Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Mach 3 Freezing Randomly (XP, Serial port Setup,iMach 3 pendant)

« on: September 10, 2020, 02:11:16 AM »

Good day everyone.

I recently found a post on r/cnc on reddit and this guy was describing my exact issue:

Asking for some of insight as to why MACH 3 randomly freezes in the middle of a job with a router table. The spindle continues to spin but all jog capabilities are frozen, and cannot turn the spindle off (Emergency cutoff on the router table still works however). This occurs at random times, sometimes 5 minutes into a job, sometimes 6 hours into a job. Sometimes it wont happen for weeks. Will happen with router bit deep into work piece and will also happen when spindle is lifted up and jogging over the next g code line. There are no patterns when when it occurs, and leads me to believe it is completely random.

What I do to remedy is exit out of MACH 3 and save fixture before leaving. After rebooting MACH3 I manually enter in the line of g code it froze on and continue the job. The computer (dedicated solely to M3 and nothing else) itself running M3 is not frozen. And I am easily able to close out of M3.

I have had stepper driver issues before, but this doesnt seem anything like those types of issues. I really don't think it's an issue with the cnc router itself.

Edit: PC running windows xp 32 bit, celeron processor, 2gb memory, 500gb hard drive, dedicated only to M3, Is not connected to internet, updates off, power save / sleep mode off. Running control board with 25pin serial connection.

M3 does not flash on the reset button (like it would if a limit switch got tripped). Everything just stops mid cut while the spindle continues to spin at set RPM

I have the same setup, same power saving options turned off. The one difference is that I use an iMach3 P4-SE pendant and plugin that runs flawlessly. Its never happened to me while manually jogging the machine. If I walk away from the machine and let it sit (say over 20 mins), It's happened that when I get back its frozen. Happens during longer runs where I'm not fiddling with the computer too.

Every power save option was meticulously checked off...Except! maybe the pendants power save option under device manager.

Any similar experiences? Noise maybe? or anyone have this pendant and a similar issue? Thanks!

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Finished Screens / Re: Mach3 DarkScreen Screenset - Now Available

« on: March 02, 2020, 02:16:24 AM »

Hi,

Sorry for a naive question...but is there any reason when I try and load the Darkscreen Screenset, not all of the screen will actually load?

Not sure if there's some other instructions I'm missing, besides copying the .set file to the Mach3 Folder.

Take a look at some earlier posts. It's actually a zip file with a folder called bitmaps and the .set file inside. You may have downloaded one of the latest updates which is only the .set file (update assumes you already had the .zip files from the early posts already installed).

You'll need to copy the contents of the bitmaps folder to your mach 3 directory. You'll see an existing bitmaps folder in there for other default screensets. The buttons are all pictures that reside in that folder.

Jason

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Finished Screens / Re: Mach3 DarkScreen Screenset - Now Available

« on: February 07, 2020, 03:04:32 AM »

Hi Graphicer82,

First off, thanks for the great screenset. My coworkers really like it too.

I have a few questions:

-When I "Ref All Home", the green indicators do not stay lit like my previous stock screenset. Is this normal? Is there a way I can have them remain green until home is lost (turning them red)?

-My X/Y/Z GoTo Position values have many leading zeros like this: 0000.0000 (have you seen this before?)

-Last question. I'd love to have my FLOOD button replaced with VAC (I'm on a CNC router). I was going to photoshop your Flood button, which font did you use?

I will be updating my Mach 3 shortly, I'll see if the new copy has the same behavior with your screenset.

Thanks again,

Jason

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