Messages

1

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: mcX360 Mach4 Controller Plugin

« on: September 18, 2017, 09:07:18 AM »

Send me a message at francocncprojects@gmail.com I have some information you may want to look at.

2

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: mcX360 Mach4 Controller Plugin

« on: September 18, 2017, 06:57:36 AM »

DazTheGas has everything you need to make the Xbox controller work with Mach4. Watch his videos.

3

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: Longs Motors CNC kit: need help getting motion

« on: July 06, 2017, 06:24:21 PM »

Here's a video that may help:  https://youtu.be/5D7px0r0pUE

Follow this link for the wiring diagram:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xxpjtprlpwky10n/AAB8KWLZh5PpkDMDjZ1gXl6Sa?dl=0

4

HiCON Motion Controller / Re: "unable to ARM drive (code=355)"

« on: May 24, 2017, 09:39:47 PM »

Cool.  You guys are awesome.  I'm happy to use the wx4_VSI when it becomes available but I'm curious - will there be problems if I use other screens?  Are there special scripts on the wx_VSI? 

I'm one of those people that likes to ask a lot of questions - in case you haven't noticed.

Thanks!

5

HiCON Motion Controller / Re: "unable to ARM drive (code=355)"

« on: May 24, 2017, 09:31:05 PM »

Hi.  I get the errors when I use the screen I downloaded from Vital Systems website.  When I use the generic screen that came with Mach4 install, the errors go away.

6

HiCON Motion Controller / Re: "unable to ARM drive (code=355)"

« on: May 24, 2017, 09:27:19 PM »

FYI:  The errors seem to go away when I use screen wx4.set (rather than wx4_VSI).

Thanks,
-Franco

7

HiCON Motion Controller / Re: "unable to ARM drive (code=355)"

« on: May 24, 2017, 09:17:08 PM »

Hi Ricardo - I need more help.

I installed Mach4 build 3390.
I flashed firmware 3.54.
I installed HiCON Plugin 2.01.63
I downloaded the sample Mach4 Profile (just in case it updated).

I'm getting an error when I open Mach4 (see attached image).  I also get an error the first time I try to enable the system (see attached image).

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
-Franco

8

HiCON Motion Controller / Re: "unable to ARM drive (code=355)"

« on: May 23, 2017, 01:24:34 PM »

Awesome.  Thanks.

9

HiCON Motion Controller / Re: "unable to ARM drive (code=355)"

« on: May 23, 2017, 12:42:35 PM »

Thanks Ricardo. 

Any thoughts on the firmware?  Should I be on 3.46 or 3.47

10

HiCON Motion Controller / Re: "unable to ARM drive (code=355)"

« on: May 20, 2017, 03:45:57 PM »

Hi.  I recently had an issue with arming the HiCON Hobby board and I figured I'd mention it here in case it is useful for others.  I also have some questions which I'll mention at the end.

System Info:
Mach4 Hobby Build 3233
HiCON Plugin v2.01.47
HiCON Firmware 3.46
Windows 10 Laptop

Problem: 
While adding another axis via the HiCON plugin I suddenly started receiving communication errors, the motors stopped turning and I eventually received the failure to Arm error.

My Fix
1.  HiCON Hobby shipped with firmware 3.47 which I flashed back to 3.46 which did not solve the problem.
2.  Out of desperation, I opened up the manual and double checked all of the plug in settings.  It appeared that I somehow lost a bunch of values and didn't know it.
3.  On the System Tab I set:
       Max Buffer: 100
       Polling Frequency: 100
4.  On each Motor Tab:
       Control Input Source: MACHXX
       Control Input Index: 0 (or 1 or 2 depending on the tab)
       Control Input Gain: 1
       Control Output Type: Stepper
       Control Output Index: 0 (or 1 or 2 depending on the tab)
       Feedback Source: StepGen
       Feedback Index: 0 (or 1 or 2 depending on the tab)
       Feedback Gain: 1
       Feedback Max Following Error: 100
       
Once I applied these settings, everything started working again.

Questions
1.  What is the correct Feedback Source for a closed loop stepper system that DOES NOT deliver encoder data to Mach4?
2.  What is a reasonable Feedback Max Following Error for a closed loop stepper system?

Thanks,
-Franco