Messages

1151

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Comments about Mach4 in Demo

« on: April 28, 2014, 09:14:54 PM »

Why do we need a PP option? That is what M3 was for. It is an outdated platform. It is time to move on. M4 will be fine.

Thanks for your support!  We hope Mach4 will be worth the wait.  And some of these guys are having a blast with it!  Which is really nice to see.

Steve

1152

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Comments about Mach4 in Demo

« on: April 28, 2014, 09:09:18 PM »

Now to the constructive stuff...

I think you will be fine with what you have below.  I run it on an atom D2700 board with a Galil 4080.  If you have problems, you can turn the refresh rates down a bit.  We have them pretty stoked as compared to Mach3.  You should be able to run @ 25ms refresh rate though. 

Are there systems requirements? I'm looking at using an Asus Vivo PC VM40B computer to Mach 4 on my Bridgeport.
Specs:
Processor: 1.5GHz Intel Celeron 1007U
Cache:    L3: 2MB
Memory: 4GB    Type: DDR3 SDRAM
Graphics Card    Type: Integrated
Installed: Intel HD Graphics
Hard Drive: 500GB 7200rpm
Operating System: Windows 8 (64-bit)
Want to use Galil DMC 4080 motion control.
and PoKeys 57E connected to PoNET kbd48CNC
Still using AMC drives to Baldor servo motors.
Hoping Galil plugin for Mach4 will not take too long.

1153

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: DRO Code differences

« on: April 28, 2014, 08:51:51 PM »

Thanks!  I'll try it out.

It may be that the jog planners are not picking it up.  Seems to work fine in files.

Steve

1154

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Comments about Mach4 in Demo

« on: April 28, 2014, 08:48:55 PM »

Where do you get your stats from? 

1155

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: DRO Code differences

« on: April 28, 2014, 08:13:22 PM »

Is G68 not working?  Can you give an example?

Steve

1156

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Comments about Mach4 in Demo

« on: April 28, 2014, 04:35:14 PM »

If writing a plugin or a third party app, yes.  Contact Todd Monto.  You might want to get things rolling.  However, we won't release the API until all of the documentation is done.

Steve

1157

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Comments about Mach4 in Demo

« on: April 28, 2014, 12:44:47 PM »

Is it going to be possible to remotely access and control Mach4 as I could with Mach3 using third party software such as:
Mach = (Mach4.IMach4)Marshal.GetActiveObject("Mach4.Document");
Script = (Mach4.IMyScriptObject)Mach.GetScriptDispatch();

Then using script.Code(Gcode);  to send the command to Mach4 to move the steppers etc.
I have tried this with the Mach4 demo but it wont connect or respond.

There is no DCOM interface.  Mach4 is cross platform and we had to choose a way of doing the remote stuff that is also cross platform.  There is a library that you will link to in order to accomplish this.  The full API is exposed.  Running scripts, etc...

Steve

1158

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: DRO Code differences

« on: April 27, 2014, 10:36:27 PM »

A function is not a loop.  And not all loops are bad.  You just have to make sure that the loop will not loop for a long time (or forever).  But functions are a great idea.  Take a look at the Screen Load script.  That is where I put functions that are used by the PLC script.  So put your getAngle() function there and call it from the PLC script.

Steve

1159

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Comments about Mach4 in Demo

« on: April 27, 2014, 09:03:40 PM »

I forgot to mention that the DROs highlight with a double click. 

Steve

1160

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: DRO Code differences

« on: April 27, 2014, 08:19:13 PM »

The net does not have our API calls.  The documentation is in progress but it is a LOT of slow tedious work.

Here is a quick look at the screen API call available to LUA inside the Mach4GUI:

(All functions return a result code as their first return value.  0 == success)

number scr.ShowPage(string pageName); -- Show a screen page by name.
number, string scr.GetProperty(string ctrlName, string propName); -- Get a control's property value.
number scr.SetProperty(string NctrlName, string propame, string value); -- Set a control's property value.
number scr.ExecMdi(string ctrlName); -- Execute the contents of a named MDI control.
number, number scr.GetCurrentPage(); -- Get the current page.
number, number scr.IsControl(string ctrlName); -- Is this a valid control?
number, number scr.IsProperty(string ctrlName, string propName); -- Is this a valid control and property combination?
number scr.ButtonClick(string ctrlName); -- Simulate a button click event.
number scr.ButtonUp(string ctrlName); -- Simulate a button up event.
number scr.ButtonDown(string ctrlName); -- Simulate a button down event.

A word of warning...  DO NOT use loops in the PLC script.  It is a script that is designed to be executed like a PLC; top down.  The frequency of the script can be set in the screen set properties.  There is a lot of power here.  But with power comes great responsibility because it has the ability to completely ruin your day if you are careless!  There is nothing preventing you from adding loops or setting the PLC script to run every 1 millisecond.  It will happily let you do these things with a smile.  So be careful!

Steve