Messages

21

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: Parallel port wiring

« on: November 02, 2016, 05:20:09 AM »

I am using a dedicated controller.

got a name or better a link? - all shall be revealed.

22

General Mach Discussion / Re: EZ-Router Mach 3 Gremlins

« on: October 27, 2016, 06:17:12 PM »

servos (on a router that's advertised as having steppers), bobs with un-enabled tri-state outputs, seems like a lot of guesswork Roger. Perhaps the OP could confirm both/either? Me - I've got my buck on the TIG - but that would be a guess too to be fair 

23

General Mach Discussion / Re: EZ-Router Mach 3 Gremlins

« on: October 27, 2016, 08:01:17 AM »

Hi Roger

You've cut the bit off the front about charge pumps when you quoted me and then said you have a bob with charge pump so I'm unsure what  your point is.

EMI? Could be, could be. If the drivers to the Dir lines go tristate, could be.

I'm hoping you don't think it's only tri-state outputs that can be affected by EMI. Plus I'm not sure where tri-state outputs would have a place here. Tri-state outputs are used to connect multiple devices to a bus architecture.

24

General Mach Discussion / Re: EZ-Router Mach 3 Gremlins

« on: October 27, 2016, 06:03:15 AM »

looks to me like you have a massive EMI problem.

unless you have some sort of charge pump safety enabled you should NEVER start the machine before Mach or shut Mach down before the machine.

25

VB and the development of wizards / Re: bcd input

« on: October 27, 2016, 05:05:29 AM »

Its plain vanilla binary wth inverse logic (not BCD).

set 4 inputs to active low and then you can decode with:

D * 8 + C * 4 + b * 2 + A

so in code:

slot = CINT(isActive(INPUT4)) * -8 + CINT(isActive(INPUT3)) * -4 + CINT(isActive(INPUT2)) * -2 + CINT(isActive(INPUT1)) * -1

Without more info. it's unclear why they've used 4 inputs for 8 states (3 should be enough) but my guess would be that state 0 is returned when it's between slots (is that the case?).

26

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Macro only runs in editor

« on: October 20, 2016, 06:54:29 AM »

I agree with @Highspeed - why we see this a lot - I don't know. FWIW it shouldn't actually run because there's no call. It does however which I suspect is a either a bug in CB or the way CB is implemented in Mach.

However, moving on...

running your code in the macropump:
The macropump runs (or tries to run) your macro over and over every 1/10th of a second. Can you see why your code is going to kill it because of your do while loop? Can you also see that you'll be continually opening the text file?

running your code as an MCode:
GCode runs line by line. It can't run the next line until the MCode has finished. It can't finish the MCode until the GCOde has finished because of your do while loop. Can you see a deadlock issue here?

Running it from a button works here (without your Dooembutton (1000) line)

Curious as to what you're trying to do - particularly why you'd write the date on every iteration - how long is your gcode file going to take to run?

27

VB and the development of wizards / Re: help withusing vbscript to "feedhold" gcode execution

« on: October 20, 2016, 05:06:21 AM »

it is not immediately clear to me why a pause in a sequence of moves would not be considered movement.

I understand where you're coming from but try not to think of it as a PAUSE in GCode execution. It's a HOLD in axis movement i.e. a HOLD in FEED. - does that help?

probably i don't understand the logic behind what feed hold is really used for in practice

You can hit STOP at any time and that is exactly what will happen. i.e. stop movement, stop gcode execution - stop everything.

However, if you STOP whilst moving you may loose position. Therefore, there's a need for another way of stopping in the case where there's movement that doesn't cause a position loss. That is FEED HOLD. - does that help?

Also, this is not peculiar to Mach - this (AFAIK) is how it works generally across all CNC controllers.

28

General Mach Discussion / Re: homing

« on: October 19, 2016, 04:36:37 AM »

AFAIK, homing is one of the "real-time" actions like limits or probing etc. so HAS to be done by the controller.

FWIW, your description does not match the way homing is "normally" done.

Actually I suspect your description of the homing sequence is incorrect because if it worked as you say it does then you wouldn't be able to share limit and home switches.

29

VB and the development of wizards / Re: help withusing vbscript to "feedhold" gcode execution

« on: October 19, 2016, 04:21:58 AM »

looks like this is the ticket. thank you for your help.

No worries.

ftr it does not look like you can feed hold a g4 command.

By definition, feedhold only works when there's movement TO feedhold.

30

VB and the development of wizards / Re: help withusing vbscript to "feedhold" gcode execution

« on: October 17, 2016, 10:43:33 AM »

hi,
i am not sure, but you can try also:

DoButton(1)

should be the same, but let's try.

Thomas

OK i will try and let you know.

No point. This is just the legacy way of doing a feedhold so for the reasons I've given above it won't work.