Messages

101

General Mach Discussion / Re: Probing

« on: March 23, 2011, 01:41:18 PM »

It's a full function Mill package: All the stock mach features Plus additional enhanced functionality. Probing is just one set of feature sets MSM adds to Mach. 

Dave

Hi Dave
Just reading through the post and came across the above is your program only a probe program or a full functioning mill package?

Thanks
Dennis 

102

General Mach Discussion / Re: Probing

« on: March 23, 2011, 12:28:11 AM »

Feel free to take a look at MachStdMill at www.CalypsoVentures.com
It has the operations you asked about and a lot more.
For the full set of probing operations currently supported, see the Beta downloads (The user manual is avail separately if you like to read before trying).

I expect the beta to become release 1.1 not too long from now.

Disclosure: I am the author of the package so I could be accused of being biased, but I don't know of any other mach package that has the extensive probing support that MSM offers.

Dave

After two years of modding my mill I finally have a working CNC machine (Big thanks to all here who helped me over that time)

I have a touch probe that works perfectly - however I would like to use it for edge finding.  I used to have a screen for that but now I cant seem to find it.  Does any one else have a way to edge find & center find a circle/round stock?

Many Thanks,

Andy

103

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach Tool Info

« on: March 18, 2011, 02:57:29 AM »

Hi,
Jeff - As the author of MachStdMill, Thank you mentioning the software - positive word of mouth is nice to see. I don't mind small excerpts from the MSM manual (as long as credit is given for the source).

Nicolas - The height gauge in the pics is a Mitutoyo - it was a craigslist find a couple of years ago - a deal I couldn't   pass up.

Some tips: Understanding Tool Length Offsets often starts with being careful about the wording used.  The key letter in TLO is the "O" for Offset. The TLO value that goes in the tool table is an offset, which is usually NOT the same as the tool's physical length.  That may sound a bit odd, but it's true.

The actual TLO value will depend on what technique you use to set Z0 for the part. If you'd like a good description of the topic, I humbly suggest the user manual for my MachStdMill software. The manual is a free download and there's a lot of info in the manual even if you are not using the MSM software.  visit www.CalypsoVentures.com to get the manual.

And hey, if while browsing the manual, you decide to try out the software, you won't be first to take that path  

Dave

104

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Passing parameters to a macro - where is this documented?

« on: March 16, 2011, 04:40:00 PM »

Hi,
Macro parameters can be passed as values to M-Codes via the P, R, and S words. That's it, 3 parameters max.
You won't be able to pass the "C23.45", but you can pass the 23.45 as "P23.45".  This is essentially a gcode language limitation.

See the programmer's manual functions param1, param2 and param3 for how to get the values to P,Q,R words

VB is a common, but technically incorrect, slang term used to refer to all flavors of basic. VB really stands for Visual Basic and refers to a specific series of Microsoft products. The language implemented by Microsoft Visual basic is not the same as the Basic dialect available for mach scripts. The informal use of the term VB tends to lead people to complain (incorrectly) that language feature xyz is not acting the same  in mach as it is in "VB".  The script language used by mach is provided by the Cypress Enable Embedded Basic interpreter. While much of the language is "common basic" there are differences from "VB" - thus the term "CB" for Cypress Basic" is used within the programmer ref manual.  The term VB tends to get used in the wiki as a wiki is edited by users - and most of them use the VB term as a generic term for all flavors of basic (without I'd guess even thinking about it - kind of like people use "Xerox" for all copiers and "Kleenex" for all tissues).

Dave
 

105

General Mach Discussion / Re: Multiple Tools of Different Heights

« on: March 02, 2011, 12:03:09 PM »

Rick,
I'll try to give the highlights here and suggest that for a more detailed discussion, that you drop over to the MSM user forum at CalypsoVentures.Proboards.com - I monitor the MSM forum so tend to respond quickest to messages that are posted there - while I scan these forums when I have time - so a new post here may or may not come immediately to my attention.

As the MSM author, I'm a bit biased - I think mach is easier to learn if one starts with MSM (that was one of MSM's design goals).  Since MSM lays out the functionality that Mach offers with a logical, work flow driven user interface design and MSM provides extensive user documentation, many find it easier to learn. OTOH if one already knows Mach to the level that the standard mach screens are second nature, then MSM will appear "different" - to some that's good, to others that's bothersome.

The best suggestion I can make is to try the MSM software and decide for yourself how you like it. One reason there's  a free trial is that there's just no substitute for hands on use to understand a software package.

Re the difference between editions:
The Personal edition supports all the functionality which Mach itself provides. So if you are happy with mach "as it comes out of the box" then the personal edition will not limit you.
The Professional edition adds the functionality that MSM provides and hence extends what mach does. Two significant extensions are the Probing facilities (any operations that requires a 3d probe or a touch plate requires the pro edition) and Tool/WC Table extensions (the ability to save Tool and WC tables to disk and reload them later).

