Messages

31

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?

32

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Zeroing Z not taking when I do manual tool change?

« on: September 02, 2023, 11:32:02 AM »

Did you ever resolve this problem. I just had the same problem. I swapped the tool and touched off and manually reset the Z DRO to .471. When I hit cycle start Z was supposed to go to .335 but went to -1.468 and obliterated the tool and the entire setup. Is there something else that needs to be done on a manual tool change? Some setting somewhere that needs to be checked?

33

Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / Re: Keyboard Inputs Plugin

« on: September 02, 2023, 06:56:40 AM »

Key board inputs is a plugin for mach4 that allows you to use the keyboard to move the machine around using arrow keys and other functions. On the mill, moving z up and down the page up and down. On the lathe moving z uses right and left arrow. I have the mill setup now. If I setup the lathe to use the right and left arrows and go back to the mill the arrow keys control Z or the page up and down. Is that part of the machine setup saved in the profile?

34

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.

35

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Start Cycle with a Push Button in Mach4

« on: September 01, 2023, 04:30:23 PM »

Believe it or not I remembered how to edit the screen load. So tomorrow im going to put this in place of the example that is remmed out. Does this look correct? My button is Input zero. If thats the case I can setup the lathe and go through all this again tomorrow.


[mc.ISIG_INPUT0] = function (state)   
    InputCycleStart()
end,

function InputCycleStart()
    CycleStart()
    mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst, "Cycle Start")
end

36

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Start Cycle with a Push Button in Mach4

« on: September 01, 2023, 03:06:28 PM »

I know this is an old topic but I have to reserect it. My computer died that ran my mill. I have a new computer running Mach4 for my lathe. While configuring my network I wiped out my lathe setup. So starting from scratch I had to...

Setup 2 smooth steppers on seperate ethernet ports for 2 different machines. Got that set

Setup and configure the mill from scratch, ports pins Ect!

Mill is running and e stop is working and now CYCLE START button! Yes sir. I did this a few years ago and cant remember what I did. I tried to edit out the cycle Start lines in the screenScript file but it wont allow me to save it. Opens in read only blah blah. I looked at PMC and created the line with the button and core output. Made it input0 and cycle start. Simulated and it did nothing. I'm pretty sure the button is working. In diagnostics Input 0 lights when i push the button and the key press is recorded in the logging facility when pressed as well as let go. SO!

Can anybody tell me how to open the screenscript file so it can be edited? Im pretty sure thats how I got it working last time.

Does anybody know how the PMC editor works? Be nice to figure it out for future use.
 

37

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

« on: August 18, 2023, 05:34:10 PM »

No problem! I usually only need someone to point me in the right direction. Don't have to hold my hand lol. I should switch over to mach4 but I get distracted easily. I have everything I need sitting on top of the computer for over a year now.

38

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

« on: August 13, 2023, 01:36:34 PM »

I did some sniffing around on the web and found some example code. Turns out i was missing some brackets.

#100 = #100 - 0.003

#100 = [#100 - 0.003]

Thanks for steering me in the correct direction. You have saved me HOURS of writing code!!

39

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

« on: August 13, 2023, 01:07:37 PM »

Mach3 seems to have an issue with this line.

#100 = #100 - 0.003

Bad character used, block = #100 = #100 - 0.003

I am #100 = -0.460 and im trying to step to -0.463, -0.466 Etc. What am I missing?

BTW everything else is working. Its going to where the variable is set to, Its looping as many times as I tell it. I just need to get the variable to increment. That line is in the sub routine/Loop

40

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

« on: August 13, 2023, 12:35:54 PM »

Yes Sir!  I did not know about the L50 (Loop 50 times) command. Ill have to count my loops and see how many i am making. Thank You!

Im going to figure out how this works!!!