Topics

1

PoKeys / Pokeys57CNC spindle speed question

« on: September 23, 2021, 05:48:47 AM »

The 0-10V signal is unacceptably dirty when inspecting it with an oscilloscope, and the spindle speed fluctuates here and there. The signal is generated from a PWM signal so dirty is what can be expected. The fluctuation one sees depends on the capacitance of ones VFD input and using a shielded cable will not remove this fluctuation. I’m now using a 33uF capacitor between GNDi and the voltage output and that smoothens things considerably. (The capacitor value is not calculated in any way, just a pick from my capacitors bin.)

I find no explanation from the manuals for the ‘PWM module period’ and ‘Multiplier’ value adjustments. I’m now using Multiplier value of 0.004129 and that gives me a pretty linear output for the default PWM module period value 100us. Changing the PWM module period would change everything again. If the manufacturer hears me or if someone knows, what are the manufacturers instrutions to get a decent output for the spindle speed?

2

PoKeys / Mapping chart of IO from Mach to Pokeys57CNC PCB

« on: September 22, 2021, 04:12:31 PM »

Where are Mach3 outputs #4, #5 and #6 on the PCB board?

I've got one of my servos to work and spindle too but now I'm getting extremely frustrated with this board or more frustrated with the lack of support. There are so many questions even here without answers, nobody seems to care, its soon like with those Chinese Hit-And-Run crappy cards. I tried to create a support Ticket to ask them "guys".  However when I tried to register for creating a ticket (multiple times, even using 3 different email addresses)  no response email ever got back to me.

The biggest problem now seems to be the crappy manual and there the lack of IO mapping from Mach3 to the PCB. There isn't even one word to explain where Output #1, #2,#3, #4,#5, #6 are on the PCB even though they are all over the program and Mach. Everything seems to be explained from the PCBs perspective not realizing that ppl need to get it from Mach to PCB too. A simple map/list would do to make things clearer. Making the IO status window non-modal so that one could experiment with IO without constantly closing and re-opening windows would help a lot and minimize frustration.

In EU lack of proper user manuals makes a product faulty and a proper reason to return the goods. I have now wondered why on earth did I buy this controller as SmoothStepper has been there for ages and has but good reviews. All the extra time spent with poor design - product and manuals - can get very expensive.

So please, where are Mach3 outputs #4, #5 and #6 on the PCB board? I also need to use an external 8 relay board and get signals for them. What would be the most straightforward way to accomplish this.

Thanks!

 

3

General Mach Discussion / Ref. Tool in Tool table

« on: October 23, 2018, 12:13:16 PM »

Hi!

Is the topmost Ref.Tool row in use and accessible in Mach3? If yes how (VB ?) or otherwise? If it is in use, are the other tool rows intended to hold just the difference to ref tool (G43) or what is the intended philosophy here? I'm currently holding the actual tool measures in the table and not using G43 at all.     

Thanks

/risto

4

General Mach Discussion / Mach3 registry errors after new install

« on: September 27, 2018, 05:19:59 PM »

Hi

My years old Mach3 workhorse Pentium PC broke down and I'm now setting up a new one on an old HP dx2250 with a new XP installation. I get the errors below in the XP EventViewer/Applications. Someone please tell me what that is about and what DLL files are referred to and not getting loaded. I run a legit and valid Mach3 licence so I wonder about that "faulty registration" at the end.  I don't know yet if this new installation works when connected in the machine as I want to get everything ready at home before carrying it down to my workshop, running "cold" seems to work OK.

ERRORS in  XP EventViewer/Applications. The viewer says they relate to Mach :

Windows cannot query DllName registry entry for {CF7639F3-ABA2-41DB-97F2-81E2C5DBFC5D}
and it will not be loaded. This is most likely caused by a faulty registration.

Windows cannot query DllName registry entry for {7B849a69-220F-451E-B3FE-2CB811AF94AE}
and it will not be loaded. This is most likely caused by a faulty registration.
  
I never checked if these appeared in the previous PC.

Thanks,

/risto

5

General Mach Discussion / Emulating G31 probe input with keyboard, should it be possible?

« on: May 02, 2012, 11:24:03 AM »

Hi!

