Machsupport Forum

Mach Discussion => Mach4 General Discussion => Mach4 Plugins => Topic started by: cd_edwards on June 21, 2018, 03:40:07 PM

Title: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: cd_edwards on June 21, 2018, 03:40:07 PM
Here is a plugin for the XHC  WB04 4 axis controller. Thanks to Brian Barker I was able to decipher his code and make this plugin with my own spagetti code. (I hate c++).
Most things are working. Anything that is not, will eventually be fixed.

Colten Edwards
CE Signs
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Tweakie.CNC on June 22, 2018, 03:36:45 AM
Excellent work CE.

Tweakie.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: cd_edwards on June 25, 2018, 02:07:05 AM
I've been updating and improving the plugin. currently I have the home button and safe-z buttons displaying the proper icon's when invoked. They also follow the buttons in Mach4 so everything is nicely in sync. Maybe XHC will send me a sample of the WB03 and one of there newer devices so support can be added.. hint hint.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Tweakie.CNC on June 25, 2018, 02:32:41 AM
Quote
Maybe XHC will send me a sample of the WB03 and one of there newer devices so support can be added.. hint hint.

I think you may have to ask.  ;)

Tel: +86-028-81701768  Fax: +86-028-81705368
Mob/What's App: +86-13568946750
Email: xhctech-alex@hotmail.com
Skype: alex86he

Tweakie.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: cd_edwards on June 25, 2018, 02:42:27 AM
Quote
Maybe XHC will send me a sample of the WB03 and one of there newer devices so support can be added.. hint hint.

I think you may have to ask.  ;)

Tel: +86-028-81701768  Fax: +86-028-81705368
Mob/What's App: +86-13568946750
Email: xhctech-alex@hotmail.com
Skype: alex86he

Tweakie.

Can't hurt to ask.
Thanks for the info.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: lsgreen on July 05, 2018, 10:53:57 PM
Thanks for your hard work, working great. I have had this pendant from my time with Mach3, sense moving on to Mach4 I've been stuck without a pendant. Life saver!!!

Lou
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: TRainWReck on October 29, 2018, 10:50:50 PM
Anything new happening, just got the Mk4-M4 ,latest hardware and would love the WB04
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: KCNC on December 15, 2018, 04:07:41 AM
HI CE

First of all, Thanks for a fine job making a Plugin for the XHC WB04, nice job...

a few questions:

1: Where can i find your latest version ?
2: The version you posted June 21, dosen't load in my Mach4 for some reason. (Errorload exit code 0....)
3: Do you need help finalizing the Plugin ?, any plans for open source of your code ?

Have a nice day
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: cd_edwards on December 23, 2018, 04:47:13 PM
Here is a updated version of the XHC plugin. I've done some work on jogging which has now smoothed out quite alot.
added support for spindle and feedrate override control.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Harley95 on January 18, 2019, 10:17:37 PM
I have purchased the XHC WHB04B and have not been able to get it work. I downloaded your latest driver and Mach 4 see the driver and also show when the USB dongle is plugged in. When you turn on the pendant its screen appears to be in mm  (00000.000). After homing the machine the screen changes to  inch (0.0000).

Any help to get this working would be appreciated.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: cd_edwards on February 02, 2019, 05:34:11 PM
I've now purchased a newer model of the device which will allow me to develop for it. You should see some progress within a month concerning the WHB04B version of the driver. Too bad XHC would not step up to the plate and supply either a driver, or a device so someone else can make a driver.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: joeaverage on February 02, 2019, 05:44:39 PM
Hi,
to be honest given XHC's apparent disregard for its customers why are you bothering?.

At this stage I would guess you know more about their device than they do and clearly care more about whether it
works than they do.

Why don't you make your own device and cut them out of the loop?

Craig
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: cd_edwards on February 02, 2019, 06:05:21 PM
needed a second device anyway. One for the router, one for the mill. Pathpilot will work with the original device I have. So i'll have to make the new one work for the cnc. But you are correct why bother support a company with such disregard for it's customers.. I feel sorry for those that have the XHC cnc control board.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Harley95 on February 04, 2019, 08:13:44 PM
I e-mailed XHC about a driver and the response I received was disappointing. "If we come out with 1 we will let you know" So I replied with "Since you have come out with a motion control that supports your pendant under Mach 4 does that mean you have no intention of making a driver available" his response was "we are always evaluating the needs".

I appreciate you working on this and helping out the community.

Jeff
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: lesspaul on March 10, 2019, 01:03:52 PM
I'm curious how this differs from the earlier driver-based XHC plugin by MKULLMAN
http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,31332.0.html
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: cd_edwards on March 10, 2019, 05:55:29 PM
no driver required
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Shaeto on March 15, 2019, 02:29:50 PM
may be offtopic, i spent some time and developed very simple application for xhc hb03/hb04 cnc pendants for latest MACH 4 (developer version from ftp)

https://github.com/Shaeto/xhc4mach

sorry i have no time for good source code commenting or testing for old versions of Mach4, code is absolutely free, i didn't sign NDA with Mach4 vendor but i used only information available from Mach4CoreAPI.chm and some info about Mach4IPC.dll publicly available on this forum

this is just proof of concept but it can handle multiple pluged mpg, so, you can jog different axis simultaneously :)

Win10 executable is available in Release section if someone want to try it as is without code building

thanks!
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: dsnaith on March 20, 2019, 02:54:20 PM
Hi Colten,

Thanks very much for your work developing this plugin.

I copied the .m4pw and the .sig files into my Plugins diectory, however, when I start Mach4 I get the error "Failed to load shared library 'XHC04.m4pw' (error0:the operation completed successfully.)".

Any ideas?

Thanks again, mate.

Dave.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: cd_edwards on March 20, 2019, 03:49:23 PM
Fixed a small bug introduced when I was working on adding support for the XHC04b device.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: dsnaith on March 20, 2019, 04:16:23 PM
Hi Colten,

Thanks so much for posting the latest build. Unfortunately, I still get the same "Failed to load shared library XHC04.m4pw" error.

I tried a fresh install of Mach4 on my original computer and it does the same thing. I tried installing Mach4 on a different computer and it works fine. I know, I need to find the difference between the two computers, but I have no idea where to start.

Any thoughts? Are there any dependency files that need to be present in order for the plugin to load?

