Messages

1841

General Mach Discussion / Re: Altivar 320 VFD + ESS Smoothstepper + Mach4

« on: December 25, 2019, 12:43:25 PM »

Hi,
the new VFD is much MUCH bigger than the original and it requires three phase input. Do you have a three phase supply
at home?

Craig

1842

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Unlicensed Mach4 on desktop?

« on: December 24, 2019, 11:28:28 PM »

Hi,
we have a fairly young (nearly 40) women as Prime Minister. I don't pretend to support her party, being essentially 'tax
and spend', however of all the things she may be, she is NOT CORRUPT.

Integrity I can respect, even if I don't agree with the person.

Craig

1843

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Unlicensed Mach4 on desktop?

« on: December 24, 2019, 07:21:13 PM »

Hi Roger,
I'm sorry to say it but Australia has more to risk than most when it comes to global warming yet successive governments
are underplaying it, not perhaps as brazenly as the US but still... New Zealand cannot claim to be doing any better.

My folks live in central Victoria, and by their own description have had a better run than the north of the state and NSW
but my mother told me they had 44.3⁰C the other day. If the power went off I think that would kill them, they are
nearly 90.

Craig

1844

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Unlicensed Mach4 on desktop?

« on: December 24, 2019, 05:56:38 PM »

Hi,

Holy s*********t.....that looks bad. I'm not really a religious sort of person but I'll pray for rain for you guys.

Craig

1845

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Zeroing and extents

« on: December 24, 2019, 05:52:07 PM »

Hi,
I've been experimenting on my laptop, my machine is at work

I fired up Mach, referenced and loaded a PCB etching job. As you can see the machine zero (the corner of the dashed
yellow lines) and is coincident with the work zero (the corner of the two black lines). The program extents correctly
indentify the rectangle containing the Gcode job.

The next pic is where I deliberately jogged the machine to approx. 15X and 12Y and re-zeroed the X and Y DROs,
ie shifted the work coordinate zero. Note however the program extents have not changed despite the intersection
of the black lines, being work zero, has displayed correctly.

The last pic is the same situation but where I clicked <Regen Toolpath>. Note that now the program extents have been updated,
but note also that they are in MACHINE COORDINATES, not WORK COORDINATES.

Does any of this make sense? It would appear that Program extents are in machine coordinates. I suggest you conduct some
experiments along these lines and I think it will come clear.

Craig

1846

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Unlicensed Mach4 on desktop?

« on: December 24, 2019, 05:13:08 PM »

Hi Roger,

Would not work. Could not work.

There are many software packages that work exactly that way, Mastercam among them. If you really don't like
having online validation then buy a dongle, an extra $1500USD.

No, you can NOT turn off all the updates in W10, even if you try.

Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise can both have updates disabled.
Windows 7 Embedded and I imagine other Embedded Windows OS's allow not just disabling updates but not even load
the update code onto the PC. My machine PC has Windows 7 Embedded and it CAN'T update because there IS NO update
code for it to do so.

Whether Mach4 is being pirated at a rate which is harming NFS's ability to trade is beyond me. I would guess that
the NFS strategy has always been to sell to OEMs and Mach4Industrial, that's where the real money is. OEM's would
paint a target on their back if they tried peddling pirate Mach and are not likely to do so. A realistic and cost effective
licensing system for OEM's is the primary requirement and is in fact exactly what pertains now.

Hope Christmas finds you and family in good cheer. If I understand correctly you are in Australia? If so how are the
conditions (heat, fires) in your locale? I think the kindest gift that could be given to any Australian at this time is a good
rainfall!!

Craig

1847

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Unlicensed Mach4 on desktop?

« on: December 24, 2019, 04:15:45 PM »

Hi Roger,

Seems to me the target of the licensing system is not the honest user but the Chinese pirates.

Yes, that is 100% correct. That is exactly what inspired Brandon to say:

But let me ask who is impaired by the counter measures Mach4 implemented with the new PCID license restrictions? It's not the pirates as they use a cracked version anyway

It is the honest user whom has to jump through hoops to use software he/she has legitimately paid for because the
Chinese among others want to rip it off.

