Messages

101

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: oiler woes

« on: December 02, 2016, 12:38:21 AM »

hi
the first question is where is the proper place to program this script plc or signal if i get that i can try to build it myself the problem i have is knowing where to start. thank you

102

Mach4 General Discussion / oiler woes

« on: November 28, 2016, 10:45:00 PM »

hi all
i am retrofitting a bridgeport mill and the oiler is on an electric timer motor the timer orriginally ran when the spindle contactors were engaged. i have added a vfd and removed the contactors then added a relay to run the oiler. now with mach upgrade we can also probe and when probing the spindle doesnt run however we still need to run the oiler. mach 3 had a vb command ismoving and i have used this in the past effectively. i am trying to do the same with mach 4 but am still fuzzy on lua or you could say clueless. this is the code i have come up with.

if (machEnabled == 1) then
   runLube()
end
function runLube()
    local inst = mc.mcGetInstance()
    local hsig,rc = mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst, mc.OSIG_OUTPUT0)
    if (mc.mcCntlIsStill(inst)==1) then
        mc.mcSignalSetState(hsig, 0)
        wx.wxMessageBox("output 0 on")
    else
        mc.mcSignalSetState(hsig, 1)
        wx.wxMessageBox("output 0 off")
    end
end

this ran in plc script but didnt run when homing or when g-code was running, however when i jogged it ran as planned also i remmed out the message boxes when i saw the output working. i tried to get this to run in signal script without success. all i need is for it to turn on the output when an axis ismoving if you can help me thank you
mark

103

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: mach4 vfd control

« on: October 10, 2016, 11:03:43 PM »

hello
this is my solution i am going to change to a cnc4pc c62 this comes with a setup program for mach 4 uses pwm instead of step pulse for 0-10v and with a few modifications will fit and wire exactly where the c23 is . this makes more sense i could chase my tail forever and it might work or the c62 will work. thank you all for your help
mark

104

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: mach4 vfd control

« on: October 09, 2016, 06:00:38 PM »

hi
well i still dont have an answer but one of the replies told me to measure the voltage going to the vfd so i am attaching new chart with both tach and voltage data see what you can make of it

105

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: mach4 vfd control

« on: October 09, 2016, 12:33:10 AM »

hi
i know really weird i took me some time and the chart to get a grip on what i was seeing i have been using the tach and i did check my voltages but only at full speed and zero so i will check voltages at each speed. however i believe the problem to be in mach or between mach and this board the c23. this board doesnt use pwm it uses a step pulse to set speed this is done through port1 pin14 i have used this board in a mach 3 setup and the spindle speed worked fine. the main problem i think is access we had more to the spindle setup in mach 3 or it is really different in mach 4 which i would expect. what i didnt expect is to get totally stymied will let you know
thank you
mark

106

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: mach4 vfd control

« on: October 08, 2016, 12:27:05 AM »

hi
i tried some more things. i changed the max spindle motor rpm up down around no changes i still cant affect the scale at least not effectively. now this is new mach4 i command 500 rpm the spindle stops, command 10 rpm i get 79 rpm i have a tachometer i set up a chart 10rpm to 500rpm  by tens i will attach but as you will see command 10rpm = actual 79rpm then the speed goes up until command 110 then you are at max speed it stays at max speed until command 370rpm then on command 380rpm the speed drops until command 500rpm = 0rpm actual speed i have changed and prodded mach4 check out my chart and see what you think
thanks
mark

107

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: mach4 vfd control

« on: October 07, 2016, 08:35:53 AM »

hello
thank you for the reply i tried changing the motor rpm and may try changing it again. i didnt affect the rpm any amount i could put a finger on and dial it in. also the motor rpm is 0-1440 or 1775 (i dont know which it is that is what the nameplate says) and that wont change so mach has to do two different ratios depending on which gear you are in.
mark

108

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: mach4 vfd control

« on: October 07, 2016, 01:16:12 AM »

hello
thank you for your reply, i will explain better. first my machine is a bridgeport series 2 cnc with a varispeed head which means i have 2 gear ranges. 1st gear is the bull gear known for its torque rpm 0-500 spindle relays are reversed. 2nd is high speed gear 501-4200 relays forward. note the forward and reverse relays need to swap for each gear range. so i set up the ranges like this
range 0 min rpm 0 max rpm 500 accel time 0 decel time 0 feed back ratio 1 reversed yes
range 1 min rpm 501 max rpm 4200 accel time 0 decel time 0 feed back ratio 1 reversed no
i installed a huanyang vfd which is working properly with 0-10v input
i have a cnc4pc c23 dual port board with spindle control this works with step and direction so you set
ethernet smooth stepper config motors spindle setting mode step/dir pulse width 4.00
ethernet smooth stepper config output signals signal motor step port 1 pin 14 (this is what sets the 0-10v)
ethernet smooth stepper config output signals signal motor dir port 1 pin 16 (this leave blank as it will conflict port 1 pin 16 is the reverse relay)
so that is my setup it will change speed up and down but wont scale it right. i check my rpm with a tach so i dont have voltages but will get them
now forget about high speed and just work with low speed (bullgear) 0-500 rpm
if i command s60 i dont get 60 rpm i get around 240 rpm physical speed mach4 thinks it is going 60 rpm i can use the slider or command more speeds but it isnt the right speed. if i set max rpm some ware around 2000 and command s60 i will get 60rpm however that still wont scale right as when i call s500 i get about 400 rpm. the ratio is wrong but i dont know or cant figure out how to change it.
i have done this in mach 3 the setup was different instead of range it was spindle pulleys i would set current pulley min 60 max 500 ratio ? i would adjust the ratio until my commanded speed = actual speed i have the settings i used some ware.
so i hope that clears up what i am asking all it really is is how can i change the ratio to make my commanded speed match my actual speed
mark

109

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: mach4 vfd control

« on: October 06, 2016, 12:49:36 AM »

hello
well looks like this is tougher than i thought can anybody direct me as to where to find the script for the range ratios i will experiment from there. i am not the best programmer in the world but i dont want to spend fruitless hours looking in the wrong place.
thank you
mark

110

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 V2 Windows 10

« on: October 04, 2016, 12:18:20 AM »

hi
i am just trying windows 10 pro and will probably remove the things suggested. i have been using mach 3 now 4 for a while and think letting windows update is usually a good idea. more important i use avg antivirus and that needs to update have never seen a mach problem that i could prove was related to avg. people say you dont need antivirus on a computer controlling a machine, however we have to get our gcode into the machine we do this by network or by thumbdrive from another computer that generated the code and these can have viruses so if you dont have antivirus do the math. one more thing i only connect the network cable for updates and pull it after wont update if not connected. just my 2 cents.
mark