Messages

41

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bugs in Mach 3.42.015

« on: November 06, 2008, 08:11:03 AM »

4. One job I'm running is 0.25" in size with features as small as 0.005" the next job is 12" in size with very few small features. I find CV dist tolerance to be a nice feature but an appropriate distance is different if you part is large or small.

If you are going to be doing parts like that you NEED to have more steps per unit..

I don't understand your response. Maybe I was confusing by stating lengths in inches. I have 800steps/mm. I can't change that its based on my motor and screw. I have (400steps/rev * 10micro steps)/(5mm/rev) = 800steps/mm. My machine moves the correct distance, when I say go 10mm and I measure it with an indicator it goes 10mm. The only way I can increase my steps per is to use inches which would be 20320 steps/inch, this does resolve the SetMachZero() issue but now the scale of the unit is to big for my part. Millimeters makes more sense for the scale of the majority of my work. I have no problems machining micro parts at the resolution I have. I don't understand how having more steps would help me fix the scaling issues of CV values. Meaning CV values should be bigger on bigger parts IMO. Having to close and open mach to change that and get it to save properly is silly. I guess the real issue is whats the trouble with saving to the XML and having mach reinitialize it during a session?

Brian

42

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bugs in Mach 3.42.015

« on: November 05, 2008, 09:29:09 AM »

1. Can you not force SetMachZero() to set the DRO to zero at its current position? I'm not understanding why this needs to be calculated I just want to push 0 to the DRO.

2. I'll get it for you and look at this some more. I'm out of the office today.

4. One job I'm running is 0.25" in size with features as small as 0.005" the next job is 12" in size with very few small features. I find CV dist tolerance to be a nice feature but an appropriate distance is different if you part is large or small.

5. I was referring to mach's toolpath display not mach itself. I find myself turing the toolpath on and off. On so I can look and off so I can run cause mach runs better with toolpath off on large gcodes. I'm guessing without a major rewrite of the viewport there's not much that can be done.

6. Copy and pasting stupidity. Sorry. Not yet  I'll try this on Friday when I'm back at the shop and post my result.

7. Given 100mm/min is program feed, it is a single axis move, actual feed is 96mm/min, and there is plenty of distance to accelerate to that velocity and the max velocity of the machine is >100 100- 4 = 96/100 = 96% = 4% off in speed.

43

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bugs in Mach 3.42.015

« on: November 05, 2008, 08:08:37 AM »

Brian,

1. Machine Coord DRO's don't always zero they will have 0.0013 left in them sometimes.

I think you are setting zero with the Ref command with no home switches .. This is a known problem at this time (I will fix it but it is working with home switches). Also if you are going to set zero you should use the Zero x,y,z buttons... Last what is your steps per unit ?? You may not be able to get to zero (Limitation of your machine) and this is as close as the software can make your machine round the digital steps to zero.

 My steps per unit are 800steps/mm. The machine coords zero properly when I home to my switches but when I try to manually zero them I am getting 0.0013 left in the DRO. By manually zeroing I mean I am clicking a button with the SetMachzero() function in it.

2. Step and Dir pulse lengths on some installs will reduce upon opening and closing the motor tuning window.
       ie.  Step=2  Dir=1    after opening, setting, closing , opening motor tuning will change each by -1   

This is fixed in 3.042.015

I have a computer that still has the step/dir pulse reduction issue and its running ver 3.42.015. This is the only machine that does this other mach installs work fine. What could be the issue? I've uninstalled mach and reinstalled and still no go. This included deleting the mach3 folder that was left after uninstall. Any other ideas? Clearing registry entries too?

3. Program extrema is not being calculated correctly.

Could you please give an example of what is not correct? For example are you running loops with offset shifts and so on in the code? If so it is hard to tell if you are in the correct position when the reference position is changing That is the only time that I know when this is not correct..

I will look for code that was a problem I believe it was when the code had arcs or code with A rotations. I'll find something and get back to you so you can repeat the problem on your end.

4. Mach seems to be having issues saving CV state if you change the CV dist tolerence or turn CV dist on/off.
   Closing and opening the session fixes it, but I've learned mid session changes are risky behavior.

You should close and reopen the software to back up your settings...This is a very good idea

Is there any thing you can do to make changing settings during a session stick better. The problem is when I have to close mach it causes me to need to rehome my machine as some scripts I have written look to see if the machine has been homed for safety reasons.

5.Mach is parses the code pretty slow when you open a file. I'm guessing it parses the code for gcode errors and finds program extrema.
I would like to be able to turn off the program extrema calculation method or see it rewritten using RegEX so that it parses faster.

It is also the calcs for drawing the toolpath that is slowing down the load time... In the diagnostics page please turn off the toolpath and tell me if you like that better.

I run with the toolpath off it has always been a resource hog. IMHO as nice as the features of it are I wish there was some way to reduce its resource requirements.

6. If you jog the machine during tool change M6 (so as to be able to physically get to you spindle and change the tool upon pressing cycle
start mach moves to its previous position with no warning or way to cancel this. This needs to have the same dialog added that you get when using
"run from here".

Please have a look at the M6Start.m1s and M6End.m1s macros and change them to your liking This is the only way to change how the toolchanges are done

I run with the toolpath off it has always been a resource hog. IMHO as nice as the features of it are I wish there was some way to reduce its resource requirements.

7. Machine is always underfeeding. If I set feed rate to 100mm/min and give the machine plenty of room to make a single axis move and get up to speed
it is always under feeding by about 4mm/min, it never reaches the programmed feedrate and my max velocity is 800mm/min. It didn't do this in older mach versions.

This has to do with how the feedrate is now calculated.. in the end are not far off (less then one %) this has to do with the amount that your CPU timing is off from what it should be...

