.

https://www.automationtechnologiesinc.com/products-page/mach4-ethercat-system/cnc-ethercat-motion-control-computer

Check with Smurph, he has had a bit to do with it and was impressed. I understand that the NFS Matsurra mill is set up and running using this Ethercat solution.

Of the two solutions I much prefer the Kingstar/RTX solution.....the Ethercat board has all the limitations and not enough of the benefits of Ethercat

I was very tempted to go this way when designing my new mill. I rather thought the Ethercat solution was beyond my budget, not necessarily overpriced, but just a bit beyond my means.
The other issue is that all the Ethercat hardware commands a premium...which has to be added to the budget. Ethercat would be a fine idea if you had a machine with conveyors, pallet loaders
and all that sort of stuff where you might have 10-15 or more axis motors, but for even a five axis mill existing and cheaper soplutions such as an ESS are adequate.

Craig

395

Mach4 Plugins / Re: Mach4 WHB04B-6 axis or WHB04B-4 axis enable plugin setup

« on: December 19, 2022, 04:37:00 PM »

Hi,
understood. What are you planning for a motion control board?

Craig

396

Mach4 Plugins / Re: Mach4 WHB04B-6 axis or WHB04B-4 axis enable plugin setup

« on: December 19, 2022, 03:42:02 PM »

Hi,
the Mach DRO is populated by motion controller, that is to say that the motion controller reports its current position as a 32bit integer. Mach does the steps/uint
calculation and that is the number displayed in the DRO.

May I suggest you try a much larger increment, an an experiment, and measure how far it actually moves. Try either 0.1 or 0.5, then measure how far it actually
moves, and compare.

Craig

397

Mach4 Plugins / Re: Mach4 WHB04B-6 axis or WHB04B-4 axis enable plugin setup

« on: December 19, 2022, 02:57:50 PM »

Hi,

10 clicks right, 10 clicks left and got error 0.014mm

What increment was each click? Were you in Velocity mode or Incremental mode?.

If in velocity mode the axis goes as long as you keep spinning the MPG above a certain speed. It does not mean that if you go '10 clicks' it actually goes
10 times the current increment. That mode is called Incremental mode.......then I would expect 10 clicks in one direction and then 10 clicks back to be the same place,
and that's what my pendant did for years.

When you say there is an error....is that in Machs DROs or did you measure it with a dial gauge?

Craig

398

General Mach Discussion / Re: Independent Axis Moves

« on: December 18, 2022, 10:42:59 PM »

Hi,

I want to all axis will be go with 1200 mm/min feedrate but it works total feedrate 1200

That's what all machines and controllers do, they blend the moves such that all the axes arrive at the end point at the same time, some will travel faster, up to 1200, and some
will travel slower but they all arrive at the end at the same time.

and another one thing.
when finish the 1st line Y moves, Dont wait other axis to finish its moves. Y axis have another position in 2nd line. Its not wait other axis.

Thats not how it works, one block (line) must complete before the next block (line) can start....excepting the small CV blend move.

How I can get this system for all g codes in my mach3? Is it possible or I must use another cnc controller like syntech adtech siemens fanuc etc.

You cannot do as you have proposed with Mach3. Nor do I think that any of the other controllers do as you want....it goes against the principles of Gcode that
ALL controllers abide.

Craig

399

General Mach Discussion / Re: Do I upgrade or not bother?

« on: December 18, 2022, 02:12:14 PM »

Hi,
Mach4 is a learning curve, and you'd hate it to start with but once you got up to speed you'd see that its light years ahead.

https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=42891.msg278176#msg278176

Craig

400

SmoothStepper USB / Re: probe won't retract

« on: December 15, 2022, 05:04:53 PM »

Hi,
OK, phew!!! I am assuming the breakout board will reduce the probe voltage to a max of 5V.

When you operate the probe manually does the probe LED on the Mach4 screen light and un-light?

Craig