Thanks again,

Dave.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: cd_edwards on March 20, 2019, 04:33:16 PM
No dependency's of any kind. Although, this could be a windows protection type of issue. right click on the m4pw file and send me a picture of the screen. I remember I had an issue with the Mach4 help file not displaying until I had enabled allowing it to display as an internet file..
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: dsnaith on March 20, 2019, 04:44:33 PM
Thanks for your help with this! I have attached the screenshot as requested.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: cd_edwards on March 20, 2019, 05:23:55 PM
should have specified more.. Right click and click on properties. there might be a checkbox near the bottom of the screen that comes up..
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: cd_edwards on March 20, 2019, 05:25:50 PM
Here is what your looking for.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: dsnaith on March 20, 2019, 05:38:56 PM
Hmmm... there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the permissions.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: cd_edwards on March 20, 2019, 06:14:32 PM
Not sure what to tell you at this point then. working on one machine of three. very strange.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: dsnaith on March 20, 2019, 08:37:10 PM
Thanks, Colten. I really appreciate you trying to help. Just to clarify, I only tried it on two machines: my dedicated CNC laptop, and my CAD laptop. It runs fine on the CAD laptop, but not on the CNC laptop where I need it.

I will let you know when I find a solution.

Thanks again.

Dave.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Harley95 on March 27, 2019, 10:59:36 PM
I've now purchased a newer model of the device which will allow me to develop for it. You should see some progress within a month concerning the WHB04B version of the driver. Too bad XHC would not step up to the plate and supply either a driver, or a device so someone else can make a driver.
Hi Colten
How is going on the driver for the newer WHB04B.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Wurstbrot007 on July 22, 2019, 02:25:00 AM
Hi Colten,
thankĀ“s for the great plugin. It works well but there are some bugs. So, is it possible to get the sourcecode?
Maybe I can fix some problems...

Thank you,
Markus
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: EngelenH on July 31, 2019, 09:29:58 AM
 I have one of the too, the one with the blue/orange buttons (4 axis version).

Good news is in you diagnostic screen I can see it is actually receiving data/pulses from the device just fine ... I just assume it is getting different codes than those expected. Perhaps it would be possible to make those individual codes user configurable. Or even better have some configuration screen that allows you click a function known/supported by the plugin and then it records the code sent when the user presses the matching button on the remote.

This would ensure at least some flexibility moving forward. I ordered the HB04 myself from amazon, and got the whb04b-4 instead. Not complaining mind you (as that one costs way more :) it seems) but it adds a level of tricky to this whole silly mess.

Ordered this:
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61zcAv-rUJL._SL1300_.jpg)

but got this:
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Ovih29XyL._SL1000_.jpg)
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Harley95 on September 14, 2019, 12:19:49 AM
I've now purchased a newer model of the device which will allow me to develop for it. You should see some progress within a month concerning the WHB04B version of the driver. Too bad XHC would not step up to the plate and supply either a driver, or a device so someone else can make a driver.
Any updates on the progress of the driver?
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: EngelenH on September 14, 2019, 12:36:30 PM
I am going out on a limb here and say probably not.

I also tried with the Shaeto version (see also earlier in this thread) and could not get that to work either with the version of pendant I have.

So long story short I am looking into writing a C# version of the standalone app that uses Mach4 IPC. Got about 50% of the IPC calls mapped, also managed to get really basic IO to the HID driver for the pendant working. But still have a loooooong ways to go before these 2 ends meet in the middle and I can read all the data from the pendant HID driver, map it to know what buttons were pressed on said pendant etc, and then convert that to the right Mach4 IPC calls to create 2 way communication (which come to think of it I have not tested yet, I can read the raw data from the pendant but have not yet tried to send it data such as the XYZ positions for the LCD on the pendant).

Odd that there seems to be so little support/existing work for all this.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: joeaverage on September 14, 2019, 04:02:43 PM
Hi,
it was always intended that the manufacturer of the pendant or other Mach4 gadget would write their own
plugin, after all the manufacturer understands their hardware better than anyone else.

NFS is keen for manufacturers or other individuals to do so, after all the more pendants and other gadgets available
for use with Mach4 the better for Mach4 users. To this end if you sign a non-disclosure agreement with NFS, protecting
their investment in Mach4, then you will get all the inside gen to make your own plugin.

Why don't you as NFS?

Craig
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: EngelenH on September 14, 2019, 05:22:40 PM
3 things.

1. I haven't developed in C++ in AGES, last was 18 years ago and all of that on *nix platforms. A plugin would mean having to not only pick up C++ (and for that alas I have not the time at the moment) and more importantly to go read up on all the idiosyncrasies of C++ on Windows. Another can of worms I am not all that eager to get into. I should point out that I have looked at the code for both forks of the XHCWB04 driver here and got frustrated in no time flat trying to wrap my head around 4 different versions of MFC, 3 different versions of C++ (14.x, 17.x and generic) dialect not to mention Unicode or non-unicode libraries. That was quite enough for me thanks. Been working in C# on windows for the last 8 years (after some other stuff) and as such it made sense to go with that. I don't think however Mach4 plugins can be C# based (correct me here if need be)
2. I am not at present willing to engage in a non-disclosure agreement. This has nothing to do with NFS, more with the fact that I am currently employed in a rather strict work environment when it comes to conflicts of interest. Normally there should be no issue in me signing such an agreement but at the same time due to factors (that again have nothing to do with NFS) I can not discuss I am not willing to risk it either.
3. Taking 1 and 2 in consideration I decided going the IPC route, which is openly documented in the Mach4 documentation and as far as I can see requires no NDA. (again, if I am wrong here, by all means feel free to correct me).
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: N45CNC on October 13, 2019, 09:50:00 PM
I was wondering, the difference between one of these pendents and say an Xbox 360 controller being both wireless units. Mach4 see's WHB04B-4 and some things work. Is something missing in Lua script tied to the plugin? I'm using an MB2.5 w/ESS and have the XHC04 plug in installed. It looks like this is going on the shelf till the development comes around. Going to use an Xbox360 controller for now, Thanks to Daz and others.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: B34R on February 06, 2020, 03:52:22 PM
Hey Folks,


I relay like the look and feel of this WHB04B hardware and don't want to throw it away because I upgraded to MACH4.... I was wondering if any one has attempted to take the approach of creating a WINDOWS 10 plugin to avoid some of the complications of MACH specific plugin programming...

