Topics

1

Mach4 General Discussion / Can't match Mach4 spindle commands to actual spindle speeds

« on: July 29, 2022, 09:02:08 PM »

This may not be a Mach4 issue and instead with either ESS (Smoothstepper) or PMDX but questions on the PMDX forum has been met with crickets so far so I’m going to try here.

We have ab AVID 4848STD CNC and upgraded from a router to a 220V water cooled spindle running off a Huanwang VFD. Also running a PMDX-126 BoB with a PMDX-107 spindle driver board. The conversion went reasonably well and the PMDX-107 calibration was spot on giving us just under maximum spindle speed (24000rpm) on the top end and just a bit over the minimum (8000rpm) on the low (30%) end. Spindle start, stop, reverse controls are working but our problem is with the speed settings. We can’t get the Mach4 speed settings to reasonably match the actual spindle speeds. With a tachometer we measured these discrepancies.

S23900  turns the spindle at 23961
S20000          "                    23961
S17500          "                    21420
S15000          "                    18365
S12000          "                    14665
S9000            "                    10970
S8000            "                      9740

I believe all our ESS,126,107and VFD settings are good as all else is working fine and the actual pin or jumper settings are consistent with documentation and settings noted in other threads in the PMDX forum.

Could this be a setting in Mach4 that we’re missing? I’m attaching both the Mach4 and ESS spindle control screens with our current settings for reference.

Thanks

2

Mach4 General Discussion / New MDI input behavior

« on: July 22, 2022, 07:20:01 PM »

Just converted from a router to a spindle on my AVID CNC and the MDI input feature seems to have changed. When I had the router I could place GCode commands (mostly M3 & M5) into the MDI input area and see all executed. Now with the spindle in place (PMDX-126 & PMDX-107) I can input multiple speed change settings but once I input an M3 the MDI input is locked and I have to use the disable button to turn off the spindle. All these MDI inputs were part of the integration and troubleshooting process. Anyone know what's causing this?

Thanks

3

General Mach Discussion / Problem converting from router to spindle

« on: July 19, 2022, 03:31:03 PM »

We're running an AVID 4848 STD with Mach4 and the Smoothstepper and it'been fine. Both the router and the dust collector started up with M3 which sent a 5v signal from the PMDX-126 to a relay for both. However we decided to upgrade to a spindle and with a new mount from AVID for the spindle we easily got the VFD and spindle installed and working. Where we're stuck is getting Mach4 to control the spindle. We did add the PMDX-107 spindle control board onto the PMDX-126 and we know the wiring is correct to the VFD and we've made what we believe are the correct adjustments in the Smoothstepper plugin and Mach4 controls to recognize the VFD/Spindle but we're having no luck getting it to work. If anyone happens to have a setup like this and has it working we'd appreciate a review of the Smoothstepper and Mach4 settings. On the other hand this may be a PMDX setup problem and while we've set the jumpers and switches on both the 126 and 107 per instructions, I'll be reaching out to them as well with this same request for assistance.

Thanks

4

Mach4 General Discussion / Using M2xx codes

« on: January 31, 2022, 02:39:48 PM »

I had a question in the plugins forum about "Parts Finished" and Alarm conditions but I'm realizing that it really isn't about ESS. The initial question was asking what event triggers a Parts Completed condition. Initial thoughts were an M2 or M30 in the Gcode but that didn't work. We wanted to send output to a Port/Pin when this condition was met.
However we found what seemed a clearer alternative, to use the M200 or M220 codes to trigger an Output condition, which we could tie to a pinout. But including an M200 or M220 S0 D200 in our GCode just prior to the final M30 does not turn on Output 0 on the Mach4 diagnostic screen. Neither does just entering either of these M codes in the MDI screen. We must be missing somethigs. Can someone help?

