Messages

671

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Is Mach4 really Hobby Material?

« on: January 17, 2018, 07:36:11 PM »

Remember, the vast majority (95%+?) of users are not programmers, and have no desire to become programmers. They just want to run their machines.
For every Mach4 users that likes it, there are probably 25 people that aren't going to bother learning Lua, which they shouldn't have to do.
They basically eliminated 90% of their potential user base.

672

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Is Mach4 really Hobby Material?

« on: January 17, 2018, 06:56:05 PM »

I am happy to make the effort to program Mach4 to my liking but maybe you are not.

There's more to it then that.
Mach4 is not popular for a lot of reasons.


1. It's too difficult to set up. There's a lot of competition out there now, and you can argue that all of Mach4's competitors are easier to setup and use, and don't require any programming for the vat majority of users. It's possible to make a powerful program that's not overly complicated.

2. Cost. Mach4 is more expensive than it's competitors. But there is a legitimate reason for this. The real issue here is their business model.
Most of the competition offers a package of both hardware and software. Because they are making money on their hardware, they sell their software for a lot less money, or in some cases give it away for free.
Artsoft has to charge more for their software, because they don't sell software. Which leads to another issue.

3. 3rd party hardware. Mach4 decided to stick with the same flawed system they had with Mach3, where the user has to rely on a 3rd party to stay up to date with their plugins, or to even implement features that the user may need. How many motion controllers can be considered fully functional at this time, supporting all of Mach4's features? Remember, Mach4 was released over 3 years ago.
With the competiton's products, the hardware and software development is always in sync. New features work immediately, and you don't need to figure out who's at fault when something doesn't work.

I'm one of the people that has moved on to other software, although my old machine still runs Mach3.

I was an early purchaser of Mach4, over 3 years ago. I watched the (slow) development for over a year, before deciding it was time to move on.

In the same way that different people prefer different CAD and CAM programs, they also prefer different control software. Because Mach4 is so very different from Mach3, many of the tens of thousands of Mach3 users find that it's just too different from what they are used to.

673

General Mach Discussion / Re: Switch between wall plug and VFD?

« on: January 16, 2018, 06:49:58 AM »

I think that what they are really saying is to not turn it on and off frequently, like to change tools, or use it for an emergency.

On commercial machines, the VFD is connected to the main power supply, so it remains on as long as the machine is on.

I would think that the switch would be fine, if  you just use it to turn it on and off.

The problem comes in if you accidentally flip it on and off rapidly.

674

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problem with toolpath

« on: January 15, 2018, 06:49:31 PM »

Play with the Stop CV on Angles > setting, or increase acceleration.

675

General Mach Discussion / Re: Metric on an imperial machine , setting up question

« on: January 15, 2018, 10:05:26 AM »

I can't seem to find any setting of the ustep driver which would produce an integer nr of steps / mm .

You don't need an integer number of steps. Even if it theoretically worked out to an integer, in reality it probably wouldn't be, due to the tolerances of the screws.

Do the math, enter the number, measure the distance traveled, adjust to suit.

676

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: Lazycam stalling problem

« on: January 12, 2018, 03:37:59 PM »

There are better Inkscape .dxf exporters available than the default.

http://www.bigbluesaw.com/saw/big-blue-saw-blog/general-updates/big-blue-saws-dxf-export-for-inkscape.html

677

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 for Large CNC Router Table - or Not?

« on: January 10, 2018, 09:43:43 AM »

Camaster's use WinCNC.

678

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 for Large CNC Router Table - or Not?

« on: January 09, 2018, 06:39:09 PM »

Is anyone using Mach3/4 for serious machine control?


 I am seeing large 4x8 foot router tables with prices exceeding $20,000

A $20K 4x8 router is a fairly low end machine, from my perspective. But I use a $150K router every day.
WinCNC is a popular control  in the $20K-$50K price range of machines, and costs about $1500-$3000, depending on options.

I've seen older big routers like a Biesse converted to use Mach3.
Would I use Mach3 on a new machine today? No, there are better options available.  But I still use it on my current machine.
Mach3 was written over 10 years ago, and development stopped over 5 years ago.

Mach4 is probably much, much better than Mach3, but hasn't won a lot of people over, for a variety of reasons.

679

Tangent Corner / Re: Looking for ideas / advice, i think :)

« on: January 05, 2018, 07:55:57 PM »

Now, my main point - I'm trying to find out if there is anything I can make in a pretty comprehensive workshop, that can be sold for a reasonable return?? Thinking stuff like pre-built CNC control cabinets, CNC kits, small machines??

The simple answer, is any of them.
But it's not that simple. You need to work hard, make a good product, at a fair price, and most importantly, get the word out. 99% of it is being a salesman.

680

General Mach Discussion / Re: HY VFD sparks and wont turn on... replacement?

« on: January 03, 2018, 02:15:22 PM »

Measure the resistance between each pair of wires going to the spindle, and make sure all 3 are the same.
U-V
U-W
V-W

Also check each one to ground, and make sure there's no short.