Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => Mach Screens => Finished Screens => Topic started by: alexander.b on May 16, 2015, 11:13:14 AM
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I apologise if I missed any, but I have been searching this forum and the website for any mach4 screens.
I believe that the future is with Mach4 (according to ArtSoft) and since I am evaluating Mach4 I cannot find any examples of either finished Mach4 screens or work in progress.
I am not just interested in aesthetics but functionality.
Eg
image backgrounds to tool paths
interactive programming screens
interacting with the file system from within screen to open gcode files at a press of a button or from a list.
Limited function screen for operators (with lockouts)
Mutually exclusive button selection with LED indicators
etc
If anyone is playing with Mach4 screens can they post or
if anyone knows of any published Mach4 screens can they direct me to them.
Thank you in advance for your help and time.
Regards
Alexander
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Mach4 is still pterry much at a beta level demo. There is much that a normal CNC machine has that has not been implemented in the demo.
image backgrounds to tool paths ( nope)
interactive programming screens ( They chose to use an OUTSIDE program Mach MILL WIZARD to do that not inside pages as everyone else does. You can create the pages with the Screen designer, LUA and scripting IF you really want them)
interacting with the file system from within screen to open gcode files at a press of a button or from a list. ( You can do that from the run screen, load Gcode select file,cycle start. You can create your own function with Lua and scripting to do it any way you choose)
Limited function screen for operators (with lockouts) ( you create them with screen designer and Lua scripting)
Mutually exclusive button selection with LED indicators ( you create them with screen designer and Lua scripting)
Most things MACH4 seemed to be aimed at OEMs and them customizing it the way THEY need for their application. FOR the hobbiest you are pretty much on your own and they is very little documentation to support the customization of it AT THIS TIME.
BEING that Mach4 is designed to run an outside controller You the OP are dependant on the OEM to make them work as you need it OR do it yourself.
But like I said it is basically still in beta form. The final form MAY or may not be different.
(;-) TP
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thank you for your swift and detailed response.
It looks like I am going to have to learn LUA and scripting.
And since you did not mention anything regarding sample Mach4 screens, it looks like I will have to wait for some to be posted so I can learn from them.
thank you again for leading me in the right direction.
Alexander
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I think everyone that has created screens is sitting on them waiting for someone else to post theirs FIRST (;-)
You do have the standard Demo screens. They will pretty much give you the lay of the land screen wise.
(;-) TP
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I think everyone that has created screens is sitting on them waiting for someone else to post theirs FIRST (;-)
correct
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This is NOT a fully functional screen set just an example one of about 3 dozen I created to test layouts.
Just an example, (;-) TP
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My fear is that Mach4 screens will be specific to a user's particular setup and hardware, and will not be easy to share with others.
(Meaning that they'll be easy to share, but may not work for others)
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Gerry , I can assure you that you are correct (;-)in your assumption. What I created for my application would never work in others applications. There is too much script specific programing needed to make it all work.
With Mach4 a lot of items I need were IF I need it I had to create it AND if I have to create it I will do it it MY WAY. (;-) That does not translate well to others machines.
Gotta love the Haas approach. Here is the stars and the moon and it all WORKS Make the best of it. Yea buddy.
(;-) TP
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Gerry , I can assure you that you are correct (;-)in your assumption. What I created for my application would never work in others applications. There is too much script specific programing needed to make it all work.
With Mach4 a lot of items I need were IF I need it I had to create it AND if I have to create it I will do it it MY WAY. (;-) That does not translate well to others machines.
Gotta love the Haas approach. Here is the stars and the moon and it all WORKS Make the best of it. Yea buddy.
(;-) TP
Thank you for your screens.
At this point, even if your code will not work on someone else's machine we can review your code and its interaction with your screen to learn from your coding.
Eg. I would like to have some script that allows me to have mutually exclusive buttons (if you press one the others turn off) on the screen with LEDs.
If someone has already done this it would save me a lot of time.
Basically I am looking for code / script snippets that I can use on my screens / machine.
thanks
Alexander
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I haven't done any work with Mach4 yet. I've been waiting for it to mature a bit more, and I need to know if it (and the motion controller that I choose) will work for me before I spend any money on it, as the motion controller I'm looking at is over $600.
