Topics

1

Mach4 General Discussion / New to Mach4, a few questions.

« on: February 23, 2023, 06:45:58 PM »

Hi all,

Mach3 for a decade, now Mach4 for the last week.

1 - Is it possible to set up the built-in keyboard addon to control jog amount? For example, + and - keys to adjust from 1.000 to 0.001 in increments?

2 - With Mach3, I was able to configure the Xbox360 plugin to use the variable triggers to control the jog rate, but I don't find that to be available in the Mach4 version. If that's not part of the plugin, do you think it would be possible to add that functionality through LUA?

3 - What do *you* use for a controller? Keyboard & mouse, Xbox Controller, MPG Pendant, or something else? I've been using the Xbox360 plugin on Mach3 for years, but I'm willing to learn something new if #2 isn't an option.

Thanks,
Z

2

Mach4 General Discussion / Trying Mach 4 for the first time, Gcode won't load, fine in Mach 3

« on: April 16, 2020, 06:27:20 PM »

Hi all,

I've been using Mach 3 for a long time, got the bug today to look into how far development for Mach 4 has come. I downloaded the demo version today.

I wrote a program years back that sorts and separates tools from multiple programs, then compiles all the gcode back into a single file, with a probing routine and math to adjust the Z for uneven materials. I've used my custom software for years, it works very well with Mach 3, but Mach 4 gets stuck at "Tool path progress" while opening the gcode file. I don't get any errors, it just hangs. If I push cancel during loading, the gcode is all in the window, but there's no preview, and I can't run the code.

I tried poking at it a bit, but haven't found what's causing it yet, so I thought I'd ask here.

Here's a sample code, with just a single program with probing.
https://pastebin.com/Xx7P0bge

Thanks,
Z

3

General Mach Discussion / G31 Probing with G68 Rotation enabled

« on: April 17, 2018, 11:34:53 AM »

Hello again everyone

I've noticed, if I use a G68A0B0R90 command, or if I enter a value into the "Local System Rotated" box on the MDI screen, when the probing starts (G31Z0, or auto tool zero on the main screen), the Z axis doesn't behave like it does without the G68 command enabled.

When the G68 is enabled, the Z does move down, but slower than normal, and both the X and Y axis sort of 'drift' away from the spot the probe command was initiated at.

Is there some way to change this behavior, so only Z moves during the probe?

Thanks!
Z

4

General Mach Discussion / G28 moves twice, not understanding why.

« on: April 16, 2018, 06:38:11 PM »

Hello all,

This isn't really that important in the grand scheme of things, but I'm curious why this happens.

At the end of my gcode, which uses several different G52 offsets, I've got this:

Code: [Select]

G28Z0
M44 (----------------------vac disable)
G52X0Y0
G0X0
G28Y0

Basically it moves to the center of my jig in X, then uses G28Y0 to bring the cutter closer for a manual tool change. This all works well enough, but for some reason, the G28Y0 moves the Y axis back to the center of the jig first, before eventually changing direction, and making its way to the actual Y axis home switch.

It doesn't hurt anything, it's just wasted movement. Any ideas why this happens?

If it makes any difference, I am using Fixture 1 (G54), with its X0Y0 being the center of a jig.

Thanks,
Z

5

General Mach Discussion / Jog keys disabled during tool change?

« on: September 25, 2017, 01:00:27 PM »

Hello all,

I've done a lot of searching about this, it seems it should be simple, but nothing has worked so far.

I can jog around just fine when I start Mach3. I load a program, run it, get to the first tool change, and the jog keys no longer do anything. I need to be able to jog to manually zero the next cutter. The "Jog ON/OFF" button is green, the keybinds are all still fine. The only way I can get the keys to work is is to press "GOTO ZERO", which is not what I want to happen. I have another machine, running the same version that doesn't behave like this. I've compared the general config settings between the two machine, and I don't see any difference. I'm sure I'm just missing a setting somewhere.

This just recently started happening, I don't know what changed. The last things I was working on was setting up a charge pump, and enable pin for my motor drivers. That all works fine.

I've attached my XML file, if it helps. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Z

6

General Mach Discussion / VFD Spindle responds to S commands, but only sometimes.

« on: September 18, 2017, 09:25:10 PM »

Hi again everyone,

I've got another machine I've been working on, and I've run into a new problem I've never seen before.

If I start the VFD spindle, and issue S2300, the spindle speed goes to 2300. Issuing S4000 (or any speed for that matter) adjusts the spindle speed as expected, however any subsequent S commands do not change the RPM at all, and will not, until I turn the spindle off, and back on again, using the button, or an M5 command. The RPM slider also seems to become unresponsive at this point, as well.

