Messages

131

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mesa FPGA cards

« on: March 13, 2020, 05:28:47 PM »

There used to be a beast called Windows RT, but as best I know it no longer exists. Even when it was around it was very expensive and almost unrecognizable as Windows.

As Craig said, the bandwidth of any scheme that tries to use software inside the host PC, as part of PMC or as part of a motion controller plugin, would have somewhat limited bandwidth. Probably adequate for running DROs, torch height controls, and supporting backlash compensation, but not full up servo control.

132

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mesa FPGA cards

« on: March 13, 2020, 04:42:38 PM »

Command and control messages are outside of the PVT queue and I was implying that the servo loop correction would operate through command and control messages, not the Mach4 PVT queue. Granted there is still a round trip communication issue and scheduling delay for when the plugin gets to run, but these are still much less severe than the queue delay. Ideally the motion control would have a processor capable of closing the loop inside the motion control, but as far as I know, only the Vital Systems Hicon family and the CS Labs CSMIO/A offer closed loop within the motion controller.

133

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mesa FPGA cards

« on: March 13, 2020, 03:49:24 PM »

It is complicated and I need to go back to review how it all works. I think the depth of the motion queue does not delay command and control messages. That may be motion device dependent. The motion queue is really about not upsetting motion when Windows is too busy for the Mach4 application to process data to put in the queue. The message transfer, Ethernet or USB, happens at a lower level in the system.

134

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mesa FPGA cards

« on: March 13, 2020, 09:34:27 AM »

A slight clarification about closed loop feedback with Mach4. The signals to read back the encoder data would need to be provided by the FPGA on the Mesa card, but the action of using the feedback signal to correct for following errors could be implemented in either the FPGA or in the software of the Mach4 plug-in running on  the computer. Using the plug-in software would likely be the easier approach.

135

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 with Pokeys57cnc SSR output to router possible?

« on: March 12, 2020, 07:03:22 PM »

In Mach4 look under Config > Control > Output Signals tab....

Way down in the list of available signals you will find Spindle On, Spindle FWD, and Spindle REV. You have to scroll the list to get that far down.

136

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Lathe Canned Cycles Wizard problem (reverse cut)

« on: March 06, 2020, 12:44:05 PM »

CNC lathes often have a single cross slide with tools in front of and behind the workpiece. X axis motion needs to be in the opposite direction for tools on the back side.

137

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Problems - Win10 update + PMDX_424 + LUA

« on: February 16, 2020, 04:37:59 AM »

Keep in mind that Mach4 will try to compile ALL of the LUA files in the folder, even if you don't think you are using it. Perhaps there is one that you were not expecting to be using, and it contains LUA code that is for a newer or older version of LUA. Re-installing Mach4 will NOT remove any custom LUA files from the previous install, so they could be laying about.

138

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: G00 X0 Y0 in MDI not working in Mach4

« on: February 15, 2020, 09:19:13 AM »

Any chance you are in Incremental motion mode?

139

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Integrating Clearpath SD Motors With Mach4

« on: February 11, 2020, 06:21:04 PM »

If Mach is moving to the next line of G-code before the previous move finishes there are two things to investigate.

If you have Constant Velocity enabled, this is normal. The trajectory planner is blending the moves in corners.

The other possibility is that you have the acceleration in Mach set higher than the motor can actually produce
and the Clearpath is still processing motion after the step pulses from Mach have been finished and Mach is
ready to process the next line of G-code. If you set your acceleration in Mach to more closely track what the
motor is capable of producing, Mach will alter the step pulse stream to not get as far ahead of what the motor
can actually do.

140

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Slave motor not working with primary motor

« on: January 31, 2020, 02:13:16 PM »

Ron has now discovered that his problem was not that the slave motor was not running, but rather that it was trying to run in the wrong direction, fighting the primary. Changing the direction of the slave has fixed his problem.