Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Edge Probe with G31

« on: March 15, 2015, 11:29:29 PM »

When probing an edge using G31 I assume the probe must have some give so as not to damage the probe or edge before the motion stops.  Typically how much give is needed?  I'm using a Taig mill.

Any good plans to make one?  If the amount of give is just a few thou might a short length of piano wire set in epoxy, or other insulating material, work?

Thanks

2

VB and the development of wizards / Re: macro for homing

« on: February 17, 2015, 10:48:53 PM »

Having got to the home position how are the machine coordinates zeroed?

I found   dooembutton(105)  but that does them all.  How can one zero X and Y leaving Z unchanged?

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Re-Install PC. Mill not responding

« on: January 29, 2015, 11:57:31 AM »

OK, fixed it.  If anyone has a similar problem:

Took out PCI card and restarted.  Device manager showed an LPT1.  Removed in device manager and restarted. Still there!  Weird.  My guess is there is one on the motherboard but not wired to a connection.  No system BIOS settings for this.

Put the PCI card back in and this time it came up as LPT3 and everything works.

Looks like I have to remove the PCI card for a Windows install then put it back in later.

4

General Mach Discussion / Re-Install PC. Mill not responding

« on: January 28, 2015, 10:42:22 PM »

Did a complete Win 7 re-install - with all updates, service pack etc.  Mill does nothing.  Parallel port is a PCI card and Windows control panel device manage says Microsoft driver is installed and is working!

Am I correct in remembering there is some DLL that is needed for the parallel port?  If so what and where do I put it?

Any other advice?

Thanks

John

5

Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / Automation with C# VS2013

« on: January 19, 2014, 10:41:52 AM »

Anybody know how to automate Mach3 R3.043.066 from C# VS2013?

Code below compiles fine then gives: "An unhandled exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in mscorlib.dll" 

The application was built for X86 and both Mach3 and the app are running as admin.  Also, I reinstalled Mach3.

Thanks in advance.

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

namespace AutomationTest
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        private Mach4.IMach4 Mach = null;
        private Mach4.IMyScriptObject Script = null;
       
        private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Mach = (Mach4.IMach4)Marshal.GetActiveObject("Mach4.Document");   <<<== ERROR HERE
            Script = (Mach4.IMyScriptObject)Mach.GetScriptDispatch();
            Script.Code("G1 X2 Y2 F400");

6

General Mach Discussion / Running Mach3 from VB/C++

« on: February 10, 2011, 04:14:36 PM »

In Visual Studio 2010 Express (Windows 7) I can't create a reference to Mach3 so these lines of code will not compile. 

    Private mach As Mach4.IMach4
    Private script As Mach4.IMyScriptObject

If anyone has got this working which version of the development tools were you using?

Thanks

7

FAQs / Re: Testing input from LPT2

« on: November 10, 2010, 10:35:57 AM »

Thanks for your prompt and helpful response.  Swapped the ports and same problem so presumably my motherboard parallel port will not accept input on 2-9.

However, through trial and error, Pins 10 (ack), 11 (busy), 12 (paper out) and 13 (select) all work as input on the PCI card.  Since 4 inputs are more than I need.  Problem solved.

Cheers.

8

FAQs / Testing input from LPT2

« on: November 09, 2010, 09:18:03 PM »

I added a second parallel port to an XP computer and having problems interfacing a switch to Mach2 current release.

In Mach 3 I setup LPT2 as 0XA400 (as reported by device manager) and set pins 2-9 as input.   Set Input4 to Enabled Port#2 Pin2.

With Active Low "X" the diagnostic screen shows "Green" regardless of grounding Pin2.
With Active Low checked  diagnostic screen shows "Black" regardless of grounding Pin2.

Pin2 shows 3.5V unless grounded.  With a 1K pullup to 5V the pin shows 3.54V.  Is this a normal voltage?

All other lines (except #18 ground) are left floating.

I tried Parmon (thanks Jen) but it does not show the port on A400.

Thanks for any help.

John