The theory I am starting out on is kinda simple... If I can write a small driver (windows/app) that takes inputs from the WHB04B and interprets them as keystrokes (like from a wireless keybord) we could then simply assign keyboard "hotkeys" using MACH's built in functions...
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Tweakie.CNC on February 07, 2020, 01:12:50 AM


The theory I am starting out on is kinda simple... If I can write a small driver (windows/app) that takes inputs from the WHB04B and interprets them as keystrokes (like from a wireless keybord) we could then simply assign keyboard "hotkeys" using MACH's built in functions...

Sounds like an excellent project.

Tweakie.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: blue-v on March 06, 2020, 04:46:10 AM
I was very happy finding this thread, since I'm missing the WB04 very much after upgrading to Mach4 recently.

Unfortunately Mach4 (Version 4.2.0.4300) does not start anymore when I put XHC04.m4pw and
XHC04.sig (V 1.0.19) into the M4 plugin folder.
I'm running Win7 32bit

What might have gone wrong?

Thank you!
  Lothar
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: ecgworks on March 22, 2020, 08:38:50 PM
Great work and thank you very much for your time and efforts in getting this plugin to work.
I know what a time consuming and painful process it is.

THANK YOU
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Bazer_2000 on April 10, 2020, 11:45:09 AM
Hi just to add my interest in this topic and I have an HB)4 from Mach3 days and cant see an alternative mach4 pendant out there. 

Unfortunately I seem to be in the same boat, in that Mach4 build 446 fails to start when the plugin files are placed in the Mach4Hobby directory. 

Thanks again for ypour efforts in these uncertain times.

Barry
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Bazer_2000 on April 10, 2020, 11:56:29 AM
Hi just to say I tried the previous version you put on site on June 21, 2018 and this seems to allow Mach4 to load OK and some aspects function but not useable
cheers
Barry
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: jfbusque on June 03, 2020, 11:08:54 PM
Hello, I'm in the same wave with the WHB04B. Since my update to MACH4, I lost this little wonder :-(

Recent versions of Mach4 do not start with the driver offered by cd_edwards :-(

I don't know if the subject is dead or just on the ice but I would like to know if there is any other development on this subject, if not I would like to help to finish the development of this pilot.

I started to look to make a little prg in VB to intercept the HID of WHB04B but by reading this discussion I think that there is already enough to start and maybe I could help this development at the link to start again to zero :-)

(Sorry for my English, it's not my first language) :o
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: jfbusque on June 03, 2020, 11:22:48 PM
about the crash of Mach4 with pluggin WHB04B, I have the impression that this is due to a missing dependency (framework or ??)

I tried to validate with a debugger but Mach4 detect my debugger and refuses to continue. It stops just before loading the plugging :-(

And the error in EventViewer gives this:
Faulting application name: Mach4GUI.exe, version: 4.2.0.4498, timestamp: 0x5ebe36eb
Faulting module name: Mach4Core.dll, version: 4.2.0.4498, timestamp: 0x5ebe360f

I would like to confirm with you about the required dependencies?
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: jfbusque on June 04, 2020, 12:08:49 AM
UPDATE:
For some reason that I don't know, I opened Mach4 with the 2018-06 driver and activate the driver in mach4 (the WHB04 does not work with this driver, nothing in the diagnostic box)
Then not later I put the driver 1.0.19 and Mach4 opened, I have the ESTOP, STOP and PLAY keys working. I believe that Macros also work but not test. JOG does not work.

But it's already a good start.

I also loader the Shaeto / xhc4mach project on GitHub. VisualStudio, it lacks references so that I can use it, but I haven't put time on it yet.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: RyanParle on October 06, 2020, 08:11:48 AM
UPDATE:
For some reason that I don't know, I opened Mach4 with the 2018-06 driver and activate the driver in mach4 (the WHB04 does not work with this driver, nothing in the diagnostic box)
Then not later I put the driver 1.0.19 and Mach4 opened, I have the ESTOP, STOP and PLAY keys working. I believe that Macros also work but not test. JOG does not work.

But it's already a good start.

I also loader the Shaeto / xhc4mach project on GitHub. VisualStudio, it lacks references so that I can use it, but I haven't put time on it yet.

^^ This worked for me.

on first installation of the latest version of the plugin Mach4 would just crash on launch, no error message was shown. so I installed the first version and Mach4 would now launch, I then enabled the plugin and closed Mach4 , installed the latest version and it all works fine.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: smurph on March 10, 2021, 09:35:21 PM
Ok guys, starting with build 4688, I have included a plugin that will handle the WHB04B-4 and WHB04B-6 XHC MPGs.  It will eventually support the older WHB04 but I haven't gotten one in yet to test with.

To be clear, it supports the MPGs that look like this:
(https://www.wixhc.cn/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/WHB04B.png)

Steve
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: EngelenH on April 10, 2021, 06:05:12 PM
Ok guys, starting with build 4688, I have included a plugin that will handle the WHB04B-4 and WHB04B-6 XHC MPGs.  It will eventually support the older WHB04 but I haven't gotten one in yet to test with.
Steve

Must have missed it but where exactly can we find said plugin?

Cheers,
Hans
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: smurph on April 10, 2021, 07:33:00 PM
You can find it in the latest dev build. 

http://www.machsupport.com/ftp/Mach4/DevlopmentVersions/ (http://www.machsupport.com/ftp/Mach4/DevlopmentVersions/)

Get the highest number there. 

Steve
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: EngelenH on April 10, 2021, 07:44:24 PM
You can find it in the latest dev build. 

http://www.machsupport.com/ftp/Mach4/DevlopmentVersions/ (http://www.machsupport.com/ftp/Mach4/DevlopmentVersions/)


Ah I see it is included in the main application now. Sweet, that should make a lot of people happy.

Will give it a whirl tomorrow, after 2 years mucking about with makeshift machines I finally got myself a Sorotec Compact Line machine and it is nearly done.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: KatzYaakov on April 19, 2021, 04:25:03 PM
is there any instruction how use it? how define its butons?
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: smurph on April 19, 2021, 07:24:38 PM
The configuration dialog is pretty self explanatory.  The macro buttons can be mapped to canned functions.  There is also a tab page that explains a bit about their firmware issues.  I wish I could fix that! 

Anyway, what is not so self explanatory is that each of the macro buttons (10 of them) fires an input that can be mapped to a Mach signal or used in a PMC module.  So they are there if the canned functions are not enough and you need something more advanced. 

