Topics

1

Machscreen Screen Designer / Disappearing buttons

« on: March 23, 2011, 05:42:06 PM »

I've developed a screen set with some buttons that sit on top of LED indicators. Sometimes the buttons disappear when the LED changes state, and they re-appear when the mouse is waved over the top. Any ideas ?

Tim

2

VB and the development of wizards / Dialog box - which button pressed

« on: February 25, 2011, 12:11:14 PM »

I'm struggling a bit to try to get some code to update a userlabel. Seems there are a few ways of doing this. So far I've found:

Method 1
      Qty = GetUserLabel(61)
      Qty = Question("Enter Quantity of Line " & ThisPriority)
      SetUserLabel(61,Qty)

But there is no way to pick up the current value of the label to use as a default - means the user has to type new every time

Method 2
      Begin Dialog TextBoxSample 16,30,180,96,"Enter Required Quantity"
         OKButton 132,20,40,14
         CancelButton 132,44,40,14
         Text 8,8,32,8,"Text Box:"
         TextBox 8,20,100,12,.TextBox1
      End Dialog

           Dim Dlg1 As TextBoxSample
      Button = Dialog ( Dlg1 )
           
      SetUserLabel ( 61,Dlg1.TextBox1 )

Same problem - I can't figure a way to show the current value, and the user has to click into the field before entering data

Method 3
      Default = GetUserlabel(61)
      Answer = InputBox$("Enter data", "Title", Default, 200, 200)
      SetUserLabel(61,Answer)

Now this one I like - but i can't crack the last bit - how to not update anything when cancel is pressed ! At the moment the contents of the label are wiped if cancel is pressed, and I'd liek them to be left alone !

The Cypress Enable manual is full of detail about how to construct dialogs, but there is a level of assumed knowledge about what to do with the output that I simply don't have !

Tim

3

General Mach Discussion / Spindle speed not changing until overide button pressed

« on: January 06, 2011, 06:38:22 PM »

Another interesting 'feature' that I've bashed up against.

our machine was working well during development, but recently I've generated a new profile cloned from a previous one. Now the spindle speed doesn't quite work as expected. M3 S400 turns it on, but only at the last running speed, it seems to ignore the s word for speed until a feedrate override button is pressed (163 or 164), and then the speed jumps to the speed requested.

not quite sure how to get round this one !

I will try issuing further S words in the morning to see if they change the speed in the same way as pressing the overide buttons.

I'll also try winding back to the previous configuration to see if that makes it work.

All other suggestinos welcome !

Tim

4

General Mach Discussion / G53 oddity

« on: January 04, 2011, 11:49:55 AM »

After previous experience with our older machine failing to move in fixture coordinates directly from home (complaints about soft limits) I added G0 G53 Z-1 and G0 G53 X-1Y-1 to the beginning of the code. This worked a treat.
We now have a second machine, and it's running a newer version of Mach3. Things seem to be different ! On the newer machine the G0 G53 Z-1 command does send the head to Z = -1 in machine coordinates, but on the first run after Mach3 startup it also sends the X and Y axes right across the bed, which is around 500mm travel. They happily then move back to machine coords -1 on the next command. These commands are being issued from a Vb button, with the While/WEnd loop between them. Further runs after the complete script is run do not elicit the same behaviour ! On this machine, I can simply remove these preparatory moves from the script and it seems happy to run in fixture coordinates right from the get-go.

Any ideas ? I was more than a little surprised to see X and Y movement as a result of a Z command !

I cannot upgrade the software on the previous machine as it is being run in a locked down environment, and any software changes will probably need extensive verificaiton testing.

if anybody wants the complete set of xml/set/bmp/macro/fixture.dat/gcode I can send it !

Tim

5

Screen designer tips and tutorials / Read only DRO

« on: January 02, 2011, 05:49:19 PM »

Is there a way to restrict users from selecting a DRO - ie making it read only ? i have several DROs on the screen of our bespoke production machine that show aspects of the machien performance. it is not necessary for the operator to update these, and could in fact be undesireable.

I've tried dropping a blank image button over the top, with code to pop up and info message explaining 'don't mess with this', and that works for all areas except the DROs, where clicking simply selects them anyway !

I have pretty much all the mach3 screen editors, so if anyone has a suggestion for any of these I'd love to try it !

Tim

6

Machscreen Screen Designer / Machscreen file name history

« on: November 11, 2010, 07:24:12 AM »

Anyone else seen discrepancies in file name histories ?

