Messages

91

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Keyboard Emulation

« on: May 03, 2014, 07:14:59 PM »

TP, The plugins I have are different than those shown. I do have an earlier version of M4 I am tinkering with. The downloadable M4Hobby has the plugins. Oddly enough I was able to drag them from M4 Hobby to my older M4 on 1 PC and it worked fine. However the machine with an M4 copy wont accept those plugins in the folder. It actually accepts them fine, they just dont show up in the config plugins window.

92

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Keyboard Emulation

« on: May 03, 2014, 04:34:52 PM »

Fantastic! I have been wondering how this was done. Except there isnt the plugin you have?

93

General Mach Discussion / computer crashed need HELP!!! transfering data

« on: May 03, 2014, 09:16:22 AM »

Great to hear the machine is up and running.

94

General Mach Discussion / Re: hand controllers which is best

« on: May 01, 2014, 10:20:18 AM »

   It really depends on how much money you want to spend and or how industrial or durable it needs to be.

  I have run the Shuttle Pro as a pendant for years and it works pretty well. The plugin allows setting of all of the buttons and most commands are available (view the plugin on Mach' site). It works well for the price, it is delicate.

   I also ran a pendant from CNC4PC on a 2nd parallel port years ago. I found it to be very laggy and it just didnt feel right. The pendant itself was nice and durable, nice MPG and all. I gave up then and moved on. In hindsight and after a conversation with Arturo, I was most likely having computer or configuration problems.

  This week I ordered a VistaCnc PS2E. It should be here by the weekend and from the videos i have seen on its performance it appears very well made and operates well. Plus it is USB. Physically the pendant itself appears similar to the CNC4PC unit however the model I ordered has a LCD screen for DRO's onboard.
Vistacnc.com

95

General Mach Discussion / New RoutOutCNC

« on: May 01, 2014, 08:02:11 AM »

The way I did prior to installing limit/home switches was to run each axis against its physical stop (in my case table all the way to the right, and back against the column and the Z against the top), hit ref all. It should be very repeatable. Some will chime in that the poles of stepper could be in a different location. This is true. It might be off a few steps. Still plenty accurate.

96

General Mach Discussion / Re: Pin assignment

« on: April 30, 2014, 06:32:59 PM »

What part is confusing you? Do you know where the limits are physically connected? Are they NO or NC switches? Do you have the pins enabled for the limit switches? Is the active state correct in relation to the type of switch? Can you trigger them manually? What happens on the diagnostics page when you do trigger one?

97

General Mach Discussion / Re: New RoutOutCNC

« on: April 30, 2014, 06:28:24 PM »

BR, is right, especially in regards to reading the manual. I do have a tip or two though.

In the General Config page within Mach there are 2 settings that need to be checked. "Persistent Offsets and Persistent DRO's" will allow Mach to close and reopen with the same reading. Unfortunately with Mach not being a closed loop system, if the machines axis were physically moved if the machine was off, Mach would have no way of knowing.

This brings up the ref all function. It will need to be verified or re reffed upon every start up. If the limit switches are installed and operating correctly a ref all will have each axis move onto its switch and zero out the user coordinates. All lights will go green. This is the only time Mach has verified its location. Soft limits will only work correctly if the distances are based upon available movement from the limit switch, not total available movement.

Now regarding the limit switches not working. This could be a few things. Are they enabled in the ports and pins/inputs? Each axis? Are you using the same switches for home switches? Then enable those too. The pins will have to be correct for where the switch is landed on the BOB. Its active state will need to be correct also. If you dont have limits, there are other procedures to ref all. 

98

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle will not turn on

« on: April 30, 2014, 12:16:58 PM »

Glad you are up and running! Ass/u/me, dont do it! It is a 3 syllable word.

99

General Mach Discussion / Spindle will not turn on

« on: April 29, 2014, 08:47:09 PM »

What does it say in the spindle relay area? Is disable relays checked or not? What about pwm or step and direction? 1 of those is checked too (most likely) this might give some insight.

100

CVI MachStdMill (MSM) / Re: Probing and touch plates - your MSM experience?

« on: April 29, 2014, 09:28:12 AM »

I know this was a bit ago. If the probe was not aligned in Z and you tried to compensate for the error by your calculations. Dont you think spindle orientation would be critical?