Steve
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: KatzYaakov on April 20, 2021, 10:01:29 PM
thanks
for me if can map as signal in mach its the best
is there instruction how map it?
thanks
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: smurph on April 21, 2021, 01:39:17 PM
You map the inputs to Mach input signals just like any other device.  So no, there are no specific instructions for this outside of the Mach Configuration Manual or the PMC help.

Steve
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: pmageau on April 28, 2021, 10:36:42 AM
Steve,

I do not own an MPG yet and am deciding between a VistaCNC and the XHC controller. The VistaCNC plugin supports all of the MPG's capability. Does this native Mach plugin support every MPG function for the XHC controller ?

I'd prefer the wireless MPG but not if it's missing capability in Mach4. Can you advise ?
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: smurph on April 28, 2021, 04:06:31 PM
Steve,

I do not own an MPG yet and am deciding between a VistaCNC and the XHC controller. The VistaCNC plugin supports all of the MPG's capability. Does this native Mach plugin support every MPG function for the XHC controller ?

I'd prefer the wireless MPG but not if it's missing capability in Mach4. Can you advise ?

Yes, all functions are implemented.  However, there really is no comparison between the Vista CNC pendant and this XHC one.  This XHC has buggy firmware on it.  I wish I could fix that!  It doesn't prevent normal operation at all but it annoyed me to no end when I was writing the plugin.  There is a page on the configuration dialog that explains one of the firmware issues.  Anyone running this MPG with Mach 3 already knows about all of it though so there will not be any surprises there.

If you just have to have wireless, then I guess the XHC is the choice.  Otherwise, I would go with the Vista CNC pendant any day. 

I wish Vista CNC would do a wireless MPG.  We would all sing songs about it. 

Steve
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: pmageau on April 28, 2021, 07:22:18 PM
Thanks for your help Steve! Is there anywhere I can see a list of the bugs that exist in the firmware ? I have your plugin but I can't see the configuration notes you wrote since I do not have a controller so the plugin can't be configured.

I'd like wireless but if these bugs will get in my way in any way then I will be annoyed I didn't get the VistaCNC MPG :)
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: smurph on April 28, 2021, 11:43:23 PM
Fist off, the Fn "function" button is orange, which would lead one to believe that the orange labeled part of the button is what is run when the Fn button is held down.  However, if the MPG is setup this way, the screen does not properly display the Spindle Speed or Feed Rate override.  Those values are supposed to be displayed when either of the Feed+/Feed- or Spindle+ of Spindle- keys are pressed.  But instead, the firmware acts properly when the buttons are setup as if the Fn button should be blue!

So the default setup on the MPG is to act as though the Fn button is blue.  Just pretend.  Use your imagination.  :)  And the Fn button has to be depresses to get any of the Macro functions.  In this mode, the Feed Rate and Spindle Override are displayed correctly.  Pressing a Feed or Spindle key once displays either the Feed Rate or Or the Spindle Speed, respectively.  Pressing a Feed or Spindle key again will start to adjust either the Feed Override or Spindle Override, respectively. 

However, this is NOT how the Mach 3 plugin (written by some XHC people, I guess) worked.  So I put an option in the plugin config to operate like the Mach 3 plugin where the Orange Fn button does indeed have to be depressed to get the orange labeled functions.  But at the sacrifice of the proper update of the Feed Rate and Spindle Override values. 

Other than that, the axis DROs and other values display correctly, within reason.  Again, I wish I could fix that firmware!  The rest of the MPG is pretty decent.  Not up to a Vista CNC MPG's standards, but close.  The screen refresh is ok, but not instant.  But it doesn't need to be instant.  I would much rather watch the DROs on the Mach screen anyway.  But the DROs on the MPG are good for validation. 

Another thing I noticed is that the MPG rounds the DROs a bit.  It can show 4 places to the right of the decimal.  But say the the X axis is really at 0.00015" and the Mach DRO shows 0.0001 because it is only showing 4 digits, the MPG DRO will show 0.0002.  It will round up!  Not a big thing as most of us mere mortals don't have machines that are accurate to the tenth of a thousandth and we really don't cut any materials with that much dimensionally stability when the temperature changes.  And again, one could just look at the Mach screen to see the real value. 

Steve
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: pmageau on April 29, 2021, 09:28:51 AM
You're the best Steve! Such useful info.

One last question...I saw a video of this controller on Mach3 and the person was having an issue where the Mach DRO or the XHC DRO or the CNC did not track the motion of the encoder correctly. Sometimes too many steps, too few or zero steps were sent to the steppers. In your experience are the encoder, mach and the cnc always in lock step and behave as expected in all of the jog modes in Mach 4 ?

Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: smurph on April 29, 2021, 10:18:14 AM
You're the best Steve! Such useful info.

One last question...I saw a video of this controller on Mach3 and the person was having an issue where the Mach DRO or the XHC DRO or the CNC did not track the motion of the encoder correctly. Sometimes too many steps, too few or zero steps were sent to the steppers. In your experience are the encoder, mach and the cnc always in lock step and behave as expected in all of the jog modes in Mach 4 ?

It tracks the encoder perfectly.  Not an issue at all.

Steve
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: rading on May 01, 2021, 07:23:03 AM
I was exited to see that native support of the XHC wireless pendants was comming to Mach4, and immediately ordered a new pendant (the WHB04B-6 to be specific).
Finally got my MPG last week, so have been spending some evenings trying to get it to work...
I have done a fresh install of Mach4 as I had issues after upgrading my existing version. Currently running build 4719 of mach4.

My motion controller is the Eternet Smoothstepper, and I have the latest plugin for this (there was an issue where inputs would not be kept after a disconnect).

Now to the MPG experience:
Initially it plugged in just fine, and after a restart I could jog the XYZ axis and stop, start reset, spindle on/off works as expected.
BUT here is my dealbreaker:
If i click M-Home, the MPG does not invoke my normal "Ref all Home" function. My CNC uses two axis (X with A slaved) for moving the gantry, one in each side, and each of these has its own homeswitch, to square up gantry. Now hitting the M-Home button on the MPG only moves the A axis, causing the gantry to warp as its only beeing moved in one side. Also the Y and Z axis does not back off from the home switches as expected.
I can't find anywhere I change this behaviour. In Mach 3, htere were macros behind theese functions that i could have edited to make it work, but as I see it, this is now hardcoded in the plugin.

