Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Involuntary axis movement

« on: March 29, 2014, 01:58:28 PM »

Hood,
  Yes, not only the DRO but actual movement of the axis, which means scrapped parts.
Tom

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: Involuntary axis movement

« on: March 28, 2014, 02:43:13 PM »

Three different ones. One full size older xp, one new Walmart acer, and one HP.

3

General Mach Discussion / Involuntary axis movement

« on: March 28, 2014, 08:59:26 AM »

Hey all,
  We have used the ESS with great success. Here comes the but... we have a machine that seems to take on a mind of its own. Not consistently, but seemingly random movement from the X axis on an OD grinding machine. We will be out of any axis movement, just minding our own business measuring the part, and when we look back at the screen, wouldn't you know, the X axis has moved in maybe .0003" or .004" . We are holding parts very close at 0 to .0002". It only occurs randomly 1 in 4 or 1 in 20 or 30 or whatever. I have changed the debounce numbers to 500 with no results. Any bright ideas on where to continue? We have replaced the computer, the keyboard and mouse. We have isolated the computer and separately the motor contact coils with isolation control transformers. The entire machine is isolated from the rest of the shop with a 20KVA stepdown transformer from 480V to 240V. We have another OD grinder 20 feet away with an exact duplicate of the screens and misc files and has no issues.  UPDATE: I just put another computer on the machine with XP and am getting the same results. RF noise? Ground loops? M code bug? Mach3 bug?
Tom

4

General Mach Discussion / Out of place axis movement

« on: December 06, 2013, 09:57:41 AM »

I've set up a couple OD grinders with Mach3 latest version .067. One grinder seems to do fine while the other, with identical code, makes "extra" movements. I've attached the part of the script that seems to be the culprit. Any ideas? I've deleted code that follows the problem.
 Tom

rem M1053 For PLUNGE GRIND To DIMENSION
Option Explicit
Dim FinishDim As Double
Dim ToGrind As Double
Dim HoldToGrind As Double
Dim Current As Double
Dim Remainder As Double
Dim SparkoutCounter As Integer
Dim RoughToGo As Double
Dim FinishToGo As Double
Dim RoughInc As Double
Dim FinishInc As Double
Dim Sparkouts As Integer
Dim LeftX As Double
Dim RightX As Double
Dim LeftFeedX As Double
Dim RightFeedX As Double
Dim PlungeFeedY As Double
Dim LeftDwell As Double
Dim RightDwell As Double
Dim AmountToGrind As Double

LeftDwell = GetOEMDRO(1110)
RightDwell = GetOEMDRO(1120)
FinishDim = GetOEMDRO(1056)
ToGrind = 0
AmountToGrind = 0
Current = 0
Remainder = 0
SparkoutCounter = 0
RoughToGo = 0
FinishToGo = 0
RoughInc = GetOEMDRO(1052)
FinishInc = GetOEMDRO(1053)
Sparkouts = GetOEMDRO(1054)
LeftX = GetOEMDRO(1060)
RightX = GetOEMDRO(1061)
LeftFeedX = GetOEMDRO(1162)
RightFeedX = GetOEMDRO(1163)
PlungeFeedY = GetOEMDRO(1064)


Current = GetOEMDRO(801)
ToGrind = Current - FinishDim
HoldToGrind = ToGrind * 1000000
ToGrind = HoldToGrind * .000001
AmountToGrind = ToGrind

rem last final Left over
Current = GetOEMDRO(801)
FinishDim = GetOEMDRO(1056)
Remainder = Current - FinishDim
HoldToGrind = Remainder * 1000000
Remainder = HoldToGrind * .000001

If (FinishDim <> Current) Then
   Code "M8 M3"
   Sleep 2000
rem turn On side travel
   If GetUserLed (1101) Then   (feed from left)
      Code "G90G01 X" & RightX & "F" & LeftFeedX
      Code "G04 P" & RightDwell
      Code "G90G01 Y" & FinishDim & "F" & PlungeFeedY     (*************** after this code the Y axis feeds back to original number,  before feed move)
      Remainder = 0                                                       (***** it doesn't do it when I run it on a computer in my office)
   End If
   If GetUserLed (1100) Then   (feed from right)
      Code "G90G01 X" & LeftX & "F" & RightFeedX
      Code "G04 P" & LeftDwell
      Code "G90G01 Y" & FinishDim & "F" & PlungeFeedY
      Remainder = 0
   End If
   
End If


Code "M9 M5"

5

General Mach Discussion / Macro Timer?

« on: August 30, 2013, 08:52:48 AM »

I am trying to find the OEM Button or OEM Code that turns the timer on and off.  I am writing macros to cut some parts on the lathe and I would like to be able to start and stop the timer so that the people in the shop get an idea of how long it is going to take between parts.  Is there a code or Do OEM Button or something that I Can put at the Beginning and the End of my macros to start and stop the timer?

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Axis movement problems while running code.

« on: June 27, 2013, 10:01:29 AM »

That seemed to do the trick.  Redid the XML and everything seems to be working fine!! THANKS!

7

General Mach Discussion / Re: Axis movement problems while running code.

« on: June 25, 2013, 07:28:34 AM »

Okay.  So there is not message that pops up when this problem happens.

8

General Mach Discussion / Re: Axis movement problems while running code.

« on: June 25, 2013, 07:23:50 AM »

I don't think so because the flashing message usually catches my attention, but I didn't look for that.  I will try it this morning again and see for sure.  The only thing that struck me as curious was the Abnormal Condition.  It would be in Normal Condition but once I hit cycle start it would immediately change to Abnormal Condition. 

9

General Mach Discussion / Axis movement problems while running code.

« on: June 24, 2013, 10:11:32 AM »

This started just today and I don't know what is going on.  Once I hit cycle start my my Z moves down to the part it is going to cut but before it gets to the piece it stops; the axis just stops moving.  I can hit cycle start again without stopping the program and it will move again but then stop shortly after.  I restarted Mach 3 and my computer but the problem still persisted, it even did the same thing to my Y axis twice.  I've tried changing the Debounce settings, it seemed to help at first (by that i mean it moved further than it had before) but then it stopped again.

Any Ideas on what is going on???

10

SmoothStepper USB / Re: SS not allowing config

« on: July 05, 2012, 04:14:24 PM »

I discovered that even though I have a button on my screen to turn on menus, ( I have them turned off normally through the general config screen) it doesn't turn on all the menus. You have to go to the general config screen and turn them on, then restart mach3. No problem, I just had to find that out.
Tbyrd