Messages

2181

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: How to turn off an output when the machine is Not Enabled (Disabled)?

« on: August 03, 2019, 07:53:22 PM »

Hi,
no, not necessarily. I presume if it was already there  then it has some use.

This occurs at the top of the screen load script:

Code: [Select]

pageId = 0
screenId = 0
testcount = 0
machState = 0
machStateOld = -1
machEnabled = 0
machWasEnabled = 0
inst = mc.mcGetInstance()
Note that all these are global variables and are visible through out the GUI.

I have found where machEnabled is used.....in the PLC script. So it does have a use.
Please disregard my comment about its inclusion in your function.

Craig

2182

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Help with first easy script or macro (which term?) for automatic oiler

« on: August 03, 2019, 07:00:13 PM »

Hi,

Motor has its "isStill" when it is not in motion. still == TRUE is no movement, still == FALSE motor has movement

Yes that would work but there is a catch. That signal is set by the motion controller....not Mach. Thus if the motion
controller manufacturer included in his firmware to set this signal every time the motor stopped this would work.
It is not a given however. This API is used particularly when homing or probing. There is no requirement that it be set
otherwise.

Craig

2183

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: How to turn off an output when the machine is Not Enabled (Disabled)?

« on: August 03, 2019, 06:48:42 PM »

Hi,
the way you have written it you have created a new scope and I should think that a local definition of
instance is required.

Look at the entry in SigLib:

[mc.OSIG_MACHINE_ENABLED] = function (state)

Thus all the code that follows is an anonymous function....and its own scope.
I would therefore put a local GetInstance statement as the second line.

What is the point of this line?:

machEnabled = state;

You haven't used it in your anonymous function. Worse because its not declared local then it will be a global variable
within the GUI chunk.....with all its attendant problems. Is it required?.

The rule with Lua is NEVER use global variables unless you absolutely have to. If you do you should use a register
rather than a 'global' because a global is only visible within the chunk.......not right throughout Mach and all its modules.

Second issue is that this function will be trigger whenever OSIG_MACHINE_ENABLED changes state. Thus it will trigger
when the machine goes from Enabled to Disabled but also when you Enable the machine again.

You should give some thought as to what you want to happen when you enable the machine.

You may have seen that most of the SigLib entries have formats like:

If (state==0) then
      ..........
      ..........
else
      ..........
      ..........
end

Craig

2184

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Hobby and Encoded Servos

« on: August 03, 2019, 02:06:34 PM »

Hi,
this thread should be on the mach4 General Discussion board.

Both Mach3 and Mach4 can run Clearpath servos. They are expensive for their power output, more  powerful servos
of the same quality can be had for similar money, DMM for example.

Craig

2185

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: having trouble with mach 4 demo

« on: August 03, 2019, 08:32:27 AM »

Hi,
Configure/Plugins/ESS Plugin

Craig

2186

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Feed Hold in MDI Window hangs up mach 4?

« on: August 03, 2019, 06:25:52 AM »

Hi,
to my knowledge Mach4 has always operated this way and if memory serves its the same as Mach3.

Craig

2187

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Soft HOLD in Mach4 Lathe.

« on: August 03, 2019, 06:22:32 AM »

Hi,
<feed hold> followed by <stop>.

See this thread:

https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=41547.0

Craig

2188

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Feed Hold in MDI Window hangs up mach 4?

« on: August 03, 2019, 04:39:10 AM »

Hi,

This is not really an option, because after stop you can not continue your programm

That is not correct, that is how I operate my machine. I have to restart the spindle manually, I've never investigated whether
I can have the spindle restart automatically. The essential point to realize is that if you execute a modal command while
stopped when you restart the mode will be different.

You either have to 'dry run' prior to restarting, also called 'Run From Here' or write a extra code in the CycleStop function
to save the modal status and more code in the <cycle start> button to restore the modal information.

Craig

2189

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Feed Hold in MDI Window hangs up mach 4?

« on: August 03, 2019, 03:02:55 AM »

Hi,

Pause or stop need to be really reliable to stop the machine from harming or killing you...

<feed hold> is not or was never intended to be a safe state, feedhold followed by stop is however. Of course so is
<Dis-able> or <Estop>, but both involve the loss of reference, in fact <stop> will also cause loss of reference unless
it is preceeded by a <feed hold>.

If you wish to work on your machine <feed hold> THEN <stop>.

Craig

2190

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Feed Hold in MDI Window hangs up mach 4?

« on: August 03, 2019, 02:44:55 AM »

Hi,

So this seems to be really a bug in the core or in the ESS Plugin, because expectation would also be to pause the pause.

I'm not so sure I would call it a bug. As often happens with Mach4 is it behaves a certain way which you might initially
consider to be mistaken. Often once the inner workings a described you realize why it behaves as it does. Just because
it doesn't do as you expect does not always mean a fault.

Continue experimentation to explore what happens.

Craig