Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: Chaoticone on January 28, 2009, 12:05:53 PM
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I thought I should give a preview of this soon finished plug-in. It was written by Poppabear (Scott Shaffer) and I think it will prove to be a most valuable tool for anyone wanting to Customize Mach in any way. This PlugIn will spoil you in a matter of minutes. It will help troubleshoot Screen sets, Macros, Brains, Serial Modbus communications, TCP Modbus communications, and smart labels. You can use the dialog boxes to read a value in Mach or send one to Mach. Toggel LEDs, do button presses, send dro values etc. The only ones you can't set/toggel are some that are read only. Each box can be filled in from the very complete list in the drop down menu for each box. The first screen that opens from the PlugIn Control when you choose Mach MAD is a quick pick screen. It has 10 buttons, 6 DROs and 6 LEDs as of now that you can assign individually. Lets say you have a brain and the Macro pump running. The brain is set to turn on User LED 2001 when the x axis DRO reads 8.150 and the macro pump turns on User LED 2002 when User LED 2001 turns off. You could see all this at a glance. You enter 8.150 into the x axis DRO by putting the value in and clicking update dro. You will see the Leds change states in real time. This is not a very elaborate example but I hope it helps you understand that this is a very powerfull and helpful tool. The screens can be re sized, each individually so it will be easy to see the important information you need to at a glance. This will help speed up your customizing efforts. Hopefully Scott will add a little to this to better explain its possibilities and uses.
I have attached a screen shot of a dual monitor set up so you can see a good bit of the interface. You can use this on a single screen set up just as well.
Hats off to Scott,
Brett
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Looks really interesting, and very usefull, is this a free plug-in?
Thanks- :)
Dave
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Dave, I don't think it will be free but I'm sure it will be a bargin. :)
Brett
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Cool, looking forward to hearing more about it-
Dave
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Per Bretts suggestion, I will be adding a "MDI" line to the Quick pick screen
cost will be $10.00 for the plug in, payable via paypal.
It really is a tool for the Customizer/machine/screen builder to set up, test, or trouble shoot the machine.
It is a VERY large Plug in, you will notice that when you load it, it takes mach a few more seconds to come up, due to the size of the resources it loads.
It is recommended for the above to customize your machine, once your done, then "disable" the plug in till the next time you need to do some testing.
I am working on finishing up the TCP MB section, the rest of the UserLabels/Tickers and finishing the Save/reload Varibles for the XML.
Scott
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Ok now how do we order one? Do you have a paypal account ?
I need it >:D.
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PayPal Account: replace the "at" with "@" and remove the quotes as well.
poppabear"at"hughes.net
Scott
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BTW: I have added the "MDI" line on the main "Quick Pick" page.
scott
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Last day for submissions for a "100 x 100" Mach MAD Icon .bmp, the winning submission gets a "free" Mach MAD plug in, and your own little corner of fame for the Icon.
Scott
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As I asked in the competitions forum, whats the deadline time?
Dave
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I have extended the deadline till tonight 10pm eastern time US.
So, Go for it Batman!
scott
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Well just been messing a bit with the plugin, not had a real go with it as time is short at the moment but looks great so far and think it will come in really handy when I start setting up the Beaver.
Hood
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"The Beaver"? huh............ Just something dont sound quite right about that............ Nothing like "workin on the Beaver"
:)
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Mach MAD version 1.2 was sent out today to all, I have added a new feature!!!
the Control LED and User LED choice is now Remembered between opening/closing of Mach3 (I had several request for it, so I added it).
ALSO: The control LED will SHOW the "Quick Picks" when you turn it on, AND, it will HIDE the ANY and ALL of the pages when it is turned off (upto all 8 of them).
When you Turn the LED back on, only the Quick Picks page will SHOW again, you will have to use it to launch SHOW the other pages like usuall. Just realize that if you playing with the LED functions and you toggle the state of the USER LED that you have choosen to contol the visibility of the windows you can turn yourself off..........
I put a "MAD Diagnostics" Button and LED on my Screen sets on my Diagnostics page, comes in real handy.
Further: I have NOT really noticed any impact on the Processor use time, with constantly running MAD vs. not running it. My comp has a 1.6 gig processor, so if your running a slow(er) comp check to see if you see any real impact if not, you can probably run it all the time if you want.
Scott
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Greetings,
I made a "Stock OEM" Mach Mill screen set that has a "Mach MAD" button and LED next to it, to control the appearance and disappearence of the MAD Windows.
I put the Button/LED at the lower Left under the "History" and "Clear" buttons. The Control LED next to it is UserLED 2220. You will need to put this number
in the Control LED box on the quick picks page, and hit the UPDATE button, also make sure the Radio button for "Use Control LED" is turned on. If you are using Version 1.3 from the installer that I sent out to everyone, then Mach will remember the state of the control LED/and User number next time you open it.
The Screen set is called: 1024MAD.set
NOTE: the button and led are on the "Park" page so they display on all screens.
http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,10463.msg65365.html#msg65365
Reply #28
scott
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I have the plugin but have not used it much although I can see it is going to be of great benefit when I get round to designing my new lathe screen and also setting up my Beaver Mill (if I ever get the time :( )
However Scott has added a few extra pages to the plugin, one which is extremely useful is you can asign a user LED to operate a macro (up to 15 different ones), this means you can have an OEM trigger set the User LED via a Brain and then the macro will be executed, this is exactly what I have been wanting to control my Homing routine via an external button.
Great job Scott, well worth the money for that feature alone :)
Hood
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:)
Thank-us-Maximus.............
Scott