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Topics - stevehuck

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11
Mach4 General Discussion / Tool path window in lathe
« on: August 22, 2021, 04:43:03 PM »
I load a gcode file in lathe and the tool path is so small it is about one pixel. I click regen toolpath and nothing changes. I would have thought if I regen the toolpath would be displayed on the XZ plane at a zoom where it can be seen. Are there any known issues that would make this happen. Maybe I need to change the display settings for my video card?

12
Mach4 General Discussion / Can't save edited screen load script
« on: August 22, 2021, 04:38:48 PM »
Trying to add a cycle start button. Found an old thread telling how to edit the file to make the button work. I do the edits and get an error trying to save. Access error, cannot save file. I have not registered the Mach4 yet as the docs say to get everything working first. Could that be stopping me from a save. I do start the program in administrator mode. Any ideas as to why I would not be allowed to save a script?


13
Mach4 General Discussion / New Mach4 install and having motor problems
« on: August 14, 2021, 02:16:22 PM »
I have searched and watched all the youtube videos and cannot come up with an answer.

Brand new computer with windows 10
Old Lathe control panel with zero wiring changes. Added ESS smoothstepper and plugged the old parallel cable into the new ribbon cable
Installed mach and setup the smoothie
Configured everything to what I believe is correct. Checked many times

X and Z axis will only jog one way and they move together. I have X configured on pins 2 and 3 and Z configured on pins 6 and 7. I have checked at least a dozen times to be sure that X is motor 0 and Z is motor 1. I switched back and fourth between the smoothie setup and the mach4 setup but I have to believe I missed something or clicked something that should not be clicked.

Anybody ever have this kind of thing happen to them? If someone could maybe some things to check? I can post photos of setup screens if that will help. I have been running licensed Mach3 for 15 years so this upgrade to mach4 is alot of "new" for an old fart. Im stumped!

Thanks in advance for any kind of help.

14
Mach4 General Discussion / Updating to Mach4 and have questions
« on: January 01, 2021, 09:07:13 AM »
Hello everyone!

The old computer in the garage is dying. She has served me very well for 14 years. Now I have to put in a newer computer without a parallel port so I will need to update my control panels with motion controllers. I currently just swap out the cables as needed from the lathe and mill to run each machine.

Is it possible to plug in 2 motion control boards into 2 usb ports, configure Mach4 to run the lathe and mill from the separate boards (one at a time) without having to swap out the cables from one machine to another? One computer running 2 machines never at the same time.

I'm hoping I can install the new USB smooth steppers and plug them into my existing breakout board, use the ethernet port to communicate with the house computer, and completely reformat my newer computer and install W10 and Mach4.

Does this sound reasonable? What am I missing?

Mill
4 Axis
Estop button

Lathe
2 axis
Estop button
Cycle start button


15
Thought you guys might get a kick out of this. Its a Champion 3X spark plug four time scale. Most of the parts were CNC'd about 50-75%. There is a battery pack in the top insulator that can be charged through a USB socket. The base houses a 400,000 volt module that can easily jump a one inch gap. I set the gap at 3/4 inch.

I made it as advertisment because I sell miniature spark plugs. Hoping it will draw attention to the business at the model engineering shows.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69DJEpu_64A

16
General Mach Discussion / Jogging A Axis ???
« on: March 02, 2019, 04:28:19 PM »
I just installed and configured a 4th axis on the mill. Everything is setup and working perfectly. I can use MDI to move the axis but I cannot figure out how to jog the axis with the keyboard. Is there a set of keys that are already configured like X, Y, and Z or do I have to manually setup the A axis with the system hot keys.

read somewhere it was - and + but that did not work.

I also tried to search "jogging A axis" but the forum won't search unless all words are more than one character so that was zero help.

Thanks in advance.

17
General Mach Discussion / Lathe making moves not in Gcode
« on: February 05, 2019, 09:15:38 PM »
I have a piece of code that I run. The tool change is just a way for me to clear the tool to do a little manual work. I hit cycle start again and the remainder of the code is executed then the lathe should move to G0 X0.020 Z0.005 and the program ends. Problem is X is moving to X1.000

Is there somewhere in mach3 that I am telling the x axis park at 1 inch after executing code?

 The attached piece of code is the only one I have noticed it doing this with. I would like to figure out whats up with the mystery move because I am soon going to make 4 pieces and the material is 125 bucks each and is larger than 2 inches. I would hate to cut for an hour and a half on a 5 inch diameter piece only to have the lathe move to 1 inch when finished. That would not be good.

18
General Mach Discussion / Mach 3 totaly crashed.
« on: February 04, 2019, 05:25:23 PM »
Hello!

I have a problem with Mach 3. When I click on the icons to start mach mill or mach lathe all i get is a white screen and the computer locks and has to be rebooted. Where do I start to figure out what's going on? I'm running windoze XP with a parallel port setup.

19
Machscreen Screen Designer / Machscreen code debug?
« on: January 05, 2019, 11:00:16 AM »
I've been using machscreen to automate some code writing.  Is there an easy way to debug code. In vb you can step through code and watch variables change and step through loops in real time. Can that be done in machscreen?  I'm almost to the point where I have to put code in one line at a time and test it before moving on so if there is trouble I know where to find it.

20
General Mach Discussion / Cycle start button on panel?
« on: December 23, 2018, 06:24:56 PM »
I tried to search the forum but the search funtion is broken.

I would like to add an E-stop and cycle start button to the control panel on my lathe. The E-stop seems easy but the cycle start isn't as clear. I found this in the Mach3 docs.

Enable and define OEM Trigger inputs if you want electrical signals to be able to call OEM
button functions without a screen button needing to be provided.

I assume i would use one of these inputs? I can wire the buttons and configure the inputs but I cant find a way to define the chosen OEM input to trigger a Funtion "0" or cycle start.

Am I on the right track? There is no further info in the docs about OEM inputs. Is a Cycle start button possible?

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