Messages

31

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: August 15, 2014, 12:30:43 AM »

Hi Art

Finally made some head way with the latest Darwin 1.145 plugin. I was able to home without any problem and move off of the limits without having to push reset. Tried working on the step/direction spindle. Darwin reg isn't remembering any changes to the settings in the reg file editor. I need to set the spindlefreqhi to 800 for so my spindle will be close to desired rpm and stepwidth has to be set 5 per the C6 speed board instructions. When I exit M4 and restart the spindlefreqhi goes to 5000 and the stepwidth goes back to 0. I did this several times and had the same result. Tried the estop setting for home switch in limits that still isn't working right. When machine tries to home M4 goes to estop when home switch is tripped. That one must be M4. If you can fix the forgetfull regfile settings bug I think Darwin will be there.

Eric

32

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: August 08, 2014, 03:54:31 PM »

Brian posted on the Yahoo Mach 3 group site that Mach 4 1936 has been released on the machsupport web site. I installed over 1900 and it did fix the high CPU usage problem that was present with 1914. I ran a circle pocket gcode program with no spindle and CPU didn't go over 14%.


Eric

33

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Bug Reports

« on: August 08, 2014, 07:23:45 AM »

I have verified that there is a CPU overload problem with Mach 4 1914 that causes jerky motor movement when jogging. I downloaded and installed Mach 4 1900 over 1914 and that fixed the problem. I ran a simple gcode program and the CPU usage was low and the motors ran very smoothly just like Mach 3. Using Darwin 1.11 for motion controller. See the video for the results.

Eric
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zLMM0NiwlY

34

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions

« on: August 08, 2014, 03:37:23 AM »

Hello Freeman

I have the same issue as you. It has been reported by other users that something changed between Mach 4 build 1900 and build 1914.

My CPU load is maxed at 100% while jogging with Mach 4 my servos sound like crap. I can jog inside Darwin and motors are smooth and I

have no complaints. I wish I had a chance to test with build 1900 so I could see if it Mach 4 works. I have read that this seems to be the case

on older systems. A newer computer isn't an option right now since Mach 3 runs so well on my current computer. I'll have to wait for the next

build release to see if CPU overload has been fixed. Thats whats causing the motors to not jog smoothly in Mach 4.

Dell Otiplex GX270
2.8GHz P4 CPU
4GB System RAM
ATI Radeon 9550 256MB Video Card
Win XP SP3 32bit

Eric

35

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Bug Reports

« on: August 08, 2014, 02:53:43 AM »

I'm seeing the same CPU load issue being 100% jogging  axis motors with Mach 4 build 1914. Using the latest Darwin PP plugin as motion

device. Computer is Dell Optiplex GX270. ATI Radeon 9550 with 256Mb video RAM. 3GB system RAM. Windows XP SP3.

Computer runs Mach 3 on 2 PP very well never any issues.

Eric

36

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 problem with new cnc

« on: June 06, 2011, 06:20:44 PM »

Hi jimmyaz

Glad you got back up and running again. Some computers are just junk for running Mach 3. I thought about a new computer to run Mach 3. Then saw the prices and still there was no guarantee that Mach 3 would work. That's why I went with old technology and a proven brand of computer used by many Mach 3 users. Happy chips.

Eric

37

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: RICH'S ATLAS CNC CONVERSION

« on: May 29, 2011, 11:21:03 PM »

Rich

Beautiful machine. You should be proud.

Eric

38

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 problem with new cnc

« on: May 29, 2011, 10:58:16 PM »

Hello

Mine is the small one not the big tower. It is an Intel P4 2.4Ghz. It has the on board Intel graphics controller. You can add your own AGP graphics card and opt out of the onboard graphics.
You can put up to 4G of memory in the GX270 but I've heard that going over 2G can create boot problems. Here is the link for the Dell sepcs sheet www.dell.com/downloads/us/products/optix/gx270_spec.pdf. I got mine off ebay for $15. S&H was around $20. CD drive installed but no hard drive installed. There are a couple of PCI slots so you could add a PCI parallel port card for LPT2. I didn't want to spend a lot if it was a bust but I'm very happy. I don't know why the new PCs are have such a hard time running Mach3. All I know is I wanted an all Intel system. My old computer was an AMD system and I had nothing but problems trying to run Mach3. Now it is just for CAD CAM.

Eric

39

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 problem with new cnc

« on: May 29, 2011, 10:05:24 PM »

Hello

I did lost of research and asked many Mach 3 users what their choice of computer was and Dell was the winner. If a Dell is good enough for Art then it was going to be the computer I wanted. I got a nice used Dell Optiplex GX270 off ebay. I'm using shared video and system hasn't been Mach 3 optimized. Everything runs like a champ. One thing I did find out the hard way is the more drivers and updates you do after initial operating system install the more problems I had. When Mach3 started computer would freeze up. Reinstalled bare bones operating system with on board sound, serial port, and network disabled. No windows updates allowed. No internet. No networking. I did install the windows .net framework 2.0 so i could use Norton Ghost for backup. I have second computer for internet and CAD CAM software. The Dell is only for CNC controller.

Eric

40

General Mach Discussion / Re: Ghost in the room

« on: May 21, 2011, 02:29:42 AM »

I just downgraded to a Dell Optiplex GX 270. I heard that Dells were fairly good for running Mach 3. I wanted an Intel processor as I have had nothing but problems with the AMD that the last computer had. I have left a usb thumb drive connected before while running Mach 3 and I've had the computer freeze up where a reboot was the only thing that would get things going again. The same happened with a usb network adapter. So basically I had a Windows XP Professional install disk with SP 2 on it and I installed just that with no other drivers but Mach 3 running. I even had problems with the network driver that goes with the Dell GX 270. My experience is minimal if not any extras on the controller computer. No usb anything connected unless it is something that is supported by Mach 3. I'm using a wireless XBox 360 controller as a MPG and haven't any problems so far. If you need to go online or run CAD CAM software best bet is a separate computer for that.

Eric