Topics

1

Mach4 General Discussion / Mach4, laptop & arduino controller

« on: August 04, 2016, 05:03:00 PM »

Have been using Mach3 for years with desktop computer and mid sized CNC machine.
Have purchased (not received yet) a Zen Toolworks 12X12 machine with the arduino controller package, have the following questions.

Will Mach4 work with the arduino board?
Will Mach4 run and address the controller from a laptop?
What would I need to accomplish the above?

If I have to stay with Mach3 and a smooth stepper I would have to purchase a Mach3 controllerbox
an additional $300.00 or so, and an additional Mach3 license.

Any help you guys can give me would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
jim 

2

General Mach Discussion / Lost printer port, Win7

« on: April 19, 2012, 10:37:59 AM »

I badly need some help, and the search function didn't turn up what I need. Background: Win7 Ultimate 32bit box dedicated exclusively to running my Zenbot with a PCI interface to the cnc box, worked fine for a year, let sit for 6 months and got a project doing a print catalog and wood trophies for a livestock show. My dedicated graphics PC went south and I had to do the catalog on my cnc control PC. When I attempted to print the catalog to my USB printer a dialog box appeared stating something like...port being used by another device do you want to ...   Being way behind deadline I clicked ok.

2 weeks later I loaded up my gcode and l discovered the PC will not communicate with the cnc machine  . Mach runs the project, you can follow it on the screen as it cuts, but the machine just sits there. When I initially installed the PCI card I did not install the included drivers (as per forum advice, use the Mach drivers) and don't want to now.

How can I reestablish communications without uninstalling/reinstalling Mach and losing all my configuration settings, I am getting way behind on this project and I'm not sure if just changing the port address will fix this, and I truly don't have a lot of cnc experience.

Thank you in advance for your time and assistance,

jim

3

General Mach Discussion / Newbie tool change help

« on: June 29, 2011, 11:20:07 AM »

I've been using my router for a few weeks now, just basic plaques and trophies not requiring any changes in bits. I now need to move on to more complicated pieces using more than one type of cutter, and I'm kinda in the dark on changing tools.

If I program a tool change (manual of course) into the gcode, I imagine I will have to rezero my Z axis to the material surface, this raises the following questions for me.

1. After zeroing, will I have to move the spindle back to the XYZ position it occupied when I stopped the machine, or will it remember where it was before I had to move it to rezero?

2. If not, will I have to rezero the entire job back to the original points when I initially set the job?

3. Can I have the machine stop cutting, return to the original job XY position, manually change tools, rezero the Z, then return to the position it stopped cutting and resume with the next operation?

I realize this is basic knowledge for most of you, but a search only returned information on ATC setups.

Thank you in advance for your assistance,
 
jim

4

Mach3 under Vista / Windows 7 config problems

« on: March 04, 2011, 12:40:04 AM »

Configuring Mach on Windows 7, using device manager to get port address of PCI parallel card it indicates a port address of EC03-EC07, this will not allow the port to work. Has anyone else had this situation, and how did you determine the actual address??

Win 7 runs programs better than Vista, but hides too many things from user access.

Thanks for your help.........I did search first.

jim