Macro buttons, W-Home and Safe-Z has a text box in the plugin dialog, where you can put in simple G-code to execute on click.

I would have loved if ALL buttons were linked to input signals, and mapped to a lua Function in the screenLoad script, making it possible to customize the behaviour to ones needs.
Currently its only the 10 macro buttons that have this option.

For me, the lack of ability to customize the M-home & Probe-Z to execute Lua scripts is a dealbreaker in using this MPG  :'(.

I hope I have missed something, and that there actually is a way to configure these? 

/Henrik


Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: smurph on May 05, 2021, 02:47:46 PM
If i click M-Home, the MPG does not invoke my normal "Ref all Home" function. My CNC uses two axis (X with A slaved) for moving the gantry, one in each side, and each of these has its own homeswitch, to square up gantry. Now hitting the M-Home button on the MPG only moves the A axis, causing the gantry to warp as its only beeing moved in one side. Also the Y and Z axis does not back off from the home switches as expected.
I can't find anywhere I change this behaviour. In Mach 3, htere were macros behind theese functions that i could have edited to make it work, but as I see it, this is now hardcoded in the plugin.

This works fine for me.  Open the diagnostic log and press the M-Home button.  You will see it calls mcAxisHomeAll() from the mcXhcMpg plugin.
Code: [Select]
2021-05-05 13:25:04.765 [I    ] - Logging Enabled.
2021-05-05 13:25:11.631 [I    ] - API: mcAxisHomeAll(inst = 0) (XhcMpg)               <-------------------------- This line. 
2021-05-05 13:25:11.631 [I    ] - Attempt transition from "Idle" on event "Home" command.cpp:1248
2021-05-05 13:25:11.631 [I    ] - S_IDLE_on_exit
2021-05-05 13:25:11.631 [I    ] - Signal id 1172, (Machine Idle), changed from HIGH to LOW.
2021-05-05 13:25:11.632 [I    ] - ACION_start_homing
2021-05-05 13:25:11.632 [I    ] - S_HOMING_on_entry
2021-05-05 13:25:11.634 [H    ] - Signal id 1131, (Z Homed), changed from HIGH to LOW.
...
I don't believe any of your homing issues are a problem with the mcXhcMpg plugin.

If your axes don't home correctly, you have to setup the home order in the Homing/Softlimits tab of the configuration dialog.  Homing is a function that is dedicated to the motion controller.  So check the ESS config for how the machine is homed (backing off switch, etc..).  None of this is a problem with the mcXhcMpg plugin.

I would have loved if ALL buttons were linked to input signals, and mapped to a lua Function in the screenLoad script, making it possible to customize the behaviour to ones needs.
Currently its only the 10 macro buttons that have this option.

For me, the lack of ability to customize the M-home & Probe-Z to execute Lua scripts is a dealbreaker in using this MPG  :'(.

The ideology behind the plugin is to be simple.  The canned functions should be just that, canned.  Maybe a couple of lines of setup.  But the functions themselves should be canned and consistent across all setups.  The Macro buttons are for custom things.  If everything were input driven, we would spend copious amounts of time with support on a plugin that the people who make the hardware (XHC) refused to write. 

I'm really upset that they do not support their hardware!  In fact, I thought about charging for the mcXhcMpg plugin because it is time I will never get back or be paid for my time.

Probe Z isn't configured yet.  I simply forgot to connect all of the dots and that function got left out.  The intention is to have a setup line like W-Home and Safe Z.  But that will about the extent of any customization for the canned functions.  The plugin itself is not LUA enabled therefore it will never run LUA scripts directly. 

The next dev build will have the Probe Z stuff connected.  I just missed that one completely! 

Steve
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: rading on May 09, 2021, 05:30:52 AM
Thank you Steve for clearing up my misunderstandings about this plugin.
I fully understand your frustrations with the manufacturers lack of will, to create a plugin to support their own product.

I created a new profile, and went through all settings from my previous working profile, and now I have M-Home working as expected. I don't quite get it why it kept failing in my previous attempts.

As for the other functions, It is really just the Probe-Z that i miss now, and you have fully explained the reason for that. I will wait for the next developer release for that one.
Just to understand the "canned function" limits: If i create a lua function for handling the Probe-Z logic, and put that as a M***.msc in my profile\macros folder, and call the M*** macro from the canned script, will that work? If so, then that is all i wish for  :P

Again, i really appreciate your work on this plugin!

/Henrik
 
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Steelbarz on June 10, 2021, 03:21:20 PM
I am in the process of switching from Mach3 to Mach4 this pendant was next on my todo list.  I have enabled the plugin in the Configure>Control>Plugins>ShuttlePro

It's not working?  Went back checked in Mach3 and it does work so it's not the dongle.  Am I missing something?
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: KatzYaakov on June 10, 2021, 03:34:56 PM
when you activate the plug in you will get screen with the remote photo to define remote function
its work quit nice
steve did great job
very bad he disappeared last month

Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Steelbarz on June 10, 2021, 04:02:20 PM
when you activate the plug in you will get screen with the remote photo to define remote function
its work quit nice
steve did great job
very bad he disappeared last month

I did not get that when I enabled it?  It is a fresh copy/licensed version of Mach4
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: smurph on June 10, 2021, 04:14:46 PM
I am in the process of switching from Mach3 to Mach4 this pendant was next on my todo list.  I have enabled the plugin in the Configure>Control>Plugins>ShuttlePro

It's not working?  Went back checked in Mach3 and it does work so it's not the dongle.  Am I missing something?

Unlike Mach3, the plugin is NOT named ShuttlePro.  The XHC people used the Mach3 Shuttle Pro plugin as a basis to built their plugin and they didn't even change the name!!!  And to confuse things even more, they have sever versions of their plugin for different versions of the MPG.  ALL named ShuttlePro. 

Mach4 had its own plugin called mcXhcMpg.  You have to get the latest dev build to get the plugin. 

Steve
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Steelbarz on June 10, 2021, 04:19:30 PM
Did I download the latest version this morning? 4.2.0.4612
Build 4612?
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: smurph on June 10, 2021, 10:00:46 PM
No, from the development site.  http://www.machsupport.com/ftp/Mach4/DevlopmentVersions/ (http://www.machsupport.com/ftp/Mach4/DevlopmentVersions/).  Get the latest hobby build.  Then install it to another directory and copy the mcXhcMpg plugin and sig file from the dev installation to your existing installation.  That way you don't mess up what you already have. 

