Messages

1

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: FIFO Drain Error

« on: October 02, 2023, 03:32:17 PM »

The answer to all my problems was the version of Mach4 and the Warp9 plugin.
I uninstalled the latest versions and went through a list of older releases until I got the combination of build and version.
Everrything now works as it should.
I hope this helps out someone else as I was really fustrated with this.

Thanks everyone.

2

Mach4 General Discussion / Workoffset Button Scripting

« on: October 02, 2023, 09:32:35 AM »

Hi all.
I currently have some on-screen buttons I have scripted to get my machine to travel to my work offsets (fixturing). (Example: "G54 Home")
If I select one of the 4 workoffsets (G54, G55, G56 G57), the machine moves to the machine coordinates(G53) I have set for fixture X-Y zero locations.
Works great.

What I would like to add, is the functionality to set the X & Y Axis to zero when the "workoffset home" position is reached. (for the given offset)
I currently have to remember to manually set these to zero when starting the job. (sometimes when using the same offset I don't have to reset)
If I forget to set the zeros obviously it starts machining elsewhere. Then I'm aggravated.

Can someone please help me with how to go about this?
Some scripting advice or the lua commands required to set the axis zeros and DROs.

Thanks in advance to any advice/help.
The forum can be a great help on occasion and I appreciate all advice I recieve.

3

Mach4 General Discussion / FIFO Drain Error

« on: July 26, 2023, 06:21:45 AM »

So I updated Mach4 setting up a new machine, and now all of the sudden my current machine won't run properly.
The motors will not respond/move.
If I restart Mach4 a hand full of times, they will finally respond.
As soon as I try homing, they move to the first or second switch.
At this point the machine stops and I get multiple pop-ups saying "HOMING_PREP failed waiting for FIFO to drain”.
Now nothing works again.

I have no idea what FIFO is.
Can anyone provide any ideas how to correct this issue?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

4

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Programs stop at M3 and will not continue

« on: November 22, 2022, 06:47:44 AM »

Update:
I read somewhere, yesterday, that someone experienced something similar to this situation.
This person mentioned they got results from unchecking the "Wait For Spindle to Stabalize" check box in the control/spindle tab.
So, I went home and tried it last night.
Low & behold, it worked!
I ran through my program, (4 tool changes & other moves), about 6 times. No issues what so ever.
I am super shocked that something so simple would cause such a head ache.

I hope that this little tid bit will help someone else out in the future too.

Happy tooling!

5

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Auto Tool Setter Offsets

« on: November 22, 2022, 06:40:10 AM »

Graham,
I just had alot of help from Trevor, at NFS, with my M06 macro.
He took the time to work with me and get my macro set up and working correctly.
Currently my ProbedZ=mc.mcCntlGetPoundVar(inst, mc.sv_PROBE_POS_Z).
NFS said that the macro should tell the machine where it at for the tool height/offset.
If I run the macro as is my tool height is off around 0.875". About the dimension between my work surface and tool setter activation point.
If I put that dimension is as tool#1, tool#2 and every other tool are right where they need to be, but the other tools are off about 0.500".
Not very consistant.

Will the #5063 get me better results?

6

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Auto Tool Setter Offsets

« on: November 21, 2022, 04:07:01 PM »

Graham;

Can you clarify for a couple questions me?

1- is f=#5063 a pre-defined register value from Mach4? If so, how do I get it?
2- How do I put this information into the script? This does go in the M06 script, right?
3- Is "C" a piece of material or the fixture height?
4- You said that you can have as many fixtures as you want and the offset will always be correct.
    How does that work if the fixture may be taller/shorter?

Thanks in advance for your time!

7

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Programs stop at M3 and will not continue

« on: November 21, 2022, 12:16:23 PM »

My mistake. 
yes, this was supposed to be in the Mach4 section.

How might I move this?
or do I need to delete it and start a new post?

8

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Auto Tool Setter Offsets

« on: November 21, 2022, 09:27:39 AM »

I just seen this reply Graham, thanks for the info.
I currently have nothing in the macro to base an offset off of, and I am totally going to try this out in the next day or so.
Thank you so much for the direction, I will keep you posted on how it works out.

Thanks again!

9

Mach4 General Discussion / Programs stop at M3 and will not continue

« on: November 21, 2022, 09:20:57 AM »

I finally got my m6 macro working and have put together a short program to test my tool heights and offsets.
When I first ran the program, I had to stop a few times to make adjustments to heights and other things.
The program runs through 5 tool changes, and moves around a foam block. Just to check that the offsets are staying the same and consistant through different tools and heights.
The first couple times I ran it, it was a slow process of getting through the first couple changes trying to adjust the offset for my tool heights.
I got to where I was making it through three or four changes successfuly.
All of the sudden, out of nowhere, upon exiting the third tool change the program stops on the m3.
I have tried everything I could think of. re-writing and re-ordering the gcodes and layout with no success.
I can place different lines in front of the m3, such as spindle speed or ytoo offset. The RPM's and offsets may work but it will stop on the m3, even if it's in the same line.
All the gcode is a copy and paste, one after the other, with only changing the tool numbers. Minus the beginning and end.
I just cannot understand why it would be working just fine  and then just stop working.
There is no errors or comunication in the history or error bar. It just stops and will not continue.

Has anyone dealt with or seen this before? Maybe have some ideas for me to try?

I would greatly appreciate some feedback.
I will attach the program as well.

Thanks in advance

10

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Programs won't continue after m6

« on: November 21, 2022, 08:57:07 AM »

Update: I got some awesome help from Trevor at NFS with this.
My problem comes down to the lack of knowledge using LUA.
I had alot of extra, useless stuff in my macro, plus I was missing a couple things I didn't even know about.
Trevor helped me get it cleaned up so that I was only accomplishing what I wanted.
I now have a working M6 macro.
I didn't know about the machine push & pop, and I'm still unsure about what it is, but I'm pretty sure that it is what is keeping my macro in the order it needed to be.

Now I just gotta get that tool offsets figured out.

Thanks Trevor and those of you that posted.