Messages

21

General Mach Discussion / Re: Rotational Soft Limits on A axis, once more, cannot be disabled.

« on: January 04, 2014, 04:47:51 AM »

Hood,

The soft limits are in that XML:
X: 279;-1
Y: 130;-1
Z: +1;-265
A: 365;-5

The home (reference) positions are:
X: -5
Y: -5
Z:+5
A: 0

Rotational Soft Limits are unchecked.

Did you try to rollover from 360 up to 365 and more in the 4th axis? Did you try to roll over from 0 down to 355 and less, and soft limits did not fire on your Mach3?

(When you try and are at the reference positions, you have first to move away in X, Y, and Z and only then turn on Soft Limits. At the reference position, X Y and Z would fire soft limits) Thanks in advance for your help.

Peter.

22

General Mach Discussion / Rotational Soft Limits on A axis, once more, cannot be disabled.

« on: January 03, 2014, 06:10:18 PM »

I too cannot disable rotational soft limits. The check box Rotational Soft Limits from Config/General Logic/Rotational pane goes into the XML as ROTSOFT, but Mach3 regardless of the checkbox and ROTSOFT, does soft limits on A. I went thru all the ~12 posts here about the rotational soft limit issue. On some posts, the checkbox Rotational Soft Limits seems to work, on other posts it does not work.

My Mach3 for this issue is versions R3.042.033, R3.042.038, R3.042.040  and R3.043.066. I also did the usual things with the XML: removed ROTSOFT, added RotSoft, varied every conceivable parameter in the Config menus, without any result. This is a test system without actual CNC, even without parallel port. The PROFILE is attached. We need Soft Limits turned on for the X Y Z axes.

Of course I can do infinity limits on A, up to +36500000.00, -36500000.00  (five zeros, a hundred thousand turns). But six zeros are too much, giving a Max<Min status message.

I thank you in advance for help.

Peter.

23

General Mach Discussion / Re: 4th Axis, CCW, A or B

« on: December 29, 2013, 08:33:02 PM »

4) Homing/Limits in A seem not rotary, or cannot be disabled individually. With (365;-5) I did run into soft limits on A. I set them to very large and small values (9999999999; -9999999999).

24

General Mach Discussion / Re: 4th Axis, CCW, A or B

« on: December 29, 2013, 09:43:03 AM »

3) Jogging the 4th axis does not reflect in the tool path window, it is not the same as G0 A~ or G1 A~ (whilst jogging X, Y, Z is shown in the tool path window).

25

General Mach Discussion / Re: USB Gamepad Question

« on: December 29, 2013, 09:15:44 AM »

Dear Wade

Using a gamepad as jog control seems promising. Do you mind beeing more specific, and mentioning the links to where you looked to?

26

General Mach Discussion / 4th Axis, CCW, A or B

« on: December 29, 2013, 08:43:00 AM »

I have a few couple of questions

1) It seems that G1 A45 turns CW to 45 degrees, and G1 A-45 turns CCW to the same 45 degree position. I could not find the G-Code documentation, that sign(A-word) is the direction, and abs(A-word) is the position. My Mach3 behaves indeed this way.

The hint is from here (see attached picture): http://www.cnczone.com/forums/mach_software_artsoft_software/163474-gcode_turn_axis_ccw.html#post1172380

Tool path window really rotates, as from this hint: (Mach3 and 4th Axis topic) https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,15220.msg101823.html#msg101823

2)  In any case, is it possible to tell Mach3 to use B as the 4th axis (preparatory question, should I need it):  because our post processor seems to treat, by default, the A axis as vertical-linear, and the B axis as horizontal wrap-around. That's what I have read in the postprocessor code (I could not verify whether mentioning of vertical/horizontal refers to the spindle axis or the 4th axis). The question is very preparatory, as I have yet to see the piece to be machined.


Peter.
I'm the IT man (running Mach3 on a virtual Windows8-32bit on a real Windows8 laptop. There is a real machine in the shop)

27

Screen designer tips and tutorials / Re: Mach3 version opinion

« on: December 22, 2013, 07:54:29 PM »

I was able to do the little changes needed with MachScreen.

What version of Mach3 is recommended to use? Our machine was delivered with Mach3 R3.041 of year 2008. Their homepage still says 3.041, at the same time linking to machsupport.com for download. We were using Mach3 R3.042.038 for a few years, since 2010. Is it sound practice to install version Mach3 R3.043.066?

I thank you in advance for your opinion.

28

Screen designer tips and tutorials / Re: Mach3Screen, Screen4, MachScreen current program state?

« on: December 22, 2013, 11:51:53 AM »

Sorry, but I don't use Machscreen.

I'm interested in what do you use for screen editing?

29

Screen designer tips and tutorials / Re: Mach3Screen, Screen4, MachScreen

« on: December 22, 2013, 09:53:54 AM »

MachScreen:  (by Klaus Dietz)

I could not confirm, how to change the font of an item, specifically Profile on page 0. I would need a smaller font size, to display longer profile names there.

I could not confirm, what DRO/Button/Led is displayed in the "field" Profile at all, just to be oriented on usage of MachScreen. That is, what is its type. It seems that the text Profile is replaced by the actual profile name. and Profile is just a label?  Is there a list of the interpreted Labels?

Mach3Screen: I also could not resolve the questions.

Screen4: blocks on Windows 8. as far as I remember, it blocked since Windows XP.

I thank in advance for help. Maybe there are various, or official guides that I  do not recall, as I did screen a few years back.

30

General Mach Discussion / Re: Router just shuts off and stops intermittently

« on: December 20, 2013, 11:59:50 AM »

<Axis0>1.</Axis0>   Ports and Pins->Motor Outputs, X Axis Enabled. Inhibit X Axis green on page Settings Alt6.
<Axis1>1.</Axis1>   Ports and Pins->Motor Outputs, Y Axis Enabled. Inhibit Y Axis green on page Settings Alt6.
<Axis2>1.</Axis2>   Ports and Pins->Motor Outputs, Z Axis Enabled. Inhibit Z Axis green on page Settings Alt6.
<Axis3>1.</Axis3>   Ports and Pins->Motor Outputs, A Axis Enabled. Inhibit A Axis green on page Settings Alt6.
<Axis4>0.</Axis4>   Ports and Pins->Motor Outputs, B Axis Disabled. Inhibit B Axis red on page Settings Alt6.
<Axis5>0.</Axis5>   Ports and Pins->Motor Outputs, C Axis Disabled. Inhibit C Axis red on page Settings Alt6.
<Axis6>1.</Axis6>   Ports and Pins->Motor Outputs, Spindle Enabled. Not on the screens.

I could not verify whether the inhibit settings are honored. On my system Y (disabled to try) modified nevertheless in G Code execution. Of course I do not have a CNC machine (I'm just the IT).