Messages

381

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Confusion about home switch location

« on: December 09, 2017, 06:19:10 PM »

Have you tried Configure->Mach->Homing/SoftLimits and changing the axis home dir from pos to neg or vice versa?

HTH

RT

382

Mach4 General Discussion / List of Mach4 error codes

« on: December 09, 2017, 05:49:24 PM »

Can someone point me to a list of the error codes?  I'm getting a -2 as a return code and it doesn't match up with the api examples listed

383

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Creating your own homing script

« on: December 03, 2017, 07:35:17 PM »

Okay, that works.  It would be nice if they would include that in the api manual!

Last two items, the following code does not set the machine position to zero and does not set the homed flag.  Am I not allowd to or is there syntax error here:

  mc.mcAxisSetMachinePos(inst,mc.C_AXIS,0.0)
  hSig,rc=mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst,mc.ISIG_MOTOR3_HOME)
  mc.mcSignalSetState(hSig,1)

Going out of town on real business tomorrow for the week so I'll let you guys alone for a bit.
Thanks Craig for your help on this,

RT

BTW, always get a chuckle out of your signature line

384

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Creating your own homing script

« on: December 03, 2017, 06:25:23 PM »

Thanks for that Craig.

I'm getting MERROR_INVALID_ARGUMENT returned from this call:

local inst=mc.mcGetInstance()
rc=mc.mcSignalWait(inst,mc.ISIG_INDEX,mc.WAIT_MODE_LOW,10.0)

Same return value with mc.WAIT_MODE_HIGH

Syntax error?

TIA

RT

385

Mach4 General Discussion / Creating your own homing script

« on: December 02, 2017, 02:44:25 PM »

build 3841, pmdx411, gecko g540, lathe

I just finished installing a stepper to use my lathe spindle as an indexer and it works great.  I would like to be able to home this.  I have a single slot timing signal on the slot for rpm when using the spindle normally but thought I should be able to use it to home when the stepper is in use.  The following code actually stops at the same place each time but the pmdx411 sometimes throws off an error message 'can't transition from MDI RUNNIG to STOP'.  When I don't get that message the C axis dro gets set to zero but the machine position doesn't get set to zero and the led doesn't turn green.

First, is my approach logical/correct?
Second, can you spot any errors in the calls or signals
Third, is there another approach that doesn't include adding more sensors or wiring?

Code: [Select]

local function myhome()
  local inst=mc.mcGetInstance()
  local rc,sState
  local hSig,rc=mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst,mc.ISIG_INDEX)
  if rc==mc.MERROR_SIGNAL_NOT_FOUND  then
    wx.wxMessageBox('wrong Signal')
  end
  sState=mc.mcSignalGetState(hSig)
  mc.mcCntlMdiExecute(inst,'g1 h366 f5000')
  while mc.mcSignalGetState(hSig)==1 do
    wx.wxMilliSleep(25)
  end
  mc.mcCntlCycleStop(inst)
wx.wxMilliSleep(500)
  mc.mcAxisSetPos(inst,mc.C_AXIS,0.0)
  mc.mcAxisSetMachinePos(inst,mc.C_AXIS,0.0)
  hSig,rc=mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst,mc.ISIG_MOTOR3_HOME)
  mc.mcSignalSetState(hSig,1)
end


myhome()

TIA

RT

386

Mach4 General Discussion / Mach4 Spindle Speed Linearity Hack

« on: November 21, 2017, 07:32:06 PM »

Nice to be able to contribute something instead of asking everyone else for help solving my problems.
For those of us that don’t have VFD’s or spindle motors that are particularly linear in their speed ramps this will get you a lot closer.  Much like Mach3’s linearity.dat. 

