Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => Mach4 General Discussion => Topic started by: SimonRafferty on December 15, 2020, 02:31:15 PM
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I have a mill, running with Mach4 and a CSMIO/IP-M and I have few complaints about it.
This year, I decided to convert my Denford Cyclone with Fanuc OTB and servos to run Mach3 / 4 - and figured I'd buy another IP-M controller, but I'm starting to regret that decision!
The plugin for Mach3 was flaky as hell. It worked OK with Mach3 Mill but refused to cooperate with Mach3 Turn. OK, neither the plugin nor Mach3 are supported so I decided to go for Mach4 instead.
Unfortunately, their V3 Mach4 plugin also has problems. Mainly with connectivity but when it does connect, the pulse-stream it generates is lumpy / jerky. They suggested a faster PC. Made no difference.
Cut a long story short - I'm now at the point of abandoning CSMIO and buying something else! I want to continue with Mach4 as I like it!
Ideally, I'd like:
- 24v differential inputs & outputs
- Threading with single pulse or Encoder
- Proven ability to play nicely with Ultra3000 Servo Drives
- 2 x Analog inputs
- 1 x Analog 0-10V output
- Ethernet connectivity (that works)
- Mach4 Plugin that actually works!!!
Today I've looked at:
- Pokeys57cnc - Although people have made it work - there are also a lot of people expressing problems.
- Vital Systems HiCon Integra - Looks good but quite expensive. Once I've bought the analog upgrade & threading it comes to $1120 + shipping, duty & VAT = over £1,000
- UC300 - doesn't support Lathes
- CNCDrive AXBB-E - Looks OK but very little info on line. No obvious Mach4 driver nor threading
- PMDX-424 - Looks OK. Shame it's USB but it ticks most other boxes
- ESS - Has threading now, but people still finding problems with it. I had an ESS, probably 10 years ago and had a lot of problems with the Mach3 driver loosing contact and hanging half way through a job. Hopefully it's better now?
Is there anything decent I've missed? Do any of you have a Lathe with Treading & Mach4 with Servos?
Feeling that I've wasted £500 (£1500 if you include buying a new PC unnecesarily) - I would value any advice you have on not wasting any more!
Si
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I have been using Mach4 since 2007. Prior to that I was using Mach3 via a parallel port. I drive two machines with the same software, one is a Boxford 125TCL (now 30 years old) the other is a milling machine that I converted into CNC by adding stepper motors to 3 axis - this also is quite old - I fitted ball screws in place of the old leadscrews because they had too much backlash in them.
For the boxford Lathe I had to replace the motor drivers in order to connect switches so that I could run either the lathe or the Mill separately. My setup is very basic (ie no limit switches) but it works well with windows 10 and Mach4.
I use the PMDX SmartBOBUSB Controller and this is great for my application but bear in mind I don't use screw cutting or such, just simple machining in 3 axis. :)
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i use pokeys ethernet with more then 10 machines,had some problems in part with extention of porealy cards
but they at least solve all
i real sugest
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We have 10+ machines in the shop running the HiCON Integra from Vital Systems.
I have it running on 5 lathes here in the shop. All of which are set up with an encoder for threading, and it works very well.
As a side note, I integrate a Click PLC from Automation Direct onto most of our machines to handle basic IO. PLCs are very robust and can handle of lot of tedious tasks that would just take up programming time and CPU power. Not only that, I talk to Mach4 over TCP modbus which is very fast and very reliable. Basically the only IO I can't use the PLC for is homing, probing, and limits.
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Cbyrdtopper
why you need add extra plc?
pokeys support up to 10 cards porelay,each card have 8 realays
its have integrated 24 input ,and you can add extra card with more ( ithink about 24)
so why need plc?
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I was just letting this thread know another option.
I don’t use Pokeys. I use the HiCON.
With a PLC, I use the PLC’s software and download the ladder into the PLC. I can write a ladder program that takes just a couple of rungs, whereas writing a function in the PLC script could be rather cumbersome, or just be a pain in the butt to program in LUA and super simple in a ladder program.
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I own CSMIO-IP / S on lathe.
it works very well.
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interesting me,when you say pokeys have problems,which problems do you mean?
im not there dealer ,but i buy from them quiet well
and if there comon problems with them ,can share it?
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We test on the pokeys and Hicon here with lathes. But the ESS works as too. I have not tested the others.
When it is a table top machine I put a Pokeys on it. The Mori SL3 we have uses the Hicon. We run parts by the pallet with that old lump :)
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I recommend you splurge on HiCon Integra, you'll save yourself a lot of nerves and time so IMO it's worth it.
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Thanks for all your help.
I had pretty much narrowed it down to PDMX or HiCON but then, decided to buy a CSMIO-IP/S.
The reasons were mainly faster delivery (to the UK) and cost. Also, since the machine was already running CSMIO-IP/M, the re-wiring would be minimal. In practice it only took 30 mins to get it up & running.
So far, it looks good. My problem with jerky servos has vanished. I think the IP/M couldn't deliver pulses fast enough.
The only negative seems to be that it doesn't (obviously) control the spindle as a servo - just as a simple VFD. It clearly has some speed regultion / calibration inside, as the spindle speed is spot on but it's not regulating it on the fly so the speed changes with load.
Rigid tapping works OK with small taps - but because there's no speed regulation, it's easy to stall the spindle on larger ones. I'll have to see if I can tweak the servo parameters to fix it.
My next machine will be HiCON though for certain!
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it seems to me you can control the spindle with step / dir signal via OB output. ask cslab for confirmation. what plugin have you installed? I have on the 3.205 I am fine. 3.305 was giving me system stability problems.
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You're right, you can - and that's what I use on my Mill. However, my servo spindle controller is an old Fanuc which only has 0-10V + Direction.
I talked to CS - and they said it was impossible. Unfortunately, I don't believe in impossible!
Si
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I'm running an ESS on mine with no issues.