Topics

61

Works in progress / Scream4 Crashing!!

« on: February 27, 2009, 01:13:35 PM »

I've gone a long way towards creating my screen set, but, now all of a sudden, I have a couple of buttons which, when I select them in Scream4, causes the entire screenset display to go blank!  At first, I had one, then I changed the OEM code on another button, and now it's doing the same thing.  Any ideas how to get around this?  If I can't, I've just wasted an awful lot of time....

Regards,
Ray L.

62

Works in progress / One More All-In-One Milling Screen

« on: February 27, 2009, 10:58:18 AM »

I'm making myself an all-in-one milling screenset, containing *all* the functionality I ever use in one screen.  The first very crude first "Mach-Up" of my screen is below.  Keep in mind, this is a quick mock-up, to get a feel for the functionality, and see how things fit, using existing graphics.  The real graphics will be completely different (and hopefully more pleasing...).  Where you see a colored ring around a button, that ring is an LED that lights up behind the button when the corresponding function is active, much like the yellow blinking ring around the Spindle CW button on the standard screen set.  The over-ride controls are sliders only right now.  That seems good enough to me.  The graphic in the lower left works like the one on the offsets screen, and invokes macros that, for me, will perform all the edge-finding and tool-touch-off functions through macros.

The functions included are:

Axis Information:
X/Y/Z DROs w/Red/Green Ref'd LEDs
X/Y/Z Zero
RefAll Home
X/Y/Z GoTo Zero
X/Y GoTo Zero
User/Machine Coordinate Select w/LED

Program Control:
Open G-Code
Close G-Code
Edit G-Code
Set Next Line
Stop
FeedHold
CycleStart
Rewind
Single Block
4 TBDs
Elapsed Time

Touch-Off Controls: (all handled through macros, via graphic buttons)
Edge-Find X+
Edge-Find X-
Edge-Find Y+
Edge-Find Y-
Tool Touch-Off

Spindle/Coolant Controls:
Spindle command (S-Word) DRO
Spindle Speed Over-ride DRO
Actual Spindle Speed DRO
Spindle OVR slider w/OVR LED
Spindle CW On/Off
Spindle CCW On/Off
Flood On/Off
Mist On/Off

Feedrate Controls:
Feedrate command (F-word) DRO
Feedrate OVR DRO
Actual Feedrate DRO
Feedrate OVR slider w/OVR LED
Feedrate OVR Reset

Toolchange Controls:
Tool Number DRO
Big-A$$ Blinking Toolchange LED
Set Toolchange Position
GoTo Toolchange Position

Other:
Reset
MDI (lower left of screen)
Status (lower right of screen)
Modes (not in there yet)
Config? (not in there yet)

So, what have I missed?  Any comments on the functionality, layout, sizing, etc?

Regards,
Ray L.

63

General Mach Discussion / Image Editor Software For Creating Transparent Buttons?

« on: February 26, 2009, 11:52:07 AM »

I've completely lost my mind, and am designing my own screenset for Mach3.  I need to use transparent buttons, but am not at all up on image/bitmap editing tools.  What formats can I use for this (looks like maybe only .png?) and what is a good editor for creating the images?

I'm making an all-in-one milling screenset, containing all the functionality I've ever used (aside from one-time setup stuff) on a single screen.

Regards,
Ray L.

64

General Mach Discussion / OEM Code Magic Decoder Ring...

« on: February 22, 2009, 06:18:15 PM »

I try to avoid writing macros, because writing a macro always means spending an hour or more tearing my hair out trying to figure out which OEM codes I need, and then figuring out why they don't work as it seems they should.  For example, in writing my recent tool length setting macro, I needed to know whether G91 or G90 are in effect.  Of course, there are LEDs for both (OEM LEDs 48 and 49).  But, only one of them actually works!  The other is ALWAYS zero!

Right now, I'm looking into writing a custom macro for loading the tool length offset table, using my touch plate.  Looking at the existing button macro, the first line reads:

Tool_Num = GetDRO (24)

Clearly, DRO 24 *must* be the DRO on the various screens that shows the currently selected tool.  But, referring to the (many) OEM code spreadsheets, they all tell me DRO 24 is the "PWM Base DRO".

