Messages

821

General Mach Discussion / Re: Set Z to zero automatically?Auto tool zero questions

« on: April 05, 2007, 11:52:16 PM »

Well that little bubble of excitement didn't last long 

I found a bug which I don't expect will affect very many users.

Took me ages to figure out what was going on.  You'll understand why if you read on. 

Could not believe that I wasn't doing something stupid or that my macro was at fault.

Anyhow eventually I worked out what made things go pear shaped.

To do with slaved axis. I have X and A motors running my X axis in a dual drive setup.

The Auto Tool Zero works perfectly up until I jog or move the X axis by any method except homing.

After moving the X axis, it spits the dummy and does strange things and wont work again till I restart Mach.

Now what threw me is that a homing sequence does not have the same effect.

But then I thought about it    and a homing sequence treats the slaved axis separately so that the individual homing switches can do their thing.

Now I suppose because this will affect very few users, that it will not score highly on the "To Do List"

So until that happens my "Wizz Bang Zero Setter" will have to go on the shelf. 


Now for the disclaimer     If I have done something supremely stupid and it is all my fault. 

I apologize profusely for casting aspersions on the very excellent Mach software. 

Greg

822

NC Pod / Re: Anyone tried the new plugin yet ?

« on: April 05, 2007, 05:03:55 AM »

.

I would have expected those involved with it would be shouting from the rooftops.

Brian I know that you and Art have been writing a plugin for it (in between all the other tasks  )

My comment was more to do with the people whose product this is.

We don't seem to have heard boo from them.

Greg

823

General Mach Discussion / Re: Set Z to zero automatically?Auto tool zero questions

« on: April 05, 2007, 04:50:58 AM »

I can do that Chuck.

But you really should have a go at making the alterations to your screen set.

Once you see how easy it is you'll be glad you did. And you will then find yourself doing all sorts of changes.

Download Screen4 and have a play with it. 

Open the 1024.set then "save as" so no matter what you do you can fall back to an unaltered screen.

Remember making a few changes is a lot simpler than designing a screen from scratch.

And if you have specific questions, then ask. 

If that little pep talk has fallen on deaf ears    then send me a PM with your email address and I will send it to you.

Greg

824

General Mach Discussion / Re: Set Z to zero automatically?Auto tool zero questions

« on: April 04, 2007, 08:37:58 PM »

Hey Scott.  It works @$%&# fantastic.    

Don't know why it took me so long to get around to it.

I just modified your code to suit myself.  Easier to do after making the effort to understand it. 



PlateThickness = GetUserDRO(1151) 'Z-plate thickness DRO

If GetOemLed (825)=0 Then
DoButton ( 10 )
Code "G4 P0.25"
Code "G31Z-50 F400"
While IsMoving()
Wend
Code "G4 P0.25"
ZProbePos = GetVar(2002)
Code "G0 Z" &ZProbePos
While IsMoving ()
Wend
Call SetDro (2, PlateThickness)
Code "G4 P0.5" 'Pause for Dro to update.
Code "G0 Z20" 'Change the Z retract height here
Code "(Z axis is now zeroed)"
Else
Code "(Z-Plate is grounded, check connection and try again)"
Exit Sub
End If     

I put a DRO on the screen and also a big LED that I can see easily for the Probe.

My fear was that if an electrical or other fault happened and the switch failed it would drive
the spindle into the work and most likely break the tool.

So with the LED I just touch the plate to the tool before running script to satisfy myself that all is good.

Anyhow thanks for the help,  Greg

.

825

NC Pod / Re: Anyone tried the new plugin yet ?

« on: April 04, 2007, 03:53:42 AM »

Well 83 views and not one response in two and a half weeks 

This whole ncPod forum seems to have fallen off the shelf.

Don't know what happened to Kookaburra.  He hinted at some health issues.  Wish him well if that is so.

The OEMtech site has not sparked to life.

Perhaps there is discussion going on somewhere else but I don't know where.

This product seemed to me to have real potential. 

I would have expected those involved with it would be shouting from the rooftops.

Just seems to be dead.    I must admit to being a bit mystified.

Greg

826

Mach Screens / Help with Screen4

« on: April 04, 2007, 03:32:16 AM »

When I try to use Screen4 and open the existing 1024.set every DRO is rapidly incrementing and wont stop.

And when I select a button etc it won't stay selected.

Is this normal?  Surely not!

I really want to get started on learning about and changing things on the screens that I want.

Anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Greg

827

General Mach Discussion / Re: Set Z to zero automatically?Auto tool zero questions

« on: April 04, 2007, 12:50:43 AM »

Yay!!!  It's easy when you know where to look. 

Now it all makes sense

Thanks Scott

828

General Mach Discussion / Re: Set Z to zero automatically?Auto tool zero questions

« on: April 03, 2007, 11:01:33 PM »

OK I feel suitably chastised.   

Plane as the nose on your face now that I see it. 

Thanks Hood

829

General Mach Discussion / Re: Set Z to zero automatically?Auto tool zero questions

« on: April 03, 2007, 04:41:05 PM »

Hey thanks for that Scott. I think I have now got that.

My problem is that I can usually get this stuff into my head, but can't for the life of me get it to stay there 


Guynamedbathgate, I hear what your saying.  I really like to be able to understand why a thing works.


Any one know where I can find reference to "GetVar (2002)"   Is it in the Wiki or PDFs ?

Greg

EDIT,  I can't find the setting for time units "P" on the General Config page.  Is it still there?

830

General Mach Discussion / Re: Set Z to zero automatically?Auto tool zero questions

« on: April 03, 2007, 04:11:40 AM »

Scott

Can you help me to understand your macro for tool height.

I have looked at the Wiki etc. and think I understand most of it but there are a few points that are eluding me 

And maybe if Scott is not on line someone else may give me a few pointers.

CurrentFeed = GetOemDRO(818) 'Get the current feedrate.
PlateThickness = GetUserDRO(1151) 'You could put your z-plate thickness here instead
ProbeFeed = GetUserDRO(1152) 'You could put a probing feedrate here instead.

These User DROs are ones that you put in your screens with Screen designer I guess

Code "G90 F" &ProbeFeed

If GetOemLed (825)=0 Then
Code "G4 P5" 'Time to get to the z-plate

What is the value of P (seconds?)

Code "G31Z-5 F" &ProbeFeed
While IsMoving()
Wend

The following three lines is what I mostly don't understand

Code "G4 P0.25"   What is this pause for

ZProbePos = GetVar(2002) Don't know what "GetVar (2002)" is

Code "G0 Z" &ZProbePos  Don't understand this line. Maybe when the previous line is explained it will then be obvious 


While IsMoving ()
Wend
Call SetDro (2, PlateThickness)
Code "G4 P0.5" 'Pause for Dro to update.
Code "G0 Z2.0" 'Change the Z retract height here
Code "(Z axis is now zeroed)"
Code "F" &CurrentFeed
Else
Code "(Z-Plate is grounded, check connection and try again)"
Exit Sub
End If

I really want to get this going on my machine and also get some level of understanding of this stuff.

Thanks for any help,   Greg