I've verified that this happens not only when running the commands in MDI, but also running a test program. After two S commands (sometimes after just the first S command), the spindle stops responding to changes.

I updated Mach3 to the most current version, but the issue persists. I also hooked an oscilloscope to the VFD PWM output pin, and no change is being made to the signal by Mach3 when asking for an RPM change.

My next step is to start a new profile and re-configure everything, but before I go through all that, I thought I'd ask about it.

Any thoughts?
Thanks, Z

7

General Mach Discussion / Mach3 + USBSmoothstepper + G540 VFD 10v output?

« on: April 24, 2017, 12:37:23 PM »

Hello again everyone

I have a 220v 2.2kw Huan Yang VFD. I have it successfully under the control of Mach3.

I'm using Mach3, and a USB Smoothstepper connected to a Gecko G540.

I have tested the VFD manually, and confirmed that it will reach 24000 rpm using the front panel controls.

My only problem is, the output pin for the VFD from the G540 (pin 8 ) never goes all the way to 10vdc. I have my #1 pulley configured as 12000 min, 24000 max. If I measure the voltage on this output pin, as I increase the requested rpm, the voltage gradually increases from 0v to just over 5v, but never reaches 10v. The result is, the spindle never goes above about 16000 RPM.

I have verified the ground and +10vDC on the VFD connections.

I've tried changing the VFD to use the 0-5v range instead of 0-10v, but this seems like a band-aid fix, and I'm having troubles getting the requested RPM to match the actual RPM when I tried this.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!
Z

8

General Mach Discussion / Ok, now what did I bump?

« on: April 04, 2017, 01:33:00 PM »

Hello all,

Since the dawn of time (well, maybe slightly less than that), when I pushed start after a tool change, my spindle would start, then it would move directly to where it needed to start the next cut, and it would run the next tool path, as expected.

As of a couple days ago, it has changed. Now, after a tool change, the spindle does not start, which scared me to death, then it moves at a slower rate, back to the position it was at when the last tool path ended. The spindle then starts, dwell is activated, and it moves to start the next tool path. It works, but not the same way it used to.

I've compared the settings in Mach3 to my other machine, and I'm not finding what is different. My gcode files have not changed, in fact, some are several years old.

Any guess as to what I might have changed to cause this change in behavior? About the only thing I've changed in settings recently was g54 commands.

Thanks,
Z

9

General Mach Discussion / G28 command causes "Soft limit exceeded" message.

« on: March 21, 2017, 04:44:33 PM »

Hello all,

On my 3 axis mill, I have home switches on X, Y and Z.

Soft limits have been configured, and appear to work as expected. The problem comes when the program runs the G28 command.

After homing all axes to zero, (Z zero is home, downward travel is negative) using G28 causes "Soft limit exceeded" to appear in the status box on the main screen, after the Z axis gets to the home position. No soft limit popup box appears when starting the program, and the Z did not trigger the home switch.  Once this happens, the code will not continue. I get the error even with the home switch disconnected.

I can run the same program with soft limits disabled, and it will run just fine.

I can duplicate the problem by homing, jogging away from the home switches, and running a G28 in the MDI screen.

Any thoughts on this? I've done hours of research, but haven't found a solution.

Thanks,
Z

10

General Mach Discussion / Completely disable G43 tool length compensation / offset

« on: December 10, 2016, 08:15:09 PM »

Hi folks,

I've been using Mach 3 for many years, and from time to time I've run into this problem, but lately it's becoming more of an issue, since we're very busy.

I do not, and never have used tool length offsets. All of the entries in the tool table (should) be zero. I use a touch plate for zeroing my Z.

My Gcode processor puts out a G43 command for every tool change, in thousands of files, and normally everything works fine. Occasionally, a tool offset will appear in the table, that I did not put it there. It's seemingly random. Sometimes the offset is on one tool, sometimes on another, completely unrelated to the first. Sometimes the offset is 1 mm, sometimes 3mm, other times it's over 10mm! I just don't know where they come from!

I can run the same two files all day long, and suddenly, in the middle of a batch, this stupid tool offset appears in the tool table, changes my over all depth of cut, breaks a blade, ruins the part, or often causes a crash from cutting too deep.

It's our busy season, and short of doing a re-install of Mach 3, I'm at a loss what to do next. I'm aware of the offsets menu, and the Tool Offset LED is off. Normally, all the entries in that screen are zero. When I see this problem occur, I DO see the offset in the Z Offset box on the right side of that screen.

Is there some way to completely disable the tool length offset? Any other ideas?

Thanks!
Z