Messages

31

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Screen Set Ideas

« on: October 19, 2018, 04:20:33 PM »

WOW almost three years since i messed with this.

Was called out of retirement to help program a new machine, fanuc controls for a family of 46 parts
was asked to do a parametric program using Macro B
turned out to be a sweet series of several nested subroutines
all dimensions were put in a look up subroutine and passed to a calculation subroutine to compute start and stop locations.
based on the tool diameter entered in its own variable, so change tool diameter all positions are recalculated.

Including conveyor load/unload from both direction a part flip over, top and side drilling, probing of the parts and of the fixture change details for the many combinations of raw material

Thought id test out Mach4 abilities and help me with some of the while loops and subroutines that needed to be developed.

Which in the end all led me to a new macro variable screen tab set.

It was one tedious process of creating an organized well structured page.
started with the screen editor then organized and ordered the objects in an XML editor
then on to a text editor to replace values to align all the rows and columns, heights and widths of each
then copy and paste the master to create all the variable names and addresses making each group
and edit each variable name for that group tab set (something like 402 for each tab)
I estimate well over 35hours of ass time after I managed without it during the project, so next time i'm all set.

all during the two recent hurricanes, what a sight to witness and see what they leave behind.

and a little routine to clear macro variables

Code: [Select]

(CLEAR AND SET VARIABLES TO NIL)
#1=2
WHILE[#1 LE 999]DO1
#[#1]=#0
#1=#1+1
END1
#1=#0(RESET COUNTER BACK TO NIL)


32

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: Carved a Colt 1911

« on: March 31, 2018, 02:19:28 PM »

Thanks for the inspiration
found the STL colt 1911 on another site
thought I'd see if i can make both sides and then glue them together next time.

Stained but not Tung Oiled yet.
Took me closer to 25 hours total
Over 8 hours for the .010" ball 10 degree taper Cutter on Finish pass on the Colt itself.
Walnut Slab off my pile

But this will make a good wall hanger 
Thank Again for the Idea, yours looks great.

33

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Aspire file to Mach3

« on: December 15, 2017, 09:20:33 AM »

here is a zip file that you can download, (then extract, as a reg file is not allowed as an attachment here) double click the "Aspire.reg" to install the info to the registry.
should make it a lot easier then editing with regedit

34

General Mach Discussion / This is just plain... WRONG

« on: November 11, 2017, 08:31:20 AM »

Received this as a PM 
Is this what the education system is coming too, Having others do your lessons?
Not impressed on so many levels.

35

General Mach Discussion / Re: Make a pipe bender die

« on: October 29, 2017, 07:39:11 PM »

you mean a tubing like this?
I've been working on this cnc bender for my needs.
But, I'm sure not following that code for what my vision is.
good luck

36

Tangent Corner / Re: QR Codes.

« on: July 07, 2017, 08:36:38 AM »

I sent it to my Dropbox folder as a text file and it worked fine, no formatting issues at all.
have to think it's an issue in the mail transfer/conversion.

37

Tangent Corner / Re: QR Codes.

« on: July 07, 2017, 07:45:58 AM »

cool idea

did notice on sending an email from my phone to myself it did not format cr/lf
have to do some additional testing but it does have possibilities.
but i am  rookie at these smartphones just bought my first phone a CAT S60 so still learning.

38

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Integers defined

« on: June 06, 2017, 05:07:38 PM »

unless you set your variable X_Axis=0 then your variable X_Axis will equal "Nil"

the integer value are shown in () for each axis

39

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: How to Emulate a Momentary switch?

« on: June 04, 2017, 06:24:01 PM »

Here is another idea, using the millisecond #3001 variable
just need to add output condition
as I am just showing the time value in the history.
can be set to any time and all jogging or other functions are still active
with some additional coding should be able to use these functions for other timers

Code: [Select]

--add to PLC Script
function Timer(varnum)
    local inst = mc.mcGetInstance() -- Get the current instance
    varvalue1 = mc.mcCntlGetPoundVar(inst, varnum); -- Get MiliSecond Time
    return varvalue1
end
function TimedOut(varnum,varvalue,ontime)
    local inst = mc.mcGetInstance() -- Get the current instance
    varvalue2 = mc.mcCntlGetPoundVar(inst, varnum); -- Get MiliSecond Time again
    increment=(varvalue2-varvalue) -- current milisecond increment
    if (varvalue2>(varvalue+ontime)) then
        timerupFlag=0 -- be sure to set this global variable flag set in screen load cript
        mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst, "Times Up "..tostring(increment))
    else
        timerupFlag=1
    end
    return increment
end
if (timerupFlag==1) then
    increment = TimedOut(milisecondVar,varvalue1,ontime)
end


-- Add to Left up Button Script
timerupFlag=1 -- set global that timer routine is in use
milisecondVar=3001 --the Milisecond # Register
ontime=5000 -- miliseconds on time so its 5 seconds minimum
valvalue1 = Timer(milisecondVar) --set start time


40

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Cutter height advancement problem

« on: May 08, 2017, 02:37:44 PM »

You might be better off learning about G50 and work offset shifts
Increment the whole work offset Z #variable position.

Screw around with tool length offsets is subject to a whole new set of "what the hell happened there"
You might beable to write to the tool length variable then call it with an H offset but resetting it and knowing where your at any one time is going to be suspect too.

Being new to this  I advise to learn the basic before you crash, burn then