Messages

1301

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 open source content

« on: December 29, 2020, 12:02:47 AM »

Hi,
all the screen sets that ship with Mach4 are open Lua source files so open to inspection, editing etc.
In LuaExamples folder there are dozens of Lua scripts (source) for file handling, toolchanging, device control and the list goes on.
You are invited to use them at will. The probing module 'McTouchOff' is available as source code and so open to inspection
and editing as required.

The lathe wizard code is supplied by MachMotion, not NFS at all, and so that  is available as compiled code only.

I'm not sure but I think the new script based THC feature is available as compiled code only.

Craig

1302

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Lua Scripting with CycleStop()

« on: December 27, 2020, 09:16:59 PM »

Hi,
this post would be best on the Mach4 General discussion board, no doubt Tweakie will shift there.

You should not be using Stop (or CycleStop) to stop a job, a hard stop like that decelerates at max and you will lose reference.
The correct procedure is <FeedHold> followed by <Stop>. A <Stop> by itself aborts whatever remaining moves in the motion buffer,
therefore Mach thinks its has made those moves and it at position (x,y,z) when in fact those were aborted and is at position (r,s,t).
A <FeedHold> on the other hand allows the remaining moves, commonly 150ms worth, to execute and drain the motion buffer and
Mach will arrive at (x,y,z) with no loss of reference.

Craig

1303

General Mach Discussion / Re: Need help. Mach 3, ESS Smooth Stepper, Windows 10

« on: December 25, 2020, 06:36:18 PM »

Hi,
I notice you have gone to a lot of effort and possibly expense to update your fathers machine,
I'm sure he will be delighted and proud.

What you may not know is that the ESS has a complete and well developed Mach4 plugin. So you could download
Mach4 (demo=no cost) and try it out. As a demo Mach4 will operate normally for six minutes before it stops and needs
to be restarted.....but in those six minutes you have all the Mach4 goodness.

This is a thread which describes in some detail those features of Mach4 which well exceed the same or similar features
of Mach3:

https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=42891.msg278176#msg278176

Craig

1304

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: macro for Reference All Axes

« on: December 23, 2020, 05:07:30 PM »

Hi Brian,
that's an interesting condundrum.

I'm guessing that a 'handle' as you refer to it is different to a file path. The file path is generated when the m401 is called
and would therefore present no problem to save the file path text in a register/registers.....but what about a handle?

The only handles I've seen are those that occur when I call mc.SignalGetHandle(...) or similar. The return, presumably the handle itself,
is just a number, and I've always assumed it relates to the location in memory that the data is stored.

I've never thought about an open file having a handle, that is some location in memory that the code related to the data stream to and from
the file. If my understanding is correct: how would you go about saving or otherwise recording that handle?. Is it even possible with the programming
tools within Mach to get the handle? I suppose the last question is the handle constant?. That is to say lets assume the probing routine (which is the program
that called into existance the file handle), does the handle survive the failure of the calling routine or does it get garbage collected imediately?

Craig

1305

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: macro for Reference All Axes

« on: December 22, 2020, 04:14:24 PM »

Hi,
the surface map plugin is optimized to probe the bed of the mill and thereafter make subtle adjustments to the Z axis, but probed once,
the data set installed once, and then left alone.

For making PCB's the blank needs to be probed on every occasion. I can almost hear you say that if you vacummed it down
to a flat surface variation in Z would not happen....BS. All PCB blanks have small warps, twists and bows, they may only be 0.1-0.2mm
but enough to totally screw isolation routing. Additionally what happens to your vacumm holding when you drill through the board?

No, I use double sided tape to hold the board down with the addition of two 1.5mm alignment pins, and I probe the board on every
occasion. I have been using Autoleveller successfully for six years, it allows me to make a nominal 0.05mm depth cut (copper layer =0.035mm)
and get perfect isolation every time despite the PCB/spoilboard having Z height variance across the board of up to 0.4mm, depending on the size
of the board.

