Messages

291

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 MDI Password

« on: July 01, 2017, 10:33:02 AM »

Last night I set up a virgin Windows7 64 bit machine for testing. I downloaded
build 3390 of Mach4 and installed it to run in DEMO mode. The default firewall in
Windows7 did generate a pop-up dialog about network access each time that
I started Mach4. I declined to give Mach4 network access.

Mach4 ran normally including configuration, jogging, G-code execution, and
specifically it did NOT generate any password request for MDI usage.

The only thing that I can think of that would ask for a password would be if
you somehow installed something with a Locked Screen Set. If you would
like further assistance, I would recommend capturing and posting a screen
image when this happens. Also provide information on what build of Mach4
and what OS you are running.

Steve Stallings
www.PMDX.com

292

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Configuration for PMDX-407 speed control

« on: June 27, 2017, 07:55:44 PM »

Yes, we got your packaged profile and it does seem to work for us.

It was set to minimum 2000 and maximum 4000. I tested with S3000 and used
the spindle speed override and was able to make it track from 2000 to 4000
on the display and had the corresponding change in output voltage and
brightness of the PWM LED on the PMDX-407 board. The LED brightness
is not easy to see, so I set the minimum speed to 1 and verified that it
would cover the full range.

Things that may be causing you problems:

1) The slider is for spindle speed override as a percentage of the speed
     set by the current S word. If the current S word is 0 then 200% of
     zero is still zero.

     When the commanded S word is less than the minimum speed, Mach4
     will force the speed to the minimum. This will not change the actual value
     of the commanded S word, only its effect on the spindle.

     If you have not entered or executed an S word command the S word
     will be Zero which will be evaluated as the minimum speed which you
     had configured. This could explain why the minimum speed configuration
     would affect your spindle speed but the slider would not.

     You can set the value of the current S word using a command such as
     S4000 in the MDI window.

     The slider is not a full range speed control and it will also not go outside
      the range set by the minimum and maximum.

2) MDI commands are not activated by a Carriage Return alone. In Mach4
    you must click on Cycle Start which will run all the commands in the MDI
    window.

293

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Configuration for PMDX-407 speed control

« on: June 27, 2017, 12:22:19 PM »

Well that proves that the PMDX-407 is able to cause the spindle speed to change.

The most likely remaining problem is a spindle pulley configuration problem.

If you send us a packaged profile, we will take a look at it.

294

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Configuration for PMDX-407 speed control

« on: June 26, 2017, 10:51:45 AM »

If the spindle is starting with the lower speed specified in the Mach4 configuration,
then it sounds like the speed control is working. Just to be sure, please try changing
the minimum speed in the Mach4 configuration to see if it does affect the actual
spindle speed. If it does not, there is likely a problem with the wiring or the
parameter configuration in the VFD.

If it does change, there is likely a Mach4 configuration issue. In this case please
create a "packaged profile" and post it here or send it directly to PMDX for us
to analyze.

You can create a packaged profile using Mach4 by using:

HELP > Support > Create Packaged Profile

.. and save the resulting file somewhere that you can find it to send to us.
This file will contain all configuration information for the Mach4 profile that
you are running at the time it is created.

Steve Stallings
www.PMDX.com

295

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Post Processor?

« on: June 20, 2017, 01:39:20 PM »

Mach4 emulates a Fanuc 21i control, so look to see if there is a post processor for this one.

296

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Anybody have build 3233??

« on: June 07, 2017, 10:27:53 AM »

PMDX maintains an archive of released versions of Mach4 (but not beta versions).

http://www.pmdx.com/Downloads_Mach4/Mach4_Hobby_Releases/

297

Mach4 General Discussion / I'm not a LUA programmer yet, but.... luacheck?

« on: May 28, 2017, 08:59:50 AM »

Ran across a code analyzer called luacheck and wonder if it can be used in the Mach4 environment?

http://boston.conman.org/2015/04/24.1

https://github.com/mpeterv/luacheck

298

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Ethernet modbus via wifi

« on: May 27, 2017, 12:36:07 PM »

Technically it should work if you get the IP addresses correct. You may have to do
this by configuring the router to "open a port" with a fixed address.

299

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Ethernet modbus via wifi

« on: May 27, 2017, 07:17:08 AM »

Usng WiFi for a any quasi-real-time device is a bad idea, especially if the WiFi router is serving more than a couple of devices. The connection negotiation protocols can generate unpredictable and sometimes significant delays.

300

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Motor tuning for Series 1

« on: May 13, 2017, 05:25:14 PM »

The motors are standard 200 full steps per revolution.

I think the screws are 5 turns per inch.

On a Boss 4 machine if I recall correctly, the ratio from the motors to the screws is 1:1 but
some later machines were 2:1 ratio.

Your motor drivers will likely be set for microstepping which increases the number of steps
required by the microstepping factor. We would likely recommend 8 for this machine.

All three motors are the same.

The 100 KHz will determine the maximum speed possible but does not affect the counts
per unit of motion calculation.  Remember that is thousands of cycle per SECOND and motion is
measured in inches per MINUTE.

For the assumption of 8 micro steps, 200 step motors, 5 TPI screw and 1:1 ratio, you would
need 8000 steps per inch of travel. Given 100,000 times 60 second per minute, the PMDX-424
can produce 6,000,000 steps per minute, resulting in a limit of 750 inches per minute. That
far exceeds the 100 inches per minute that this machine is typically capable of running.