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1

Mach4 General Discussion / Probe tip radius calibration question

« on: March 14, 2022, 08:17:34 PM »

my probe has a 2mm tip diameter (.0785" measured with micrometer). when I run the probe radius calibration MACH4 reports (Probe radius set: R=0.5380).
.5380 what? .5380 inches? does it think there is a 1" tip on this?

I adjust the probe tip to run true with a DTI gauge to about 0.0005"
I have a gear with a precision bore of 2.252" measured with a dial bore gauge, used as the reference.

I run the x y offset calibration and get:
x: -0.0004   y: 0.0001

I then run the radius calibration and get the above mentioned R=0.5380

If I then use the probe to measure the 3" length of a 123 block, I get the results as shown in the attached screen shot.
indicating to me that it does in fact think it has a 1" probe tip, since it measures it as 1.9992".

I suppose I could go into the INI file and manually edit the value, but why is there a calibrate tip radius function if it is so useless??

2

Mach4 General Discussion / jog step increment w/shuttle express

« on: November 17, 2018, 12:48:59 PM »

I'm useing a shuttle express with Mach 4. All works great. Except I want to use the 5th button to change the jog step increment just like the on screen button does. there is no entry for that on the long list of items when I use the "configure...plugins...shuttle...". Or at least I cant figure out which of those would be the one.
I used this video to set it up. And even it mentions going back to the screen to set the increment. Kind of looses half the functionality of a pendant if I have to keep going back to the screen...so I know I must be missing something on how to program this.

https://youtu.be/lQmi6Q_iOAU

oh by the way...I tried to search...but keep getting this on a plain white screen:

2: pspell_new(): PSPELL couldn't open the dictionary. reason: No word lists can be found for the language "en".
File: /var/www/vhosts/machsupport.com/forum.machsupport.com/forum/Sources/Search.php
Line: 700

3

Mach4 General Discussion / G4 P0...Parameter number out of range

« on: November 26, 2017, 06:23:25 PM »

I'm using the J tech Laser post tool with inkscape...and it inserts G4 Px delays to let the laser startup before moves, etc.
However, they are also inserting G4 P0 for some reason, and Mach says that is a "Parameter number out of range".
It does seem silliy to insert a delay with 0 time, so I dont know why they are doing it (I have a separate email in to them on that), but shouldn't it still work?
I found this Mach g-code reference, that states there will be an error if the number is negative...but 0 is not negative :-)
https://machmotion.com/cnc-info/g-code.html#G4_Dwell_
So other than post processing my post processed file and changeing all the P0 to P10 (P1 still gives the error, but 10 or higher dont), is there some setting I'm missing?

4

General Mach Discussion / Can't jog or MDI??

« on: November 25, 2009, 11:02:49 PM »

OK, I must be the worlds biggest idiot I thought this was gonna be easy.
I'm putting together a computer for a couple future machines. It's only a 600MHz PIII but its something I already had layin around. Also what I had was Windows 2000. Did a fresh install and did all the updates to 2K. Then installed the latest Mach3 to get a feel for it (yes, I did the vital reboot before running). Initial drivertest result was OK but had some large spikes in the graphic window, and the colorbar turned yellow once in a while. I disabled the wireless network and that cleared up to system excellent or at least system stable the whole time.
OK, so I fire up Mach and start going thru the simple stuff. Hit the reset button and it's OK. type in a feedrate (50) and its OK. go to MDI screen and type in G00 X1.1 Y2.2 expecting to see the DRO's change, but nothing. Open the MPG and try to jog, but nothing there either.
I'm pretty embarrassed here, and must be missing something pretty basic, but just going thru the manual in order and cant get it to do like it says.
I have nothing connected to the paraport, and the drivers installed with no errors or problems. What am I missing? Do I have to do a configuration before this will work?