If I do create any Mach4 screens, it looks like I'll need to provide samples for the specific hardware I'll be using, so that the end user can duplicate the actions on their hardware.
There are a lot of threads here with a lot of different examples, but you may need to spend a lot of time going through them all.
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By the time you get all the bells and whistles that $600 card may be a $1000 card. We may be looking at the same one(;-)
SO yes the GUI side most be complete as well. At least up to modern CNC standards.
HOPEFULLY there WILL be a good integration manual for Lua and Mach4.
(;-) TP
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. . we can review your code and its interaction with your screen to learn from your coding.
Eg. I would like to have some script that allows me to have mutually exclusive buttons (if you press one the others turn off) on the screen with LEDs.
If someone has already done this it would save me a lot of time.
Basically I am looking for code / script snippets that I can use on my screens / machine.
thanks
There is a MACH4 specific section in the forum. There is a lot of screen information and examples posted there, including doing context sensitive buttons (one button brings up more buttons or disables/enable other buttons) that you want.
http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,29442.0.html (http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,29442.0.html)
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My fear is that Mach4 screens will be specific to a user's particular setup and hardware, and will not be easy to share with others.
(Meaning that they'll be easy to share, but may not work for others)
Having worked with both MACH3 and MACH4 screens, I would say MACH4 will be more difficult to make 'universal' but certainly not impossible. Unconfigurable screens created for specific purpose would not transfer well, obviously, but if the goal from the beginning of the project is to make a configurable (i.e. saleable) MACH4 screen set, I have not run into anything that would prevent that.
In the same way the Kflop is far more powerful that smoothstepper, that capability comes at a cost. You cannot integrate a Kflop with 'checkbox programming'. MACH4 screens taste like that to me. Making a purpose built MACH4 screen is not difficult or complicated, but to create a configurable set is an entirely different and far more complicated task.
The stumbling block, in my view, will be writing a configurator to fill the boatload of parameters that would be needed for a 'universal' screen set. For MACH specifically, I have written configurators in VB script , C# and C++ (for Windows programs), and now in LUA, both stand alone and 'widgets'. The first widget too far longer than ALL of the screen mods. There is some documentation available now that should make this mine field less painful to navigate.
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I recently installed MACH 4 hobby
I'm looking for some additional screen set options.
The last input on this topic was over 4 years ago, I'm surprised there are no new posts on screen sets for MACH 4.
In addition, I cannot find the proper contrast settings to get a decent "image backgrounds to tool path".
I have tried editing the screen but can't seem to find the proper setting for the color of the part being machined.
This contrast issue was in the original post and has not been addressed as of yet.
Any help on this contrast setting would be greatly appreciated.
Also, I would really like to see some optional screen sets that I may use.
thanks,
Chuck
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From the conversations I've had with people who have built their own screensets, they seem to fall into two, maybe three categories.
Either they feel that it's too specific to their machine such that the code would require modifying extensively - and they don't want to provide support for that.
Or, because there is code embedded in the screens, they are worried about the potential liability if something goes wrong and damages your machine (or you!).
A partial third seems to be that if you are capable of modifying code to run with your hardware, you are capable of building your own screen.
The net result is there are practically no third party screen sets for Mach4.
It seems a shame as the number of people who are a machinist, competent programmer, have spare time - and a graphic designer is pretty small!
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From the conversations I've had with people who have built their own screensets, they seem to fall into two, maybe three categories.
Either they feel that it's too specific to their machine such that the code would require modifying extensively - and they don't want to provide support for that.
Or, because there is code embedded in the screens, they are worried about the potential liability if something goes wrong and damages your machine (or you!).
A partial third seems to be that if you are capable of modifying code to run with your hardware, you are capable of building your own screen.
The net result is there are practically no third party screen sets for Mach4.
It seems a shame as the number of people who are a machinist, competent programmer, have spare time - and a graphic designer is pretty small!
I'd love to see some screens posted anyway, I've got the coding part down, so modifying them to work wouldn't be too hard. Graphic design is not in my skillset however so I just want a starting point.
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https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=35438.msg242572#msg242572 (https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=35438.msg242572#msg242572)