Messages

2681

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3: Expose APIs from Mach4.Document

« on: April 09, 2019, 10:26:17 PM »

Hi,
as you probably know all Mach3 development ceased five years ago. If documentation is not available now it never
will be.

Mach4 on the other is current and developing. If you have a specific project and sign an NDA (non disclosure agreement)
with NFS then you would get ALL the inside gen on Mach4.

Craig

2682

General Mach Discussion / Re: New to CNC and built my own CNC but now come the questions

« on: April 09, 2019, 09:38:23 PM »

Hi,

I did the Vcarve and they free trial does give you the full power of there app but will not let you export anything you create.

That is the norm with trial versions of CAD/CAM software. I suspect it changes when you buy it. I think you will find
some restrictions of similar nature in Fusion360 as well.....and they to evaporate or at least substantially reduce if you
pay up.

Making CNC parts is a process and its not unreasonable to say that CAD/CAM software underpins the whole thing, I mean
what good is a Mach CNC machine without Gcode programs for it to consume?

I would recommend your current course of trialing all and any software, get inputs from other users before buying.
Every CAD/CAM package I've come across requires considerable learning to get the most from it. You don't want to make
that investment only to realize that its not capable of your current requirements or future needs. The chances are that if you
buy a program you will gain so much familiarity with it that you will be a loyal customer of that company. This is exactly
what AutoDesk want and they cant be blamed for trying it.

Craig

2683

General Mach Discussion / Re: New to CNC and built my own CNC but now come the questions

« on: April 09, 2019, 09:07:52 PM »

Hi,
there seems to be a lot of people using Vectric.

The entry level Cut2D (Desktop) at $150 and VCarve (Desktop) at $350 sound like pretty good value.
I'm guessing that there is an upgrade path.

The cost of either ($150 or $350) or even the Pro versions of each ($450 or $700) are still really inline
with the investment you have made in the machine, Mach and Mach specific hardware.

If you went and bought a new truck and made mods and repairs to it......would you then scrimp by not putting gas in
it?

AutoDesk will try to get you to pay for Fusion360  but the vast majority of users do not.

AutoDesk have a simple policy 'take your trousers down and bend over while we extract money'. In the case of Fusion360
they are trying to get new customers familiar and loyal to the Autodesk brand. The opportunity they have presented
to amateurs, hobbyists and students is very good indeed and my previous comment about AutoDesk not withstanding
are to be congratulated.

Craig

2684

General Mach Discussion / Re: New to CNC and built my own CNC but now come the questions

« on: April 09, 2019, 08:39:28 PM »

Hi,
for chaining together operations like face the part, two rectangular pockets and a row of holes, MillWizard ($75 from NFS)
is very easy and often all that is required for simple engineering parts.

Fusion360 is a freeware CAD/CAM program and is pretty damn good.

I am not familiar with sign making and engraving software. It seems all the good stuff you have to pay for.

As an extreme example a fully optioned copy of Mastercam will cost $20,000 plus $2,500 annually for one seat!
Numbers like that make the price of Mach and its hardware look like chicken feed.

Craig

2685

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mm back to inches

« on: April 08, 2019, 07:38:21 PM »

Hi,
do you mean you just wish to run a Gcode program which is in inches?

If so then you don't need to change your machine at all. Just leave its native units as is.

Code g20 at the start of the file and thereafter Mach will interpret all masurements as inch units, recalculate
on the fly and run perfectly on your nominally metric machine.

Craig

2686

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: probe error : no contact with probe

« on: April 07, 2019, 09:10:46 PM »

Hi,
have a look in API.chm in your mach4 Docs folder in the section headed 'Plugin Development'.

I copied this out of it all associated with probing.

Probing
Motion plugin probing procedure.
The probe moves are really just G01 moves in exeact stop mode with the addition of being marked as EX_PROBE in the execution_t struct from mcMotionCyclePlannerEx().

When executing a G31, the core considers the move as an exact stop move and therefore will request a motor stop report. It waits on one of two conditions:

A probe strike condition where the motion plugin calls mcMotionSetProbeComplete().
An end of move condition where the motion plugin reports the motors as being still.
Until either of these conditions are satisfied, the core will generate no more moves after the EX_PROBE marked moves. In other words, all you will get out of mcMotionCyclePlannerEx() will be EX_NONE type data. In the event of a probe strike, this makes it safe to clear the planner and be sure that future moves are not removed by accident.