It is incredible to me that there isn't a complete, correct, *official* list of OEM codes, and their meanings.  I've had so many occassions where the codes are clearly NOT what the documentation would suggest, or don't work, or are simply so vaguely defined, that it's impossible to even guess what the function is.  Add to that the fact that there are a bunch of functions that the Mach3 customization guides indicates are deprecated, and so should not be used, yet they *are* still used in the production code.  And, in some cases, it does not even appear to me there is any other way of doing what they do.  It all makes writing macros a real exercise in frustration.

Regards,
Ray L.

65

General Mach Discussion / Ah, Cripes! Not Another Tool Touch-Off Macro!

« on: February 19, 2009, 09:32:30 PM »

I recently stumbled across Brett's tool length touch-off macro, and made some "enhancements", so I thought I'd pass it along to anyone who cares.

It appeared to me the original would not work correctly in all circumstances, as it did an explicit G90, but never checked to see if G91 was already in effect.  So, I fixed that so that it will work whether G90 or G91 was in effect, and restore the entry state.  I also changed the way the offset is determined, to simplify it logically.  In theory, the only changes someone should need to make is to change the PlateThickness RetractClearance and ProbeFeed variables defined at the top of the file.

Regards,
Ray L.

66

General Mach Discussion / G31 Bug?

« on: February 18, 2009, 10:48:29 PM »

When I do a "G31 Z-0.5000", the Z axis starts moving, and keeps going forever.  Isn't it supposed to stop when it reaches the target position of -0.5000. if it hasn't seen the probe input go active?

Regards,
Ray L.

67

General Mach Discussion / What The????

« on: February 02, 2009, 12:15:44 AM »

I have Mach3 installed on my home laptop, for testing purposes.  I disabled all the home/limit switch inputs in Config->Ports&Pins. When I click the "Ref All Home" button, a little dialog pops up, with a title bar that says "Answer This:", the dialog says "What Are You Doing?", there's a text entry box with the number "0" pre-filled-in, and an OK button.

What the hell is that for?  Isn't there a way to clear machine coordinates with no home switches?

Regards,
Ray L.

68

General Mach Discussion / Setting Tool Length

« on: January 31, 2009, 10:14:17 PM »

OK, stupid question time:   I'm trying to understand how tool length is normally set.  What I've been doing is using a gauge block, which I set on the top surface on the top of the part, touch the tool to the block, then set the Z DRO to the block height.  This, of course, works fine, but I'm looking for something better.  I made a quick-n-dirty height gauge using a dial indicator, following an example on the Industrial Hobbies website.  But, I'm having a hard time seeing how to use it with Mach3.  It is intended to sit directly on the table, and you touch to tool to it, and lower the tool until the indicator reaches a specific reading.  All well and good for setting the height above the table, but all the Z positions in the G-code assume Z=0 is the top surface of the part.  So, if I'm holding the work in a vise, the top of the part may be 3" higher than the table surface.  So, how do I go from touching the height gauge, to correctly setting the Z DRO to the top surface of the work, without having to do the mental arithmetic, and typing into the DRO.  I intend to make an elecronic touch place, which would raise the same questions....

Regards,
Ray L.

69

General Mach Discussion / Offline Button - What Does It Do?

« on: January 27, 2009, 06:25:21 PM »

What does the Offline screen button actually do?   The manual says it disconnects all outputs, yet with Offline lit, I can still jog....

Regards,
Ray L.

70

General Mach Discussion / ShuttlePro No Worky...

« on: January 16, 2009, 04:54:04 PM »

I just installed the ShuttlePro plug in, and a brand-new ShuttlePro.  When Mach starts up, the status line indicates the plug-in was loaded, but it does not show up in the plug-in config menu. It is sorta, kinda working - the jog and shuttle wheels both work, but none of the buttons do anything. Pressing any button just gets a "beep" from the PC.

Any ideas what I can do to sort this out?

Regards,
Ray L.