Topics

1

Mach4 General Discussion / Remove USB button

« on: December 09, 2019, 09:22:41 AM »

Hi guys,

Is it possible to setup a physical button to safely remove a USB stick?
Would be neat to have one next to the USB port, instead of going through task bar on windows.

2

Mach4 General Discussion / Popup - "Configure a correct IP adress"

« on: August 16, 2019, 04:09:05 PM »

Hi,

We are getting this pop-up telling us "Check the device configuration - configure a correct IP adress"
However, the IP is correct for our setup. Mach and ESS can communicate and the machine works. It's just quite annoying getting this at every startup.

I think we are using 4.2.0.3882 + ESS plugin V245.

According to W9TD, this isn't an ESS popup, leaving me with no other options than it is Mach that throws them.

Suggestions or is it possible to tweak the code for next release?

Regards

3

Mach4 General Discussion / Dynamic milling, slipping axis/missing steps?

« on: March 12, 2019, 04:42:19 PM »

Hello,

We're using Mach 4+ESS (latest stable, official release, 3804 i beleive) with ESS plugin 220.
The machine is a 1986 years DynaMyte 4400 with stepper motors that are rated 2000 Velocity, however we don't have official values for acceleration from Dyna.

We have tested with 2000vel/500acc, and machine starts to loose steps, so we've reduced to 1500/150 and this what we currently are running on.

The machine is configurated with backlash compensation, the backlash is within 0,01mm during tests. The compensation is set to 0,0135

We have milled a moped crankcase using dynamic milling, which is a quite aggressive form of milling. Now that the crankcase is finnished we notised that tha halfs are offsetted by 0,4mm from eachother, which is quite alot. During milling we never noticed axis slippage, but apparently something have went pretty wrong. It's only the Y-axis that's affected, the roundness of bearing seat is within 0,01mm, but the offset between pieces are 0,4mm

Our first thought is that BC might be the culprit? Noticed that some fixes have been made in recent ESS release, but don't know what the issue was?
Our other thought, is that dynamic milling is too much for either the machine or ESS during some tight turnarounds at the end of each cut?

Any one else experienced such problems? shouldn't 1500/500 be safe when 2000/500 was the point when we notices axis slippage during calibration and Dyna states 2000 to be possible.

This is one of the Dynamic mills we ran.[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoO38Bt-wcg[/video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoO38Bt-wcg

4

Mach4 General Discussion / Signal scripts while disabled.

« on: February 24, 2019, 10:32:33 AM »

Hi guys,

Yesterday we implemented the drawbar to Mach and I noticed something I can't really understand.
The drawbar have 2 limit switches and 2 buttons.

When mach is enabled, the drawbar works perfect, buttons enable outputs and the limit switches disables them.
However, when mach is disabled, the signal script do enable the output and the drawbar starts to clamp/unclamp and here's where the strange stuff comes in. The signal script don't listen for the limit switches, making the draw bar trying to move further than the end positions.

We ended up starting the signal script with a check of mach state, and only let it continue the script if mach is enabled, which ofcourse is good, since we don't want anything to be able to move while disabled.

But I'm curious why the signal script let an output to enable, but discards the mcSignalWait while mach is disabled?
IMHO Either all should work or nothing should work, not parts of signal scripts.

5

Mach4 General Discussion / Home/reference OB axis

« on: February 02, 2019, 01:21:04 PM »

Hi,

We are trying to home an OB axis (OB2), we have assigned The home switch to the motor and so in The ESS/Mach.
However, it refuses to home with The other axis, the axis doesnt even move.
When mapping The axis as cordinated, such as A-axis, it will home properly.

My theory is that OB cant be homed as other axises. That I manually must JOG it until The switch triggers. If this is The case, can I "homeinplace" it with a script?

Thanks!

6

Mach4 General Discussion / Keep track of OB axis

« on: January 14, 2019, 11:57:50 AM »

Hi,

Is it possible to set an OB axis to roll-over?
And in some "easy" way keep track of its position, if once homed? Trying to understand how I can make a script for a rotating tool turret and keep track of its position.

7

Mach4 General Discussion / LUA, repeat until

« on: January 11, 2019, 04:48:47 PM »

Hi,

working on the next script and need some input from you guys.
Basically I have physical button for unclamping a tool collet. The Collet motor is a AC drive motor and there is a limit switch present.
I want to upon button press, drive the motor until the limit switch. I'm thinking of using the "repeat" and "until" strings, but I'm not sure if I'm doing it right or wrong.