Steve
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Steelbarz on June 11, 2021, 09:50:37 AM
Thank you for that detail.  I now have some of the functionality back.  Is it normal not to have the full speed control on the right dial? I seem to only have decent movement @ 30% with all other speeds I either no movement or very small movement.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: smurph on June 11, 2021, 02:01:31 PM
I'm not sure I get what you are referring to.  Full speed control of what?  Feed rate override?  Spindle Override?  That is what that speed controls.  The rate at which feed and spindle override increase/decrease with each button press. 

Steve
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Steelbarz on June 11, 2021, 05:04:05 PM
I'm not sure I get what you are referring to.  Full speed control of what?  Feed rate override?  Spindle Override?  That is what that speed controls.  The rate at which feed and spindle override increase/decrease with each button press. 

Steve

The small dial on the right when used in Mach3 will control the jog speed 2,5,10,30,60,100% of the jog rate set.  As of now I only seem to get decent movement of any axis I select at 30%.  Is there another setting somewhere thAT I'm missing to get the full range back?
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: smurph on June 12, 2021, 06:11:56 PM
Ah...  Ok, I wasn't really sure what all the Mach3 plugin did.  You are talking a velocity jog, right?  As in not a step per detent thing?  If so, do you jog by moving the hand wheel dial?  Where as long as you are turning the dial one way, the machine will jog in that direction.  Try to be as specific as you can explaining what it does and I will see what I can do. 

Steve
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Steelbarz on June 12, 2021, 07:14:31 PM
Ah...  Ok, I wasn't really sure what all the Mach3 plugin did.  You are talking a velocity jog, right?  As in not a step per detent thing?  If so, do you jog by moving the hand wheel dial?  Where as long as you are turning the dial one way, the machine will jog in that direction.  Try to be as specific as you can explaining what it does and I will see what I can do. 

Steve

Forgive me as the lingo and terms are still challenging to me.  Before with the Mach3 plugin with the small right dial at 100% (max velocity set), I could move the x-axis from front to back (1300mm) turning the main wheel it would move at a decent rate, set at a lower setting would move at a reduced rate as expected as a % of velocity as expected. 

Now the only setting with this that works is 30% with this plugin.  Under Mach4 with this plugin and the dial set at 30%, it is moving at a similar speed as it did when used in Mach3 at the 100% setting.  All the other settings on the small dial currently do nothing or close to nothing only when it's set to 30% do I get movement when turning the big dial.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: jrbloom on September 30, 2021, 12:42:28 PM
Hi, what's the status of the xhc plugin?

I was really excited to see that a plugin was now available - I was holding off buying a pendant because there were no wireless options for mach4. But I see this thread has gone quiet and the plugin is still only in the dev builds. Are NFS still indending to release it at some point?

I received my 6 axis unit this week. Havent had time to test it fully, but the plugin (From 8/30/21 dev install) loads and i get motion from the handwheel in Continuous mode.

Is the Step mode supposed to work? I get no motion when i switch to Step. Also, the display shows the % values in Step mode, not the expected step increment. Is this normal?

Thanks

Jon
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: smurph on September 30, 2021, 01:30:40 PM
Go back a to say build 4746 and get the plugin out of that.  I was working on cont mode and didn't finish it for that dev build.

Steve
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: jrbloom on September 30, 2021, 02:24:31 PM
Awesome. Thank you Steve. Build 4746 does work correctly in Step mode.

You've made my day  :)

I still see % values in the display for STP. e.g. STP: 10% when I have the 0.1 step size selected. Really not a big deal as I can read the switch legend directly. Not sure if that's baked into FW or something you can control.

Also, a very minor typo in the RF Reset config tab. "In the even" instead of "In the event".

Thank you so much for working on this. Maybe not many people commenting on the Forum. But I bet that's just because most people don't know this support is available/coming. I only found this thread because I noticed a comment in the Warp9 FAQ that there was now direct support and so made a more concerted effort to track down some details.

Jon
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: smurph on September 30, 2021, 03:45:44 PM
I just tested the latest build (4758) and it works in step mode.  So I must not have broken it like I thought.  It does show % instead of the increment and it always has.  That is the MPG's firmware, unfortunately.  It is a nice MPG, hardware wise, but the crappy firmware and their lack of support for Mach 4 is just plain awful. 

Thanks for the typo find.  There was a nut loose on my keyboard. :) 

Steve
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: jrbloom on October 01, 2021, 08:42:50 PM
Hmmn. Strange. I tried 4758 and the step jog didn't work. Then I went back to 4746, which worked. But now when I go back to 4748 it seems to be working! So, there's something random going on - could be the crappy FW of course.

I will see how it fares over a longer trial period.

That said - The step jogging is not always precise. I have the increment set to 1mm, and it randomly affects the fractional component too. Not always. I get sequences where the step is exactly 1mm, but then a series of fractional steps.

I can grab some logs if you tell me what you need (and how) - I tried the debug log, but it didn't look useful as it simply shows a jog event taking place with no additional details.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: smurph on October 02, 2021, 05:16:04 AM
Hmm...  It may depend on the resolution of your machine.  I'm getting increments will .0001" without issue.  But I have 12570 counts per inch, so the resolution of the encoder is greater than .0001" (10000 counts).

Steve
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: jrbloom on October 02, 2021, 10:20:38 AM
No encoders on my machine. Just steppers. I get your point though. It's possible it's just innacuracies caused by translating to mm in an inherently inch based system (which Avid cnc's are i think).

I didn't see any issues with jogging through the gui yesterday though. Maybe i just got lucky. I'll do some more digging.

