Topics

1

Mach4 General Discussion / Mach 4 V2 Windows 10

« on: December 29, 2015, 09:59:43 AM »

Gents,

I have done extensive testing of Mach 4 V2 on 3 machines. All running Win 10 PRO. Home will NOT work. Here are some things to ensure there are no interference's from Windows 10 PRO on Mach:

1. Make sure that Smart Screen is turned OFF. (MOST IMPORTANT) Mach will crash and stall. Fail to restart without reboot. In Control Panel go to Security settings. Find Smart Screen. Set to OFF. This causes issues when you shutdown Mach and do not reboot. Why? Because WIN 10 thinks Mach is an internet program. Go Windows.... Lol.
2. Set your App security to allow anything. WIN 10 Pro allows this. Home... Not so much. It is under user security.
3. The glorious Windows Defender App. You cannot turn it off directly. You must disable the service.
4. AVG Anti-Virus works fine and does not screw with Mach 4 V2. Most others do. They are too intrusive. Skinny is best.
5. Make sure you do NOT use compatibility modes. Under the program properties menu. Right click Mach icon.
6. Set in the program security settings to always run as admin.


As I complete the testing I will post more. But, overall the performance difference from XP, and 8.1 are leaps and bounds better. I think that maybe Billy got it right this time. But, the jury is still out. 

Don

2

Mach4 General Discussion / Dual Channel Output TP

« on: August 05, 2015, 05:08:48 PM »

Brian,

Are there any plans or current implementations of dual channel cnc control in M4. I have an application that requires 2 heads. Means I have 2 x's, 2 y's.... I would need to be able sync the 2 channels via MCODE or other function. Basically a 2 spindle machine for high production. I am considering Fanuc for this but if you see a way to do it in Mach, I am all in.

TP,

What do you think? Having it done with 2 FPGA's is easy but then you have 2 Mach's running. One Mach, 2 FPGA's??? Possible. 

3

Mach4 General Discussion / G65 Macro Calls

« on: July 23, 2015, 03:45:26 PM »

I have a few questions in regard to G65.

1. Is it an external program call? In other words by programming G65 P9001 will the program go find that program in the directory and then run it. Once complete return to the main program. This works with most CNC machine controls. Just wondering if Mach 4 acts the same.

It works if I do it in parallel with the main like so,

Some code....
G65 P9001
more code
M30

O9001
some code...
M99

Buy if I do not include that O9001 in the main program it simply runs right past it.

How do I do an external program call?

Any help would be fantastic.

4

Mach4 General Discussion / M4 - PoKeys Binary Selector Switch Working

« on: March 18, 2015, 02:29:28 PM »

All,

I have been able to create a way in which to use binary coded switches for FRO, RRO, SPO. I asked several Lua hackers about doing it straight through Lua code and they said sure if you write your own C library to read the binary and covert to a BCD. The easier way if you have PoKeys is to use the Bits - Byte function in PoBlocks.

I have attached my PoBlocks program.

Insert a DRO wherever you want. Set it to use PoKeys shared register 0-10 which you would choose in PoBlocks. Set it to %4.0f for format. Set the width to 5. Set it to hide. Make sure it is enabled. Name it binFRO.

Here I made a 1px jpeg and inserted that in place of the standard wxgage so I can control the colors... This will cause the graphic to grow across the screen according to the value of the FRO amount. Works great.

Insert this chunk into the PLC script:

    local inst = mc.mcGetInstance();
    local FRODRO = scr.GetProperty("binFRO", "Value");
    frodrov = tonumber(FRODRO);
    mc.mcCntlSetFRO(inst, frodrov);
    frogage = tostring(FRODRO);
    scr.SetProperty("gagetest", "Width", frogage);

5

Mach4 General Discussion / Timers - Am I crazy

« on: March 18, 2015, 02:10:25 PM »

I am somewhat confused as to how to implement a timer in Lua.

For my lube cycle (way lube pump) I need an on time and off time. Once the off time is exceeded turn on outputxx. When on time exceeded turn off outputxx. I tried the wxMilliSleep but it locks down the control during the timing and since this is a timing loop the control continuosly loops and is locked from any functionality.

As a test I tried this and it does what I said above: (Inserted in the PLC)

ActivateSignalTime = 5000

if (machEnabled == 1) then
    runLube()
end   

function runLube()
    local inst = mc.mcGetInstance()
    hsig1,rc = mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst, mc.OSIG_OUTPUT1)
    mc.mcSignalSetState(hsig1, 1)
    wx.wxMessageBox("Output 1 On")
   wx.wxMilliSleep(ActivateSignalTime)
   mc.mcSignalSetState(hsig1, 0)
   wx.wxMessageBox("Output 1 Off")
end

Although crude it does as stated above. Any ideas Scott?

6

Mach4 General Discussion / Question About Lua and Mach4

« on: March 02, 2015, 02:37:23 PM »

In my experience (26 years+) working with Fanuc and Siemens operators prefer the more tactile feel of rotary selector switches for feed, rapid, and spindle overrides. Most of the time these are binary. Simple enough. The logic to do this in Lua seems straight forward. But, once I have taken the binary and converted it to BCD how do I tell Mach4 the new value. I am creating an operator pendant with these 3 selector switches and need the code to make them function.

In Mach3 there were Brains and DRO's. Now I am a little confused. Looking through the LuaCalls.txt file I see: rc, percent = mc.mcCntlGetFRO(number mInst). Which I assume will gather the current value??? But, how do I PUT the value???

Am I missing something?

I would appreciate anyone offering some help.