Messages

421

Mach4 General Discussion / Mach4lathe - Not ready for prime time

« on: April 27, 2017, 12:43:55 PM »

Mach4 Lathe is not supported at this time by either New Fangled Solutions, SmoothStepper, PMDX or UCDrive.  Since few users of Mach4 use Mach4Lathe, the plugins have not been tested with any kind of rigor. 

I identified problems with the UC100 plugin and only after having gone public on forums did they finally admit that they had not tested it on Lathe and that it should not be used with Mach4 Lathe.

I then went to PMDX 411 and their plugin and ran into another bug (G31).  Six weeks ago I opened a ticket with NFS and five weeks ago posted to the PMDX forum.  As usual everyone assumed that it was user error that caused the problem.  I created a YouTube video showing the problem, provided all requested information three weeks ago and PMDX acknowledged that they have a problem with their plugin.  No further response from them to date.

I’ve now wasted three months of my hobby time chasing down bugs that should have been caught with basic testing.

There are flaws in the lathe wizards as well that I have not yet publicly addressed.

I would seriously suggest that anyone considering purchasing or moving to Mach4Lathe re-evaluate that decision at this time. 


RT

422

Machscreen Screen Designer / Re: MachScreen releases

« on: April 24, 2017, 01:42:31 PM »

Thanks Klaus for all your hard work, creativity and generosity.

423

General Mach Discussion / Re: mach3 run time

« on: April 20, 2017, 02:14:09 PM »

Not in the stock screens.  You would have to use a screen editor like MachScreen to add the button and dro Both Standard Code 15.  there may be a commercial turn set that has it but i have never looked.

HTH

RT

424

General Mach Discussion / Re: 4 axis dilema

« on: April 19, 2017, 04:38:07 PM »

Assuming both screws and motors identical then both would have identical motor tunings and the a would be slaved to the x and both would turn in the same.direction.

425

General Mach Discussion / Re: 4 axis dilema

« on: April 19, 2017, 04:19:04 PM »

That would most likely depend on how you have your motors mounted.

426

General Mach Discussion / Re: inverted y x axis

« on: April 19, 2017, 04:04:00 PM »

Not sure I fully understand but it seems from what you are saying you want to swap the x and y axes.  If that is the case then co to config->ports and pins, select the motor outputs tab and swap the pins settings for the step and dir pins.  Or, just swap the cables for the x and motors ;^)

427

General Mach Discussion / Re: mach3 run time

« on: April 19, 2017, 03:57:05 PM »

Yes, on the Toolpath Tab(alt 4) there is a button labled 'Simulate program run' which will simulate the loaded gcode and report the estimated time below.  Not exactly accurate but close.

HTH

RT

428

General Mach Discussion / Re: Two issues... really slow and not starting carving at 0,0

« on: April 19, 2017, 03:52:43 PM »

Not really enough information to diagnose.  I have aspire so I will take a quick stab at possible solutions.  In aspire you designate where the job coordinates are 0,0.  That could be center, lower left, upper left,lower right or upper right.  In your tool path definition you define your speeds and when you save to file you choose which post processor to use.  Since you used the word whilst I assume you are using the Mach2/3 Arcs(mm).  Make sure that you are consistent with regards to defining things in mm's or in's.

When you want to run the gcode from aspire you jog or MDI code to where you want your 0,0 to be and then zero out each x and y Dro.

As to the speed issue, check to see if you are in G20(inch) or G21(mm).  zero your DRO's and enter an mdi command of g1 x6 f60.  It should take 10 seconds to complete that move and it should move either 6mm or 6 in depending on your G20/21 mode.  If the rate and distance are correct then it is most likely your Aspire setups that are incorrect.  If either the distance or time is off then it is your Mach setup.

HTH

RT

429

General Mach Discussion / Re: Home switches

« on: April 17, 2017, 03:11:19 PM »

If I understand you correctly you want to ref an axis which goes to the limit switch and then backs off until the switch is inactive and then proceed another 5mm.  If that is correct then choose operater->edit button script and then click on the ref all home button. 

DoButton( 24 )
DoButton( 23 )
DoButton( 22 )
DoButton( 25 ) c
Depending on what axis you want to move off from change to:

DoButton( 24 ) ; ref Z
Code("G1 Z5")
DoButton( 23 ) ; ref Y
code("G1 Y5")
DoButton( 22 ) ; ref X
code("G1 X5")
DoButton( 25 ) ; ref A

HTH

RT

430

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Simple Lua question

« on: March 30, 2017, 05:00:06 PM »

once you have verified that your current inst is valid then you are probably running up against the same issues I did:

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,34451.0.html

You are correct that there are few good examples of mach and Lua.  Four functions in particular do not act as one would intuitively expect:

mcGCodeExecute
mcGCodeExecuteWait
mcScriptExecute
mcMdiExecute

No description as to when and where each can/cannot be successfully used.