When I'm workign on screen sets the file history shown in the file menu doesn't always seem right ? Several times recently I've opened up the editor and looked in the list and it is very out of date, definitely not showing the list of files saved/accessed in my last editting session.

Also there's a macro command that has recently been made available to get the screen set filename (GetActiveScreenSetName() ). This is dead handy, as it allows me to show on screen the loaded screen set asa reminder. Somehow the screen sets produced by MachScreen don't always respond to this command with the right identifier, reporting earlier filenames (possibly one or two versions earlier) Opeing and saving the file using Mach3screen fixes this.

None of this is important, more of interest than concern !

Tim

7

Machscreen Screen Designer / Machscreen creates corrupt files ?

« on: November 03, 2010, 09:50:50 AM »

I've used Machscreen a couple of times, and have been very happy witht eh improvements over previous editors. But sadly I am having to go back to Mach3Screen at the moment because there are no garantees that the .set files are readable. I've used machscreen to develop a screen set for a piece of lab equipment we're using, and have been saving versions along the way. Just recently I have made some mods to the layout and code and then saved a new version. The mods were to add some additional DROs to the screen. No code or anything.

This version crashes Mach when I load it, starting with an error message saying 'An attempt was made to access an unnamed file past its end', and then when Mach is closed there is a message box sitting behind, showing ' Error found, Art Code 9991, Attempt Recovery? with yes/no buttons. Yes doesn't clear it, and no leads to the MS erorr mesasge about closign due to a problem.

The file cannot be opend in Screen4 'Unexpected file format' or mach3screen 'Unexpected file format' and MS error message.
It also cannot be opened in machscreen, showing 'unexpected end of file'.

I'd welcome your comments about what i'm doing wrong ?

The file attached is an .sset file which has been renamed to .set temporarily so that it can be attached, but the effect is the same if the file is saved as .set or .lset from machscreen.


Tim

8

Machscreen Screen Designer / Horizontal slider DRO format string ?

« on: October 15, 2010, 06:28:12 AM »

Anybody able to help out with the format of the DRO string ?

I've picked up that 'H' is the high limit, 'L' is the low limit and 'D' also shows the value and there must be a number format on the end to make it work. Anybody know what the other letters mean ?

Tim

9

VB and the development of wizards / activate macro when input is triggered

« on: March 11, 2010, 12:50:14 PM »

OK, so I found the following in a post, which is fine, except I'm stuck right at the beginning. I'm not sure where the 'trigger code box' is for option 1. I'm scared of writing a brain - out goes number 2, and I can't find anywhere to tell me which command to use to access the input in a macro. I'm assuming it must be something like GetInput (INPUT1) ?

All help welcome - I've been creating screens and simple macros for a while, but it's time to go a little further ! We're using Mach to drive lab rigs, and it's working a treat, but I want to use a couple of hardware buttons to do certain things.

Tim



you can do it three ways..... for example macro  "M333.m1s"

1).  Put OEM code 301 into your trigger code box next to the OEM input your bringin in. Then put SetTriggerMacro(333) into your init line under general.

2) you can use Brains: put the same init line above, then have your imput map to the terminator under buttons "execute button script"

3). You can have Macro pump watch for your trigger input to go hot, then in an if statement it can run the macro as a Code Call.

here is a Macro that does what you want.

M333.m1s

If GetOEMLED(800) Or Not GetOEMLED(999) Then  'machine in estop or not moving so reset and load run file
   If GetOEMLED(800) Then  'if in reset
   DoOEMButton(1021)   'push reset
   End If
   Code("G4 P0.5")      'Pause here is required from first boot up to give time from reset
   While IsMoving()   'time to complete code/move
   Wend
   If Not GetOEMLED(999) Then   'if machine is NOT moving (note 804 "run led" doesnt work well)
   DoOEMButton(1022)   'Home the X
   DoOEMButton(1023)   'Home the y
   While IsMoving()   'time to complete code/move
   Wend
   Loadrun("C:/Mach3/GCode/mygcodefile.TAP") 'this will load and execute this file replace with your path and file
   Message("   Hey Wife, I will let you spend alot of money at walmart if you cut the grass and paint the house")
   End If
Else
 If GetOEMLED(999) Then  'If machine is moving
 Message("     Currently Running a Part!, see if wife finished with Grass and house")
 End If
End If

'Note you will need to push the "clear" button to clear the
'messages it is next to the Reset button

'sample G code file is attached in match it to the above directory.
'the macro M333.m1s is also attached to this post

'enjoy, and welcome to the support group

'Scott S