You must have a spindle speed encoder for this to generate the linearity.csv file by running one of the scripts but you could generate one by hand as well.  The format of the file consists of 4 columns: Pulley/Gear, Speed you request, value from 0 to 100, Speed you need to enter to get the speed you want.  The value between 0 to 100 is not used by my script but could be used by those with modbus.  The entries in the file look like this

0,49,6,105
0,84,8,140
0,119,10,175
0,153,12,210
0,189,14,245
0,223,16,280
0,259,18,315
0,294,20,350
0,330,22,385
0,365,24,420
This was done on Mach4 build 3481 on the wxLathe screenset but I believe it will work for the mill as well.
The process consists of a few steps. 

1.     CREATE A PACKAGE of your current profile: Help->Support->Package Current Profile

2.   Create a button somewhere on your screen and copy the script below into the Left Up Script.  It is currently set to run from 6% to 80% by steps of 2 and spins at those steps for 5 seconds each to get the spindle to equilibrium.  You can modify those settings if you wish.  I don’t use my lathe at more than 80% power and it doesn’t really turn at less than 6%. Save the screen.  This script will generate a list of settings for the gear and put it in the History Log.  Clear the history log. This will lock up your screen while it runs!  Do this for each pulley/gear you have.  Save the file to ‘Linearity.csv’.  Open it with excel and save it.  You should be able to now open it with notepad and get the 4 columns for each gear.

3.   Copy the ‘spindlespeed.mcs to your profiles macro folder.  You’re now ready to go.  If you run an MDI of m3 s400 you should see the actual RPM very close to 400 but the command RPM will be something else.

4.   If you want to have the command and requested RPM’s visible do the following.  Create a register in gRegs0 called ssCMND, give it a value of one and I made it persistent.  I moved/sized the Spindle Tab items so that I could fit another DRO above the existing ‘PGM RPM’ dro.  Set the PG RPM dro to read only with a gray background and a black foreground set its height to 20 so that it looks more like a text than a dro.  Name the new DRO ‘ssCMND’.  Select it’s ‘Register’ property to the ‘gRegs0/ssCMND’  from the drop down list box.  In its Left Up Script enter this code:  mc.mcCntlMdiExecute(mc.mcGetInstance(),'s'..tostring(scr.GetProperty('ssCMND','Value')))

Now when you change the spindle speed through the mdi, gcode or through the ssCMND dro the old PGM RPM dro will show the speed necessary to get the requested speed and the ssCMND dro will show what speed was commanded.  If anyone knows of a way to improve it please feel free to help.   Hope this is clear enough and of use to someone else.

Code: [Select]

--spindlspeed.mcs
local inst = mc.mcGetInstance()
  local profile = mc.mcProfileGetName(inst)
  local mcPath = mc.mcCntlGetMachDir(inst)
  local nGears=10
  local tblSS = {}
  local gear=1
  local cmdSS=2
  local pctSS=3 
  local newSS=4
 
  function parseLine(s)
    local gr,cmd,pc,nw
    local i=1
for w in s:gmatch("([^,]+)") do
      if i==1 then
        gr=tonumber(w)
  elseif i==2 then
    cmd=tonumber(w)
  elseif i==3 then
    pc=tonumber(w)
  elseif i==4 then
    nw=tonumber(w)
      end
  i=i+1
    end  
    return gr,cmd,pc,nw
  end
 
  function interpolate(x,x0,y0,x1,y1)
      return y0+(x-x0)*(y1-y0)/(x1-x0)
  end
 
  function ssmLoadTable()
    local fName=''..mcPath.."\\Profiles\\"..profile.."\\Modules\\Linearity.csv"
local ssFile=io.open(fName,"r")     
    if ssFile==nil then
      wx.wxMessageBox("File: "..fName.." Not Found")
  return 0
    end
for i=1, nGears do
  tblSS[i]={}
end
  i=1
    local gr,cmd,pc,nw
local currGR=1
for line in ssFile:lines() do
      gr,cmd,pc,nw=parseLine(line)
  if currGR~=gr then
    i=1
currGR=gr
  end
  tblSS[gr+1][i]={}
      tblSS[gr+1][i][1]=gr
      tblSS[gr+1][i][2]=cmd
  tblSS[gr+1][i][3]=pc
  tblSS[gr+1][i][4]=nw
  i=i+1
    end
    ssFile:close()
-- wx.wxMessageBox("end of read")
return 1
  end

