Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: Baldwelder on May 22, 2018, 10:46:04 AM
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I bought, what was claimed to be a "100% Original ✔ Official ✔ License ✔ Trusted Seller" version of mach3 from fleabay but now fear that it isn`t as claimed - the `licenced to` box on the about page has some random squiggles in it.
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Sorry to say but Yes you have been had.
Tweakie.
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If it's less than $150, it's fake.
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Bummer.... living on a shoestring forces me to cut my cloth accordingly, fortunately I paid with a credit card so can get my money back. I only noticed as I looked for the reg details as it wouldn`t save setting changes to the .xml file
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It looks like you were on the money over the price. as the difference between 3 and 4 is only about $25, would I be better off going for the newer version do you think?
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the official line is you should go for Mach4. I would support this purely on the grounds of future-proofing as Mach4 is altogether a more sophisticated and capable product (As far as I've seen). It's almost a complete rewrite with very little of Mach3 carried over. So yeah. mach4 ;)
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Thanks, that`s what I thought, however as I`m running a 64bit machine(which doesn`t run mach3, apparently) and a parallel port g540 - does this mean I would need and external controller? If this is right, I may need to consider other options(financially) which is a shame as I was just getting to grips with mach3
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Mach4 will not run on the parallel port.
There is a parallel port plugin, but it's limited in functionality, and costs an extra $20.
So yes, you'd need a motion controller.
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Mach4 will not run on the parallel port.
There is a parallel port plugin, but it's limited in functionality, and costs an extra $20.
So yes, you'd need a motion controller.
Thanks v much for your help, much appreciated. but as much as I like mach3, mach4s extra costs are a non-no for me. I don`t suppose this is the right place to ask about alternatives :D
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Hi.
LinuxCNC is free and open source...if you can handle Linux.
Craig
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I thought about it at the planning stage of my foray into cnc(I liked the price) but ruled it out as there was already so much for this old dog to learn. I now know enough of how not to keep crashing into everything that I may have another look - I still like the price :D
Thanks
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Hi,
whether you go Mach3 or Mach4 or LinuxCNC or any other software solution you will have to learn LOTS an LOTS of new things. In fact if you are not learning
something new then the hobby is rubbish.
Next point is that the software component of the hobby, lets say Mach3 at $175 or Mach4 at $200 is still about the cheapest part of CNC. That's about the price of one 34
size stepper and driver, unless you want Chinese junk of course.
You may have noted just recently that there was a Windows 10 update which buggered up Mach3. Fortunately another company who has Mach3 source code did a tweak and
shared it with NFS so that all Mach3 users could have the patch. Without that patch Mach3 would no longer run with current Windows10. The point is clear, Mach3 development
stopped five years ago and eventually it will no longer work with the latest Windows OS of the day.
For the sake of $25 extra get Mach4, $25 is the price of a name brand 1/4 inch carbide endmill. It will effectively require the use of an external motion controller, Mach4 using
a parallel port is possible but not sensible, so you can count on say another $200 for that.
OR learn Linux!
Craig
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I sent you a PM
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Mach4 will not run on the parallel port.
There is a parallel port plugin, but it's limited in functionality, and costs an extra $20.
So yes, you'd need a motion controller.
Truthfully, you would need an external motion controller even to continue using Mach3 as you cannot use the parallel port with a 64-bit system. Windows seems to be trying its hardest to kill the parallel port with its recent updates, so upgrading to a stable and well-supported external motion controller is not a bad idea. Having learned Mach3 and Mach4 at the same time, I did find Mach4 to be easier to learn and I always recommend it to beginners. If you're unsure if you'd like to use Mach3 or Mach4, both are free to download and try out at machsupport.com. You won't be able to move your machine until you get an external motion controller, but it will help you get a feel for the two programs before diving in. You can also check out our YouTube channel if you want to see some of the newer features of Mach4 or check out a few of our tutorials. I'm also happy to answer any questions here, via PM, or via our helpdesk at support.machsupport.com.
-Bryanna
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In fairness to Microsoft i think we're the only ones still using it, unless anyone else knows better.