Messages

221

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Keyboard jogging safety

« on: February 27, 2023, 05:18:28 PM »

Hi,
that's great idea Swifty.

What is the syntax to using 'scr.GetActiveWindowText()'?. I've never had much success with scr. functions.

Craig

222

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Keyboard jogging safety

« on: February 27, 2023, 05:01:32 PM »

Hi,

By the way, I was not using a word processor, I was using the Mach4 "Edit Gcode" function.

That may be so but they keys are assigned as jogging keys in Mach4....are they not?. If you use those key what do you expect to happen?
The machine will move....that's what its supposed to do. If you don't want to have the machine move then disable the buttons, or Disable Mach.

Disable the keypad jogging if not in active mode and there is a safety improvement.

That is a perfectly good solution....then do it! Its not up to Mach4 or NFS to guess what your situation is. If they did that then there'd be hundreds complaining that
Keyboard Jogging disables all the time. If you have a requirement to make a machine safe then enact it, Mach4 provides all the tools necessary.

Craig

223

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Keyboard jogging safety

« on: February 27, 2023, 03:59:57 PM »

Hi,
the use of the cursor keys for jogging has been standard in Mach, and I'm talking long before Mach4, in fact even Mach3, it was in Mach before that.
You seem to be under the misapprehension that the PC that runs Mach is a PC.....get this.....IT'S NOT!!. The PC that is used to run a Mach machine
is a 'MACHINE CONTROLLER' that just happens to use Windows as an operating system.

Once a PC is connected to a piece of machinery it is, and must now be considered dangerous. You would not tolerate unauthorised personnel come along
and start tapping buttons on a Fanuc machine controller on your VMC would you? No, of course not, it would be dangerous for an unqualified person to randomly start
pushing buttons or spinning the MPG. Why then would you permit such persons to randomly start using your machine controller on your machine. Just
because it looks like a PC does not mean it is so, and neither is it safe for an unqualified person to start using it as a PC as it could cause machine movement.
But, hey, that's what Mach4 IS, it's supposed to make a machine move, that is its primary purpose. If you start doing some word processing or something
then TURN MACH OFF!!

If you don't want the kids or your wife or anyone else to get hurt tell them to leave it alone....its not a toy. Do your kids jump in the car and try to drive it? No, you've taught them
that its not safe to do so.....yet! Well can you not teach them that your machine is potentially dangerous and that they shouldn't fiddle?.

Craig

PS The fact that you're still alive suggests tha you have not made the mistake of telling your wife not to drive the car, a man must be sensible after all!!

224

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Keyboard jogging safety

« on: February 27, 2023, 02:16:00 PM »

Hi,

Quite dangerous.

I don't disagree that it dangerous, but Bertho has created that danger by using the cursor keys which are as Mach standard jogging keys.
If you don't want the cursor keys to cause machine movement then for f*****ks sake, disable the jog features, otherwise you are relying on programming to prevent jogging
under some circumstances but not others....and then say Mach is dangerous when some unforeseen circumstance results in the underlying and standard jog functions of the
cursor keys to operate contrary to your intention.

Craig

225

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: New to Mach4, a few questions.

« on: February 26, 2023, 07:44:58 PM »

Hi,
1) Yes, it is possible to code Mach such that a keystroke like '+' causes a macro to run and that macro could  'go to the next step of increment', that is the steps that you
set  up with Mach.

2) I don't know, the Xbox plugin was written by Daz-the-Gaz, you might you try asking him, or even better add that functionality to the plugin.....writing plugins
'puts hairs on your chest'.

3) I used a P1A VistaCNC pendant for seven years, and it was good. It had a setting to change the step increment for instance, but eventually it crapped out, or
rather I wore it out. Should have just bought a new one really, it was certainly good enough for so many years that it deserved replacement, but instead I made a wired
pendant. Has three axes,the MPG itself, and a Velocity jog button, the later one doesn't work as it should, but I've been using that for a year now always swearing
I'll get around to improving that....but never have. There is no more permanent thing than a temporary measure.

