Topics

1

Mach4 General Discussion / Switch one output with 2 different signals?

« on: December 04, 2019, 04:32:49 AM »

Hello,

Setup: Mach4 with ESS Smoothstepper.

I have a gas seal relais for my spindle.
This needs to be turned on, whenever the spindle run.
Easy to configure - I just put this output in the Spindle "Spindle on" row in outputs and working.

But I want also to have a manual Button to turn it on when the Spindle is not running.
So I add a button in the GUI to toggle "Output 4".
But now it is not possible to also set this physical output pin in "output 4" row.
My assumption is, that it is only possible to asign a physical output to one signal.

I also tried to assign the virtual "Output 4" to the "Spindle on", but this seems also not possible.

So my Question is:
How can I switch on a Physical output pin by a GUI button and also by Spindle on?

Something like "If Spindle on or Output4".
Does this need to be in the PLC Script loop or is there an easier way?

2

Mach4 General Discussion / Save button - Save WCO, TLO,... like on exit

« on: October 08, 2019, 09:57:17 AM »

Hi,

At least once a Week Mach 4 crashes.
Most of the time when I press "Load" it hangs and do not longer react so I have to end the task.
I never could find out why - but this is not the toppic here and only the background why Im asking...


The biggest problem with this is, that I loose the WCO, new set Tool lengths, and other settings because Mach 4 saves everything only on exit.
For that reason, I started to make a Picture of the WCO coordinates every time I mill a part with multiple files.
As you can imagine, this is irritating doing it 100 times per week for 1 Crash per week.

But a lot more convenient could be a "Save" button.
Just save everything - like on exit.

But I could not find out how to do this?
Seems not to be done in the wx4 screen unload script not in another place I can find.
Any tips if it is possible or how to do it a "Save all" button (script for a button)?

3

Mach4 General Discussion / "Touch" GUI does not obey Tool Table offset, but "Probe" GUI does?

« on: September 09, 2019, 05:18:34 AM »

Hi,

I do a touch move with a 3d Probe in Z- Direction.
Tool length offset for my Probe is 155,0763.


The Tab "Probing" and "Single Axis Move" correctly use the offset from the tool Table selected tool.
The Button "Touch" (mcTouchOff.lua) on the main screen does not use this and sets a complete different value.

Because the "Touch off Plate" is used in x, y and z direction as same offset, it is also not possible to use this to compensate with the correct length offset.

This is the code from mcTouchOff.lua:

Code: [Select]

function SetFixOffset(Axis, Direction)
if (Axis == 'X') then
Pos = mc.mcAxisGetProbePos(inst, mc.X_AXIS, 1)
OffsetVal = (((ToffPlate + ToffToolRadius) * Direction) + Pos)
elseif (Axis == 'Y') then
Pos = mc.mcAxisGetProbePos(inst, mc.Y_AXIS, 1)
OffsetVal = (((ToffPlate + ToffToolRadius) * Direction) + Pos)
elseif (Axis == 'Z') then
Pos = mc.mcAxisGetProbePos(inst, mc.Z_AXIS, 1)
OffsetVal = ((ToffPlate * Direction) + Pos)
end
...


Code from mcProbing.lua:

Code: [Select]

if (SetWork == 1) then
local HeightOffset = mc.mcToolGetData(inst, mc.MTOOL_MILL_HEIGHT, OffsetNum)
local HeightOffsetW = mc.mcToolGetData(inst, mc.MTOOL_MILL_HEIGHT_W, OffsetNum)
local NewWOVal = MeasPointMACH - HeightOffset - HeightOffsetW
Probing.SetFixOffset(nil, nil, NewWOVal)
end

So my assumption would have been, that two default Mach4 scripts should use the same Z Calculation in touching?
Or have i missed something how to use this correctly?

4

Mach4 General Discussion / Feed Hold in MDI Window hangs up mach 4?

« on: August 02, 2019, 09:22:09 AM »

Hi,

Feed hold is working fine in gcode files.
But if I enter something very simple like:

M3 S3000
G04 p5000
M5

And Press "Feed Hold" during this G4 - Mach will not offer the "Cycle Start" Button to be active as usual when pressing feed hold.
Also spindle keep running forever, the complete program hangs.
Even when exiting Mach 4 - it can not be started again because a "Mach 4 GUI" Process is still running as seen in the task manager. You have to manual quit this task with windows task manager and start complete mach 4 again.

Using Mach 4 with ESS.

5

Mach4 General Discussion / No GCode Movement after pressing stop

« on: May 02, 2019, 04:42:39 AM »

Hi,

when I press stop to interrupt a running gcode - afterwards it is not possible to:
- Start gcode loaded from file
- Start MDI Gcode
- use GUI buttons which do movments, for example go to work zero.

But this is still working:
- Homing
- Jogging

I can press Stop, Reset, Enable, Disable - nothing changes this "not working movement" state, until i restart the program.
And yes, my Mach 4 is lisenced.
No text in the last Error Text line.

Any idea what this could be?
Where to se the Mach 4 status, what might explain me why there is no movement any longer?

6

Mach4 General Discussion / Missing Documentation of mcCntlGetPoundVar magic numbers...

« on: April 16, 2019, 04:31:28 AM »

Hello,

None of the provided Documentation documents this:
mc.mcCntlGetPoundVar(inst, mc.SV_PROBE_POS_Z)
It is not included in the scripting manual.

Where ist a list, that explains SV_PROBE_POS_Z ?
Also mcCntlGetPoundVar is not in the scripting manual, only in examples.


I assume SV_PROBE_POS_Z is the last Probe G31.1 Z in WCO.
But how to get the other probe coordinates and how to get them in Machine coordinates?

Any Idea how to find those magic numbers used in all the mcCntlGetPoundVar examples?

7

Mach4 General Discussion / How to show spindel RPM?

« on: April 10, 2019, 08:09:17 AM »

Hi,

Mach 4 is controlling the spindle RPM correctly.

But the display (the one above the Spindle speed override) always show 0 RPM.
How to get the display there show the currently set RPM?

Any way to show how much the override really result in to?
Currently this is a slider without showing a number what it is actual set to.


Im using Mach4, ESS and 0-10V output from BOB to Inverter.