The only issue is when I have a glitch with the probing routine. As I posted earlier it happen about a fortnight ago, and I had to power cycle
Mach and rehome. In the intervening fortnight I've made 40 or so boards without issue and therefor no need to re-home. I can go for months
without a glitch, but they do happen. I would be nice to have a means to force close the Probe Data file without having to shut Mach down.

Craig

1306

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: macro for Reference All Axes

« on: December 22, 2020, 02:27:08 PM »

Hi Brian,
this maybe slightly off-topic but it is an issue that I encounter from time to time which is damned inconvenient.

The majority use my mini-mill gets is isolation routing PCB's. To do this I use Autoleveller which is a software utility
which probes the PCB blank prior to isolation routing and then modifies the Z axis heights of the Gcode to accommodate variation
is Z height of the blank.

To do this it opens a Probe Data File, hence the first use of your m401 Lua example.

Every once and a while the probe routine fails, the last instance the damned clip fell of the circuit blank so I hit <Feedhold> followed
by <Stop>. When I attempt to re-run the probing routine I run into a problem, namely that the original Probe Data file is still open
and I cannot therefore re-run the job. Not even a Disable/Enable cycle will do it, I have to shut Mach down and start again.

At this time I already have a blank, possibly one side already routed, in the machine so re-referencing so that the existing work lines up with subsequent
ops is a PITA.

What I really want is a means of forcing closure of an open Probe Data file in those few circumstances when I need to force it closed.
Do you have any suggestions?

Craig

1307

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: macro for Reference All Axes

« on: December 22, 2020, 04:16:47 AM »

Hi,
not quite sure why anyone would go to all this bother.......I home my machine then leave it.

For instance my machine was last homed a fortnight or so ago, and I've never switched it off since.
If I have reason to believe that the referencing has been broken or compromised, like an Estop or similar,
then I will re-home it but otherwise I leave it alone.

The only time my machine shuts down is if we get a power cut....and that hasn't happened for several months.

At one time I had code that prevented the use of either the <CycleStart> or <MDICycleStart> buttons from being active
UNLESS the machine is referenced. I had a separate <CycleStart>button that I could navigate to and execute that was not
disabled by the machine not being referenced, should I ever need it. I managed to lose the code when I updated Mach over a year ago
and just can't be bothered to redo it.

Some days my machine will be running Gcode for four hours out of an eight hour workday, and really frilly little controls aren't going to change that.

Craig

1308

General Mach Discussion / Re: Need help. Mach 3, ESS Smooth Stepper, Windows 10

« on: December 21, 2020, 09:22:56 PM »

Hi,

I've used Mach4 for so long I forget all the Mach3 details.....however:

I tried to do a driver test from the mach 3 folder but it states no driver installed. I am at a loss and not sure what to do. Does anyone have any suggestions?

You cannot install a 'Driver' ( Mach3's parallel pulse engine and motion controller) on a Windows 10 machine. That's why it warns you is no driver....its perfectly OK.
That's what the ESS and the ESS plugin are all about, the combination of the two replaces the 'Driver'.

I suspect that you don't have the keyboard or keyboard jog enabled. A regular Mach3 user will be able to tell you about that.

Does MDI work? MDI is much more telling and useful for tuning and testing your machine.

Craig

1309

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Finding full list of functions

« on: December 20, 2020, 07:46:27 PM »

Hi Brian,

I only made a bunch of the examples because I thought people would modify them and turn them into what they needed

That is exactly how I treated them and the file dialog in particular has been extremely helpful as an example, and I have modified and remodified
on a number of occasions to suit the need de-jour.

Craig

1310

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Finding full list of functions

« on: December 20, 2020, 01:04:15 PM »

Hi Brian,
yes I have started using wxFormBuilder an it certainly helps.

The wx.Widgets reference is written by geeks for other geeks and written in geekese.

Craig