I use the pendant quite a bit but I don't find I need anything like all the functions crammed onto most pendants. For instance if I want a different jog increment I just use
Machs screen, I mean its right there after all. But my jog increment is set on either 0.1mm or 0.05mm and there it will stay for months at a time......and I use my mill a lot.
It's enough.

A pendant is to help you make parts....its not a toy to play with, and if its not a toy then it doesn't need to be complicated.

Craig

226

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Keyboard jogging safety

« on: February 26, 2023, 07:14:06 PM »

Hi,
its your machine, if you want it to have specific behaviour then you'll have to program it that way.

According to the Keyboard plugin the Cursor keys are for jogging and jogging only. If yoyu wish them to have a different meaning then you'll
have to resolve the clash.

Craig

227

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Can't Change a value on probe screen

« on: February 26, 2023, 07:10:20 PM »

Hi,
do you mean type in a vale into a DRO and expect it to save?

There are certain DROS which are editable but there are many many more that are not. The DRO is supplied data from within Mach, even if you overtype
the DRO it does not change the data within Mach.

Post a screen shot of what DROs you are trying to overwrite.

Craig

228

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

« on: February 26, 2023, 06:55:58 PM »

Hi,
when you write a macro it is saved as *********.mcs ie Mach Source, then it gets compiled to *********.mcc, ie Mach Compiled.

Compiled code is what actually runs but is not human readable.

If you want to secure a macro, write and save it per normal. Once its compiled and running then remove the *********.mcs and whatever ********* backup files
there are. That would mean there is no user readable code left on the PC.

Craig

229

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: adding a simple relay

« on: February 25, 2023, 05:01:03 PM »

Hi,
a toggle button is just an on/off switch. In Mach you can make an on-screen button....but there is no requirement that the button be visible. Then you would use something like a physical button
to operate the toggle switch.

Going one step further why have a toggle button at all?. All you require is an output, in the example I gave I chose Output#20 at random. If you look at all of Machs defined output
signals there a hundreds of them, some have a specific meaning and are tied to certain events, but many are just defined signals, they do nothing unless you code them to.

A good example of a defined signal and a predetermined output is:

OSIG_SPINDLEON.

It will go active every time the spindle is turned on. There is to my knowledge any way to change that, its part of Machs DNA.

An example of a defined signal that has no effect is:

OSIG_OUTPUT21.

The signal is defined but it has no specific meaning until you attach some meaning to it. Attaching it to a toggle switch is an obvious example, but by no means the only way it can be used.
ALL of Machs signals, both inputs and outputs have the property that if any one of them change state then the SignalScript runs. Many of Machs signals are internal, say between Mach and a motion
controller and you'll never see them, and some like push button inputs you have contrived yourself.

Imagine you have some macro within your Gcode job and in that macro you assert OSIG_OUTPUT21 thereby changing its state. The SignalScript will run. If there is an entry in the SigLIb table
[mc.OSIG_OUTPUT21] then the function attached to that entry will run. It may apply some logic before turning on yet another output which in turn control a pump.

Look at the SignalScript.pdf that I wrote hopefully to make it a bit clearer.

https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=40051.0

The SignalScript and Lua property 'functions as a first class value' offer an incredible leap forward over Mach3 which could only ever poll inputs. Understanding this feature is a key milestone
in coding within Mach4.

Craig

230

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: adding a simple relay

« on: February 24, 2023, 04:15:48 PM »

Hi,
you might be thinking 'is that all a toggle button can do', well the answer is most emphatically no.

In the first instance I introduced you assigning one of Machs many outputs to reflect the state of the toggle button, but can can do much more than that. Its a good place to start
and experiment with. Notice on the same properties page there is an InputSignal assignment. With an Input assigned you could use a physical push button to operate the on-screen button,
and the on-screen button has all the properties that you have already experimented with.

Not only can you assign both Input and Output signals to a toggle button each operation of the button can cause an Action (pre-defined in Machs repertoire) AND/OR a script. This is seen on the Events tab
of the toggle button. For instance you could cause a script to run on activation of the button and that script might apply some logic, say whether the spindle is running say,
rather than the straight On/Off  of the Output signal assignment.

Craig