Messages

1601

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Changing from Mach 3 to Mach 4-Reverse Run button

« on: March 22, 2020, 07:47:31 PM »

Hi,
if I'm not mistaken that screen shot is of wxMach.set which was the very first and experimental GUI, it was never intended to be
a useful screen set for normal operations.

If you load wx4.set for instance you will not fine ReverseRun, and to my knowledge there is none.
Reverse Run was always one of the buggiest features of Mach3 and so I believe the Mach4 developers avoided it altogether, not withstanding
its early inclusion in wxMach.set.

Mach4 adheres very closely to ANSI Gcode and as a result if you attempt to reverse run the code the modals are all wrong.
Is there a particular reason you want it?

You could easily write a script that rewrites the Gcode in reverse order......but what happens to the modals??

Craig

1602

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Linux support

« on: March 22, 2020, 07:38:38 PM »

Hi,
Mach4 runs perfectly on Windows 10, there is absolutely no need to run Linux unless that is your preference.

Mach3 is a much older program and can be troublesome with later Windows OS's. Indeed it may prove that increasing
OS incompatibility will render Mach3 obsolete in the end.

No such worries with Mach4.

Craig

1603

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Soft stop not working

« on: March 22, 2020, 04:58:50 PM »

Hi,
the issue is that often when you want to either feed hold or stop a program you are doing it in a panic.
In a genuine panic either stop or Estop is appropriate, who cares if you lose reference?.

Under most circumstances feed hold is adequate, with the ESS at worst, when in default condition, is 180ms
between <FeedHold> and motion stopping, as I say adequate. I just don't want to scramble with the mouse or
even hit a touch screen. One or more physical buttons around the machine seems like a worthy addition to me.

Craig

1604

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Button disabling before homing is done

« on: March 22, 2020, 04:00:55 PM »

Hi,

https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=42559.0

Craig

1605

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Trying to write a simple function need help

« on: March 22, 2020, 03:59:14 PM »

Hi,
couple of pointers:

1) Put the local inst = mc.mcGetInstance() INSIDE the function, thus the variable in in scope when the function executes.

local inst = mc.mcGetInstance()
function Zspindle()
local inst = mc.mcGetInstance()
........
.......

2) put parentheses around the conditional:
if (AxisZ == "2") then mc.mcCntlGcodeExecute(inst, "G90 G53 X80 Y200 F10000")

Craig

1606

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Soft stop not working

« on: March 22, 2020, 03:52:31 PM »

Hi,
you could edit the code that backs the <Stop> button.

I have a similar problem, my intention with my new build mill is to have several physical <FeedHold>
buttons around the machine, and also an <Estop> button but its my intention that under normal operating I will use <FeedHold>
in preference to <Stop> or <Estop>.

Craig

1607

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Linux support

« on: March 22, 2020, 03:31:59 PM »

Hi,
Smurph has indicated a desire to release a Linux version of Mach4. He does however, when he last indicated his intention,
that such a version would be aimed at OEMs and would not therefore be encouraged in the Hobby community.
Also he indicated that he was not interested in trying to support all or even a small number of Linux distros.

Craig

1608

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Button disabling before homing is done

« on: March 22, 2020, 03:24:57 PM »

Hi,
yes that is possible, there was a thread about that very thing on this board as little as a few weeks ago.
Try a search or review posts over the last month.

Craig

1609

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Soft stop not working

« on: March 22, 2020, 03:22:50 PM »

Hi,
using the <Stop> button causes an immediate stop and aborts all movement commands in the motion buffer with
consequent loss of reference.

The correct procedure is <FeedHold> followed by <Stop>. Feed hold will allow the contents of the motion buffer (180ms by default with the ESS
for example) to be consumed and therefore no loss of reference when <Stop> is executed.

Craig

1610

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Anyone know how to select tabs with an external input signal?

« on: March 22, 2020, 05:08:43 AM »

Hi,

does that mean if you don't understand you shouldn't mess with it?

No, there is no danger per se in using the functions but rather there are better ways (normally) to do the same
thing.

do you mean an  API or Mach variable being "exposed" as in being readily available/ easy  to find/ apparent ?

As an example, you will no doubt have seen in the Enums and Pound variable lists the specific location/name of
the variable containing the current axis positions. You could read that memory location and get the data. However the
correct way to do so is with the mcAxisGetMachinePos() API. No doubt internal to Mach the API function reads and
returns the same Pound variable. If however the location of that variable changes, say in a more recent build, the code that
you used to read the data direct is now broken whereas the API would still work given that the API would be self consistent
with the new build.

The API mcAxisGetMachinePos() is a function that is 'exposed' so that a user might use it rather than the more direct method.
The same applies with the scr.********* functions. The manipulation of screen elements can be done with them directly but
preference is given to the APIs which 'expose' the same functionality.

Does that mean that the APIs are easy to find? Well they are documented, mostly, and mostly up to date, but they are
documented. It is true there are hundreds of APIs and it takes a lot of learning to be able to recognize and use them at will,
but they are not hidden.

if statements slowing down the plc script and
the SigLib{} approach is the better answer, if i make lots of functions in the SigLib{} will that mess things up too? any limits there ?

No, not really, any function or code you put in the SigLib{} table will only ever be executed IF the entry
matches the variable 'sig'. Consequently all those extra funtions add zero processing overhead beyond the
entry matching test. It is indeed this feature that makes the SigLib{} such an elegant solution.

no idea what a Enums is

An Enum is short for 'enumerator'. For example mc.mcISIG_INPUT4 is actually a number, in fact the number 3, being
the (0, 1, 2) 3rd input. Much easier for humans to remember ISIG_INPUT4 than a plain old '3'. When the code is
compiled the compiler will substitute the number for the Enum, but that detail is not apparent to us for all its importance
to the computer running the code.

surprising the person who replied to my message is local

Should I assume you are in Canterbury somewhere? I used to live in Akaroa and had done for many years but have
shifted recently to Selwyn Huts on the shore of Lake Elesmere.

Craig