Messages

401

General Mach Discussion / Re: Getting started

« on: February 08, 2022, 10:47:12 AM »

You may need to re-install it.  However if it's any consolation I've been using Mach3 for 10 years and it has almost never crashed in all that time.

Now, DO YOU HAVE A COPY OF THE MANUAL?  If not, download it from NFS and turn to section 5.18.  But read the rest of the information on configuration also.

402

General Mach Discussion / Re: Getting started

« on: February 07, 2022, 10:26:45 AM »

Have you checked that the limit switches are working?  And that they are configured in ports&pins?

403

General Mach Discussion / Re: Getting started

« on: February 05, 2022, 05:27:40 PM »

Happy to help.

404

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Quick threads

« on: February 05, 2022, 05:03:38 AM »

Thanks Rich, maybe I'll stick with the usual turning wizard!

405

General Mach Discussion / Re: Getting started

« on: February 04, 2022, 04:10:28 PM »

Yes there will be a plug-in but it sounds like it must be installed if your motors are running.  You don't need a test facility with USB motion control, it was only to test that your PC was running fast enough to drive the parallel port.  There is no USB test.

When you say "use the keyboard" are you inputting g-code via the MDI, or what?  Do all the axes run the right way when jogged?  It sounds though like you are going in the right direction and the machine is basically working.  Follow the Mach 3 manual to check out functionality, try some g-code commands from the MDI screen.

406

VB and the development of wizards / Quick threads

« on: February 04, 2022, 12:18:45 PM »

I've downloaded this wizard and have been reading the documentation, but I find it slightly confusing.  Just to be clear, when it says that "clockwise spindle rotation will cut a right-hand thread", is this clockwise as seen from the left hand side of the headstock, which I think is the convention for lathes?  This of course is CCW as seen by the operator standing in front of the machine.

Thanks, John.

407

General Mach Discussion / Re: Getting started

« on: February 04, 2022, 10:36:35 AM »

When you say "the motors" run, how are you making them - by jogging or how?  If by jogging at least the basic system is operating.

What are "I/O" figures?  Are these the settings in the config boxes (ports&pins, motor tuning, etc)?  What is an I/O figure of 0?

Where are you looking for a waveform on a driver test?  You say that this is a "USB" router which implies that it doesn't use a parallel port, in which case the driver test is irrelevant since it just tests the ability of the PC to generate pulses fast enough to drive the steppers.  There are software plug-ins to manage the pulse interface - parallel port, USB motion controller etc - and if you select config->plugins there probably isn't one for a PP but should be one for a USB device.  If the PP one does show it should not be ticked, the USB one should be.

What is in the "6090" zip?  If it contains something which looks like "6090.xml" that would be a configuration file that has all the pin assignments etc and if you copy it into the mach3 folder it should set up the controller for you.

408

VB and the development of wizards / Re: error G31 Probing Arrays

« on: February 02, 2022, 05:12:29 AM »

Oops!  How true!

This macro seems to be a complete mess.

409

VB and the development of wizards / Re: error G31 Probing Arrays

« on: February 01, 2022, 04:51:18 AM »

I notice that the macro you posted first starts:
(G31 External Polar Array V2.01)
   M1289
   M40

However the macro it calls first, M1289, is not correct, it should be M1299!  This has been pointed out elsewhere on the forum.

Was the code you downloaded like this?  It's very careless.

410

VB and the development of wizards / Re: error G31 Probing Arrays

« on: January 31, 2022, 01:17:26 PM »

Apart from correcting that error with the Z move, have you corrected the obvious 122 = fix[# 122] ?  Note the spurious space between # and 122.

And...
o0001 (G31 Interior Polar Array V1.01)

   M1299
   M40
%
  G90   
  #106 = [#100 + #102 * COS[#103]]
  #107 = [#101 + #102 * SIN[#103]]
  g0 Z#110
  g0 X#100 Y#101
  G1 Z#111
  G31 X #106 Y #107
  G4 P1 
  G0 X#100 Y#101

M98 P1 L#122
G1 Z [#111+121] <<121 should be #121?

M41
M30
%

o0001 (SUB1)
  M98 P2 L#108
  G0 Z#110
  m99

o0002 (SUB2)
  #105=[#103+#104]
  #106 = [#100 + #102 * COS[#105]]
 #107 = [#101 + #102 * SIN[#105]]
 G90
 G31 X #106 Y #107
 G4 P1
 G0 X#100 Y#101
 #103 = #105
 m99
%

There could be other simple errors too given that these only needed a quick look to see.