  function ssmGetNewSS(gear,cmd)
    if cmd==0 then
      return cmd
    end
    for i=1,#tblSS[gear+1] do
      if tblSS[gear+1][i][2]== cmd then
--      wx.wxMessageBox('equal:'..tostring(tblSS[gear+1][i][4]))-- case of exact match
      return tblSS[gear+1][i][4]
  end
  if tblSS[gear+1][i][2]>cmd then
        if i==1 then
--        wx.wxMessageBox('first entry')--case of first entry , can't go lower
      return tblSS[gear+1][i][4]
    end
--wx.wxMessageBox('interpolate')
        return interpolate(cmd,tblSS[gear+1][i-1][2],tblSS[gear+1][i-1][4],tblSS[gear+1][i][2],tblSS[gear+1][i][4])     
      end
    end
--  wx.wxMessageBox('over max: '..tostring(tblSS[gear+1][#tblSS[gear+1]][4]))-- case over the limit return limit
    return tblSS[gear+1][#tblSS[gear+1]][4]  --change 4 to 3 to return percent for a modbus number?
  end

function spindlespeed(rpm)
  local inst = mc.mcGetInstance();
  rpm = mc.mcSpindleGetCommandRPM(inst);
 
  local rslt=ssmLoadTable()
  if rslt~=1 then
    wx.wxMessageBox("load failure: "..tostring(rslt))
    return 0
  end
  local gear=mc.mcSpindleGetCurrentRange(inst)
  rslt=ssmGetNewSS(gear,rpm)
  mc.mcSpindleSetCommandRPM(inst,rslt)
  local hReg, rc=mc.mcRegGetHandle(inst,'gRegs0/ssCMND')
  if hReg~=nil then
    mc.mcRegSetValue(hReg,rpm)
  end
--  wx.wxMessageBox(tostring(rslt))
  mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst,string.format("New SS: %.0f",rslt))
end

if (mc.mcInEditor() == 1) then
  spindlespeed();
end

Spindle Speed Macro

Code: [Select]

[/--spindlspeed.mcs
local inst = mc.mcGetInstance()
  local profile = mc.mcProfileGetName(inst)
  local mcPath = mc.mcCntlGetMachDir(inst)
  local nGears=10
  local tblSS = {}
  local gear=1
  local cmdSS=2
  local pctSS=3 
  local newSS=4
 
  function parseLine(s)
    local gr,cmd,pc,nw
    local i=1
for w in s:gmatch("([^,]+)") do
      if i==1 then
        gr=tonumber(w)
  elseif i==2 then
    cmd=tonumber(w)
  elseif i==3 then
    pc=tonumber(w)
  elseif i==4 then
    nw=tonumber(w)
      end
  i=i+1
    end  
    return gr,cmd,pc,nw
  end
 
  function interpolate(x,x0,y0,x1,y1)
      return y0+(x-x0)*(y1-y0)/(x1-x0)
  end
 
  function ssmLoadTable()
    local fName=''..mcPath.."\\Profiles\\"..profile.."\\Modules\\Linearity.csv"
local ssFile=io.open(fName,"r")     
    if ssFile==nil then
      wx.wxMessageBox("File: "..fName.." Not Found")
  return 0
    end
for i=1, nGears do
  tblSS[i]={}
end
  i=1
    local gr,cmd,pc,nw
local currGR=1
for line in ssFile:lines() do
      gr,cmd,pc,nw=parseLine(line)
  if currGR~=gr then
    i=1
currGR=gr
  end
  tblSS[gr+1][i]={}
      tblSS[gr+1][i][1]=gr
      tblSS[gr+1][i][2]=cmd
  tblSS[gr+1][i][3]=pc
  tblSS[gr+1][i][4]=nw
  i=i+1
    end
    ssFile:close()
-- wx.wxMessageBox("end of read")
return 1
  end

