Topics

1

Mach4 General Discussion / Keyboard enabled on startup?

« on: September 16, 2023, 09:35:09 AM »

i have been trying for a few weeks now to get jogging enabled when Mach4 starts up. I have edited, remmed out, remmed in almost everything i have seen and read on the internet. Nothing seems to work but here's the wierd thing. In my lathe profile it works just fine. In my mill profile it does not. The button toggles and goes green but the arrow keys will not jog the machine. Clicking the enable button disables. Clicking again enables and the machine moves on arrow key presses.

Here is what I have right now.
-------------------------------------------------------
--  PLC First Run
-------------------------------------------------------
if (testcount == 1) then --Set Keyboard input startup state
    --local iReg = mc.mcIoGetHandle (inst, "Keyboard/Enable")
    --mc.mcIoSetState(iReg, 1) --Set register to 1 to ensure KeyboardInputsToggle function will do a disable.
    KeyboardInputsToggle()
   
Here is something I noticed.

Load Mach4 - Click Enable - no DRO movement with arrow buttons - Click disable - click operator - click edit screen - click edit screen again to uncheck - screen loads and arrow buttons will move DRO's

So what is different from Mach4 loading new and Mach4 loading after edits? Is there something more going on after a screen edit that is making the keyboard work that doesn't happen when starting up Mach4?

Has anybody successfully made Mach4 jog on startup in a mill profile? If so, how did you do it? What am I missing?

2

Mach4 General Discussion / ScreenScript file keeps getting overwritten on update.

« on: September 08, 2023, 05:28:58 PM »

Like the title says when I update Mach4 to a newer version I have to edit the Screenscript file to get my cycle start button to work again because it is overwritten. When I created the mill and lathe profiles I copied profiles instead of creating new ones. Should I have created new? Is there a way to prevent the file from being overwritten on an update?
 

3

Mach4 General Discussion / Set Tool Number in Gcode?

« on: September 05, 2023, 05:04:23 PM »

Is it possible to set the tool number in Gcode? I have been searching all the docs and it seems like the answer is no.

I run my program the first time and tool number is one. Stops for the tool change (T2 M6) and tool number changes to 2. Awesome
Run the same program the second time. Tool number is still 2. Ignores the tool change because tool number matches the tool needed.
Added an unwanted tool change (T1 M6) so now i have to click cycle start twice every time i run after the first time to change the tool number back to 1.
Edited the M6 script forcing the stop at all M6 commands so no tool change is ignored. Awesome
Now the tool number is always 2.

I can live with that because it funtions the way i want it to. But thought I would ask. Is there a way to reset the tool number using a Gcode command? This way I could put the M6 macro back together, set the tool number to match the first tool in all my code, and skip the first tool change and not have to click twice!

But I think i already know the answer.

4

Mach4 General Discussion / Proper Manual Tool Change

« on: September 02, 2023, 12:07:28 PM »

What is the correct procedure for doing a proper manual tool change?

Program stopped for a tool chamge at Z=2.5
I swapped the tool manually
Lowered the tool and touched off
manually reset the Z DRO to .471.
hit cycle start.
Z was supposed to go to .335 but went to -1.468 and obliterated the tool and the entire setup.
Nowhere in the program is there a negitive Z number

Is there something else that needs to be done on a manual tool change? Some setting somewhere that needs to be checked?


Again what is the correct procedure for doing a proper manual tool change?

5

Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / Keyboard Inputs Plugin

« on: September 01, 2023, 05:09:27 PM »

I am going to be running my mill and lathe from the same computer but not at the same time. Are the keyboard inputs saved in the profile and seperate from other profiles? My mill and lathe inputs need to be different and want to be sure when i setup the lathe tomorrow i'm not changing all the work i did setting up the mill.

6

General Mach Discussion / Can Mach3 Do a simple loop to increment a variable?

« on: August 13, 2023, 10:56:15 AM »

I searched but couldn't find an answer.

I am writing a program where I set X at a starting point, Run a subroutine, Then move X .003 and do it again about 35 times. Can Mach3 Loop a variable to increment X?

I have to do this up to 16 times in a single program. If not possible in Mach3 what about Mach4? I have everything I need to upgrade Just too lazy to rewire my panel and switch over. Also many people who may use this code are probably still running Mach3.

Something like this?

start loop
Increment variable .003
X=Variable
if variable < end Number
    Call subroutine
else
    Exit loop
end if
Loop

7

Mach4 General Discussion / Mach4 crashing while running code

« on: October 02, 2021, 02:02:01 PM »

I have finally configured Mach4 and am starting to run parts. The other day i ran for a couple hours and the lathe just stopped. I looked over and the monitor was black and then went no video signal as if the computer just shut off. I rebooted and got maybe another 15 minutes and it crashed again.

I changed out the video card from a 4 gig to a 2 gig nvidia card and today I ran about 3 hours and crashed again. This time the computer recovered beck to the first screen in windows 10. I then rebooted for good measure and ran 2 more hours with no trouble and finished the job.

Anybody else having any trouble with unexpected reboots? I have checked to be sure the computer isnt going into sleep mode and no power saving stuff is turned on. Is there any known issues with my hardware that mach4 wont play well with my drivers? Too many network cards?



New computer (only a few months old)

nvidia G force GT1030 video card (2 gig memory)
3 network adapters. One Ethernet, One for lathe, One for future mill.
Smoothstepper ESS

8

Mach4 General Discussion / Trying to make Mach4 tool path window like Mach3 and failing.

« on: September 19, 2021, 07:37:46 PM »

I managed to make the background black, the tool path blue, and as the machine or simulation progresses it paints its position white. What I miss is when you click in the window all the previous white is cleared and the white picks up at the current position and continues until the window is clicked again. I assume for that to happen that by clicking the tool path window a "regen tool path" should be triggered to eliminate all the tool path tracking up to that point.

I would like to trigger a Regen Toolpath when clicking the tool path window to see if I get the desired effect. Is that something that needs to happen in Lua? Can this be done?

9

Mach4 General Discussion / Mach4 vs Mach3 Gcode?

« on: August 28, 2021, 12:07:06 PM »

Does Mach3 lathe code directly cross over to Mach4 lathe? I have a .tap that runs good in mach3. Mach4 has the arc mode settings matching my mach3 setup. At the G03 the tool path goes clockwise gouging into the piece instead of going counter clockwise and leaving a nice radius on the end of the piece.

Distance mode is set to Absolute and IJ mode is set to Incremental just like Mach3. I have been using this code to make this piece for well over a year just wont translate to Mach4.

G20 G90 G91.1 G64 G40 G18

10

Mach4 General Discussion / Cant change text size in gcode window

« on: August 23, 2021, 08:44:53 AM »

I'm trying to change the gcode window text size so I can see more than 6 or 7 lines at a time. I was able to change the font and the size I want (12) is displayed in the form but when I load mach and then load some code the text size doesn't change (20)

I go back to the form and it says 12 on the form. If I pop up the dialog box to change the font the dialog box shows 20 highlighted. I change it to 12, save and exit, start mach4, and it displays the text at 20 in the gcode box.

Is this some kind of bug that hasn't been addressed?