No need to let picking between the editions be a source of stress - you can upgrade personal to pro at any time.   

Dave

Does the pro version (I read the differences) have more capabilities that I may want or easier or is it really just for someone making a living out of this? Sorry, but I'm not sure about the differences between
the two.

106

General Mach Discussion / Re: Multiple Tools of Different Heights

« on: March 02, 2011, 12:01:09 AM »

Russ,
Thanks for the kind words!
If you're reading the release version manual (v1.0.2) it will cover all the TLO and Work Coordinate stuff.
If you're interested in MSM itself, you may want to grab the beta version (currently v1.0.2.d49) manual as it covers some major extensions that are under test for the probing functions (I find it easier easier to read a manual once than to look for the changes later).

Dave
 

That's really some manual there Dave ... Great job ?
I need to take the time to go through it completely.
Very nice screen set also.
Regards,
Russ

107

General Mach Discussion / Re: Multiple Tools of Different Heights

« on: March 01, 2011, 11:50:56 PM »

Rick -
I know quite a few that do -   ...I'm the author of the software.  

I thought that the explanations I wrote for the MSM user manual would be of help in understanding the concepts involved.  So I was trying to  point you toward a description of the topics you were interested in (w/o giving you a sales pitch) - it just so happens that the best description I know of is in the MSM user manual. I've had many people tell me that the manual is a positive feature of the software. I wrote the MSM manual to be both the user manual for MSM and to serve as a "how to use mach" manual.

The are a lot of misconceptions about TLOs - as many think that a Tool Length Offset is the physical length of the tool, but that is seldom the case. To get people over that (usually) bad assumption, I had to cover a bunch of info to lead up to explaining why that is - the effort to do that resulted in much of sections 4 and 5 of the MSM manual.

The MSM manual covers these TLO techniques:
1) resetting Z Zero each time you switch to a different tool. This is not really a TLO method as it does not make use of TLOs with Mach.
2) Using the physical length of the tool as the TLO. It's a bit counter intuitive at first, but this is NOT a common method (the manual goes into some detail as to why that is).
3) Touching tools to a common reference surface on a part to set the TLO value. This is the most used method.
4) The concept of a Master Tool. This is an advanced method which can be very handy once it's understood.

MSM provides support for all these methods and integrates probing (both 3D and touch plates) so that setup operations can be much easier. For example: With a touch plate MSM can auto measure a tool as part of a tool change.  If I continue down that discussion path, I'll end up explaining some of the reasons I created MSM (I prefer not to spend time doing tasks a computer is good at doing for me).

Please understand that you're welcome to learn from the MSM manual whether you want to use the MSM software or not.

If you want to know more about the MSM software itself, I'll be happy to answer questions about that too.

Dave

DaveCVI,
Do you use or know of anyone who uses the MachStdMill (MSM) software?
Thanks.
Rick

108

General Mach Discussion / Re: Multiple Tools of Different Heights

« on: March 01, 2011, 06:24:56 PM »

Rick,

If you would like an intro to Tool length offsets and Work Coordinate systems, a good introduction (so I've been told) and explanation of the topic is in the User Manual for the MachStdMill (MSM) software. 

Chapter 4 covers work coordinate systems and the first part of chapter 5 (thru 5.2) covers tool changes and the most common techniques for using Tool Length Offsets (TLOs). 

Independent of the MSM software package itself, you would probably find those sections of the manual applicable to any mach mill setup - as they cover the concepts you're asking about.

The PDF manual can be downloaded (free) from the download page of www.CalypsoVentures.com

Dave

109

Finished Plugins for Download / Re: Huanyang VFD controller plugin

« on: February 23, 2011, 05:36:09 PM »

Hi,

DMBGO: thanks, I'll look at that.

CNCMAN172: If your copy is the same as the link DMBGO posted, I can get it from his link. Otherwise, if you want and you can can email it, I should be able to recv it (my email accounts have large size limits).

Dave

110

Finished Plugins for Download / Re: Huanyang VFD controller plugin

« on: February 23, 2011, 01:01:13 PM »

Hi,

From reading the short plug-in manual, It is not clear to me what the the real situation is. The manual says something along the lines of "the plug-in should update dro 39" ... and then it goes on to say that this doesn't work on the author's system.  

w/o access to the plug-in source, there is no way to see what the real issue could be. That leaves "poking at the plug-in as a black box" to see how it reacts - usually a frustrating approach.  Alas, I can't even do much that way as I don't have a Huanyang VFD.

Can someone point me to an English version of the Huanyang manual?
I have another odd Chinese VFD, and while I know this has to be a real long shot, I'd like to compare the Huanyang comm sequences to my VFD manual....

If the plug-in is updating a user space DRO (as I think I read somewhere - please excuse me for not having read all the posts in this thread), then it is easy for one to customize MSM to use the plug-ins user DRO instead of DRO 39.
That I can help with if someone wants to do that.

Dave