5

Mach4 Plugins / Sending Mach4 output conditions as text messages

« on: January 30, 2022, 12:05:17 PM »

We're a Makers space with a donated AVID 4x4 CNC router. We have experienced CNC users and will have newbies who will be trained/guided/supervised but we expect will have accidents, hopefully minor. We have an idea to use an Arduino with an SMS shield to report output conditions to support staff who may not be at the machine while it is being used by the operator. It's an AVID controller with an ESS Smoothstepper.
The question here is what conditions trigger the Alarm and Parts Competed outputs?

Is Parts Completed simply the execution of the last line of G Code or is there another trigger for this condition? And what condition toggles this output off?

What conditions can create an Alarm output?

My apologies if this information is contained somewhere in the Mach4 documentation but if so, we haven't found it yet.

I know it's a weird question, but this is collective is filled with hackers and makers.

Thanks

6

Mach4 General Discussion / Machine boundaries not displaying on toolpath display

« on: October 09, 2021, 03:20:53 PM »

Just upgraded from build 4300 to 4612 and a new PC. Importing the 4300  profile with a few minor tweaks got everything back in running order but my machine boundaries are not displayed on the toolpath screen as they were in build 4300. Soft limits are enabled and the Min and Max distances are also set. Is there some other setting to toggle on the machine boundaries?

7

Mach4 General Discussion / X&Y offsets for my touchplate

« on: October 09, 2021, 09:55:23 AM »

I’m using Mach4 build 4612 with the ESS Ethernet Smoothstepper version 275 and the touchplate attached to this message

I’m using the Touch button with the Z and edge finding X-- and Y-- operations.

In all touch actions the probe finds the surface and retracts with new X, Y and Z coordinates.

For Z when I drive to 0  the tool is exactly on the surface and this makes sense because the Z offset for the touch plate is an input value.

However when I drive the X and Y axis to 0 they are both .5” offset from the workpiece corner.

Where does that .5 come from?   This touch plate has the X and Y touch off surfaces co-planar with the work surface so I would expect that any offset value should be 0.0. The only way I can get a correct X and Y zero location on the workpiece after a touch off it to input -0.5 Work Shift offsets in the fixture table.

So, the key question is why if I have no fixture offsets, my X and Y axis 0 locations after the touch offs are 0.5” incorrect?

Thanks in advance for any help here.

8

Mach4 General Discussion / Mach4 and my Sherline Mill , can't get the motor settings right

« on: October 30, 2015, 06:30:40 PM »

I'm using ESS and a Leadshine 3660. I think the ESS is configured properly as I can jog my X Axis  + & - but the motor is stuttering and freezing seemingly no matter how I fiddle with the Mxch 4 motor tuning settings. On the 3660 I have it set to 200 steps/Rev with an RMS current of 2.0. These are pretty standard NEMA 23 (23KM-K035-62V) steppers with a 1.8 degree step angle and a current rating of 2.0A. Anyone have a recommendation for the Mach 4 motor settings. I have a nice trapezoid at 600 counts/unit, a velocity of 100 and acceleration of 14 but the motor sounds like its about to fly apart.

9

SmoothStepper USB / ESS and MX3660 - Spindle on and e-stop difficulties

« on: September 24, 2015, 04:20:55 PM »

I'm on Mach4,  using ESS and the Ldadshine MX3660 and almost everything is working well now with two exceptions. Should mention that this is for an Inventables X-Carve and my spindle is a Dewalt 611 router.

2. I've enabled ESS Port 2 pin 17 with the spindle on function with X in active low. In Mach 4 in Outout signals the Spindle On feature is pointing to ESS and the Spindle on function. My MX 3660 is configured to look at pin 17 for an output that goes to a relay that powers the Dewalt. Generating an M3 in Mach does turn on Spindle on and Spindle forward in machine diagnostics but that's all it get. There's no output in pin 17 of Port 2 of ESS and of course nothing coming out of the 3660.

2. Executing an estop on the MX3660 does stop the motors but Mach doesn't see it and keeps running the gcode. In the Mach 4 Input Signals tab I have the estop feature pointing to the estop function in ESS. But nothing is happening.

Bear with me I'm very new at this so maybe I've completely fat fingered it but can anyone assist?

Thanks