Messages

1041

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Spindle Issue - Stopped Working

« on: October 19, 2021, 01:29:07 AM »

Hi,

Since doing this it seems Mach4 now has no feedback as to what the spindle RPM is.

How is Mach supposed to know how fast the spindle is going? It knows that its been commanded to go to 15000 rpm say, so it produces
PWM to suit, but it has no idea whether the speed has been reached or exceeded.

Any setting like the '90% of target speed' that relies on some measurement of speed is going to fail UNLESS you provide that measurement.

If you really want to know what the spindle rpm is then you'll have to supply an encoder or a index signal on the spindle, the ESS will detect
this signal and feed the information back to Mach. Then Mach would have an exact speed measurement to display. The ESS can also accept the feedback
and vary the PWM a little under a PID loop.

Do you really need it?. For years and years we used manual mills and lathes and they never had spindle speed displays and yet we still did plenty
of good work on them, so why the insistance  on knowing exact spindle rpm now?

There is another possibility which may allow you to pause until the spindle is up to speed. There is an input signal in Mach....ISIG_SPINDLE_AT_SPEED.
Note this is a signal defined in Mach....it does not do anything UNTIL you hook it to some external signal source, its just a convenient definition at the moment.
Most VFDs can be programmed such that one of  their digital outputs goes high when the spindle is at its commanded speed. Now you can program the drive,
hook the digital output to an input on your BoB/ESS combo, and then logically attach the pin to ISIG_SPINDLE_AT_SPEED. Then you can use that signal
to program Mach.

Quite frankly it seems like a lot of messing around just to save a second or two on the spin-up time of the spindle. My spindle winds up to about 18000rpm
in three seconds and gets to 24000rpm in 4-5secs, so I program:
m3
g4 p3
and that gives me a fixed time delay which is good enough for me. I have lots more important things to do on my machine and even more important things
I need to do WITH my machine than worrying about this.

Craig

1042

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Wont save Configuration

« on: October 18, 2021, 04:04:57 PM »

Hi,
the ESS plugin can be a bit confusing and most likely the cause of the fault.

The first step in assigning any new input or output must be done in the ESS/Ports and Pins tab.
For instance lets say you wish to use Port2Pin10 for a probe. Then assign P2Pin10 in the Ports&Pins
and give it an alias, say ManualProbe.

Now, still within the ESS plugin, go to ESS/Inputs tab and scan down until you find the ISIG_PROBE input.
Enable it and select the port/pin input with he alias you chose earlier. Then close the ESS plugin.

This is where the ESS plugin is a bit cute and can confuse. In the native Mach Control plugin for the probe to be enabled settings have to be
made there also.....but the ESS plugin does that automatically. I can't remember all the situations where the ESS does this, but quite a few,
there are however quite a few settings you make in the ESS plugin which are NOT automatically set in the Control plugin. My recommendation
is therefore to open the Control plugin, go to the Inputs tab and confirm the the ESS plugin has correctly updated the Probe signal entry.

What you don't do is set the Control plugin directly.....because the ESS plugin will overwrite your setting or maybe the two settings are
mutually contradictory. The correct way is to allow the ESS to make the setting. The only time that is not true is when that facility is not
available to the ESS plugin....which admittedly is a reasonable list.

The last issue is when the new settings are flushed to the .ini file. It should in theory happen each time you close the plugin, be it the ESS plugin or
the control plugin, but it does not always happen that way whatever the theory is. If you want to be 100% that your new settings will be flushed
to the .ini file then close Mach and re-start.

Craig

1043

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Spindle Issue - Stopped Working

« on: October 14, 2021, 03:34:19 AM »

Hi,
yes it is possible but you have to tie the 0V VFD to the 0V of the G540, ie the VFD CANNOT be galvanaically isolated from the BoB.
Most operators want, and spend considerable effort to ensure, that the VFD is isolated from the BoB.

Craig

1044

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Spindle Issue - Stopped Working

« on: October 12, 2021, 10:56:39 PM »

Hi,
Mach4 has signals which are active or not but does not control the VFD. Its the motion controller and particularly the BoB that actually interacts with the VFD.

A set of relay contacts is quite useful for controlling a VFD. The contacts are galvanaically isolated from the BoB and they are polarity insensitive.
Most BoBs have a transistor output and so the VFD 0V and BoB 0V must be commoned together. Also the collector, aka the BoB output, can go down to
V_CESat, say 0.1 to 0.5V above ground. It maybe that the VFD input requires a 0V input or VERY close to it and a saturated collector-emitter
junction is just not quite low enough.

Craig

1045

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Spindle Issue - Stopped Working

« on: October 12, 2021, 12:06:27 AM »

Hi,
most VFDs have an on/off input, usually from the factory from the touch panel on the VFD. Likewise the primary frequency source is from the touch panel.
Its necessary therefore to change the internal VFD settings such that the analog voltage input is the primary frequency source and the digital input
be the primary on/off signal.

Craig

1046

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Spindle Issue - Stopped Working

« on: October 11, 2021, 10:01:35 PM »

Hi,

So you are stating I should check that the G540 is outputting a PWM signal and turning the spindle on & off. How do you check? With a multimeter?

Yes.

Should the "Spindle On" output be used in the ports and pins configuration on the ESS or just the Spindle PWM?

Both. Most spindles require an ON/OFF signal in addition to the 0-10V PWM. I assume you have programmed your VFD to accept voltage
PWM as primary control source?

Should the "Spindle On" output be used in the ports and pins configuration on the ESS or just the Spindle PWM?

On the G540 the SpindleOn input and PWM input are on specific pins. Have you assigned the ESS port  and pin the match the G540 input?

Craig

1047

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Spindle Issue - Stopped Working

« on: October 11, 2021, 09:31:20 PM »

Hi,
how and with what signals are you turning on the spindle? Have you tested the output pin of the BoB to make sure its changing state?
How about the PWM? Is it establish a vary DC voltage at the output of the BoB?

Craig

1048

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 crashing while running code

« on: October 11, 2021, 03:28:13 PM »

Hi,
if you are running an ESS then if it runs out of data it produces an error window. You would know if this were the case.
Even a run out of data fault should not crash Mach, the machine will stop certainly but Mach itself should not crash.

I would guess therefore that it's Windows which is crashing.

I run a dual core Atom single board PC to run my machine, and it has no CPU fan. A couple of times over summer I've had the PC stop,
presumably an overheat situation.

Logging is on the Diagnostics tab.

Craig

1049

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 crashing while running code

« on: October 10, 2021, 11:42:05 PM »

Hi,
you are going to have to run a log and save it into a file.
I would guess that your controller is running out of data. Most controllers signal a 'Run Out Of Data' error.....what controller are you using?

Craig

1050

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Spindle Issue - Stopped Working

« on: October 10, 2021, 11:39:08 PM »

Hi,
looking at the log suggests you are using the ESS PID? Why? Do you need it?

In the first instance I would try just open loop, when you can get that to reliably operate THEN have a go at PID.

This is from your log:

Code: [Select]

2021-10-10 19:50:32.828 - >>> ESS: Spindle PID Activated.  Kp = 0.0000    Ki = 0.0000    Kd = 0.0000
If you have Kp, Ki and Kd all set to zero its no bloody wonder the PID loop won't work!

Craig