Opinions?


This is the particular code snippet

Code: [Select]

hSigColletOpen = mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst, mc.ISIG_INPUT1) --Assign the input for limit switch, collet open
ColletsState = mc.mcSignalGetState(hSigColletOpen)
if ColletsState == 1 then
wx.wxMessageBox('Collet is already unclamped!')
else
local UnclampOutput = mc.OSIG_OUTPUT6 --Set the output to control the Unclamp motor
repeat
hSigState = mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst, UnclampOutput)
mc.mcSignalSetState(hSigState, true) --Start the unclamp motor
until ColletState == 1
mc.mcSignalSetState(hSigState, false) --Stop the unclamp motor
wx.wxMessageBox('Collet have now been unclamped!')
end
And this is the total code I've come up with for now.

Code: [Select]

-- This code is for unclamping the collet
[mc.ISIG_INPUT1] = function (state) --Assign the input for UNCLAMP button
if (state == 1) then
hSig, rc = mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst, mc.OSIG_RUNNING_GCODE)
if RC == 0 then
GC_State = mc.mcSignalGetState(hSig)
if GC_State == 1 then --Gcode is running, dont let the collet to be unclamped
wx.wxMessageBox('GCode is running')
else
hSigColletOpen = mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst, mc.ISIG_INPUT1) --Assign the input for limit switch, collet open
ColletsState = mc.mcSignalGetState(hSigColletOpen)
if ColletsState == 1 then
wx.wxMessageBox('Collet is already unclamped!')
else
local UnclampOutput = mc.OSIG_OUTPUT6 --Set the output to control the Unclamp motor
repeat
hSigState = mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst, UnclampOutput)
mc.mcSignalSetState(hSigState, true) --Start the unclamp motor
until ColletState == 1
mc.mcSignalSetState(hSigState, false) --Stop the unclamp motor
wx.wxMessageBox('Collet have now been unclamped!')
end
end
end
end
end,


8

Mach4 General Discussion / Where should I paste this script?

« on: January 10, 2019, 03:55:26 PM »

Hi guys,

I've written a small script for rotating a tool turret. But I'm not sure where I should put/paste it?

Code: [Select]

if (sig == mc.ISIG_INPUT1) and (state == 1) then
hSig, rc = mc.mcSignalGetHandle( inst, mc.OSIG_RUNNING_GCODE )
   if rc == 0 then
      GC_State = mc.mcSignalGetState(hSig)
      if GC_State == 1 then --GCode is running, better not let the turret to be turned!
         wx.wxMessageBox('GCode is running')
      else --Gcode is not running, it should e safe to rotate the turret!
            mcCntlGCodeExecuteWait(inst, "G91 B36") --Rotate the turret 36 degrees
         wx.wxMessageBox('Sucessfully rotated the turret! FTW!')
      end
   else
      wx.wxMessageBox('rc returned '..tostring(rc))
   end
end

I want it to rotate the turret when machine is enabled, but not when G-code is running.
Will the code run if the machine is running M6 tool change code or during a feed hold state you think? I rather want to block it during theese states as well.

9

Mach4 General Discussion / Automatic tool change script/Macro?

« on: January 01, 2019, 06:39:12 AM »

Hi guys,

We are running a 1986 Dynamyte 4400 Mill with Mach 4 and a ESS.
The machine is eqipped with a 9 tool turret holder which is rotated by a STEP motor, the turret have a homing sensor.
The turret folds in and out to the spindle with a standard motor with limit switches on each end.
The turret have a button on it, to make it rotate manually.
On the machine there are buttons for clamping and unclamping the tool

Anyone with similar setup want to share their code? We need a good starting point and at the moment we are quite lost.

Thanks!

10

SmoothStepper USB / Losing steps during jogging

« on: September 26, 2018, 02:47:57 PM »

Hi Guys,

We are migrating from Mach3+USS to Mach4+ESS.

We are using Gecko drives.

When jogging one axis, i.e. X-axis it ramps up, runs smooth and ramp down upon release of keybord input. Flawless!
However, if we jog two axis i.e. X and Y -axis simultaniously, they both ramp up, running smooth until we release the keyboard input of one axis. The axis released will stop abrupt and we loose steps.

We've tried changing the buffer size but it doesn't help. We have now ordered a 8Gb (4Gb at the moment) RAM for the computer (windows 10) and also bought a new keyboard. Theese parts haven't yet arrived so we haven't been able to test it.

Any suggestions on what might be the issue?