Messages

31

General Mach Discussion / Re: How to use a touch plate in Mach?

« on: March 31, 2012, 12:33:45 AM »

Hi,
All those features are supported in the MachStdMill package.
See www.CalypsoVentures.com for more info. The videos on the site demo how MSM is used for both tool TLO measurement during a tool change as well as the most extensive set of built in probing operations I'm aware of.

Disclosure: I'm the product's author, so you may consider my opinion biased, but MSM already does all that you mentioned.

Dave

32

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Macro size limit

« on: March 22, 2012, 12:33:30 PM »

Sorry, I'm was not trying to be flippant, just noting that since you have a computer and multiple programming languages available, that with enough effort there is almost always some solution to the problem at hand. Of course that does not mean that the solution will be considered "reasonable" - that depends on what constraints you assume.

Some examples for this case:
1) Move to mach 3.43.xx - this lets you have larger scripts via #expand; requires a mach version shift.
2) Split the script into smaller scripts and invent a way to call the smaller scripts as needed. May require refactoring the script's functional split. May also require macros calling macros - and then you get to invent your own IPC synchronization methods.
3) If the limitation is in the editor, one could write a new script editor (I'd done that and essentially implemented  #Expand before it was added to mach - that let me deal with the large MSM scripts while #Expand was being implemented).
4) you could move all the logic into a DLL written in your language of choice and invent a way for the DLL to call back to cypress/mach to get DRO/LED info.

It's all just a matter of the amount of effort you can/want to expend.

Dave

33

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Macro size limit

« on: March 22, 2012, 01:14:58 AM »

Yep, that's the problem. You can make a DLL and call things in the DLL from a mach script, but you're right that you won't magically know anything about mach DRO or function calls etc inside the dll.
The newer tools in 3.43.xx are not in 3.42.xx because they were invented later.
I'd suggest considering moving to mach 3.43xx so you can use the tools it provides.
Other solutions fall into the category of "you can program up most anything if you want to expend enough effort..."

Dave

34

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Macro size limit

« on: March 21, 2012, 06:24:05 PM »

wow - you must have a big script... I thought I was the only one to have run into that trouble.
I've seen that happen when a single m1s file gets large for the mach script editor.

I found that while a single large source file can cause that trouble, but if you use #expand to make one logical script out of multiple smaller source files that you can avoid the problem.

I did this general approach:

main script body m1s file with entry points etc

then put additional parts on other source files via
#expand <part 1>
#expand <part 2>
etc
(You can look up the #expand syntax in the mach programmers ref manual - the above is not a working example)

The odd thing is that you can still load the entire thing into the script editor and the editor will expand it all out for debugging etc.
So loading multiple expanded scripts is ok, while a single larger source script may fail.

Dave

35

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Start a .PDF from a button?

« on: February 17, 2012, 06:20:44 PM »

Aircastle & iv-cnc,

I believe that there may be a tad of confusion here as to what is being asked about.

My understanding is that AirCastle, wants to learn how to open a PDF using a button in mach.
I'm guessing that he wants to do that as part of something he is working on.

Along the way, he appears to have noticed that our MachStdMill (MSM) product has buttons which open pdf documents.
The MSM buttons work fine and I don't think that Aircastle is saying there is a problem with MSM.
If I'm mistaken about that, and Aircastle is an MSM customer, then the thing to do is to drop into the MSM support forums and get some help (www.Calypsoventures.proboards.com)

I think the "quick blink" Aircastle describes is what he sees when using the batch file approach that iv-cnc suggested.
It's been some time since I ran a dos box batch file but that sounds like what I'd expect when shelling a batch file.
Shell opens the batch file, the batch file runs and then disappears. That happens quickly as batch files don't wait for any user input by default... so visually you see cmd DOS box flash open as a black window, the batch file executes (probably writing a few lines into the dos box that you don't get time to see) and then the cmd window closes - the visual result is quick black flash (as the cmd windows is a text window that is white text on black background).

Dave
 

36

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Start a .PDF from a button?

« on: February 16, 2012, 03:25:58 PM »

John,
MSM has several buttons that open PDF files in order to display various documents.
If you're an MSM user having trouble with that, please let me know and I'll assist you with the MSM aspect of the issue.

If you are looking for general info on how to do that from a mach button, there is no built in ability in the mach APIs to do that.
MSM uses a call to windows to open pdf files.

Dave

37

CVI MachStdMill (MSM) / MachStdMill User forums, Videos and other information

« on: February 06, 2012, 12:34:23 PM »

Hi,
The CVI supported user forums for MachStdMill can be found here:
http://calypsoventures.com/forums

Tutorial videos, MSM downloads and all other information is available from the CVI web site:
www.CalypsoVentures.com

Dave

38

General Mach Discussion / Re: turn: gcode or mach bug?

« on: February 02, 2012, 10:22:23 PM »

Rich,
That is a very useful document! Thanks for putting it together.
I've been trying to wrap my brain around the various combinations of tool post locations and config options etc.

Dave

39

General Mach Discussion / Re: turn: gcode or mach bug?

« on: February 02, 2012, 07:21:05 PM »

Thank you !!   

I actually had that turn option checked - un-checked it and now I get what I expected.

I knew it had to be something, but I was not seeing what it was.

Dave

40

General Mach Discussion / turn: gcode or mach bug?

« on: February 02, 2012, 06:47:02 PM »

Hi,
I'm puzzled....
I can't seem to get mach to plot what I think I have in my gcode. It could be a my code, it could be mach - I'm unsure.
My code plots as expected in other plotting tools.

I've attached notes with the code and pics of the plots I get in NCPlot and mach.
I'm looking for anyone that can tell me where I went wrong in the lathe gcode, or verify that what mach is plotting is incorrect.

Dave