Topics

1

Brains Development / How to setup brain for Estop with motor feedback on clearpath?

« on: August 04, 2015, 05:09:32 PM »

I have been playing around with a brain to enable a clearpath motor with feedback signal. Basically I need to send an enable signal to the clearpath motor and when the motor is enabled I get a signal back from the motor (feedback). The feedback signal will transition from on (5v) to off (0v) if the motor stops working ie a crash.

I have been semi successful in the setup as I used the enable signals from mach to drive the enable signals of the motors. The feedback does change and when a crash happens ( I did this on purpose) I can cause an estop to happen. What I am concerned with is that with this setup I boot up mach 3 and the motors are coming up ready and feeback is active. I want to start in a reset state. Anybody have any experience in this area? Also it would be nice to have some sort of message pop up with information as to what axis caused the alarms.


Jim.

2

General Mach Discussion / Spindle index pulse question for Mach 3 Turn.

« on: October 02, 2014, 08:44:06 AM »

I am getting ready to add an index signal to my cnc lathe. I have not made anything up yet a decided to do some research. I noticed that in the Mach 3 turn manual that a 4 slot optical disc was used. I also noticed that several threads here state that Mach will now only use one index pulse. Could someone please clarify?

Also was wondering if the optical sensor is the best way to go? I am already familiar with them so it would not be hard. Just looking for best solution.

I should point out that I am using a Smoothstepper ESS and a PMDX 126. I don't believe that I will have an issue with setup and the PMDX can stretch the index pulse if needed.

thanks for any information.

Jim.

3

General Mach Discussion / Brains and MPG from CNC4pc.

« on: July 02, 2013, 07:15:49 PM »

I have had my MPG for a few years now and set it aside when I could not get my MPG to work like they should. I used the brains examples provided by CNC4PC and was not happy. I recently dug it back out and attached it to my Smooth Stepper ESS and got it working again. I am much more familiar with brains now and fixed a few issues I was having. First of all I used the inputs from the MPG to drive continues on off timers that pulsed on and off every second. This fixes a possible read of an oem button getting activated. If Mach misses the signal the first time, it comes back within the next second or two. This completely fixed that bug. The next issue that I have is that when I am in MPG mode motion is too choppy at lower speeds or multiple single steps. I have tried using both step and muti step and both are too choppy. Can anyone give me any hits on how to smooth this out? I was wondering if it would be possible to play with ACC/Dec temporarily while the MPG is on.

Any information would be great.

By the way, in its current state this MPG is tons better than any pendant that runs through a keyboard interface.

Jim.

4

Feature Requests / Profile exporting on loader

« on: November 27, 2011, 09:13:18 PM »

Just wonder if there could be some way to easily export all settings, macros, and any other information directly related to a profile. Some sort of file or series of files that can be imported back into Mach if settings are screwed up or moving profile from one PC to another.


thanks, Jim.

5

VB and the development of wizards / What ready materials should I buy?

« on: August 14, 2010, 09:34:42 AM »

I was just wondering what bood I should get to help me learn VB for writing script. I have downloaded the Macro pdf however this is reference material and not for a proressive way of learning the language.

thanks, Jim.

6

General Mach Discussion / Newest ver 3.42.12 running without cycle start.

« on: July 31, 2010, 09:35:12 AM »

I have loaded the newest ver. of Mach3 and am now having issues. I have tested this on two computers and ruled out the smooth stepper. When I load a program and the go into MDI mode, I type in G0X0, the program starts to run. Not good. Has anyone else had this issue? I guess I will need to install an older ver.

thanks, Jim.

7

SmoothStepper USB / SS Will not run sub programs correctly with m98

« on: May 19, 2009, 04:41:22 PM »

When I run Mach3 with the smooth stepper active my program will not run. It will generate the tool path the first time but I can't regenerate the tool path. When I cycle start the program I can't get past the M98 sub program call. If I load the same profile without the smooth stepper selected and by selecting the printer port my program runs and displays correctly. Does anyone have these issues or know what is wrong? The test code I used is as follows:

G0 X0 Y0 Z1 A0
M98 P100
G0 A 90
M98 P100
G0 A180
M98 P100
G0 A270
M98 P100
M30

O100
G1 Z -.125
G1 X5
G0 Z1
X0
M99

thanks, Jim.

8

SmoothStepper USB / Mach 3 going into E-stop or reset when I edit G-code

« on: May 12, 2009, 09:59:39 AM »

I have configured the smooth stepper on a couple of computers with the Gecko G540 controller. When I edit g-code in mach3 and close edit window Mach 3 will reset or E-stop. Can anyone tell me how to fix this?

thanks, Jim.