Messages

4511

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Function Primer

« on: May 21, 2018, 06:25:33 PM »

Hi,

I have ordered the CNC Programming Handbook.  Hopefully, that will shed a little more light.

Its a dry read but definitive, not cheap though...

Craig

4512

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Function Primer

« on: May 21, 2018, 12:43:32 PM »

Hi,
in the documents folder look for the API.chm. It is the best resource for API calls. Regrettably it is somewhat out of date, there are new APIs which have not yet been documented.

If you want to scream 'why!!!'...go for your life...many others have and nothing has changed. One of the recurring complaints is that the documentation seems always out of date and
NFS do nothing about it. What they do instead is work on new things like the Zero Brane editor instead. While that policy causes me as much frustration as anyone else I've also come
to realize and forced to accept the situation....I can have good documentation but then have no new features (Zero Brane, PMC, Probing Module etc), what I can't have is both.

The Mill GCode Programming.pdf is the most up to date Gcode reference for Mach4. Beyond that Gcode in Mack corresponds very closely to CNC Programming Handbook by Peter Smid.
All the rest you will have to glean through the forum.

Craig

4513

General Mach Discussion / Re: 2M542 & Mach3 settings

« on: May 21, 2018, 07:32:52 AM »

Hi,
sorry I agree with tweakie, that DriverTest.exe screenshot is rubbish. Its showing a jitter of 20us on a 40us signal, ie 50%. No wonder the steppers go cranky.
For reasonable service you want less than 4us jitter.

There are lots of little tricks that MIGHT, and I stress MIGHT improve the situation. A lot of those tricks belong to 'Mach Lore' and as the parallel port loses favour so does the
lore which generated the tricks.

About 18 months-2 years ago bought an Ethernet SmoothStepper and have never looked back, I recommend that course to you. I know a lot of dyed-in-the-wool parallel port affectionados
are going to jump up and down at my sacrilege but there you have it, ditch the parallel port and get yourself an external motion controller. If you buy Chinese rubbish you'll get what you deserve.
A lot of bleeding heart liberals are going to jump up and down at me castigating all Chinese made stuff as rubbish but I don't care. If you don't believe me just read the posts from the last month,
I will guarantee that 50 or more are along the lines...motors not working...supplier doesn't answer emails....cant read the Chinglish instructions. The list goes on and on.
Even if you decide to buy a good brand buy direct from the manufacturer or their nominated distributor...the Chinese have flooded the market with rip-off copy junk that doesn't work on places like Ebay and
Amazon. Before you part with any money get some advice or feedback from the forum about the device you are contemplating.

Craig

4514

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Using a button script to set jog increments etc

« on: May 20, 2018, 08:34:28 PM »

Hi,

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,29452.msg205711.html#msg205711

Craig

4515

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Using a button script to set jog increments etc

« on: May 20, 2018, 09:42:37 AM »

Hi,
a button that has a script will also occur in the combined ScreenScript.lua.

You will have noticed that certain buttons have an action whereas others have a script or scripts.

Actions are selectable from a drop down list. These are standard actions that Mach developers believe will be most often required. They are within the core and are not open to view
or to edit. A script on the other hand is available to view and edit.

Craig

4516

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Using a button script to set jog increments etc

« on: May 20, 2018, 09:33:19 AM »

Hi,

Ah, so it's an amalgam of whatever screen scripts are present in all of the profiles then?

Yes.

Craig

4517

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Using a button script to set jog increments etc

« on: May 20, 2018, 09:13:38 AM »

Hi,
the ScreenScript.lua is the combination of ALL the smaller screen scripts combined. It is compiled at run time and it is this one chunk of code that actually
runs. Its displayed for our convenience, you can't edit it. It useful to search and find a particular bit of code or function but you have to go to the
individual script before you can edit or debug it.

It may appear that its the same script in each profile, its not. There is enough code common to all profiles that it gives the appearance of being identical
but closer inspection will reveal code which is specific to a profile.

Craig

4518

Feature Requests / Re: Add a single line MDI with Enter property which executes like Mach3

« on: May 20, 2018, 02:51:43 AM »

Hi,
or assign a little used key like '[' and use that to start your MDI running.

Craig

4519

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Lua Stats

« on: May 20, 2018, 01:40:32 AM »

Hi Steve,
I think you may have hit the nail on the head...I found this in the top level CMakeLists.txt:

# It is a fatal error if no working C compiler is available to build
# the PLplot core C library and core C examples.  All other compilers
# required by our bindings are optional in that if no working compiler
# of the kind needed is available, the associated bindings and
# examples are disabled.
enable_language(C)

The absence of a Lua compiler will cause exactly the symptom I describe, ie the <configure> process overwriting my choice to include Lua bindings on the basis that there is no Lua compiler.
I am undecided whether I should download and install a Lua compiler or if the Cmake condition would be satisfied if I pointed it to the Lua compiler embedded within Mach.
Are you aware of any differences between a 'real' Lua compiler verses the embedded version?

I have often said that a hobby is best judged by what you learn in the pursuit of it. I didn't anticipate delving into Cmake or compiler/linker setups...but I am learning.

Craig

4520

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Lua Stats

« on: May 19, 2018, 09:52:54 PM »

Hi Steve,
that's an interesting thought, maybe Cmake is looking for Lua on my PC but wont find it buried in Mach, and as you say the Lua embedded in Mach may not be REAL Lua
as far as Cmake is concerned.

The build as it stands has regular C, Cxx, and Fortran. Prior to me installing MinGW I had no compilers installed, my PC melted down at Christmas and much of what I had is lost.

When I <configure> in the results panel at the bottom of the Cmake screen I end up with a whole bunch of messages, mainly along the lines of 'such and such installed,
Lua OFF...' I didn't pick them as errors but rather just a report of what has actually occurred. I tried to highlight entries to see if in some way I could manipulate or expand them,
to no avail. It firms my opinion that they are just a report, the red font just gives me pause. I've taken the liberty of attaching the Cmake report as a text file.

The infuriating thing is that all the material appears to be present. There are Cmake files in the Lua bindings folder, which suggests that Cmake has correctly supplied the Makefile
instructions and yet when I issue a 'make' command they are ignored despite their presence. The one obvious location to 'turn them on' is ENABLE_Lua: BOOL and yet Cmake blithely
overrides my selection.

I have to remind myself...this is a hobby....cool it!

Craig