Topics

91

General Mach Discussion / OEM# for slow jog rate DRO

« on: April 11, 2010, 10:50:35 PM »

Hi all...

I'm wanting to create a button that toggles the slow jog rate between 1% and 100%.  I can't seem to find the DRO number for that DRO in the list.  It's the one on the MPG fly-out (when you press TAB) just under where it says "Slow Jog Rate".  Can anyone help me out with that OEM DRO number?

Thanks very much.

92

General Mach Discussion / Homing slaved axis

« on: April 10, 2010, 06:33:04 PM »

Hi all...

On a gantry machine if I have and X and A axis and I use RefCombination(9), will it home the first switch to hit home then the other switch?   Or will it always home the X first then the A?  If the latter is true, I'm wondering what happens if the A switch hits home first.  Seems that it would over-run the A switch a little and home the X, but then with the A switch already activated, how would it then home the A side?  I'm considering changing to a two motor system and want to make sure I understand how slaving works.

Thanks very much.

93

General Mach Discussion / Windows 7 Opinions

« on: March 27, 2010, 07:52:26 PM »

I have an interesting issue.  I have some software that I wrote on a Vista machine using VS2008 in VB.NET.  The software works fine on Vista machines but won't even start on a XP machine.  It just says an error was encountered and must close.  Seeing as how XP is now 2 generations past, I was thinking of going to a W7 machine.  What's the general consensus there?  IS W7 working OK with Mach?  I did read some issues with 64 bit, so I would stick with 32 bit.  Thanks.

94

Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / Plugin Idea - TCP Listener

« on: March 10, 2010, 11:44:41 PM »

I have an idea for a plugin.  A simple TCP listener.  This would just listen for incoming data on a specific port.  When data is received, it would parse the string which consists of a function code, a delimiter and a command string.  Function codes would be an integer and would tell the plugin what to do.  Codes could be something like this...

10001 = Jog
10002 = eStop
10003 = program run
etc.....

So a data string could look something like this...

"10001:X1.125Y3.375"

The plugin would parse this and jog the machine to the coordinates specified.  For functions not needing any other data, like eStop, the right side of the delimiter would be ignored.

This could be a very generic plugin that would enable non C++ savvy people to communicate with Mach.  I've been fumbling around in C++ but it's just not my thing.  I can write a TCP listener in VB.NET in 10 minutes.  A plugin like this would allow any program written in any language capable of TCP communication to communicate with mach.

I'm using the SDK .NET plugin written by Ed.  My plan is to keep plugging away at it, but at this point I can't even get a generated sample to debug, which makes writing the program just about impossible.  I have a cool application written in VB.NET and to write it in C++ using the SDK is just way beyond my immediate means, but I would like it to communicate with Mach.  I can easily add TCP connectivity to the app and I figured writing a TCP listener using the SDK would be a fairly small project.

Anyway...I'm going to keep at it, but if anyone else wants to have a go, I'd be eternally grateful.  At this point I'm still trying to get a handle on the file structure of a C++ project (.h, .cpp, etc.).  I haven't even got into actually using the SDK, other than generating the sample apps with Ed's plugin.

95

VB and the development of wizards / Launch app from a button

« on: January 29, 2010, 11:35:52 AM »

I'm trying launch an external app from a button using VBScript.  the following code is supposed to work but doesn't on a Mach screen.  Can anyone point me in the right direction?  Perhaps there is another way to launch an app from within Mach using a button or menu item?

Dim commandLine, WshShell
 
   commandLine = "C:\app.exe"
 
   Set WshShell = Server.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")   ' I get object not supported error on this line.
   Call WshShell.Run (commandLine,8,true)
   Set WshShell=Nothing


Thanks

96

Mach SDK plugin questions and answers. / Live Video Plugin

« on: January 25, 2010, 08:40:20 PM »

I'd like to write a live video plugin.  I know Mach has one, but I've tried three capture cards and can't get it to work.  I can write the app in VB no problem, but I'm not sure what it takes to make it a plugin.  Ideally, I'd like to have a small video window embedded into the run screen.  It would replace the tool path display window.  If that's not possible, just being to use it like the existing video window would be fine.  Is there a guide to writing plugins?  I'm not even sure where to start.

Thanks for any assistance...

97

General Mach Discussion / Live Video Window

« on: January 23, 2010, 05:55:17 PM »

Question on the live video window.  I'm playing with it on my office PC because it has a capture card in it.  When I try to set up the video source, I get an error that says "Video OCX (VIDEO) - Driver can't be connected."  I press OK on that and then I get another message that says "Unable to start camera".  My office PC is 64 bit.  Is that why it's not working?  I'm not running the PP driver.  Mach installed, starts and runs fine but no live video. 

Will the video window only work with a USB camera or will it work with any capture device?  I need to run about 25 feet of video cable from the machine to the Mach PC and I think PCI capture card will work better than USB over that distance.

Thank for any suggestions.

98

General Mach Discussion / Plasma Kerf Angle

« on: January 20, 2010, 03:33:30 PM »

I'm wondering if anyone has had an issue like this.  When cutting a square object in 1/4" plate I notice that the first Y and first X cut are square, but the second X and Second Y are cutting at about  a 20* angle.  I tried rotating the torch in the holder and got the same results.  Fiddling with cut speed, height and amperage didn't help much.  When I cut a circle all sides of the circle cut square.  I usually only deal with sheet metal so I've never noticed this before.  Has anyone ever experienced anything like this?

Thanks

99

General Mach Discussion / Home switch override

« on: December 02, 2009, 09:48:54 PM »

When the machine homes and hits the switches, it backs off a little as to deactivate the switch.  Is there a way to increase the amount it backs off or is that hard coded into Mach.  I haven't noticed a setting for that anywhere.

Thanks

100

General Mach Discussion / Motor tuning

« on: November 25, 2009, 05:06:38 PM »

I have an interesting issue.  With speed in motor tuning set to 800IPM I can job the machine easily at that speed, but when I issue a G0 command the motors stall toward the end of the path.  I can only get 300IPM reliably from a G0 command.  The machine is a plasma table with steppers.  I was tinkering earlier and moved the pulse and direction pulse width up to 4 and it ran great at 600IPM on a test file, then after a hour or so I went back and tried running the same file and the motors were stalling again.  300IPM seems to be the magic number.  I just can't quite figure out why it will jog at 800IPM all day long but won't rapid from G code at more than 300IPM.  The acceleration settings didn't even make much difference.  Motors were still stalling set at 600IPM and an acceleration of more than 1 second.   At 300IPM I can set the acceleration to .05 seconds with no problem.

Is there something I'm missing or should I just be happy with 300IPM?