  function ssmGetNewSS(gear,cmd)
    if cmd==0 then
      return cmd
    end
    for i=1,#tblSS[gear+1] do
      if tblSS[gear+1][i][2]== cmd then
--      wx.wxMessageBox('equal:'..tostring(tblSS[gear+1][i][4]))-- case of exact match
      return tblSS[gear+1][i][4]
  end
  if tblSS[gear+1][i][2]>cmd then
        if i==1 then
--        wx.wxMessageBox('first entry')--case of first entry , can't go lower
      return tblSS[gear+1][i][4]
    end
--wx.wxMessageBox('interpolate')
        return interpolate(cmd,tblSS[gear+1][i-1][2],tblSS[gear+1][i-1][4],tblSS[gear+1][i][2],tblSS[gear+1][i][4])     
      end
    end
--  wx.wxMessageBox('over max: '..tostring(tblSS[gear+1][#tblSS[gear+1]][4]))-- case over the limit return limit
    return tblSS[gear+1][#tblSS[gear+1]][4]  --change 4 to 3 to return percent for a modbus number?
  end

function spindlespeed(rpm)
  local inst = mc.mcGetInstance();
  rpm = mc.mcSpindleGetCommandRPM(inst);
 
  local rslt=ssmLoadTable()
  if rslt~=1 then
    wx.wxMessageBox("load failure: "..tostring(rslt))
    return 0
  end
  local gear=mc.mcSpindleGetCurrentRange(inst)
  rslt=ssmGetNewSS(gear,rpm)
  mc.mcSpindleSetCommandRPM(inst,rslt)
  local hReg, rc=mc.mcRegGetHandle(inst,'gRegs0/ssCMND')
  if hReg~=nil then
    mc.mcRegSetValue(hReg,rpm)
  end
--  wx.wxMessageBox(tostring(rslt))
  mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst,string.format("New SS: %.0f",rslt))
end

if (mc.mcInEditor() == 1) then
  spindlespeed();
end
[code]

[code]
HTH

RT[/code][/code]

387

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: m3 gets special treatment?

« on: November 21, 2017, 02:33:17 PM »

Many thanks, very well written.

388

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: m3 gets special treatment?

« on: November 21, 2017, 09:02:26 AM »

Many thanks for that, it works both with gcodes and mdi input.  I have been able to develop a hack like mach3's linearity.dat and can now get my spindle speed to within a couple of revs from what it is supposed to be.  If I requested s500 previously it would spin at 450 and s2000 would spin at 2170.  Unfortunately the new commandRPM displays not 500 but the 553 needed to get 500.

I can see how the modbus would be an excellent route but my  little board does not support it.

So it begs the question, who sets the voltage level? Does mach set a register value that vendors read or do the motion control vendors read the spindle gear table values and derive the amount of current?

389

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: m3 gets special treatment?

« on: November 20, 2017, 03:22:44 PM »

Thanks Steve,

I didn't get that impression from the scripting manual:

M codes in the column “User Scriptable And Internal Function” have internal functions in Mach4, but also allow user scripts. These codes are further divided into those that call the function internal to Mach4 OR a user script and those that run both. M3 to M5 and M7 to M9 are codes that control the spindle and coolant functions. If there is no user script for these codes they turn on/off their respective signals as defined inside Mach4. However, if a user script is present, the script will be run instead. This gives the user the power to create custom codes for custom spindle and coolant applications, but if the machine simply needs to turn on/off an output, no programming is required.

Might consider updating those to indicate that they will not allow parameters.

Thanks for the example but I need to know when the spindle speed has been requested to change or changed.  It appeared (with a cursory glance) that I could use the PGM RPM dro's onUpdateScript event to capture the value but after testing, the value returned is the one before the update.

Do I write a function that loops every 200 milliseconds and checks to see if that value changes?  Is there a better way?

TIA

RT

390

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: m3 gets special treatment?

« on: November 20, 2017, 02:00:50 PM »

deleted both the m3.mcc and the m3.mcs.bak

loaded Mach4 and in the mdi ran m3 s1000 and hParam still comes back nil: 'hParam==nil'