Messages

6571

General Mach Discussion / Re: KX1 with Mach3 not talking to computer

« on: September 23, 2017, 01:11:34 AM »

Hi John,
I cannot run the DriverTest.exe on my laptop as it is Window 8 and can't therefore load Machs parallel port. Without having the screen open in front of me
struggling to make sense of you description however:

38.44, long 44.12

sounds very much like the longest and shortest times of a nominal 40us period square wave. That suggests a timing
jitter of 44.12-38.44=5.68us, not brill but not too bad either. It represents your PCs ability to generate accurate pulse streams, because your PC has to do
all sorts of tasks like running Windows and all its services and Mach and any other software you have running it cant concentrate on it alone and so you get
this variance, in this case about 14% of nominal period.

There is a problem tho if your Estop button cannot signal Mach, if the BoB cant talk to Mach then its pretty fair that Mach can't talk to the BoB and can't
send pulses to the motor drives.

Can you take the lid off the control box and take some pics. I'm hoping that the BoB outputs have LEDs so you can see at a glance whether they change
in response to Mach commands. I'm of the opinion that Mach has not enabled the breakout board, maybe an enable signal or signals or maybe a charge pump
signal.

Can you post some screen shots of the first four pages of Config/Ports and Pins?

Craig

6572

General Mach Discussion / Re: Servos progressing well, but question about index

« on: September 23, 2017, 12:50:22 AM »

Hi Roger,
you are right of course, it would be a boon to many whom are not in a position to buy a capable modern servo and drive. Indeed Machs origin is
just exactly a response to the need for an affordable option for hobbyists, if we forget that we break faith with all those who've devoted so much
time and energy to get Mach to where it is.

Programming a loop is as you say not too bad, its when you start summing and differencing over previous iterations of the loop to achieve I and D
components that the difficulty and confusion arises. Also some of the limits and precautions to get numeric stability, integrator wind up for instance,
are very much necessary to a successful solution but don't have any simple explanation or implementation that may mean many who wish to take advantage
of a closed loop control of a spindle hopelessly overmastered by the programming required. To get useful uptake would require some sort of template
where a user substitutes various parameters and the actual programming be already done by the manufacturer. That would represent a challenging
task for any manufacturer but especially so those in the hobby market whom are chronically under resourced ie just about all the Mach capable suppliers.

Craig

6573

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: 5 axis simultaneous machining

« on: September 22, 2017, 11:49:54 PM »

Hi,
I don't have 4th and 5th axes but Mach3 and mach4 can do it even if my machine can't.

Theres nothing mysterious about 5th axis milling, displaying toolpaths can be pretty confusing when not meaningless.

Craig

6574

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: G-Code Question

« on: September 22, 2017, 11:46:24 PM »

Hi,
most generic Fanuc posts seem to work with Mach3, whether 4th and 5th axes change the situation I don't know.

Craig

6575

General Mach Discussion / Re: What external motion controller do I choose?

« on: September 22, 2017, 11:33:34 PM »

Hi,
Mastercam , any version, is a commercial product and a very very good one, probably the oldest and most expensive CAM programs. If you can afford
Mastercam you can afford as many computers as you can eat!

Mach is a near clone of Fanuc so most Fanuc posts work for Mach as well. There is a Mach post written for X5 but would still work for X9 at a guess.
A search of the forum should find it, CNCZone is worth a look too.

Craig

6576

General Mach Discussion / Re: KX1 with Mach3 not talking to computer

« on: September 22, 2017, 11:19:30 PM »

Hi John,
may pay to run that test again. It might sound rather hopeful that it returns 'excellent' but it returns that in ANY situation where it doesn't return
'*********house'. Would prefer to see the numbers, in particular looking for timing jitter, with any sort of luck under 4usec. Also the 'line' across the screen can tell
you something about the PCs behaviour.

Does your machine or its control box have an Estop button? Most units do. With Mach enabled on the screen, the Reset button lower left light continuously
and surrounded by a green border, hit your Estop button. Does the Reset button change?. If it does then the BoB in your control box is talking back to Mach
which is good news.

Let us know how you get on and then we can talk about some more simple tests.

Craig

6577

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 always hesitates in arcs and circles

« on: September 22, 2017, 09:32:32 PM »

Hi,
I hope I haven't put you wrong there...I use an ESS and so cannot say for sure that your board it not the cause of the complaint, just that I don't think
its likely.

Additionally with all those units in service do you not think that others would have commented if they had the same problem?

If you don't mind me asking but a 3000kg machine is pretty damn big and presumably must have steppers/servos and spindles to match and be worth
tens of thousands of dollars. If you are of the opinion that the controller is questionable why not buy an alternative like an ESS with a know reputation,
about $190 USD plus shipping sounds pretty minimal in comparison to you machine.

Can you post a pic or two?

Craig

6578

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3: How to Activate/deactivate a button in a macro

« on: September 22, 2017, 09:23:00 PM »

Hi,
I think you can do that with LUA in Mach4...I'm not familiar enuf with VB in Mach3 to comment, ger21 thinks not and he really knows hi stuff.

Craig

6579

General Mach Discussion / Re: KX1 with Mach3 not talking to computer

« on: September 22, 2017, 09:20:31 PM »

Hi,
when you jog backwards and forwards do Machs DROs go up and down?

Can you run DriverTest.exe and post a screen shot?

These are a couple of basic Mach tests...the first one proves that Machs core software is working and enabled and the second proves that Mach can
signal the parallel port driver and produce the required pulse streams.

Craig

6580

General Mach Discussion / Re: Servos progressing well, but question about index

« on: September 22, 2017, 09:14:13 PM »

Hi Roger,
yes certainly that would be useful for many people. OP in this case has a servo and drive not wildly dissimiiar to mine and it can maintain constant
speed under almost any circumstances and signal an alarm because  of deviation from programmed profile at need.

I suspect that it may be some time before the ESS has the ability, Andy has little time left over for development after support duties.

Even then it will be a very distinct challenge for many to program PID loops with what promises to be a fairly low level instruction set. I for
instance had to spend sometime simulating a high gain integrator loop as a means for generating a low numerical noise speed signal from
my resolver-to-encoder module. That such a technique is useful or required will not be easily understood by a majority of Mach users, it is likely
that decrepit control engineers such as ourselves, or me at least, are going to have to lead the challenge for others to get any useful gains.

I have done a little reading about the closed loop option available for the HICON unit and it sounds like the manufacturer has arranged it so the loop
could be easily closed around their Masxsine servos. While other devices could be closed up the same way the software convenience is gone... its
plain hard work from there.

I don't have access to any Galill products but would luv to see how control loops are constructed using their motion code.

Craig