Messages

531

Brains Development / Strange brain issue

« on: December 22, 2010, 10:55:55 AM »

I have a brain that writes and reads some data to the modbus.  One of the rungs reads a bit and sets an LED (#1050).  It reads other bits and also sets LED's 1051, 1052 and 1053.  The latter 3 work fine, but the first one does not work when Mach starts.  This is a torch on LED.  After I start Mach3, if I hit the torch on button, the PLC relay clicks on and the status bit mapped to LED 1050 in the brain goes high...but the brain does not switch the LED.  If I turn the torch off then back on, it starts working.  All of the other LEDs, which are handled the same way, work fine.

What happens is when I click the ON button, a script runs that says SetModOutput(2,1).  This sets the output bit in the PLC, the torch relay turns on and status bit V1500.3 is set.  This is mapped as a modbus input in Mach and is mapped to LED 1050.  When V1500.3 goes high, LED 1050 comes on...Except when Mach first opens.

I know the status bit is going high because I can map it to input 4 and the input 4 LED works properly.  Any thoughts on why I have to cycle this particular output in order to get the brain to act on it?

532

Screen designer tips and tutorials / Flash screen tutorial

« on: December 21, 2010, 02:42:04 PM »

Is there any way to download the entire flash movie on making flash screens?  I can't watch it online.  It only downloads a little bit, then stops.

Thanks

533

General Mach Discussion / Re: Plasma tube cutting

« on: December 21, 2010, 02:27:44 PM »

We saw a cool coping plasma at FabTech.  It was 5 axis and made the cut angle on the tube match where it mated up.  It worked on square tubing also.  I could barely afford to walk by their booth, but it was a cool machine.  It used a rotary axis to turn the tube and a robotic arm to move the torch in 5 axes.  I guess it was really a 6 axis.  A 5 axis robotic arm plus a rotary.

534

Brains Development / Set modbus output in brain

« on: December 21, 2010, 10:37:06 AM »

I've been reading and writing to the modbus in brains with not problem, but now I want to set a modbus output if the e-stop is enabled.  For instance, if e-stop is enabled, I want to do SetModbusOutput(0, 0).  How would I do that in a brain?  I tried... ESTOP->NOP->MOD:0 and also ESTOP->INVERT->MOD:0.  Those didn't work.

Thanks

535

Brains Development / Set modbus output in brain

« on: December 21, 2010, 10:35:37 AM »

I've been reading and writing to the modbus in brains with not problem, but now I want to set a modbus output if the e-stop is enabled.  For instance, if e-stop is enabled, I want to do SetModbusOutput(0, 0).  How would I do that in a brain?  I tried... ESTOP->NOP->MOD:0 and also ESTOP->INVERT->MOD:0.  Those didn't work.

Thanks

536

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mapping modbus to PLC

« on: December 20, 2010, 11:13:59 PM »

I ended up scaling the data in mach the same as it is scaled in the PLC.  I made a slider with a scale of 0 - 4095.  The upper range of the slider = 10V.  I wrote a brain formula to convert the scaled digital data to analog and show that in a separate DRO. Another brain writes the slider DRO to the modbus.

Thanks for the help.  Your explanation helped me get it straight in my head.

537

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mapping modbus to PLC

« on: December 20, 2010, 06:10:20 PM »

I did notice that in data view the scale of the analog input is 0 - 4095.  So lets say I have the pot about half way and I have 2000 sitting in VMemory.  If I write 2000 from Mach to another VMemory address, the PLC will see the two as equal, correct?

538

Brains Development / Rounding number in brains formula

« on: December 20, 2010, 05:57:14 PM »

Can you round a number in a formula.  I need to round the output of a formula to zer decimal places.  IE 4.8973 needs to equal 5.  The VB script function Round() doesn't work.

Thanks

539

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mapping modbus to PLC

« on: December 20, 2010, 02:48:47 PM »

I see a conversion instruction for going from BCD to binary.   The PLC only seems to be able to go between BDC and binary, unless there are some more conversion instructions that I'm not seeing.  Could you explain how you would do a decimal to binary conversion in a DL05?

Thanks

540

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mapping modbus to PLC

« on: December 19, 2010, 11:42:41 PM »

I got it.  The address is the pin number.  0 - 63.  Working great now.