Messages

1541

General Mach Discussion / Re: soft limits and active coordinate system question

« on: April 14, 2020, 05:26:23 PM »

Hi,
soft limits only make sense when the machine is referenced or homed.

Your original parallel port device would retain the machine coords from your last session and provided the tool
position has not moved it will retain a 'close enough reference' from the last session and therefore the soft limits
are 'close enough' too.

In fact over successive sessions the reference will slip and therefore your soft limits will also be inaccurate.

The correct procedure is to Home your machine every time you start up.

That is what you USB controller is expecting.

Craig

1542

General Mach Discussion / Re: signal inputs

« on: April 14, 2020, 05:19:59 PM »

Hi,
I don't think the RnR board supports THC.

Craig

1543

CS-Lab / Re: CSMIO/IP-A Mach4 lathe retrofit

« on: April 14, 2020, 05:17:09 PM »

Hi,

after all, it's in their best interest to sort things out.

Yes it is.......so why haven't they....this problem has been around for over a year. I don't think they give a s*********t.

Craig

1544

CS-Lab / Re: CSMIO/IP-A Mach4 lathe retrofit

« on: April 14, 2020, 02:43:58 AM »

Hi daniba73,
I agree, CSLabs make very nice hardware....there is no doubting the quality and care taken in the manufacture of them.
Up until a couple of years ago they also had a market leading reputation for supporting their customers and fixing
any shortcomings in their firmware.

About that time they released their first Mach4 plugin, and to be fair to them its not bad....but it has bugs....and they have
not made the effort to fix them.

Given the premium money they command for their boards I think it very poor service. At least they reply to your emails
which puts them ahead of the Chinese....but not by much. Keep on them.

Given that you are in Europe do you not have the ability to make a legal claim? If I did not get any satisfaction I would persue
them in court if required.

Craig

1545

CS-Lab / Re: CSMIO/IP-A Mach4 lathe retrofit

« on: April 13, 2020, 09:37:57 PM »

Hi daniba73,

I think the cause is of Mach4 and not of CsLab.

Wrong....thread synchronization is the SOLE responsibility of the controller.

Every other  threading capable controller (Hicon, ESS, PoKeys, and PMDX) can all synchronize the thread
restarts when multiple passes are required.......but not CSMIO.

Its CSLabs responsibility to fix it, there is nothing Mach4 can do....its sitting on the other side of the motion buffer
of several hundred milliseconds.....it CANNOT synchronize a thread restart.

Craig

1546

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Screwcutting issue under Mach4

« on: April 13, 2020, 05:04:01 AM »

Hi,
no value? It was created and implemented by Warp9 especially to deal with the need to maintain tightly controlled spindle
speed while threading....no value??

Craig

1547

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Screwcutting issue under Mach4

« on: April 13, 2020, 03:10:13 AM »

Hi,
spindle PID is a function of the ESS not Mach.

Craig

1548

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / Re: Plunge cut with end mill

« on: April 12, 2020, 05:03:52 PM »

Hi,
Tweakie is right, get an end cutting endmill.

I use MillWizard ($75) from NFS. When it generates code to say create a pocket it ramps down to the depth
rather than just plunge. May I suggest download and experiment with it and you will see the code used to
enact the ramp down.

Note also that most if not all CAM programs offer different strategies to ram an endmill down to depth.

Craig

1549

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Screwcutting issue under Mach4

« on: April 12, 2020, 03:51:25 AM »

Hi,

Motor running at set speed to start of screwcutting, then Speeds up a bit, with a definite fluctuation, before settling down to a stable speed. Conclusion - Someone (Warp9 or Artsoft) is still Stuffing around with the set speed.

No, thats spindle PID.....you have to tune it, it sounds like its fairly close but PID tuning is the name of the game.

Craig

1550

General Mach Discussion / Re: Using two concurrent ports

« on: April 11, 2020, 04:00:57 PM »

Hi,
you are trying to reinvent the wheel. Any good motion control board and appropriate home and/or limit switches
and it does all that you want, and because the time critical inputs, like limits and homes, are on-board the
response is near instant.

If you have multiple machines and of different types the I would recommend Mach4, it is designed to be flexible
to accommodate different machines and the Ethernet SmoothStepper has THE MOST COMPLETE suite of realtime
supports of ANY Mach4 step/direction controller.

You could waste huge amounts of time on a project such as you are talking about.....which could be achieved at a
fraction of the cost in money and time with an ESS.

Craig