Messages

1941

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 and kingstar

« on: November 11, 2019, 12:36:08 PM »

Hi,
Mach4 and Kingstar is an Ethercat solution. It does not require a motion control board but will require Ethercat capable
servos/servo drives and possibly an Ethercat capable node like a PLC for probes, pump controls etc.

I think that research into the cost and availability of the servos/servo drives and PLC will prove to be more expensive
than motion control board solutions.

Craig

1942

General Mach Discussion / Re: installation XPTHC-4 MACH3

« on: November 09, 2019, 03:10:50 AM »

Hi,
I assume that the manufacturer has been no help? That tells a story in itself.

I recommend a US or European made controller, there are a number of such manufacturers who make excellent
products, support what they sell by email and manufacturer specific web forum, for example Warp9TD with their Ethernet
SmoothStepper or CNCDrive with their UC100, UC300, UC400 or PoKeys with their 57CNC.

Hobby CNC is very much a case of 'you get what you pay for'.

Craig

1943

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Galil vs Vital

« on: November 08, 2019, 03:19:26 AM »

Hi,
one of the principles on which field oriented control rely is accurate information of the angular position of the rotor,
ergo the use of an encoder or resolver. Any flexure or backlash between the rotor and the encoder will seriously
degrade the maintenance of quadrature flux angle thereby degrading motor performance.

Field oriented control on which AC servos rely is an interesting topic, I suggest a Google search 'field oriented control by
Texas Instruments'. It will reveal a couple of excellent introductory videos on the subject. The upshot is that ALL AC servos
capable of accurate position control must have an integrally linked encoder/resolver. That does not preclude a secondary means
of detecting position but the servo drive MUST have direct access to rotor angle with zero lash/lost motion. The encoder
in the B2 series doubles as position sensor (rotational position is converted into linear position through a low lash/zero lash
ballscrew) and rotor angle for the field control loop to operate.

The A2 series is dual reading, thus it uses the encoder for field control but can 'load sense' using the auxillary encoder/linear
scale channel. Very crafty indeed. Had I realized that for as little as $50 extra each, I would have bought them instead of the B2
series examples I did get. Having said that I have no need of the 'extra fruity bits', I doubt I'll exhaust the B2 series capabilities
let alone the A2 series!!

Craig

1944

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Galil vs Vital

« on: November 07, 2019, 05:59:22 PM »

Hi,
its worth considering but I would have thought that the risk of buying all that gear only then to find out it doesn't work
or work well is a bit much. Hey, if you could buy just one drive and an encoder and experiment before spending big bucks....maybe.

Maybe someone else out there has tried such a thing. Their experience would be invaluable.

To my knowledge no-one has been able to get linear scales to work WITHOUT using an analogue controller, I could be wrong but thats
my understanding.

Craig

1945

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Hobby Screen Editor

« on: November 07, 2019, 05:53:52 PM »

Hi,
I think you are right. If Machs GUI becomes corrupt or upset it will revert to wxMach and that is what it appears your installation has done.

Unless you are likely to lose a lot of work I would suggest a total re-install. May I suggest that when you go to create a new profile
establish that you can in fact select a desired screen set.....who cares about the other settings for the moment...you will never be happy
until you get to the bottom of the screen set problem.

Hopefully smurph will read this post and give us all a few clues as to why and when this happens.

Craig

1946

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Hobby Screen Editor

« on: November 07, 2019, 02:35:57 PM »

Hi,
in which case you are going to have to ditch that awful profile and compose your own.

Craig

1947

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Hobby Screen Editor

« on: November 07, 2019, 12:58:56 PM »

Hi,
open the <View> menu and select <Load Screen> and a selection list will show up. Note that in the sample I have posted
wx4.set is on the list but also is my individualized copy of that same set, ie wx4.set with my own edits and I called it ESSMillwx4.set.

Craig

1948

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Hobby Screen Editor

« on: November 07, 2019, 12:38:52 PM »

Hi,
the screen shot you posted missed the critical information....the lower right hand corner per the sample attached.

That screen set definitely looks like wxMach....it certainly is not wx4.set.

Maybe you are going to have to compose your  own profile.

Did you try the <View> menu as I suggested?

Craig

1949

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Galil vs Vital

« on: November 07, 2019, 12:31:54 PM »

Hi,
if you are going to fit encoders then fitting direct to the servo shaft is preferred as it will result in the most stable
position control loop.

What you are proposing is to fit rotary encoders so the servos may be driven by G320's which are step/direction input
drives, which are in turn commanded by an ESS/BoB as a step/direction controller ALL to avoid buying an
analogue controller?

I suspect that you are adding a great deal of complexity in the conversion for little gain. The money saved after you buy three
encoders, three G320's, an ESS and a BoB vs buying one Gallil or Hicon is likely to be small. Does that small gain cover the
added work and 'risk' of the conversion on the lines you have proposed....I'm dubious.

Craig

1950

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Hobby Screen Editor

« on: November 06, 2019, 08:13:46 PM »

Hi,
I suspect that your 'screen set' has defaulted to wxMach. wxMach was the first ever screen set ever written for Mach4 and it was only
ever intended for testing purposes, it is not editiable for intsance.

If you look in the lower right hand side of the display Mach screen you will see displayed the screen set in use and also the profile.

Can you take and post a screen shot?

I would recommend that you look at wx4.set or wx6.set. You should be able to change the screen set in use by clicking on the
<View> menu and changing screen sets. If you find one you like, just close Mach and it will be flushed to the profile (.ini file) as your
desired screen set. Thereafter every time you fire up Mach, with that profile, your preferred screen set will be used.

Note that once you start modifying screen sets for your use you will want to make your own individualised screen set so it does
not get over written when you update to the latest Mach build. More anon....

Craig