Messages

1931

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Running Mach 4 ver.2 on Windows XP

« on: November 18, 2019, 12:38:15 PM »

Hi,
why XP?. It hasn't been supported for years, even Windows 7 is looking pretty dated.

My machine runs on a diminutive dual core Atom mini-ITX single board PC with on chip graphics with Windows 7 32bit and it
runs Mach4 just fine. My 'home' laptop has, and does on occasion run my mill, has variously been Windows 8, Windows 7 64 bit
and Windows 7 32 bit, all run Mach4 just fine. My development PC is Windows 10 Pro and runs Mach4 (and CAD/CAM) just fine.

Even the very cheapest Mach4 motion controller and the cheapest Chinese machine are still likely to be $1000 plus, do you
really need to economize by running a 15 year old operating system?

Craig

1932

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Retrieve Scripts from Corrupted Mach 4 Profile

« on: November 16, 2019, 06:28:49 PM »

Hi,
there may be a way but I haven't found it either. The teawks you have made to Mach4 in the screen load script, PLC etc are
stored in the screen set. If you have an individualized screen set, ie a copy of wx4.set, say, but with a distinct name then
when you update Mach4 to the latest build the incoming 'fresh' copy of wx4.set (which overwrites the existing copy)
will not overwrite your distinctly named copy.

Its for this reason that its ALWAYS recommended to have an individualized screen set.

My understanding is that the screen set (file with the .set extension) is in fact a database. If you know the correct means
you can access, edit, copy etc the individual components of the set. I don't know how and those who do sound as if such a thing
is so prosaic that embarrassment (read mis-placed pride) prevents me from asking.

Craig

1933

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: ScreenScript.lua editing and saving

« on: November 15, 2019, 03:21:48 AM »

Hi,

Hello i have a big problem with editing ScreenScript.lua.

The reason is because  ScreenScript.lua is NOT editable. When Mach fires up all the scripts, like the Screen Load script, the PLC
script, macros etc get complied and bundled into one great big script....you guessed it....... ScreenScript.lua It is compiled and that
is the code that runs.

If you want to change it you must go back to the Screen Load script or Macro or what-have-you and change it there.

Craig

1934

Mach4 Toolbox / Re: first time user Mach4 on Windows on Mach 3 controller

« on: November 14, 2019, 08:34:38 PM »

Hi,
this post should be on the Mach4 General Discussion board, there it will get the most exposure and you will get the most help.

Having said that getting help when you have provided absolutely no information on your installation and setup is going to be hard
to find. Do you log on to the General Motors site and say 'my car doesn't go'....and leave it at that?

The title of your post suggests that you are using a motion controller that worked with Mach3? If so what motion controller?.
You need to be aware that there are about six manufacturers who are producing Mach4 ready motion controllers, without
one of those Mach4 will not work for you.

Craig

1935

General Mach Discussion / Re: How can I control RC ESC from mach3, any help please?

« on: November 14, 2019, 08:27:38 PM »

Hi,
if I understand correctly there is quite a catalogue of hardware/software designs for that purpose on the Arduino forum.

Craig

1936

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 and mini PC

« on: November 14, 2019, 05:46:52 PM »

Hi RT,
I run my machine on a dual core Atom Mini-ITX single board PC. It has only the built-in on-chip Intel graphics. The graphics
have been described as awful but they are entirely fine for Mach CNC. Fitted with 4Gb RAM and a 64G mSSD. Note that I've
used a 32 bit Windows 7 Embedded OS. As a consequence of the 32 bit OS only 3Gb of RAM can actually be addressed and because
the graphics share the memory the actual practical memory available to the CPU  is 2.25Gb

All-in-all the wee Atom 'couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding' and yet it runs Mach4 and the ESS seamlessly and it ran Mach3
and two parallel ports seamlessly prior to that.

The only time I notice the Atom struggling is when I load  a PCB isolation routing file of 5Mb or more, its slow to load and very slow
to draw the initial toolpath. Thereafter it runs likes a dream and as far as I'm concerned the graphics are perfect.

Smurh has posted in the past about using a 'Mud' board, a slightly higher spec version of my Atom and he describes similar results,
ie Mach4 runs fine but struggles, or rather is slow, to load big files.

Craig

1937

General Mach Discussion / Re: Input c# using Mach4

« on: November 14, 2019, 12:49:34 PM »

Hi,
I see Tweakie has shifted this topic to the Mach4 General Discussion board but wonder if he was correct to do so.
Certainly the title of your post includes Mach4 and so logically it would be in the Machg4 board.

But the code fragments you posted are VB and are definitely Mach3 NOT Mach4 at all. The explanation may be that there is a file
called 'Mach4' in Mach3 installations and I believe it has to do with the incorporation of modules into Mach3. Is this what you
intended?

Either way can you confirm what installation you are using Mach3 OR Mach4?

Craig

1938

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Losing Position during running. win7

« on: November 11, 2019, 08:49:09 PM »

Hi,

also ive been reading to run a drivertest - well i cannot find drivertest.exe anywhere in my mach3 folder, and i downloaded mach3 again and there is no drivertest.exe either.

DriverTest.exe is for testing a PARALLEL PORT only, you having a 64 bit OS cannot, by definition, have a parallel port so hence no DriverTest.exe.

Craig

1939

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 and kingstar

« on: November 11, 2019, 06:18:05 PM »

Hi,
the video banner of the NFS forum is of a Matsurra VMC operating, what may not be obvious is that it is operating under Ethercat.
I'm guessing that it is smruph's machine and while he has not said a lot about it I guess from the tone of his posts that he was favourably
impressed.

Yaskawa have long been a market leader in Ethercat. Have a look closely at what Ethtercat nodes are available for probing, pumps and various
ancillary gear. I suspect that you'll be looking at Beckhoff, and Beckhoff ain't cheap!

Craig

1940

FAQs / Re: power failure

« on: November 11, 2019, 12:43:08 PM »

Hi,
if you shut Mach down gracefully and park the machine at a known location, usually home, at shutdown then you can continue
with a project. If however Mach does not shut down gracefully or the power is suddenly removed then NO its not possible
to restart a project without some detailed setup, ie locating the partially complete part in the workspace.

Craig