Topics

1

VB and the development of wizards / ATC built, need some macro help

« on: June 21, 2013, 12:32:12 AM »

I've finished building an ATC for my Denford Easimill 3, there are some pictures and info here:
http://coreyrenner.tumblr.com/

The macro is where I'm struggling.  I was hoping that I could use some of the macro commands in the MDI window to make it go, I discovered that you can't.  So, I made a quick fake macro that is intended to just run the changer through all of its movements, but it doesn't seem to do anything.  I replaced the M6start.m1a file with the stuff below.  I typed M6T1 into the MDI window and hit enter.  I was hoping that it would cycle itself.  Instead, I got the "Change tool and press cycle start" message.  Ok, need to tell Mach it's got an ATC, so in the general config, I changed it from "Stop Spindle and prompt for toolchange" to ATC.  Tried again, same message.  Just in-case I made a program like this:

N10 M6T1

and ran that.  Nada.  What am I missing?  Here's my crappo macro, the in/out pins are programmed correctly.  I'd appreciate any guidance.


ActivateSignal(Output12) 'Deploy Changer Cylinder
  While Not IsActive(OEMTRIG3) 'Changer Deployed Switch
  sleep(100)
  Wend
ActivateSignal(Output13) 'Slide In Cylinder
While Not IsActive(OEMTRIG5) 'Slide In Switch
  sleep(100)
  Wend
ActivateSignal(Output14) 'Drawbar Release and Proprod
While Not IsActive(OEMTRIG6) 'Drawbar Released
  sleep(100)
  Wend
ActivateSignal(Output15) 'Toolout Cylinder
While Not IsActive(OEMTRIG8) 'Tool out from Spindle
  sleep(100)
  Wend
'************************************************
'carousel rotation stuff goes here
sleep(5000)
'************************************************
DeActivateSignal(Output15) 'Tool back into spindle
While Not IsActive(OEMTRIG7) 'Tool back in spindle
  sleep(100)
  Wend
DeActivateSignal(Output14) 'Drawbar Grabs
While Not IsActive(OEMTRIG6) 'Drawbar has grabbed
  sleep(100)
  Wend
DeActivateSignal(Output13) 'Slide Out
While Not IsActive(OEMTRIG4) 'Slide is Out
  sleep(100)
  Wend
DeActivateSignal(Output12) 'ATC Retract
While Not IsActive(OEMTRIG2) 'ATC Retracted
  sleep(100)
  Wend

'///Subroutines///
'Sub ATCready
 'If IsActive(OEMTRIG2) And IsActive(OEMTRIG4) And Not IsActive(OEMTRIG6) And IsActive(OEMTRIG7) And IsActive(OEMTRIG9) Then
'End Sub
'MsgBox ("ATC NOT

2

VB and the development of wizards / Macro to rehome Z?

« on: June 06, 2013, 02:59:21 PM »

I've been building an automatic toolchanger for my mill.  Mechanically, it's now finished, I just need to add some sensors (waiting for UPS) and program it under Mach.  One issue is that my Z-axis shifts slightly as the power drawbar fires.  Since the toolchange happens right next to the home switch for the Z-axis, my plan is to rehome Z as the final step in the toolchange macro.  Can anyone tell me the actual lines of code needed to do this?

Here's info about conversion, there is a video of the ATC operating under manual-control part way down the page.

http://coreyrenner.tumblr.com/

Thanks for the help.

cheers,
c

3

SmoothStepper USB / Smooth Stepper: Versions? Where to buy?

« on: March 04, 2011, 03:58:30 PM »

I've been curious about the Smooth Stepper for a while now.  I'm thinking about getting one.  I notice that it's sold by:

Warp9td.com (r1.2) $155
cnc4pc.com (ss1) $165
homanndesigns.com (ss-01) $165

Are all three places selling the same version of the same board, or are there differences?  What's the best place to get one?

thanks,
v

4

General Mach Discussion / Upgrade Mach version now TOOL INFORMATION won't update

« on: May 31, 2010, 12:31:54 PM »

I've been running Mach3 v 2_45 for a long time, two years or so.  Everything worked well, so I hadn't upgraded in a while.  I recently upgraded to 3_042.040

On the old version, a tool change would update the "Tool Information" box on the Program Run screen to reflect the current tool in-use.  Since the upgrade, the "Tool Information" box does not update after a tool change.  So, if for example it was showing Tool 0 when I started running a program it will always show Tool 0 regardless of which tool it is actually using.  Tool offsets are still applied correctly, I just can't look at the screen to see which tool is in-use.  What happened?  How can I fix this?

I am running the same toolchange macro that I got from Art a long time ago that simply applies the offsets ( I do not have a working ATC yet.)  Here is the macro I run.

M6Start.m1s

GotoSafeZ()
DoSpinStop()
tool = GetSelectedTool()
Code "G43H"&tool
Message( "Press Cycle Start to Continue" )

Any guidance is appreciated.

thanks,
c