Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Mpg3 for Z axis on lathe

« on: June 10, 2020, 10:36:17 AM »

I have 2 mpg's working on my lathe. all was ok when on mpg1 for x axis and mpg2 for z axis. however now i  want to use a spindle encoder for speed reporting controlled via my ESS and that has to connect to MPG1.
i have moved my mpgs to mpg2 &3 but the Z movement controlled via mpg3  is slow and eratic.
i have tried all maner of settings, not helped by the fact thar
t calibration refuses to work on mpg3. I am beginning to suspect that mpg3 does not work properly on a lathe setup.
i have tried swapping things about including alt a and alt b and physically changing the wiring. plus the counts and velocity tabs in mpg setup.
any suggestions would be apprerciated!

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: hard switches not working when program running in mach3

« on: May 09, 2020, 05:26:58 AM »

Thanks that sounds logical as I'm sure in past machines without smooth stepper it was ok. It is interesting that on my lathe with a ethernet smooth stepper all my inputs go into a pokeys board and they work fine at all times.
I have used macropumps so will give that a go. Thanks for the help

3

General Mach Discussion / hard switches not working when program running in mach3

« on: May 08, 2020, 04:20:41 PM »

Hi
I am running a new mill conversion with mach3 r3.043.062 and have added 5 hardwired switches via a BOB and ethernet smoothstepper. for some bizarre reason they only work when a program is stopped. if the program is running or in feed hold then they dont work.
 the buttons are cycle start, feed hold, spindle on/off and speed up/down. i have configured them to oem trig inputs and have hotkeys pointing to codes 1000, 1001 etc and they work fine. i can push cycle start but then feed hold and the rest dont respond until i stop the program, using the mouse, on feed hold and then stop. far from ideal!
I do have a valid license in my name.
I have tried uninstalling everything including all plugins and PP driver and deleted mach3 folder before a fresh install and bare minimum setup to test the switches.
I'm sure I have used this setup on other machines and don't recall a bug in this version of mach3. my lathe uses a pokeys board for switches but i added a switch as above and that doesnt work there either! so i'm begining to doubt if I'm missing something obvious
thanks in advance