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1

General Mach Discussion / Mach3 Win7 Jog-mode enabled prohibits entering axis values

« on: December 01, 2022, 06:24:02 AM »

Hi everyone,
I'm running Mach3 with Windows7 and Pokeys57 interface board.
I built a MPG long time ago which is connected to the Pokeys interface.
That works fine.

But: I need to switch Mach3 into Jog mode in order to move the axis with the MPG.
That's ok so far, but when in Jog mode, I cannot change or reset the axis values.
When I try this the entered value is not commited to the display as long as I stay in
Jog mode.
As soon as I switch off Jog mode, the displays are jumping to the new value (or zero if I zeroed the axis).
So I find myself switching Jog mode on and off every time I need to set coordinates or move the axis by hand.

I remember this was not necessary some time ago.

I made an excurse to Mach4 and tried hard to get it to work, but I had so many problems that I decided
to go back to the reliable Mach3.
In the old Mach3 I did not need to switch on or off Jog mode at all.
Either it was off all the time and I was able to use the MPG also in normal mode,
or the DROs could be set with Jog mode on. I really do not remember, which was the case.
What I remember though was the fact I never had to switch Jog mode on or off manually.

Is there a way to use the MPG and CNC operation and setting the DRO _without_ having to switch
Jog mode on and off all the time?
Could you please give me a hint how to get this finctionallity back again?

Thank you!

  Lothar

2

Mach4 General Discussion / General error opening gcode file - fix

« on: March 07, 2020, 04:38:35 PM »

Hi!

I had a problem here on my setup switching from Mach3 to Mach4.
After some experimenting I found the reason for the problem and I thought I'd share the solution here.
Maybe it helps someone.

I store my gcode files on a NAS.
The CNC computer mounts the NAS share as a nework drive to access the gcode files.
That worked perfect with Mach3.
Mach4 however refuses to open these files. I get a "General error opening file" (or similar - I have a non-english Windows installation).
Copying the file to the desktop or a local drive works fine and Mach4 is able to open the copied files without any problem.

My NAS shares files read-only and that is obviously the problem.
Mach4 needs write access to gcode files in order to open them.
Exporting the directory read-writeable fixed the problem.

Maybe NFS could brush up the error message a bit. Something like "Gcode file needs write permission to open!" would be nice.

Well, hope that helps someone.

Cheers
  Lothar