Topics

31

Mach4 General Discussion / Tool Life Management

« on: January 29, 2018, 08:15:33 PM »

Is there a manual on the tool life management?

32

HiCON Motion Controller / Rigid Tapping

« on: January 09, 2018, 11:20:35 AM »

We are coming close to starting a retrofit on a VMC.  We drill and tap several holes and want to rigid tap on this machine.  We have used floating tap holders with great success in the past, but we purchased new equipment that has rigid tapping and now we're spoiled, so much faster and better on our tools. 
The HiCON Integra says it can Rigid Tap.  I am going to put a 2000 count encoder on the spindle for true RPM.  What do I need to do/have to implement this?

33

Mach4 General Discussion / Message Box with Cancel?

« on: December 21, 2017, 09:22:21 AM »

So the simple wx.messagebox is great.  But is there a wx.widget that gives me a message box with "Okay" and "Cancel" as options to choose?

34

Mach4 General Discussion / Can you use Inputs with Macro B Programming.

« on: November 20, 2017, 12:49:35 PM »

I've never used Macro B Programming, so I have a few questions about it.  Being able to use loops in G Code could really help us out on a project.  Can Macro B Read inputs to exit a loop?  If not, can you run an M Code in the loop that can read the input and then translate that into a #VAR to exit the loop?

35

HiCON Motion Controller / G32 Threading Max Following Error

« on: August 16, 2017, 10:41:00 AM »

I'm putting this post in the HiCON forum because the error we're getting is a HiCON error.
We just got a lathe up and running with Mach4 and the HiCON Motion Controller.  Everything is working very well and so far we're very happy with the results.  However, I'm testing the Fusion 360 post processor for Mach4 Turning.  Everything was working fine until I tried threading.  I don't know if this is a feed issue or something else.  I'll post the code and explain what is happening.

N11 G20
N12 G50 S6000
N13 G28 U0.

(THREAD1)
N14 T101
N15 G54
N16 M8
N17 G98
N18 G97 S500 M3
N19 G0 X3.8 Z0.1689
N20 G0 Z0.3466
N21 G1 X0.4786 F39.3701                  
N22 G32 Z-0.9699 F0.0769                                  On this line, N22, I get a Max following error.  However, if I change the F39.3701 to F10 it works fine.  Even if I make line N21 a rapid move, it works fine.
N23 G32 X0.5512 Z-1.0062 F0.0769
N24 G0 X3.8
N25 Z0.3466

I don't know if this is a way Mach reads the G32 with a different Feedrate before it or not.  Any insight into this?

36

Mach4 General Discussion / Anybody have build 3233??

« on: June 07, 2017, 10:15:01 AM »

I've got the latest version, 3390, but not having much luck with homing my axis.  Going to try the previous build but I can't find it anywhere and I apparently deleted my download. 

37

HiCON Motion Controller / Axis won't move

« on: May 24, 2017, 04:30:44 PM »

I have the latest firmware.  3.54. and the most recent version of Mach4.  I can't get my axis to jog.  I've got movement when I test the motion in the plugin configuration.  When I try to jog the machine via; keyboard, buttons, MDI, or G Code.  Nothing moves.
Also, attached is a picture of, I don't know what.  It pops up whenever I open Mach4.  It looks like it is HiCON's background information. I have no idea what it is and I've never seen it before.  If I close the additional program it closes Mach4. 

38

HiCON Motion Controller / Probing Problem

« on: April 04, 2017, 08:23:16 AM »

Okay, I had written a probe macro that checks for a broken tool.  Here are the basics of the macro.

Move down above the probe
Probe at 50 IPM   Here is that Probing Line of code. "G31 G91 Z -2.00 F50"
If probe strike, then "Tool OK"
else "Tool Broken"
Move to safe Z
End

It was working great last week and yesterday it stop after the probe signal was activated.  The macro was still running, doing nothing.  Now, I slowed the Feed down to 25 and it seemed to take care of the problem. 
Any ideas what happened?

39

Mach4 General Discussion / Signal before spindle turns on.

« on: April 03, 2017, 12:52:15 PM »

We have had 2 instances of the spindle coming on while the orient was still engaged.  Our tool change macro doesn't finish until it gets the Orient Release signal,  I'm using the SignalWait command, so I don't know why it continues the macro with the Orient still in engaged.  That is my issue, any ideas why it finishes the macro? 
Now, to prevent this from happening again, I was wondering if there was a way to inhibit the spindle unless the orient release signal was active.  I looked in the Screen Load script and found the SpinCW and SpinCCW functions, I was going to put an "if" statement in there looking for the Orient Release Signal.  Is this where I need to put such code, or is there something else that needs to be done?
-Chad

40

Mach4 General Discussion / Optional Stop Output

« on: March 06, 2017, 04:49:28 PM »

So, between our drill and tap cycle we have an M01 optional stop.  To let the operators know it is ready for the tap I want the indicator to turn on.  I noticed Mach 4 has an Optional Stop output, this output does not do what I expected.
I thought it would go active while there was an Optional Stop in affect; instead, it goes active while the Optional Stop is enabled.  I even used a macro to set the optional stop to see if it did anything different:  mc.mcCntlSetOptionalStop(inst, 1) it behaves the same.
Is there a way to get the handle on an Optional Stop in affect instead of it just being enabled?