Messages

201

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Is there a trick to updating registers? what am I doing wrong

« on: March 06, 2023, 02:03:13 PM »

HI,
the code looks good to me.  Just as a matter of interest try enclosing the 1 or 0 in quotes.....it cant hurt to try.

mc.mcRegSetValue(JogEnH, "1");

Craig

202

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: How to encryption Macro Mxx.mcs

« on: March 05, 2023, 06:48:29 PM »

Hi,
try:

t6m6

Machs Ggode interpreter reduces all letters to lowercase, strips out leading zeros and strips out whitespace. Given that Windows searches are not case sensitive
you mostly end up with the right thing but not always. I make it a habit to write Gcode with lowercase...although I leave the whitespace for readability.

Craig

203

General Mach Discussion / Re: newby with questions

« on: March 05, 2023, 02:08:31 PM »

Hi,
the SoftLimits within Mach are in machine units. Thus if your X,Y Home switches are at the lower left-hand corner, say 10mm in from the boundary the
Softlimits would be  X-=-10, X+=490, Y-=-10, Y+=490. This assumes a machine of 500mm x 500mm and mm units.

I have not heard of any servos that have soft limits built into them. It's not uncommon for Limit switches to be direct connected to the servo drive, but I've not heard
of SoftLimits being applied that way. I would assume that they would have to e in encoder/resolver counts. Either way that is beyond Mach's control.

Craig

204

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: MACH 3 to MACH 4 and USS TO ESS

« on: March 05, 2023, 01:58:37 AM »

Hi Tweakie,
the humor is a bit extreme, but I just can't help myself!

Craig

205

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 multipies movement after loading program

« on: March 04, 2023, 09:25:02 PM »

Hi,

As far as I can see, there is no feedback to the controller or Mach at all.

That is correct, Mach is open loop. That is to say that mach issues a trajectory, which is a series of points in space in 1 millisecond time intervals. Mach issues
blocks of numeric data that describe the controlled point in 1ms time slices. The motion controller receives those pulses into the motion buffer. As those time slices are enacted
the motion controller returns to Mach where the controlled point is and that data is displayed by mach in its DROs. The fact that the DROs appear to 'move' tells us that
Mach is producing a trajectory and that the motion control is receiving the trajectory and that its issuing Step/Dir pulses to the motors and 'consuming' that trajectory.

In truth though the motion controller issues the Step/Dir pulses but really has no idea whether the motors actually got there, you might say its 'assuming' they got there.
With servos or closed loop steppers they can signal a Following Error fault if they do not get to the commanded location....so Mach has some justification in assuming that all is well.

When this fault occurs do the DROs reflect the actual movement or do they reflect the programmed movement? If the DROs reflect the actual movement then the programmed
movement is getting screwed up in Mach at the trajectory phase. If the DROs reflect the programmed or commanded movement then the motion controller is issuing way too many
Step pulse for a given distance.

Just as a matter of interest you don't have a G51 active do you? Just try canceling any scaling with a G50.

Craig

206

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 multipies movement after loading program

« on: March 04, 2023, 07:48:53 PM »

Hi,
could it be that the machine is in inch mode whereas you are in mm or vice versa?

Try MDI'ing G21 and that should put the machine in mm mode and G20 put it in inch mode.

Craig

207

Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: ClearPath Servo HLFB To Trigger Condition In Mach 4

« on: March 04, 2023, 06:38:26 PM »

Hi,
by the time the current has increased by as little as 0.1A because the tip has bottomed out on the plate the gearing is such that the tip will be damaged.
There is no way to have the servo react to a 'feather weight touch' otherwise the servo itself has to be 'feather weight' and can no longer accelerate the axis.

Aside from that: what the hell are you going to use as a fault code from the servo?. The problem with Clearpath servos is that they only have one digital output.
You need a least one output to signal a servo fault, be it overheat, over current, overvoltage or plain Following Error. Without that the servo might fault out due to one
of those conditions and stop all motion, but uless it can signal that fact to Mach then Mach is going to carry on with the rest of the servos and the machine will crash.

That's what steppers did, one would stall but Mach would carry on without knowing that one of the axes has stalled and CRASH!!!

Do you actually have the servos yet? If not I would stop and reconsider whether they are the best design for your purpose. Don't get me wrong, its not because they're poor
quality, they are good quality, but Teknics have taken so many shortcuts to make them appealing for first time servo buyers that they have compromised many of the good things
about modern AC servos, and most particularly the dearth of digital outputs. My Delta B2 series servos have six independent digital outputs, two analog outputs, and auxiliary
encoder outputs vs Clearpaths one digital output. Oh, and by the way the Delta servo is cheaper and twice the power!.

Craig

208

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: MACH 3 to MACH 4 and USS TO ESS

« on: March 04, 2023, 03:54:22 PM »

Hi,
if you like that sort of thing....have I got a deal for you.....'A self-whipping stick'.....if you use on yourself it hurts like 40 bastards! I'll sell it to you cheap, I don't
need it anymore, I got rid of Mach3 years ago.

Craig

209

General Mach Discussion / Re: Joystick setup

« on: March 03, 2023, 11:43:30 PM »

Hi ed.slatt,
do you realise that the thread you posted to is nearly ten years old? Those respondents may have moved on.

Craig

210

General Mach Discussion / Re: newby with questions

« on: March 03, 2023, 07:42:30 PM »

Hi,

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

Do you have Homes switches installed and do you use them? SoftLimits only work and make any sense IF the machine has been
Homed or Referenced using Home switches.

Craig