A motion plugin should implement probing in the following way:

Upon seeing the first move marked as EX_PROBE, the plugin should arm position latches on the hardware.
Then consume the EX_PROBE marked moves as normal.
If the probe stikes, the plugin should:
Cancel any MSG_REPORT_MOTOR_STOP requests. (see g. VERY important!)
Report the latched positions via mcMotionSetProbePos() for each motor.
Clear the hardware of any additional moves.
Call mcMotionClearPlanner() to clear the Mach planner of any unretrieved EX_PROBE moves.
Update Mach with the hardware's current position via mcMotionSetPos().
Call mcMotionSetProbeComplete().
If a MSG_REPORT_MOTOR_STOP has been received, do not acknowledge it. mcMotionSetProbeComplete() does this for you and a position sync as well.
If no probe strike, then the move continues to it's end point as if it is a regular move.
The plugin should ack the MSG_REPORT_MOTOR_STOP messages with mcMotionSetStill().
The positions latches should be disarmed (if needed) when a MSG_PROBE_DONE is seen.
In the event that the probe move is aborted, the plugin should:
Call mcMotionClearPlanner() to clear the Mach planner of any unretrieved EX_PROBE moves.
Call mcMotorSetPos() for each controlled motor.
Call mcMotionSync.
Call mcMotionSetStill() for each controlled motor.
Probe Operation Overview.
Upon executing G31, the core will mark those moves as EX_PROBE in the data stream.
If the probe strikes before the end of the G31 move, the plugin aborts the rest of the probe moves as described above. If a probe data file has been opened via mcCntlProbeFileOpen(), then the positions recorded by the motion plugin are inserted into the probe data file in the specified format.
If the probe doesn't strike and the G31 move reaches its end point and a probe data file has been opened via mcCntlProbeFileOpen(), then the end point positions are inserted into the probe data file in the specified format.
Using the probe data file routines.
int mcCntlProbeFileOpen(MINSTANCE inst, const char *filename, const char *format);
The format argument is a printf style format with expanding macros for the axis values. AXIS_X, AXIS_Y, AXIS_Z, AXIS_A, AXIS_B, AXIS_C. It is used in the following manner:


mcCntlProbeFileOpen(inst, "myProbeFile.csv", "%.4AXIS_X, %.4AXIS_Y, %.4AXIS_Z");
This will produce a probe file in CSV format like so:



1.0000, 2.0000, -1.4356
1.0100, 2.0000, -1.4343
1.0200, 2.0000, -1.4324
...

A format of "X%.4AXIS_X, Y%.4AXIS_Y, Z%.4AXIS_Z" would yield:



X1.0000, Y2.0000, Z-1.4356
X1.0100, Y2.0000, Z-1.4343
X1.0200, Y2.0000, Z-1.4324
...

A format of "X%.4AXIS_X\tY%.4AXIS_Y\tZ%.4AXIS_Z" would yield a tab delimited file:



X1.0000 Y2.0000 Z-1.4356
X1.0100 Y2.0000 Z-1.4343
X1.0200 Y2.0000 Z-1.4324
...

int mcCntlProbeFileClose(MINSTANCE inst); Closes the probe data file.

Craig

2687

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: probe error : no contact with probe

« on: April 07, 2019, 08:51:20 PM »

Hi,

so if it was debounce being set to low ,the led would flicker in the diag screen ?

No, I don't think so. The LED on the diagnostic screen is not that fast, that is to say if the input signal
did flicker is a manner to cause Mach to record a probe strike it may be that the LED does not respond at all.
The LED is a useful diagnostic tool to see whether the probe circuit is working but not good enough to diagnose
noise problems.

Can you post the g31 code you are using to test the probe?

Craig

2688

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Small Text

« on: April 07, 2019, 08:37:24 PM »

Hi,
you can change the font size by opening the screen editor and editing the properties of the button or buttons
you are concerned with.

Craig

2689

General Mach Discussion / Re: New to CNC and built my own CNC but now come the questions

« on: April 07, 2019, 06:57:04 PM »

Hi,
kool. CNC is one big learning curve.

Craig

2690

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: probe error : no contact with probe

« on: April 07, 2019, 06:05:17 PM »

Hi,
OK, without home switches how are you referencing your machine? My understanding is that if you have
no home switches assigned then effectively if you hit <Ref All Home> then all axes must 'home in place'.
Is this what actually happens?

Craig