Messages

21

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: false signals from clearpath enable

« on: March 17, 2020, 01:34:31 PM »

Ok, thanks Craig. I will get that changed around when I get a chance.  I've just never gotten around to messing with the SigLib{} table.
Is there any reason the way I have it set up to trigger the limit inputs would be causing problems? I do agree that it's not a very professional way to set it up.

I did change the inputs from sourcing to sinking, and the problem got much worse- which is good, because it's easier to experiment now and I've noticed the following:

-I am having inputs triggered by accident almost every time that I enable certain outputs and I'm not sure why this is happening. I have a relay board attached to the same 5V power supply as the ESS and C10.  It should have plenty of power to handle everything, but I ordered another larger one just in case.

-The noise filter now almost fixes the problem, but I have to crank it up to the maximum 120,000. Not a good solution, but interesting that it now has an effect, where as I don't THINK it had an effect when the inputs were setup as sourcing.

-When I measure the voltage over the pulled-up inputs on the c10, it is not up to 5V.  More like 3.5-4V. I don't know if this is something to worry about or not.

22

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: false signals from clearpath enable

« on: March 16, 2020, 02:37:49 PM »

Oh, I might not have explained that very clearly. The HLFB signals from the clearpath motors are connected to input pins on the C10, which are mapped to be limit switches.  This way when a clearpath motor goes into disable mode, it can trigger a limit event.

I think this is a pretty standard way of setting up clearpath motors, but if anyone has any objections to this I'm all ears.

I changed all of the input pins in question from "sourcing" to "sinking" like you suggested, so fingers crossed! I really hope it's not some mysterious noise issue, because tracking that down sounds out of my league.

23

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: false signals from clearpath enable

« on: March 16, 2020, 10:59:18 AM »

mcardoso-
Yes, the c10 board and the ESS are both attached to the same power supply with the same ground.  I don't have an oscilloscope but I should probably get one. Any recommendations about that?  My concern is that the problem is so intermittent that I would have to sit there for days to get any information. (but maybe that concern illustrates my ignorance about oscilloscopes)

MN300-
No, I don't have it wired this way.  I have the pins on PULL-DOWN and the clearpath connecting them to 5V when the HLFB is asserted. I think that you are on to something here. I'm going to go change that right now and see how it goes.

Thanks for all the help so far!!

24

Mach4 General Discussion / false signals from clearpath enable

« on: March 11, 2020, 10:51:16 PM »

Hi everyone.  I was hoping someone might have some insight into a problem I'm having with my clearpath motors.
Here's my setup:
-Mach4
-ESS
-C10 Breakout boards
-Clearpath Motors with HLFB+ attached to 5v pins of c10 board and HLFB- attached to various input pins.

I have the input pins assigned to limit switch inputs, and the HLFB is set to be asserted when motor is in enabled mode. Each clearpath is set to disable itself when out of position.

Normally everything works great, but every few days or so, while the machine is running, I will get an erroneous limit switch event. I know that it is not correct because the clearpath motor should show by its light display that it caused the disable, but none of the motors ever do.
I have tried adding noise filters to the inputs, but I have gone up to 60,000 us and I haven't noticed any difference in the frequency of the events.

If anyone has any thoughts about this, I'd appreciate it.  It's difficult for me to troubleshoot since it happens so infrequently and randomly.

25

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: New to jogging/ non g-code moves

« on: February 05, 2020, 05:19:28 PM »

Thanks so much guys!! I think I'll be able to get something working coming at it with the THC angle.

26

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: New to jogging/ non g-code moves

« on: February 05, 2020, 03:59:06 PM »

Thanks for all the help with the return code info!  This will make things much easier for sure.

Any suggestions for what I'm trying to do?  Here's a more specific description:

While y axis is moving from point a to point b, check input a.  If input a becomes true, then move z axis up .005" without interfering with y axis move.

I feel like this must be a really easy thing to do, but I'm somehow just not stumbling across the right method.

Thanks for all the input so far!!

27

Mach4 General Discussion / New to jogging/ non g-code moves

« on: January 30, 2020, 10:34:23 PM »

I am working on a sanding machine, and I want to be able to move away from the sanding surface quickly if I get an overload signal from the sanding motor.
I was thinking if I make each pass as a jog with the y axis, the z axis could be operated independently and moved away from the surface of the part while the y axis was still moving.

I was trying to test the  mc.mcJogIncStart function with the following code:

function m91002()
   local inst = mc.mcGetInstance()
   rc = mc.mcJogIncStart(inst, 0, -.2)
   if rc ~= mc.MERROR_NOERROR then
      wx.wxMessageBox("failure")
   end
end

I get the message "failure" when I run m91002 in the MDI, but if I remove the "function m91002()" at the beginning of the code, it works one time.
Any ideas about what I am missing or doing wrong? Also if anyone feels that there is a better way to go about this, I'm all ears!
Thanks,
David

28

Mach4 General Discussion / Screen editor bugs

« on: October 30, 2019, 01:43:20 PM »

Hey everyone.  Let me know if there is a more appropriate thread to post this to, but I have some solutions to some of the button script bugs people may have been experiencing.

In order for the scripts to lock in, only add one button at a time.
Exit the screen editor, check your button, restart Mach4 and check the button again.  If the button was working before restart but not after, go into the screen editor, copy the button, paste the copy, and then delete the copy.  Repeat the process, testing the button before and after restarting Mach4.  Usually it only takes round of this process.
The worst thing you can do is try to add multiple buttons during one screen editing session.  Personally I have mostly experienced these problems when dealing with scripts that write to the RegFile but sometimes other scripts behave strangely. 
Once your button works after a restart of Mach4, it seems to be good forever.

Hope that helps!

29

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: A Aixs Brake

« on: January 29, 2019, 02:39:10 PM »

Ha! I should have thought of that!
Works Perfectly.  Thank you so much!!!!

30

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: A Aixs Brake

« on: January 28, 2019, 08:12:51 PM »

Yeah, that's no problem for the Clearpath motors.  They have a pretty wide range of output options to choose from including one that is high whenever it is moving.  I just need mach4 to know when to look for it, and to trigger an estop if it doesn't see it.  That's why I was thinking mc.mcAxisIsStill would be perfect.  I could just put something into the plc script that says that every time the axis is moving, if a particular input is low then perform an estop.
Not sure if that is all correct, but it might be a moot point if I can't find a way to query if an axis is moving or not.