Messages

6491

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Activating/Deactivating E-Stop from within VB?

« on: August 05, 2010, 11:06:57 AM »

Heck Tweakie sometimes you just have to make up new words as you go(;-)

Bad fingers BAD BAD slap slap, there I fixed that, it better not happen again(;-)

6492

General Mach Discussion / Re: PWM and routers?

« on: August 04, 2010, 11:37:35 PM »

Yes IF you have a motor speed controller that can use PWM   OR  analog+/- with a control interface card.

6493

General Mach Discussion / Re: Trying to get max use out of limited resources :)

« on: August 04, 2010, 11:29:58 PM »

HUM I think Hood has the best advice. If you are using a PCI card and just have that one PCI slot available just get a doubleport card.

The only other option is to use the estop pin to probe with. You should have your Estop circuit setup to kill the drives and power to the drives and SPINDLE. Notifing Mach does not gain anything AS your positioning is already lost when you stop the drives and remove power AND the machine will not move even if mach(computer) keeps running.

This would free up a pin IF $$$$ resources were that tight.

Just a thought,

6494

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Activating/Deactivating E-Stop from within VB?

« on: August 04, 2010, 11:15:32 PM »

AND yes folks it would probably be best to use the more modern calls. (;-)

6495

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Activating/Deactivating E-Stop from within VB?

« on: August 04, 2010, 08:08:05 PM »

OH heck I forgot, I have been in the machine tool  game since the late 60s-- You can believe me when I say that I understand the issues around MACHINE CODE changes.

(;-) TP

6496

VB and the development of wizards / Re: M6 - Turret not picking up signal correctly

« on: August 04, 2010, 07:48:09 PM »

I 'll give you some experience from a group of us that worked on tool changer code inside of mach. IT is a bear. Mach is very slow in VB macros and to get any speed out of the tool changer was tough as well.

The grey code(we had a 24 tool changer running) is a challenge to VB because of the slow i/o loop) Never was able to get it to run FAST enought to make it usefull so we went to a ModIO from Peter Holmann instead. A plc would be best as we know that works well.

What seems to happen is as the positions come up mach is not fast enought to interegate the code in time to stop the changer on position. By the time it does the complete logic loop the grey code has changed and the loop has to restart. Then it becomes hit a miss to catch the position in time to process it.

Things that can help.  ADD another triggerpoint(switch) that activates at each station. Then force the changer to STOP until Mach can interegate the grey code. Then based on what it sees stop or continue. An 8 station changer would not be too bad but a 24 was painfully SLOW and clunky.

Now this is NOT saying it can't be made to work, you will just have to work out the variables based on YOUR system. You will have to work out a system that mach can deal with. I think a BRIANS approach could be made to work nicely. Let the brain do the logic loop and signal VB to process the results.

A plugin would be best (faster)  but harder to impliment.

This was our results, Your mileage may vary

6497

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Activating/Deactivating E-Stop from within VB?

« on: August 04, 2010, 07:10:56 PM »

HIYA DAVE, If you fail to learn from history you are doomed to repeat it. NOT a problem for me as I have NEVER had a problem with dobutton or DoOemButton both work just fine and I bet the old "real" problems people have complained about over the years will still be there in V4.

Here is my point IF you can fix it with a NEW CALL why can't you fix the OLD CALL to work JUST like the NEW call without calling it something new OR just call the NEW CALL  the same thing as the OLD CALL and then do away with the old code. That way ALL the old programs still work.

IF you improved the old WHEEL so it rolled better would you call the new wheel  a "BOX "or still call it a wheel?

PROBLEM SOLVED buggerwhipper style (;-)

6498

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Activating/Deactivating E-Stop from within VB?

« on: August 03, 2010, 06:57:03 PM »

HIYA Dave, Just to mention that Fanuc learned a valuable lesson long ago about depreciating old code. After that mess they put it back in(;-) pronto.

Just a thought,(;-)

6499

General Mach Discussion / Re: Draft Mach3 v3.x Programmers Reference Manual

« on: August 03, 2010, 05:07:15 PM »

Dave did you find all the hidden MAGIC Mach variables hidden inside the code(;-)

(;-)

6500

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Activating/Deactivating E-Stop from within VB?

« on: August 03, 2010, 05:04:39 PM »

Dobutton(21)      toggles the estop. If you want a safety then add in a reference to the led in your code