Topics

11

Mach4 General Discussion / Controller buttons and lights no longer function from Mach4 V4295 to V4310

« on: September 20, 2019, 07:27:06 PM »

Hi,
I am not sure if there are any users that have Controllers with full button control with Mach4.
I have been using it with our Mill and HiCON for many years with no issues.
I have Signal Scripts for each button and when pressed while Mach4 V4284 to V3804 is running enable the lights and function perfectly.
Enable/Disable
Cycle Start
Cycle Stop
Feed Hold
Enable/Disable Spindle
MPG E-Stop
E-Stop
However I have tested every Mach4 V4295 to V4310 and with this Mach4 program versions the buttons no longer function, in other words no longer communicate with Mach4.
Does any one know what has changed in the signal scripts for this to no longer function?
Regards,
Mauri.

12

Mach4 General Discussion / Things you need to know about Toolpath when performing 4/5 Axis processing.

« on: July 19, 2019, 07:56:24 PM »

Brian and others at Mach4.
This has been a long saga, and when programmers are programming they do not always take into consideration the real world.
Please review the attached PDF and see if in someway you can fix the Mach4 Toolpath so it actually can be used in the real world of machining for any user performing 4/5 Axis processing on a Mill or Router Table.
Having a program that displays correctly in Simulation Only is not what users I am sure want.
Regards,
Mauri.

13

Mach4 General Discussion / Toolpath Display with 4 Axis

« on: June 27, 2019, 07:06:41 PM »

Hi,
I have complained about this for more that 3 years now.
If you are doing complex 4 Axis G-Code, I have made the following extensive tests on 4 PC's and my findings are below.
1) Mach4 with Sim plugin ticked, Toolpath display bears no resemblance to the actual G-Code.
2) Mach4 with HiCON plugin, Toolpath display is correct, but requires HiCON to be connected to run simulation.
3) Mach4 connected to a HiCON CNC machine will do a running toolpath display correctly.
4) Mach4 with ESS plugin, Toolpath display is correct and can run a toolpath display without ESS card connected, however for each new G-Code you must restart Mach4 otherwise it will not display correctly with the next G-Code simulation. (Toolpath does not clear its buffer).
5) In the non connected to CNC machine PC's you must have Sim plugin also ticked i.e. Sim and ESS otherwise it not work.
6) No mater how fast your PC and (like RTX 2060) Nvidia Video cards are, all Nvidia cards will always use 100% when the Toolpath is being displayed and then also run the card very hot with its fans running at max.
7) With AMD low spec cards will run up to 60% usage.
No video card in PC will not have an issue.
I hope one day some one at Mach will get these issues ironed out, as not all users do simple 2 and 3 axis CNC machining.
Regards,
Mauri.

14

Mach4 General Discussion / New CV Wizards

« on: December 21, 2018, 05:29:04 PM »

Hi,
I just looked at the Mach4 V4006 and noticed that there are New CV Wizards in the Wizard Directory.
they are mcCvTuningWizard and mcCvDistToleranceV001.
mcCvDistToleranceV001 [CVFeedrate] and [CVBlendRadius] produces nan(ind) in the machine.ini see below?
There is no explanation to what these entries mean and do to the G-Code process.
I cannot see anything in the Mach4 config that has "ind" values and all entries are the same except the =0.
Could someone explain how this all functions. 
Regards,
Mauri.

[CVFeedrate]
Angle_0=-nan(ind)
Angle_1=-nan(ind)
Angle_2=-nan(ind)
Angle_3=-nan(ind)
Angle_4=-nan(ind)
Angle_5=-nan(ind)

[CVBlendRadius]
Angle_1=-nan(ind)
Angle_2=-nan(ind)
Angle_3=-nan(ind)
Angle_4=-nan(ind)
Angle_5=-nan(ind)

15

Mach4 General Discussion / FTP site access

« on: September 04, 2018, 04:45:48 PM »

Hi,
I have not been able to access the Mach4 FTP website for some time with Microsoft Edge or Microsoft Explorer?
Has anyone been able to access it?

Regards,
Mauri.

