Topics

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Mach4 General Discussion / Master Tool 1 or Probe for Tool 1 in Tool Table

« on: August 25, 2018, 07:49:23 AM »

I'm confused about the use of Tool#1 in the Tool Table.  Once I Calibrate my 3D Probe, the length offset is placed into Tool#1 in the Tool Table.  So, do I use this length offset for my master tool when setting up my different tools for my project, or can I put this tool length for my Probe into a different Tool # in the table?  I tried entering the Tool # into the Current Tool window on the operation screen before doing the probe calibration, but that didn't do anything.  It still put the probe length into Tool #1 even though I put tool #31 into the Current tool display.  Should I have issued an M6 T31 into the MDI window prior to probe calibration to set the Current tool to #31?  Also, going forward, when I do probing with this probe, will I have to set the current tool to #31 before I set my work coordinates so that Mach4 knows the length of the probe, or is all that info saved in the .inf file after the probe calibration?

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Mach4 General Discussion / History Window Display Changes Font Size

« on: August 19, 2018, 08:07:56 PM »

My Mach4 desktop running on a Win7 Pro communicating to an ESS will change the text size being displayed in the small History window at the bottom of the Operation Screen.  You look at the picture I attached, and you can barely see the text.  When I open the History panel, I can read the History text as usual.  I don't know how why this is happening.  It seems to occur following some errors during probing routines.  Has anyone ever experienced this before?  It doesn't cause any functional problems, but it's disconcerting.  What else may be going wrong.  I just reloaded Mach4 fresh to reset it, and the font came back to normal after the reload.  But it has happened again.

3

Mach4 General Discussion / Problem running XY Offset Calibration Probe

« on: July 13, 2018, 11:55:13 AM »

My first post here in this forum.  I'm just getting my home-built CNC machine running.  I'm using Win7 64bit with 4GB of RAM and a Corei5 processor running Mach4 Hobby at the 3804 level and an ESS Plugin at 220.  I'm using a 6-axis screen set.  I have a bore gauge 1.89955 inches that I'm using for this.  When I start the XY Offset Calibration, it starts the probing process, I will get at the most 3 of 4 strikes of the probe on the first side of the 4 that this probing process wants to do on this bore gauge.  I then get this message in the History Display: Can't transition from PROBING to OPERATION.  after Mach4 goes Disabled.  I have run the demo G-code programs that come with Mach4 through this machine in testing, so I know this machine is somewhat functional.  I just don't get why this probing function is giving me problems.  I'm seeing the G31 probe light up when the probe hits.  My probing signals seem to be working.  I'm using a 3D Probe for my G31 probe.  I've tried reinstalling 3804 and completely reconfiguring my profile, I even tried installing 3805 Beta to see if that makes any difference.  Are there any other files that MACH4 might save elsewhere other than the MACH4Hobby folder on the C: drive that might be causing me problems?  When I reinstalled, I renamed the MACH4 Hobby folder on C:, and let the reinstall build a new MACH4 Hobby and then reconfigured my profile and copy over the license file.  Wondering if anyone else has had a similar issue with this probe routine.  Any thoughts would be appreciated.