Messages

111

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: December 30, 2015, 12:41:39 AM »

When you say you can't get the axis to "connect", what exactly do you mean?  Do you mean simply that you get no motion?  Or is there something more?

I'll leave the Darwin specifics to Art, but in my experience the most common cause "no motion" is having the step and direction signals swapped.  Your image of the motor configuration tab shows Motor0 with direction on pin 3 and step on pin 2.  Verify that this is really how your break-out board and/or motor wiring is connected.  For example, that would be OK with a PMDX-340 or GeckoDrive G540, but would not work for a PMDX-134.

Bob

112

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: ESS and PWM Speed Control

« on: December 29, 2015, 11:23:46 AM »

Are you saying you don't see a place for this on the ESS config screens?  Or on the general Mach4 config screens?

Hmm...  I just realized that Mach4 calls these "spindle ranges" not pulley ratios.

For the general Mach4 config go the "Configure" menu and select "Mach".  Then click on the "Spindle" tab.  You will see 20 rows labeled "0" to "19", with columns "MinRPM", "MaxRPM", etc.  If you have only one pulley config, enter that on the "0" line.  Usually the "MinRPM" is zero and "MaxRPM" is the actual spindle RPM (not spindle *motor* RPM) when the spindle speed PWM signal is at 100%.  Then, down at the bottom of the window there is a field for "Max Spindle Motor RPM".  This is exactly what it sounds like, the actual motor RPM at max speed.  For example, if you have a 1:2 pulley ratio, then the max motor RPM would be 1/2 of the max spindle RPM.

If that doesn't work, then if nobody else chimes in here I guess your best bet is the ESS support forums over on warp9td.com.

Note: Line "0" is the default spindle range when Mach4 starts.  In order to use any other line ("1" through "19") you will need a custom button or Lua script to change to a different spindle range. The Lua functions are:

    mc.mcSpindleSetRange(number mInst, number Range) where "range" is a number 0 to 19.
    mc.mcSpindleGetRange(number mInst) returns current range, 0 to 19

Bob

113

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: ESS and PWM Speed Control

« on: December 28, 2015, 09:27:16 PM »

If the ESS plug-in config screens don't have a place for effective pulley ratios, I would *guess* you need to configure the pulley ratios in the Configure->Mach dialog, then click on the "Spindle Config" tab (or something like that, I don't have a copy of Mach4 here to see the exact name).

Bob

114

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Has ArtSoft Layed Off It's Programmers?

« on: December 28, 2015, 09:22:38 PM »

The is a posting on another CNC site stating that ArtSoft has layed off it's programmers? If this is true what is the future of Mach 4?

Post a link or you are simply spreading rumors.  Well, it may be a rumor even *if* you supply a link, but without a link is it wholly unsubstantiated.  Or am I just feeding the post-holiday troll here?

115

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 - ESS - Charge Pump confusion

« on: December 28, 2015, 09:18:15 PM »

Several things:

(1) As of Mach4 build 2803, any *NEW* profile created by Mach4 will have the "Charge Pump #1" and "Charge Pump #2" output signals renamed to "Reserved #1" and "Reserved #2".  Any *EXISTING* profiles (ones created with Mach4 builds prior to 2803) that you open and/or edit will retain the old "Charge Pump" signal names.  Note that COPYING a profile will not change the "Charge Pump" signal names *IF* they existed in the profile from which you made the copy.

(2) Apparently, the PMDX SmartBOB devices were the only ones that paid any attention to the assignments of the "Charge Pump" signal assignments in the Mach configure "Output Signals" tab.  From what I've been told (and seen) all other plug-ins handle the charge pump assignment only through the plug-in specific configuration dialog.

(3) I cannot say whether the ESS supports multiple charge pump signals.  That is a question for the ESS folks.

(4) What break-out boards are you using?  It may be possible to have the charge pump signal go into one of the breakout boards, and use some kind of enable signal from the first board to the second board.  The PMDX breakout boards have this ability.

Bob

116

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 and Windows 10

« on: December 24, 2015, 12:03:44 PM »

PCID is based on the PC configuration.  New OS means new configuration, therefore new PCID.

Bob

117

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Version 2803 Problems

« on: December 24, 2015, 12:01:47 PM »

Think i will need to go back to the darwin thread, did not think it would be so complex , replicating what already works in mach3.
When I finally get mach4 working , will be purchasing a licence for M4.

ALso make sure you aren't hitting the time limits in the unlicensed Mach4 (will halt motion after some amount of time running, I don't remember exactly but like 10 or 15 minutes).

