Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Proper Entry and Exit sequence for VB macro so that one can call another

« on: December 24, 2018, 05:24:32 PM »

I have a 15 tool changer and a tool probe.  I have written macros that do the tool change and set tool offset.  But when I try to put the tool change macro inside another macro - all **** breaks loose.  Is it a matter of using the proper entry and exit sequences?  Or will it never work.  I could of course make a giant macro that does both - sets all 15 tools.  But it would be nice if one macro could call another.

2

General Mach Discussion / Auto tool height setter macro for auto tool changer - to set the lot of them

« on: September 07, 2018, 10:23:40 PM »

First, I used search (unsuccessfully) to see if I could find if someone has done this before.  I have a CNC router running Mach3.  67x66x11 inch x,y,z.   It has a 15 position rack type tool changer at one edge that holds ISO 20 tools for its 3HP atc spindle.  So I have a tool change macro for it that seems to work.  I also have a tool height setter at one end of the tool rack.  Has anyone already written a macro to auto set all of the tools in the rack?

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Probing Wizard

« on: May 11, 2013, 12:40:01 PM »

Just a bump to learn the status of the wizard.

4

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Problem w/ USS initial write of XML

« on: April 13, 2013, 11:02:13 PM »

Jeff-
   Thanks for the reply.  Before I read it, I did get the basics working using the 17fd plugin.  I have not done much yet except to test axis movement and spindle operation.  I am replacing a working parallel port system with a new desktop that contains the SS board in the chassis.   So now that I have gotten thiis far - do you suggest I drop back to the 62 build?
      Bruce

5

SmoothStepper USB / Problem w/ USS initial write of XML

« on: April 13, 2013, 02:17:53 PM »

Ok, my system is XP SP3.  I am using SS 17F, USB driver 2.08.28, and I have tried Mach3 build 66 and 67.   AMD mobo with dual core processor, Nvidia graphics card.  The problem is that I cannot successfully write the initial XML file.  If I try to set the parameters from the pull down menu, I get a write error on exit - with a low byte count.   If I then reboot, nothing is stored.   If I accept the default parameters, I go into hourglass and never come out.   Click on the e-stop reset locks up M3 and I can't kill it with Task Manager.  Suggestions?

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Probing Wizard

« on: April 01, 2013, 12:49:25 AM »

TP - Thanks for all your efforts on probing.  My interest is in having a general purpose probe wizard or screen that could be used for setups.  A fixture is great for making large numbers of items, but if you only want 3 or 4, it is helpful to be able to probe each work piece for location and orientation - esp if they are second and third operations.   The screen you show earlier in the thread seems to address the things that I want to do - link the probe results to offsets so you can just probe the part and run it.   

7

Tempest Trajectory Planner / Re: Tempest Planning - Preliminary information and testing

« on: March 25, 2010, 02:00:57 PM »

Ah - the point that Tempest can handle higher acceleration is what I was after.  How it is set up probably does not matter.  Tnx.

8

Tempest Trajectory Planner / Re: Tempest Planning - Preliminary information and testing

« on: March 25, 2010, 11:54:34 AM »

Art-
  I am curious about your thoughts on my reply #129.   

9

Tempest Trajectory Planner / Re: Tempest Planning - Preliminary information and testing

« on: March 22, 2010, 12:58:43 PM »

The setup of acceleration in M3 is done starting at rest.   The user tunes the acceleration based on how the machine performs in this test - with no control of jerk (pretty high at end points) as I understand the test.   As it says in the docs - the limit is set mostly done by sound and pushing to failure and them backing off.    I believe that if the setup were done with a jerk limit, the peak acceleration that the user would end up with would be higher than the acceleration you end up with in the standard test.   This is because higher peak accelerations would be possible since they would occur (in the test) when the machine was already moving.  This of course implies a different acceleration setup for Tempest M3 than stock M3.  Is that clear?

10

Tempest Trajectory Planner / Re: Tempest Planning - Preliminary information and testing

« on: March 22, 2010, 12:09:57 PM »

I noticed the wording in my last sentence was not what I intended.   What I meant was that with the alternate setup I proposed, Tempest would be better than Tempest without the alternate setup.  I don't think you could reach the performance of Mach3 with its infinite jerk.  You could, however, recover some of the loss relative to stock Mach3.