Messages

1

Mach4 Toolbox / Re: Custom Screen Set Transfer

« on: February 13, 2024, 10:19:24 AM »

Just copy the screenset file from one machine to the other. You'll then have to load said screenset on the shop computer. But maybe that's what you did and I don't understand. You mentioned new images, and I don't know how to do that nor where the new images come from and are stored in the screenset.

I've not been here for a while, doesn't seem to be much help forthcoming any longer!!

2

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Upgrade problem - 4498 to 5310

« on: February 13, 2024, 10:10:54 AM »

Per the instructions, I made a copy of my old Mach4Hobby directory, renamed it, and then installed the new version over the old version.

Surprised there are no answers here, but that seems to be the way now.

What I do is rename the Mach4Hobby folder to something like Mach4Hobby_4498, then install the new version anew, NOT over the old version. Then I open both folders side by  side, and copy over license, plugins, profiles, screensets, docs (if any are new/different), maybe modules. You can then rename folders and go back easily to a working machine, and even switch back and forth to try and figure stuff out!!

That said, since Andy is gone from Warp9, issues between new Mach4 versions and ESS plugins don't get documented nor fixed like they used to, at least where I can find them, so it's a lot more daunting to "upgrade". Things don't work and it's sort of up to you to figure it out.  Andy used to keep us abreast of "this Mach4 version works best with this ESS plugin", but now I can't figure that out.

Oh, and signal scripts live in the screenstart script.

Good luck,
Tom

3

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: mini pc

« on: December 10, 2023, 09:27:52 AM »

I bought a similar one for my sister, and sort of to see how they are. They all seem to be sort of the same, with all sorts of Amazon sounding goofy names. So far it's been good. It runs pretty hot. So hot I even emailed the vendor and they told me it's normal. The fact they even replied surprised me a bit!! I would think that alone might affect lifespan, but who knows, Intel does say they can run that warm normally!!! It was running like 70C all the time, warmer when doing much.

Tom

4

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Setting zero

« on: November 05, 2023, 10:48:14 AM »

I guess you could always MDI to X0 Y0 and see where the cutter lines up with your part or whatever you have set as work offset X0 Y0.

5

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Setting zero

« on: November 05, 2023, 08:33:38 AM »

No matter Mach3 or Mach4, center of the spindle is center of the spindle. How you achieve that is the question!! Edge finder, allow for half the diameter. Cutter (bit), allow for half of THAT. Not sure what else to even say.

6

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: New to Mach4 ... Need Help

« on: October 29, 2023, 09:59:15 AM »

RefAllHome is in the screen load script in the screenset and is LUA code. Be sure to rename a copy of the screen set you're editing or a new install of Mach4 will overwrite it.

7

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Turret lathe axis question

« on: October 19, 2023, 05:46:43 PM »

These babies had a carriage/cross slide and a sliding tailstock with a rotating turret. So X and Z are likely the carriage, and his A is sliding the tailstock (done with a big ol' handle originally, move forward, move back, rotate, slide forward again with the next tool). Not sure how he'd handle rotating the turret to its positions and knowing tool lengths, but I'm sure it can be done:)

These things preceded CNC lathes for production type work back in the day!! Pretty cool in 1945! Right in there with VTL's and gear shapers.

8

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Newbie question

« on: October 19, 2023, 05:25:45 PM »

Add a line or two of gcode at the end of your program to go where you want it to go? You'd probably have to use machine coordinates, like

G53 Z123.456 (someplace safe, like way up at Z machine coordinate zero, or where your machine zero should be!!!)
G53 X123.456 Y123.456. (over your touch plate)

Remember G53 is modal, one line at a time!!

These would be relative to your machine home position, assuming you have home switches and home the machine!! Depending on what you use to generate gcode, maybe you could edit the post processor to add this at the end of every program.

Or, a button on your screenset to go to a preset position. Press the button after the program ends, or really, any time a program is NOT running. Might want to put a safe Z in that one, too. And those will need to be relative to machine coordinate positions, really the same code as if it were in the program, so you know where it's going without regard to work coordinate positions, like G54, G55, etc.

If you don't have home switches and home your machine every time you start it, all these bets are off!!! You're sort of screwed in that case because you never know where anything is relative to a "home in place" position.

9

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Cannot Get Machine Set Up

« on: October 11, 2023, 08:55:31 AM »

Just for interest, start Mach4 as administrator. I set it up YEARS ago to run as admin on the advice of an admin here named Byranna, and have just been doing that since. Just right click the desktop shortcut, click Properties, on the Compatibility tab, check Run as Administrator. From then on, you'll have to click the confirmation box when it starts!!

In case you don't know, screenscript.lua is the file that is compiled from all the other bits of LUA code in Mach4 on startup. It is complied anew every time you start, so maybe that's why the error when closing the program is not interfering.

10

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Homing Best Practices

« on: October 10, 2023, 09:04:23 AM »

Yup, the old right hand rule!!

Really, the way to think about axis movement is not table movement, but spindle movement.