Its more than one percent. For me its more like 5%-10%.

Also could you add "CV FeedRate" from the settings screen to the General Config dialog with the other CV options.

Thanks.

Brian

44

General Mach Discussion / Re: In constant velocity mode but seems like exact stop!

« on: November 05, 2008, 07:42:42 AM »

There are issues with mach saving CV changes during a session. Set up CV by setting G64. Also check that the other CV options are off, such as CV distance tolerance, CV feedrate, CV stop on angle, plasma, and G100 adaptive nurbsCV.
These settings are all in general config except for CV feedrate is on the settings screen. Once you have this set close and end you mach session and open mach back up. Check that your settings stuck now it should work. If you make any changes to your CV settings you MUST close mach and reopen.

Which reminds me.

REQUEST: Please put CV FEEDRATE on the general config dialog in the CV options section.

45

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bugs in Mach 3.42.015

« on: November 03, 2008, 08:34:39 AM »

I will have a look tomorrow on my machines but I know for sure the DROs dont do that, well sometimes they are out 0.001 but that is a SmoothStepper thing and as I am in metric that is an insignificant number as its not cumulative. As I use the SS I cant test that one out for you.

Like I said sometimes they have 0.0013mm left in them when zeroing. I don't think that is an insignificant number. I asked for zero not close to zero.

Wouldnt call 5 a bug but rather a what you would like. Unless that is it is taking exceptionally long of which it did in some of the earlier Dev versions

The code that parses the Gcode is slow. It needs improvement, maybe needs to be rewritten using regular expressions.
 

I am sure I get the prep move box but again will check for sure.

There is no dialog box to cancel the prep move that has been added to tool changes.

I added a new bug #7. (see below)

Brian

1. Machine Coord DRO's don't always zero they will have 0.0013 left in them sometimes.

2. Step and Dir pulse lengths on some installs will reduce upon opening and closing the motor tuning window.

       ie.  Step=2  Dir=1    after opening, setting, closing , opening motor tuning will change each by -1   

3. Program extrema is not being calculated correctly.

4. Mach seems to be having issues saving CV state if you change the CV dist tolerence or turn CV dist on/off.
   Closing and opening the session fixes it, but I've learned mid session changes are risky behavior.

5.Mach is parses the code pretty slow when you open a file. I'm guessing it parses the code for gcode errors and finds program extrema.
I would like to be able to turn off the program extrema calculation method or see it rewritten using RegEX so that it parses faster.

6. If you jog the machine during tool change M6 (so as to be able to physically get to you spindle and change the tool upon pressing cycle
start mach moves to its previous position with no warning or way to cancel this. This needs to have the same dialog added that you get when using
"run from here".

7. Machine is always underfeeding. If I set feed rate to 100mm/min and give the machine plenty of room to make a single axis move and get up to speed
it is always under feeding by about 4mm/min, it never reaches the programmed feedrate and my max velocity is 800mm/min. It didn't do this in older mach versions.

Brian

46

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bugs in Mach 3.42.015

« on: November 02, 2008, 06:57:47 PM »

Only bug #2 occurs on one machine. The rest of the issues are problems in all mach installs of 3.42.015. I've tried uninstalling mach deleting the mach folder, reboot, and reinstalling mach and still problem exists. I didn't try clearing anything in the registry though.

47

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bugs in Mach 3.42.015

« on: November 02, 2008, 03:11:44 PM »

Reporting bugs. Thanks Dave I'll head over there. This is the tally so far.

1. MAchine Coord DRO's don't always zero they will have 0.0013 left in them sometimes.

2. Step and Dir pulse lengths on some installs will reduce upon opening and closing the motor tuning window.

       ie.  Step=2  Dir=1    after opening, setting, closing , opening motor tuning will change each by -1   

3. Program extrema is not being calculated correctly.

4. Mach seems to be having issues saving CV state if you change the CV dist tolerence or turn CV dist on/off.
   Closing and opening the session fixes it, but I've learned mid session changes are risky behavior.

5.Mach is parses the code pretty slow when you open a file. I'm guessing it parses the code for gcode errors and finds program extrema.
I would like to be able to turn off the program extrema calculation method or see it rewritten using RegEX so that it parses faster.

6. If you jog the machine during tool change M6 (so as to be able to physically get to you spindle and change the tool upon pressing cycle
start mach moves to its previous position with no warning or way to cancel this. This needs to have the same dialog added that you get when using
"run from here".

Brian

48

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bugs in Mach 3.42.015

« on: November 02, 2008, 02:03:51 PM »

Rich,

 "Are you using a SS? "  Whats SS?


I'm using the latest release as the subject title says and I have this issue still on one of my machines. I've cleared out and reinstalled Mach from scratch still a problem.

 #3 There are program extrema DRO's. Mach parses the Gcode and finds the max and min values of the Gcode for each axis. This tells you the size of the work area for a particular code.

Wow. 165 views and only two people have something to say?

Brian

49

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bugs in Mach 3.42.015

« on: November 01, 2008, 02:37:40 PM »

Velocity of machine is not ever reaching targeted feedrate.

IE. Program a single axis movement like
%
G01 X0 F100
X20
M30
%

Mach never actually reaches the programed feed its always about 4mm/min velocity slower than it should be.
This does not happen in 3.41

50

General Mach Discussion / Mach3 file open improvement

« on: November 01, 2008, 12:31:31 PM »

Mach is parses the code pretty slow when you open a file. I'm guessing it parses the code for gcode errors and finds program extrema (not correctly I might add).
I would like to be able to turn off the program extrema calculation method or see it rewritten using RegEX so that it parses faster.

Brian