16

Mach4 General Discussion / The definitive answer to G93/G94 with Mach3 and Mach4

« on: July 31, 2018, 09:42:04 PM »

The definitive answer to G93/G94 with Mach3 and Mach4.
If you want the fastest cut time when performing simultaneous cuts using G94 with “A-Rotations Enables”, “Use Radius for Feedrate” and setting X Rotation Radius tolerance to +0.0001 with G94XYZA F then Mach3 is it.
If you want the best outcome, but more cut time on simultaneous cutting then Mach4 G93XYZA F is it.
On non-simultaneous cutting XZA then Mach3 and Mach4 with above settings are very close in time.
Mach3 calculates G93 mode on the fly for the A Axis, while doing G94 on the XYZ.
Mach4 does no calculation just processes the G-Code therefore on simultaneous cutting you can only use G93XYZA F mode, therefore XYZ will run slower than G94.
The best for Mach4, with simultaneous cutting, would be if you could process G-Code G94XYZ F G93A F on the same line, this would do exactly the same process as Mach3 (but this does not work).
Art was very clever in his approach to this and he knew that this was the only way of handling the issue. (i.e.) to calculate it on the fly with the Mach4 program. 

I have been doing lots of experimentation with all types of G-Code outputs as described below.
What I have found is that when using G94 or G93, XYZA Axis must send to G-Code on the same one line as per a normal G-Code Post.
Also this means that the calculation for F Speed G93 is then only calculated on A Axis and but applies to the XYZA Axis.
This still reduces the cutting time on an example like pictured below in Mach4.
30 Mins 23 Sec with G93 and 39min 33sec with G94, but is not optimal speed (like in Mach3).
If you split out the A Axis and have XYZ Axis on the one line then this will cause incorrect cutting on non-circular cuts on the simulator.
However if you use XYZA on the same line, then the cutting simulation comes out perfectly.
So all these G-Code outputs will NOT provide a good result and also results will vary between them.
G93 XYZ F
G93 A F
OR
G94 XYZ F
G93 A F
OR
G94 XYZ F
G94 A F
OR
G94 X
G94 Y
G94 Z
G94 X
OR
G93 X
G93 Y
G93 Z
G93 X
Or any other combination with the XYZA split out for the standard XYZA.
The only G-Code output that works smoothly and correctly with Mach4 is:
G93 XYZA F
OR
G94 XYZA F
If however you are just machining continual circles then it does not matter, but as soon as a Y axis movement is made like in a 4 Axis simultaneous G-Code, then it will not produce a smooth cutting result.
So in closing Non Simultaneous G-Code is OK, but Simultaneous G-Code will not be OK.

Mach3 calculated the A Axis on the fly while sending the code to the motor controller so it does the fastest process as this fully optimizes the G94/G93 process on all XYZA.
So on Mach4 we will have to be satisfied when using Simultaneous cutting with G93 XYZA F.

Regards,
Mauri.

17

Mach4 General Discussion / Mach4 V3804 Lua not working with Lua instructions on Screen

« on: June 08, 2018, 07:14:58 PM »

Hi,
I have a perfectly working Mach4 V3481 with lua Screen instructions to operate all the buttons on the Controller including the Spindle.
They fully interact with Mach4 V3481.

I have tested two screens one New based on the one that came with V3804 and my Old one Based on V3481.
Both do not operate or interact with my button controls on the controller or spindle.

However both these screen work fine with Mach4 V3481.

So the control of buttons has changed in the new Mach4 V3804.
Does anyone know how to fix this.

Regards,
Mauri.

18

Mach4 General Discussion / Vista CNC P1A-S with Mach4 - Problem

« on: May 22, 2018, 11:03:07 PM »

Hi,
I have tried to setup MPG Pendant VistaCNC P1A-S on Mach4.
I updated my P1A-S Pendant with their posted Mach4 Firmware.
I have the following issue.
The Pendant shows E-Stop and I cannot do anything, nor get rid of it.
Are their any settings that I need to install in Mach4 Configuration for this MPG Pendant?
I am running ESS V220 with Mach4 V3804.
I have E-stop setup for the controller in Mach4 Configuration.
Regards,
Mauri

19

General Mach Discussion / Mach3 with not fully launch on HP SFF PC Win10

« on: May 22, 2018, 04:09:04 PM »

Hi,
I am trying to run Mach3 on a new HP SFF PC with Windows 10.
It has no additional Virus programs just the standard Win10 Defender and firewall.
When I launch Mach3 the initial Mach Logo comes up, then that’s it, nothing else.
I can run Mach3 on other Win10 PC’s, but not this one.
Anyone have any idea what is stopping it from fully launching.
I have tried Admin still the same issue.

Mach4 runs on the same PC.

Regards,
Mauri.

20

Mach4 General Discussion / Real G93 Gcode anyone

« on: January 28, 2018, 05:01:24 PM »

Hi,
Does anyone have a Real G93 4 Axis Gcode output from a CAD/CAM program?
Regards,
Mauri.