Thanks

Jon
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: EricSchenk on October 12, 2021, 11:43:23 PM
I just got my XHC WB04B last week and set it up, also with an Avid rig. In step mode I am seeing that steps at 0.01mm and 0.1mm appear to work consistently and correctly. Steps at 1mm using the jog sometime step a bit more than 1mm. I have never seen this using the GUI to do 1mm steps, which I have been doing quite a bit lately doing some probing and setup work with some dial indicators.  That said, the Z axis step is 0.0002" on this machine, which is pretty close to 0.005mm at 0.00508mm. The X/Y axis step is 0.0005", which is 0.0127mm. As I understand it, the physics of the machine mean you cannot step by any clean metric values like 0.01mm, 0.1mm or 1mm even. That said, the GUI stepping consistently reports the metric value as correctly stepping, when stepping using the GUI. I wonder if Mach4 is in fact driving the hardware to the nearest matching point when using the GUI and reporting the desired metric value as correct. This does explain a bit of variation I see on metric dial indicators when stepping by 1mm at a time (I'm using an indicator that goes down to 0.01mm here). The closest the hardware can actually step would be 1.0033mm. I'll have to try running in inches mode (most of my work is in metric) and see if I see the same behavior, and maybe play with some metric and imperial indicators as well to see what appears to be happening.

Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with the MPG, just waiting for the z-probe button to get hooked up now, but I can use a macro key for that if I need to :)
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: jrbloom on October 13, 2021, 12:24:09 AM
I bet we're not the only large format Avid owners who have been itching to break free of cables 😁

I've been distracted by some non-cnc work over the last couple of weeks so havent had a chance to do any more digging yet.

I did check the motor config though. The x/y motors are indeed inch based as you say. The machine units are actually set as metric though, so x/y are defined in mm despite the imperial rack&pinion geometry. But z is true metric - 10mm pitch ballscrew and 2000 microsteps per rev gives us exactly 0.05mm resolution. So we really should see exact .1 and 1mm steps on z with G20 but do not.

Hoping to get some free time on the cnc this week to test a bit more.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: EricSchenk on October 13, 2021, 02:21:35 AM
Yup, I really like being able to walk around the machine without cables, and jog while I can see what the tool tip is doing, so I'm loving having the wireless MPG working.

Good catch on the Z axis. I missed that looking at the specs. I've been doing a bunch of work on fixtures and alignment the last month or so, once I realized by X/Z axis was bowed to the back of the table by about 0.020" and starting tuning things up to correct it. Two-sided machining was giving me a horrible time until I figured out what was wrong.

I wonder what Mach 4 and the smoothstepper do with machine units in mm, but steppers driving in imperial? Rounding to nearest microstep I would imagine? I would guess that would show up in physical measurements on the machine though, and not in the DRO on mach. Also, at the bottom I would imagine the machine has to count steps anyway. Otherwise relative motions by amounts that are not integral steps would start causing drift as rounding errors accumulate.

I have been using a metric Haimer taster to do a lot of my alignment checking against known flat surfaces. The Z axis, I think, has been remarkably consistent with being able to step by 0.01mm, 0.1mm and 1mm accurately, but I have not watched it super closely with this in mind. Stepping on the X/Y axis though by 1mm seems to give me a shade over 1mm in step. It always returns to 0 where I expect it to if I step away 3 or 4mm and step back to 0, at least using the keyboard jog.

When I get a chance, probably next weekend, I'll try doing some testing with the jog wheel on different settings in imperial and metric mode.
Will be interested to hear if you get any information in the meantime. Right now I just set the jog to 0.1mm, and spin the wheel a bit more. That seems to keep the DRO readout in increments of 0.1mm without and drift.

I have also noticed a difference when stepping up to the soft limits. The keyboard jog will run right up to 0. The wheel jog will not run to zero sometimes in continuous mode. It gets close, but not quite, and then says that a further step would drive past the limit. This is a bit annoying when I actually do want to move the head to one of the limits.

Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: jrbloom on October 13, 2021, 08:11:02 PM
I found some time to work on this today.

First the good...

I was having some issues with my PC, which was interfering with Mach4 and causing it to lose steps. I've switched out to another system, temporarily, and I am now seeing the steps track perfectly. In fact all 3 axis show clean 1mm steps, matching the GUI jogging behaviour. So I am guessing that Mach does indeed show the commanded position, not the actual achievable position.

I am also not seeing any extra steps in STP mode. I can even use fast moves, spinning the wheel from 30 to 60 rapidly, and the axis settles to exactly 30mm from the start position. So, I think all my previous issues were the PC getting in the way.

Then the  bad, for Steve ...

Neither build 4758 or 4759 work in step mode for me. This seems to be utterly repeatable. I get no motion at all. Switching to 4746 works every time.

Also, I can trigger the limit switches with with jog wheel, even with SoftLimits enabled. I would guess this is the related to the issue reported by EricSchenk, although the exact opposite symptom, since he was seeing a refusal to jog to the limit. Not the end of the world, but maybe something to look into.

Still, I have a working pendant ;D Now I jut need to buy a new PC:-(

Jon
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: EricSchenk on October 16, 2021, 01:31:47 PM
jrbloom raises a good point on the PC in use. I'm using a fairly underpowered A6 CPU right now, and I had missing steps problems on this machine when running programs until I raised the buffer sizes. It is entirely possible that the little $100 PC I've been using is just underpowered for the task here. I'll try swap in a more powerful machine in a few weeks when I have one available.

In the meantime, I've now seen the jog both blow past the soft limit, hitting the limit switches, and stop short of the soft limit, so I guess I'm seeing inconsistent behavior. This is with the driver from build 4746. No obvious pattern there so far, but I haven't done extensive investigation or anything. It's possible that what is happening is stopping short of the limit in continuous mode and blowing past the limit in step mode. I'll check that out today.

I'll also probably try to drop a Z tool probe onto one of the macro buttons and see how that works.

Cheers,

Eric
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: jrbloom on October 16, 2021, 02:00:58 PM
I've been using the pendant for real work over the last few days. The limits issue is very strange...

On several occasions I've seen a refusal to jog below WORK position 0. Mach tells me the jog would violate the soft-min of the axis. But i am way down the axis. Jogging the other way and then coming back fixes it.

I wonder if these are all symptoms of the same underlying bug?

Hitting the limit switch is proving more of an issue than i expected. I seem to have a neuron miswired, and constantly jog Z the wrong way, hitting the limit switch. Home machine - jog to WCS lication ready to touch-off - jog down - oops wrong way - limit hit - home machine again ...

Also, START doesn't resume after a tool change. This could be Avid's customizations. I see the START button in the gui toggle, but nothing happens.

And, just once, immediately after powering on, and homing, a single jog in Y sent the gantry off to the back of the machine at high speed. I had to jump on the estop to catch it. *Be alert*.

Still, i am really enjoying the new pendant despite these teething troubles.

