Messages

5181

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Possible Feed Rate Bug?

« on: February 24, 2018, 03:10:11 AM »

Hi,
I have noticed the same issue, I'm running 3481 although if memory serves it was the same in previous builds.

I assumed that Mach could work out a limited number of trajectories that fitted the required move and it picked that trajectory that had the closest
feed rate to that requested. I didn't regard it as a bug but rather as a 'quirk'. Maybe you think differently.

Craig

5182

General Mach Discussion / Re: X Y axis move togehter with Arrows key

« on: February 24, 2018, 03:03:03 AM »

Hi,
I've had a look at your pin assignments and they look OK.
May I suggest when you post a pic that you crop and resize it with something like 'Paint' so that it will fit on the screen, it helps convey info better.

What I read is:
X axis enabled step= port1 pin 2 dir =port1 pin3
Y axis enabled step=port1 pin 5  dir=port1 pin6
Z axis enabled step=port1 pin 8 dir= port1 pin9
A axis disabled step=port1 pin8 dir=port1 pin9      A duplication, shouldn't matter given that the axis is disabled but confusing, I would correct it.
B axis disabled unassigned
C axis disabled unassigned
Spindle enabled step=port1 pin 17 dir= port1 pin1

Can you confirm? I found it difficult to read the pic having to scan around with the scroll bars.

Thomas's suggestion about checking the active plane is very good.

The other suggestion is that some how you are feeding the same signals to both the X and Y axis drivers. Do you have separate drivers or all on one board?

Craig

5183

General Mach Discussion / Re: Limit Switches Hard and Soft

« on: February 24, 2018, 02:39:18 AM »

Hi Dave,
I'm not decrying the use of limits but rather that homes switches are more useful to actually do a job.

I am lucky enough to be able to sail keel boats regularly as part of a race crew, I guess the pic which is attached to my posts rather suggests that the sea is the best
recreational resource we have. Anyway people often ask about safety equipment like VHF, EPIRB and a liferaft. All of those things come into play when you've already
sunk the boat....I call safety those things that you do to PREVENT the sinking of the boat in the first place! Things like up to date charts, knowing how to read them, how to
navigate WITHOUT GPS, what techniques and sail trim you can employ when or if a gale strikes....you know the skills of sailing!

In like manner I consider limit switches to be safety devices of last resort and home switches the first port of call to avoid crashing into the limits.

Craig

5184

General Mach Discussion / Re: Limit Switches Hard and Soft

« on: February 23, 2018, 09:27:32 PM »

Hi wisconsinjimmy,
are you a country person? I am and am therefore comfortable with rural analogies.

Lets say you have an automatic tractor and you wish for it to plow a rectangular paddock. You could build 'limit switches' on to the tractor so it knows when it
hits the fence but really its too late, its hit the fence, the switches may stop it from wrecking it but the switches haven't helped it navigate around the paddock
to do its job.

Imagine that somewhere in the paddock there is one rock which pokes out of the ground. If you manually drive the tractor to the rock and then program the tractor
'you are at the rock', and the boundaries of the paddock are 210 yards to the North, 65 yard to the South ...etc. Now the tractor knows where it is and if you let it go to
work it will know where it is based on the distance and direction its travelled since it was 'at the rock'.

If you had mistakenly programmed the tractor to plow out to 250 yards North of the rock the tractor 'soft limits' will say NO, the boundary is 210 yard North, I can't
go where you want me to go so I'll stop.

That is the essential meaning of soft limits. It absolutely relies on a place 'at the rock'. That place must be exactly the same everytime the tractor is required to plow
that paddock because only then do the boundaries make sense.

For this reason I always argue that home switches ('the rock') are more important than limit switches. It seems that a lot of people disagree with me but I happen
to know some very experienced CNCers who do agree and don't even bother with limit switches. Good reliable home switches and soft limits are the way to go.

Craig

5185

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: Jogging in Mach3 while paused using M0

« on: February 23, 2018, 08:56:35 PM »

Hi,
to my knowledge development on Mach3 ceased five years ago, so no it has not been re-written.

The latest build is 066 however many believe it to be buggy and prefer 062.

I rather suspect that there is some setting you are overlooking rather than a change in Mach3. As to what setting, I don't know, I upgraded to Mach4 about 18 months
ago.

Craig

5186

General Mach Discussion / Re: X Y axis move togehter with Arrows key

« on: February 23, 2018, 03:57:16 PM »

Hi,
a screen shot of Machs Ports & Pins Motor page should be enough.

Craig

5187

General Mach Discussion / Re: Limit Switches Hard and Soft

« on: February 23, 2018, 02:15:40 PM »

Hi,
you are trying to run before you can walk.

If you can't jog or MDI accurately 10mm say then who cares about whether the limit switches work? Until you can home your machine then
soft limits are meaningless.

Start by reading:

http://www.machsupport.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Mach3Mill_Install_Config.pdf

Get your axes moving the correct distance by calculating or measurement to set the 'Steps per Unit' setting in the motor tuning page.

Craig

5188

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 lathe home input

« on: February 23, 2018, 02:07:52 PM »

Hi,
if you are using a G31 probing command then a persistent logic level is required.

Craig

5189

General Mach Discussion / Re: Pulse Frequency

« on: February 23, 2018, 01:48:54 PM »

Hi,
Gerry is right you know....

Anyway what I would try is disabling everything, inputs, outputs and motors and then start adding one thing at a time.
Clearly the ports and pins assignments are manufacturer specific. Do you have any documentation from the maker?

Start by trying to get just one motor, say X going. Don't worry about limits, homes, probes or spindle just get X going.

I note that your motor tuning screen looks wrong. An acceleration of 1.5g is not sensible in a hobby machine, not sure that a velocity of 4000 is right either,
could be if your native units are mm. What are your Native Units? (Mach setting)

Craig

5190

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Closing Mach4

« on: February 23, 2018, 03:34:05 AM »

Hi,
what flavor Windows 10 do you have? I've heard that Windows 10 Home has automatic Windows Updates which cannot be turned off and if you are running
Mach when your PC wants to update then Mach stops.

I think Steve's suggestion is more likely.

Craig