Should it be possible to emulate the proble input with keyboard for G31 probing? I have done some probe related coding which I would like to simulate before running it in the machine itself. I have set the letter 'P'' (80) as the hotkey and it turns the input led on as it should but it won't stop the movement.

Thanks,

/Risto

6

VB and the development of wizards / Run a script when Mach loads

« on: May 12, 2011, 09:18:24 AM »

Is it possible and how to run a macro from file when Mach loads?

Thanks,
/Risto

7

VB and the development of wizards / Is there a way to access the 'Name' field in fixtures?

« on: April 16, 2011, 06:44:18 AM »

Hi,

Doing a miscellanus function to edit Work Offsets. Is there a way to set the Name field value in fxture offsets programatically?

Thanks,

/Risto

8

General Mach Discussion / This kills Mach, what to do?

« on: March 02, 2011, 09:54:15 AM »

Somewhere on lines between N250-N350 is something that kills Mach. Small holes dia 1.3mm using a 1mm dia tool. Code is generated by RhinoCAM. Sometimes earlier I noticed that helix toolpaths killed Mach but after checking "Create full (360 deg) helixes only" and Output each helix individuall" in RhinoCAM Hole Pocketing Mach worked fine without 3D interpolation. Those options are used here too and the only difference is that these are very small holes. I just updated to the latest Mach lockdown .043.022 but that did not make a difference.

N40(BEGIN - StartUp Code)
N50 G00 G49 G40.1 G17 G80 G50 G90
N60 G21
N70(END - StartUp Code)
N80 (Hole Pocketing-dia 1.3mm)
N90 (#025-2FL-D1mm-L10mm-LOC4mm-GARR45010-ER20/3mm)
N100 M901
N110 M6 T25
N120 M900
N130 M904
N140 G00 X6.7995 Y55.2022
N150 G00 Z10.0000
N160 M03 S18143
N170 M1
N210 F635.0
N220 G01 Z1.0000
N230 F600.0
N240 G17
N250 G02 Z-0.4333 I6.7500 J55.2000
N260 X6.7900 Y55.0554 I6.7500 J55.2000
N270 X6.7100 Y55.3446 I6.7500 J55.2000
N280 G01  X6.7995 Y55.2022
N290 G02 Z-0.8667 I6.7500 J55.2000
N300 X6.7900 Y55.0554 I6.7500 J55.2000
N310 X6.7100 Y55.3446 I6.7500 J55.2000
N320 G01  X6.7995 Y55.2022
N330 G02 Z-1.3000 I6.7500 J55.2000
N340 X6.7900 Y55.0554 I6.7500 J55.2000
N350 X6.7100 Y55.3446 I6.7500 J55.2000
N360 G01  X6.7995 Y55.2022
N370 X6.7500 Y55.2000
N380 G00 Z10.0000

All help highly appreciated, I'm getting a bit desperate with this.

Thanks,
/Risto

PS. A small correction to what I said. It does not kill Mach but actually Mach kills the X servo motor and an emergency stop is generated.

9

General Mach Discussion / Buffer Error

« on: October 08, 2010, 12:49:34 PM »

Quite suddenly I'm getting mysterious External Stop Requests. The LastErrors.txt informs that External Stop was requested and that the command was killed due to *buffer error*. Can anyone tell me to what the 'buffer error' is referring to? If I actually press the E-stop button no mention about buffer errors.

The only things that can cause external stop requests from the cabinet to Mach are if one of the servos is overloaded or if the E-stop button is pressed. None of this is happening and the servos are OK after the incident. The other thing is that this only happens in Y direction and only when the spindle is running. The axis moves a couple of mm and then stops as well as the spindle stops.  I've also had some M3 scripting errors which may have something to do with this but never really paid much attention to those as everything seemed to work fine otherwise.

Anyone able to help me with this one?

Thanks
/Risto

PS. I used the Mach .038 version and updated to .040 but no improvement.

10

General Mach Discussion / "Press Cyclestart After Tool Change", can it be disabled?

« on: March 22, 2010, 08:37:24 PM »

I have tool descriptions set up in my CAM tool library for each tool to show as a comment line in Mach. Can I somehow disable the  "Press Cyclestart After Tool Change" text which I don't need to see any more and which hides this tool description? I haven't organized my tools by number yet and I would need to see the tool description.  

thanks,
/Risto