Messages

21

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: MACH4 and ESS with homing issues

« on: June 05, 2015, 02:44:43 PM »

I should have replied some time back, my bad.

Somewhere between unloading and reloading everything, updating to the most recent version of M4, re-mapping motors to more conventional mappings in M4, and family visitors leaving after the Holiday, all is now good.  Have since worked out getting CLICK PLC, Modbus, and Mach4 to work together.
Will likely write my own homing routine that homes off of limit switches - taking the "rack" out of the gantry, then back off to index signals mounted on servo encoders.

Shamanj;
You mention Mach3, is that what you are using??

22

Mach4 General Discussion / MACH4 and ESS with homing issues

« on: May 22, 2015, 02:41:41 PM »

I have Mach3 running without issues on my machine...  Getting ready for the plunge into Mach4 - So i am running in Demo.  I would like to have system at least semi-working before taking the leap.

I have X, Y, Z working as they should, but whenever I try to home any one axis or all axes, Mach4 locks up - stuck in homing.

Specifically Mach4, after pressing Ref or Ref All:
* Selected axis heads in the correct direction to the homing limit,
* Touches the switch,
* Lights the Home switch on Diag. screen, and
* Never backs off the switch
* Never exits the homing sequence

I have to exit Mach4 and start up again to get control of machine.

I have followed DazTheGas videos (thanks!) and must be overlooking something.  Might this be a result of still in demo mode?  Any help is greatly appreciated.

Mach4 v 1.2461 (demo)
ESS v April 19 2015
Win 8.1 64 bit


STrack

23

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: MACH4 - Modbus

« on: May 19, 2015, 11:17:02 PM »

For what it might be worth;

Working with a CLICK PLC  (Serial Modbus).  I just got it working.  Only issue for me was I could not "Enable 485 Mode" in Modbus setup.  I had to open my MACH4 .ini file and edit RS485=1  Then all was good.  See pics if interested.

MACH4v2441

Regards,
-STrack

24

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Comments about Mach4 in Demo

« on: April 23, 2014, 10:27:26 PM »

Brian;
Thanks for the opportunity to preview.

Mach4 won't install cleanly for me, get MACH4GUI Error  "Failed to retrieve file times for 'C:\somestuff\m6end.mcc' (error2 ... cannot find the file specified.)

Not sure if this is expected or not, as Mach 4 does launch...

Using a Win 8.1/ 64 bit system

-Regards.

25

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 Lock ups...

« on: April 22, 2014, 09:09:07 PM »

Martin;
In my opinion, you most likely have an electrical noise issue.  The source of the noise likely is the router motor itself.  Two statements you made lead me to this opinion: 1) The issue is random, and 2) It happens only when the spindle is moving.  Also from the pics in the referenced post, you have a variable speed router.  These are notorious for creating electrical noise.  Computers don't do random very well:  Treat this as a serious problem that should be solved before you use the router (turn on the motor), as the computer is not reliably controlling the machine's motion.  There are several threads here and on other sites explaining how to shield the rest of the system from the noise generated by the v.s. router.  Nothing much new I can add - other than it takes a bit of perseverance.  What I mean is many time you don't know the issue is solved until the system doesn't lock up anymore.  Search for toroid or ferrite rings, these are small electrical chokes used to quench high frequency noise transmitted through electrical systems.  They must be sized correctly.  Also, on the other post, the point-to-point wiring recommendation should be treated as necessary.

Best of luck solving this.

Regards.