Messages

381

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Spindle setup

« on: March 16, 2016, 05:00:58 PM »

The fact that the output for S3600 is 10.1 volts, the output for S1800 is 5.1 volts,
and the output for S900 is 2.93 volts points to increasing error as you approach
the lower end. My best guess is that the Mach configuration and the ESS are doing
what they are supposed to do, and the analog circuitry on the C32 is not linear.

You could confirm this by taking a few more data points and graphing the result.
Mach or ESS problems could result in a graph with the line shifted, but it should
still be straight. If you get a line with a gradual curve near the low end, then it
is most likely a linearity problem with the PWM to analog conversion circuits.

Steve Stallings
www.PMDX.com

382

Mach4 General Discussion / Mach4 build 4.2.0.2914 released, release notes file updated

« on: March 07, 2016, 02:07:33 PM »

Mach4 build 4.2.0.2914 was released 02 March 2016. Build 2914 can be downloaded here:

http://www.machsupport.com/software/downloads-updates/#tabs-2

or here:

http://www.pmdx.com/Downloads_Mach4/Mach4_Hobby_Releases/Mach4Hobby%20Installer-4.2.0.2914.exe

The release notes have been updated here:

http://www.pmdx.com/Downloads_Mach4/Mach4_Hobby_Releases/Mach4Hobby%20build-release-notes.txt

Our complete archive of previous downloadable Mach4 installer releases is here:

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

Steve Stallings
www.PMDX.com

383

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: How to programing C# with Mach4

« on: March 02, 2016, 05:44:19 PM »

Most of the information you want is distributed as part of a normal Mach4Hobby install.

You will find the file -  Mach4CoreAPI.chm  - in the DOCS folder of your install directory.

This is a compiled Windows help file and should open with a simple double click on the file name.

It does contain the calling convention descriptions, but may not be up to date will all of
the latest available calls.

Regards,
Steve Stallings
www.PMDX.com

384

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 PCID

« on: February 26, 2016, 08:40:40 AM »

Five is the number of Mach4 licenses that can be active at one time.

For a complete description of license file issuance policies, please
see the bottom of this page:

http://www.machsupport.com/my-account/license-maintenance/license-maintenance-instructions/

Regards,
Steve Stallings
www.PMDX.com

385

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 PCID

« on: February 25, 2016, 08:45:56 PM »

Replacing a hard disk, or upgrading the OS version.

No one knows what Microsoft does with updates in Windows10. That is
why we tell people to only use Windows10-Pro and turn off the updates.

If you feel compelled to do the updates, make a restore point so you
can get back in case the update breaks something.

Steve Stallings
www.PMDX.com

386

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 with ESS and PMDX126/107 speed control issues.

« on: February 22, 2016, 06:14:04 AM »

Quote:

bob and Steve you sell a board that connects to a ESS why don't you know how to set it up. and should the op be using it with M4. if I am out off line asking this question sorry but product support is your name and word


PMDX has not responded to these Mach4 configuration issues because they are
not being caused by the PMDX product or its documentation. They are specific
to the EtherNet SmoothStepper and how it is configured under Mach4. We do
not have an ESS with Mach4 running at our shop. If we knew what it took to
make the ESS operate properly we would have spoken up, but we do not and
when we do not know something, we tend to keep quiet rather than guess.
Warp9TD and the SmoothStepper user community are better equipped to
respond to this issue.

The current ESS plugin for Mach4 is doing configuration in a non-standard way
and is scheduled to be totally reworked in the near future. When this happens
it should be much simpler to configure a SmoothStepper under Mach4.

Steve Stallings
www.PMDX.com

387

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 / PMDX 422 Set Up - Limits and Homing

« on: February 21, 2016, 12:30:14 PM »

This sounds like some sort of configuration issue.

Please supply your configuration information by using this Mach4 function:

>Help>Support>Package Current Profile

This will generate a single file with all relevant configuration information. You can
post the file here, or email it to PMDX.

Steve Stallings
www.PMDX.com

388

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 with ESS and PMDX126/107 speed control issues.

« on: February 20, 2016, 02:41:13 PM »

Oops, my bad.

The comments about the DC motor controller and it linearity problems are
still valid, but not my suggested solution.

To my knowledge there is no off the shelf solution in Mach4, nor do I know
how well the SmoothStepper works with PWM in the Mach4 environment.

Steve Stallings
www.PMDX.com

389

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 with ESS and PMDX126/107 speed control issues.

« on: February 20, 2016, 01:40:35 PM »

Hello Joe,

Your WM280V lathe uses a DC permanent magnet motor. This type
of motor along with the typical speed controller provided has very
poor linearity in the low speed range. The response that you see to
the test function built into the PMDX-107 reflects that. The best way
to cope with that is to adjust for the expected speed at 100% in
test mode and then use the Linearity.dat table in Mach3 to make
corrections for the lower speed ranges. While Mach3 can collect
this data automatically, I usually recommend measuring the motor
response and entering the data manually. At speeds above about
30% of rated speed you should achieve reasonable success.

Verification of maximum speed and data collection at other speeds
must be done without a Linearity.DAT file present in your Mach3 folder
in order to get unadulterated data.

To confirm proper operation of the PMDX-107 you can measure the
output voltage of the PMDX-107 between the Aout and Agnd terminals.
The voltage there will be a percentage of the voltage applied to the
Aref and Agnd terminals. At full speed the voltage on Aout should
be close to the same a the voltage on Aref. At 50% of full speed
the voltage on Aout should be close to half of the voltage on Aref.
These measurements should be taken using the built in test mode
or from Mach3 WITHOUT a Linearity.DAT table present in Mach3 as
the linearity correction will change them.

There are two other concerns in your configuration that you did not
mention.

First, you must have your Pulleys configured in Mach3 in order for
the S word settings to be meaningful. Mach3 uses this information
to compute the percentages for PWM by determining the ratio of
requested speed to the maximum possible for the pulley in use.

Second, the SmoothStepper has an unusual requirement in that it
needs an acceleration setting even though the spindle is not an axis.

Please see our application notes about using the PMDX-107 with a
SmoothStepper here:

http://www.pmdx.com/Doc/AN002_PWMSpindleSmoothStepper_02.pdf

Steve Stallings
www.PMDX.com

390

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Windows 10 and Mach4

« on: February 16, 2016, 01:52:19 PM »

A more detailed set of recommendations for computers to support Mach4 can be found
at the bottom of this web page:

http://www.pmdx.com/Mach4Hobby