Jon
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: smurph on October 16, 2021, 05:02:15 PM
I've been using the pendant for real work over the last few days. The limits issue is very strange...

On several occasions I've seen a refusal to jog below WORK position 0. Mach tells me the jog would violate the soft-min of the axis. But i am way down the axis. Jogging the other way and then coming back fixes it.
That was a general MPG (wireless or not) issue that has been fixed in the later dev builds.  We were trying to support lower resolution machine better and that bug crept in there.  (Wishing everyone would use higher resolution machines these days...)

Also, START doesn't resume after a tool change. This could be Avid's customizations. I see the START button in the gui toggle, but nothing happens.
Start certainly works in the stock Mach config.  So I be you are onto something here.

And, just once, immediately after powering on, and homing, a single jog in Y sent the gantry off to the back of the machine at high speed. I had to jump on the estop to catch it. *Be alert*.
This sounds like a soft limit configuration issue if soft limits are enabled after the home.

Still, i am really enjoying the new pendant despite these teething troubles.
I'd really love to blame everything on the pendant because I'm not to happy with the XHC company not writing their own Mach 4 plugin and leaving lots of Mach 3 users wanting to upgrade hanging.  But no.  LOL  The initial jog thing was definitely a Mach bug that I introduced.  :( 

Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: jrbloom on October 16, 2021, 05:10:45 PM
Start works to begin a program. Just not to resume after a mtc. Are these different operations in the stock configs?

Can you elaborate on the suspected soft limits issue? Why would that cause an eratic jog? Some kind of arithmetic underflow? They certainly look correct to me and I've never seen this before.

Also, i cant update to latest because Step does not work after 4746.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: jrbloom on October 16, 2021, 08:33:47 PM
Just realized what you meant wrt latest dev. It's a fix to the core program, not the plugin. Any idea when that fix might hit the release?
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: brianthechemist on December 31, 2021, 11:19:41 AM
Hey everyone, I'm wondering if anyone has a solution to the no Step problem that jrbloom has (I also have this).  Obviously outside of going back to 4746
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: jrbloom on January 01, 2022, 12:16:48 PM
I'm still using the plugin from 4746, copied into my production install. I've yet to find a later plugin that works unfortunately.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Nleo22 on March 16, 2022, 02:33:58 AM
Will this work for xhc HB04B?
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Nleo22 on April 09, 2022, 09:39:27 PM
Can you guys upload the plug site for us to download it please share.... thank you.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: rene blanchette on April 23, 2022, 09:06:39 AM
Ok guys, starting with build 4688, I have included a plugin that will handle the WHB04B-4 and WHB04B-6 XHC MPGs.  It will eventually support the older WHB04 but I haven't gotten one in yet to test with.

To be clear, it supports the MPGs that look like this:
(https://www.wixhc.cn/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/WHB04B.png)

Steve


i have same and no detect on mach4 why?
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Nleo22 on April 25, 2022, 11:57:43 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lp7KtA_5uM&t=262s

Showing yall the setup, Watch my video also work for lastest mach4 version 4.2.0.4839
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: sebssd on April 26, 2022, 07:44:26 AM
Hey all, I'm using the plugins copied from the development version in to 4612, seems to work great apart from the step/cont jog
- For versions up to 4746 i have repeatable steps but not continuous mode
- For versions after that up to 4839 i have continuous at all speeds but no steps

Just wanted to confirm if that's what others are experiencing at this stage or if there is a solution to this
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Nleo22 on April 26, 2022, 09:36:28 PM
Hey all, I'm using the plugins copied from the development version in to 4612, seems to work great apart from the step/cont jog
- For versions up to 4746 i have repeatable steps but not continuous mode
- For versions after that up to 4839 i have continuous at all speeds but no steps

Just wanted to confirm if that's what others are experiencing at this stage or if there is a solution to this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lp7KtA_5uM&t=262s

Watch my YouTube video, and I'm using mach4 version 4.2.0.4839, with whb04b-6 video proof that it working. Also make sure you don't select MPG # 0, because it not work. You have to select MPG #1 and above then your axis's steps travel will work. Go over my video.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: sebssd on April 27, 2022, 02:02:47 AM
OK thanks Nleo22, switching to MPG #1 worked, continuous and lead mode work well along with 0.1 and 0.01mm steps which is pretty workable, 1mm steps do not work which i think has been mentioned previously.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Nleo22 on April 30, 2022, 10:01:18 AM
I try rushing to the video haven't show yall steps.
Here I redo my video and its longer =D, here NEW VIDEO JUST UPLOADED. I'M USING INCHES I CAN MOVE 0.001", 0.010", 0.100", 1.00" etcs...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl-XXBQ_T8M


make sure select MPG #1 and Macro 10= select function "Machine Enable"

Let me know it working for you. look forward to your answer.
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: Lucid_moments on May 01, 2022, 06:29:09 PM
Let me know it working for you. look forward to your answer.
I took a break and upgraded my motion controller card to an ESS. Combined that with the fantastic MB3 break out board from CNC Room. Solved several mysteries with my spindle control. I thought I was in the clear....
I was almost successful getting the plugin from build 4839 to work about two weeks ago, but missed an important step. So I ordered a ShuttlePRO V2 ($150 USD)and had zero luck with that :o Really didn't know what to do next. But the clock was ticking, and my patience was just about done. So I really appreciate the info you have shared. Thank you. I can finally go back to work. Oh yes...and I can return my ShuttlePRO V2 and put the cash into material purchases.

Thanks again for taking the time and effort!

Chris
Title: Re: XHC WB04 plugin
Post by: dibor on November 04, 2022, 03:21:00 PM
Hello.
I use Metric.
XHC WHB04B is works but not all functions.
1. Feed + - works wrong, one click on "Feed +" - feed going to 200, one click on "Feed -" going to 0.
2. Same with "Spindle"
3.Step doesn't works.
4.While changing from Continuous to Step(or mode rate is not saved.
As example, set rate to 30%, then click on Step and after on Continuous, try to move - rate will be about 20.
So, doesn't matter what rate was before after clicking on Step and after on Continuous rate will be ~20
5.If U click on "Feed +" or "Feed -"  or any "Spindle" and rotate encoder - U cannot back to Continuous mode, clicking on "Continuous" button do nothing.
Only one way to back to Continuous mode is click on Step and after that on Continuous, but rate will be different, about 100%


Best Wishes.