Shameless plug - we offer Mach4Hobby licenses at a discount :-)

Bob

118

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Version 2803 Problems

« on: December 24, 2015, 12:00:07 PM »

I use Mach4 V2803
I use ESS to communicate with my two breakout boards.

When Mach4 ist started and i use other programms i have some trouble.
The keys assigned to Mach4 can't be used in other programms.

Known issue.  You have to manually disable the keyboard plug-in - click on the keyboard icon in the system tray (lower right corner of your screen).  When you see a red "X" on the icon, the Mach4 keyboard plugin is disabled and cursor keys will work in other programs.  Then re-enable it when you switch back to Mach4.

Bob

119

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Version 2803 Problems

« on: December 23, 2015, 03:39:49 PM »

Here is my config file, which program do you use to view it?

I use Notepad and Mach4.  Here is what I see:

Motor0 is the only motor that is enabled.
The X axis is the only axis that is enabled, and it has Motor0 assigned to it.
In the homing order you have the X axis as #1 (first axis to home).

So far so good.

Looking at the "Configure->Mach", "Input Signals" tab, you have the Darwin/xlimit signal assigned to:
- Input #5
- Motor 0 Home
- Motor 0++
- Motor 0 - -

Disclaimers: I know very little about the Darwin plug-in.  And I don't currently have access to our PC that has Darwin installed, so I can't test any of this.  Some plug-ins totally ignore the settings in the "Configure-> Mach" dialog.  I don't know if the Darwin driver ignores them or uses them.  That said...

If the Darwin plug-in had a signal called "xlimit", I would presume it also has a signal called "xhome".  Homing is indeed handled entirely in the plug-in, all Mach4 does it tell the plug-in "Home this axis and tell me when you are done".  It is **possible** that the Darwin plug-in will only home an axis if there is an input signal assigned to its "xhome" signal, if indeed it does have an "xhome".

OR...

I see in the Darwin section of the Machine.ini file that Motor0's home signal *might* be assigned to Darwin input #29 (I'm guessing as to the meaning of the line "Motor_0_HomeSig=29").  If that really does mean the home signal is Darwin input signal #29, looking further down the INI file, "Input_29" is disabled and has no name.  So, as above, perhaps Darwin is refusing to home that axis because there is no input assigned as the home signal.

You might be able to verify this by enabling the Mach4 log window.  Go to the "Diagnostic" menu and select "Logging".  Then click on the little play button to start the log.  Now try to home the machine.  See what messages show up in the log window.

Those are my best semi-educated guesses.

Bob

120

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Newbie trying to understand mach 4

« on: December 22, 2015, 09:57:00 PM »

ok ive enabled all of that... the e stop gets seen on 11.  and i assume 13 through to 10 are ok.

When doing tech support I don't like to assume anything.  Somewhere along the line you *will* need to verify that the home switch indicators on the Mach4 "machine diagnostics" screen properly reflect the actual states of the home switches.

So I have manually moved the machine into a certain position and set to xyze = 0000 however when it runs the gcode... it says Z74 so naturally it moved z up... and it crashes into the top... what it reads though is 3mm when it hits the top so how do I match dimensions in teh software to teh actual dimensions physically?

Several things appear to be going on.  I'm guessing that Mach4 may be set for "inches" mode and there is no command in the GCode to set it to mm.  Go to the Mach4 "Configure" menu and select "Mach".  On the "General" tab there are two places under "Default Modes" to set the units: "Machine Setup Units" and "Units Mode".  Set both of these to "Metric".  You may see a warning about needing a restart.  Click on OK until at the main Mach4 screen.  Exit Mach4 and restart it.

Now go verify the motor tuning parameters.  First open the "Mach4 CNC Controller Config.pdf" document located in C:\Mach4Hobby\Doc.  Look starting on page 15 for a description of the motor tuning fields.  Go to the "Configure" menu and select "Mach".  Then click on the "Motors" tab.  Click once on the "Motor0" label at the top right to display the current parameters for that motor.  You will need to know whether the Zero3 is set for 1/5th microstepping (1000 steps per motor revolution) or 1/10th microstepping (2000 steps per motor revolution).  Then multiply by your gear or pulley ratio to get the number of steps per mm.

Once you've gone through that, try jogging one axis at a time and verify that it moves the proper distance.  Once way to do this is to use the incremental jog function.  In the "Jogging" tab set the "incremental jog step" to 1.0000.  And set the "Button Jog Mode" to "Incremental".  Then click on the + or - job button for that axis and measure the distance the axis actually travels.  If it does not match, adjust the "steps per" setting in the motor tuning parameters.

Once you have the motor tuning properly set, then try running the GCode.  Or... go back and try to get the homing function to work.

Bob
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