While I dislike intensely some of the licensing and validation techniques used by the big software manufacturers they are desperately
trying to protect their property......I understand it. NFS has not gone down that road....yet, but they could and maybe they will have
to if hackers keep cracking Mach. As much as I would dislike having on-line validation if that's what NFS HAS to do to stay in
business then so be it. Certainly if they are not in business I lose out too.

Craig

1848

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Zeroing and extents

« on: December 24, 2019, 02:31:07 PM »

Hi,
Tom is right, the machine extents are the soft limits. If you program into the Configure/Control/Homing&SoftLimits
with your machine extents per attached.
Then on the Toolpath Ops tabs click <Display Work Envelope> the machine extents will display in the toolpath window.
In my setup it is the yellow dashed line. Just as a matter of interest I attached a 3D view of the work envelope just
to show that all three axes can be displayed.

The procedure is this: start Mach4 with your profile, Enable the control, hit <Ref-All> to home your machine.
Without referencing your machine soft limits mean absolutely nothing and therefore neither does the Work Envelope
or machine extents as you prefer to put it. Get into the habit of referencing yourmachine EVERY TIME you fire
up Mach4, soft limits protect your machine BUT ONLY IF you reference it. At one stage I had my profile set
so that I could not load Gcode, run MDI or even jog UNTIL the machine has been referenced.

What you are observing is the work envelope as it was from the previous session and that in itself does not
sound like it was related to the machine home position either. Soft Limits are MACHINE COORDINATE POSITIONS
and only have relevance relative to a known machine home position.

Craig

1849

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Unlicensed Mach4 on desktop?

« on: December 24, 2019, 12:51:09 PM »

Hi,

Yes but you should compare not with CAD/CAM software but rather with software that controls hardware. PLC Software and such.

Why not?. Employees of a CNC software company need to be paid just as surely as employees of a CAD/CAM software
company. Further I would suggest to you that as Artsoft was founded in 2001 that NFS already has an 18 year history.
In previous posts the concern seemed to be that a piece of CNC hardware should last 20 years an therefore the company
that supports it MUST last 20years also. Well Artsoft/NFS is well on the way to establishing that. Companies take on a life of their
own and NFS will still be around in 20 years IF it remains profitable. As a customer of NFS I hope that they do remain profitable,
including my own modest contribution to that outcome, as their continued existence is to my advantage.

I am against the fact that the PCID can change so unexpectedly and that you have to use an online service to renew it.

This I understand, I rather doubt the NFS like the idea that a Windows update can cause the PCID to change either, but
the on-line service is great. How else would you have it done? Send a letter in the mail to have a flesh and blood
person generate your license and post it back?

With Mastercam you need an internet connection every time you boot the software, you can have it boot up without a
connection for a short period of time but by and large you need a connection.....just to boot the software. This is a program
that costs $20,000 and $2500 annually. At least with a stable PCID the Mach4 license is likewise stable and perpetual.
My machine PCID has not changed since the day I loaded Windows 7, over five years ago.

But why is that nowhere documented on the Mach 4 Websites?

Bryanna explains the situation:

https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=36585.msg250765#msg250765

You may have seen some of my posts where I am starting a new mill build. I have elected to use Delta 750W Series B2
AC servos. Just a plain servo, and I have two of those, not counting the more expensive braked servo, is $500USD.
I could buy 2¹₂ Mach4Hobby license for the price of just one servo. Lets put Mach4Hobby into
perpective........at $200 (perpetual)  its as cheap as chips. I pay more annually for carbide tools than a Mach4Hobby
license!!!

Craig

1850

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Unlicensed Mach4 on desktop?

« on: December 23, 2019, 11:47:44 PM »

Hi,
the thread I recall is this from CNCZone:

https://www.cnczone.com/forums/mach-4-a/393202-mach-4-pcid-changed.html

And the thread indentifies the licensing system to be Enigma Protector:

https://enigmaprotector.com/

Craig