Messages

2231

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: I want to move 1 inch but move 5 total beginner

« on: July 29, 2019, 03:17:23 AM »

Hi,
the adjustment you require is called 'counts per unit' and can be found on each of the axes you have installed.

What values have you set in the different motor tuning pages now?

Craig

2232

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: TOOL changer problems after update

« on: July 29, 2019, 03:07:51 AM »

Hi,

just where does it return to ? does it just exit the m6 function ?

It returns to the calling program....if the calling program is the main Gcode program then yes it just exits m6.

Note that it will not return, in this case, until you dismiss/close the message box, ie it should come as no surprise.
If you wish to exit in another manner that can also be done, just don't use 'return' but instead program the behavior
you want.

Craig

2233

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Motor position alarm

« on: July 28, 2019, 02:15:55 PM »

Hi,

Am I right in thinking that when the drivers alarm for a position error they stop and need a power down to reset ?

That depends on your servo but I suspect not. Is there not a reset procedure? Something like 'take the Enable line low for two
seconds then reassert'.

Craig

2234

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: TOOL changer problems after update

« on: July 27, 2019, 08:09:14 PM »

Hi,

then drops out as it should but with  or with out a signal it should not terminate the mach4 program

What would you expect Mach to do? You have asked it to wait on a signal, if the signal has not occurred within a specified time
what should Mach do?

You may note than in my thumbnail sketch of testing for return codes that on detection of a fault:

if rc== -40 then
         wx.wxMessageBoox('Function failed-timed out')
         return
end

Note in particular the <return> command. That should terminate the macro gracefully. Unless you give Mach such an alternative
what is it supposed to do next when an expected signal does not materialize?

Craig

2235

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Motor position alarm

« on: July 27, 2019, 08:00:46 PM »

Hi,
it depends on what you want the motor alarm to do?

If the alarm is a 'following error' you probably want the machine to stop rather than continue to machine an inaccurate part.
The question is do you want it to Estop, ie crash stop and potentially lose reference OR do you want to Cycle Stop and come
to a graceful halt without loss of reference?.

Either could be achieved.

I would recommend that you connect Port2Pin9 (MOTOR_ALARM) to a general purpose Mach4 input.
On the ESS Input Signals tab assign Input#5 to MOTOR_ALARM. Note that I have chose input#5 with malice
aforethought because on the Mach diagnostics tab there is an LED that corresponds to Input#5 so you can see it,
very handy when you are coding something new.

Now you would put an entry into the Signal Library in the screen load script.

I have written an introductory guide to using the Signal Library (SigLib{} ) which may help:

https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=40051.msg267764#msg267764

In any event you can now put in the in-line function how you wish Mach to behave when it encounters a ISIG_INPUT5:

Code: [Select]

rc = mc.mcCntlCycleStop(
number mInst)

Description:
Stop a Gcode file that is running.

OR, you could Estop with:

rc = mc.mcCntlEStop(
number mInst)

Description:
Disables the control and optionally dereferences all axes
Craig

2236

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Step pulse duty cycle

« on: July 27, 2019, 07:45:19 PM »

Hi,

Can't believe how good the servo's are, quiet, cool and can go way faster than I could use :-)

That sums up my experience also. It was not until I tried using a servo to realize just how much superior thay are.

Craig

2237

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Request for help

« on: July 27, 2019, 07:40:57 PM »

Hi,

I tried to email a user Poppabear (scott) as I see in his signature he does this line of work but email bounces back?

It has been several years since Scott so much as posted on the forum. I have no idea of his circumstances but think it wise
to consider him AWOL.

Mach4 offers a great deal of flexibility that Mach3 lacks. For example you can programmatically 'link' and 'unlink' motors
from an axis at will:

Code: [Select]

rc = mc.mcAxisMapMotor(
number mInst,
number axisId,
number motorId)

Description:
Map a motor to an axis.


rc = mc.mcAxisUnmapMotor(
number mInst,
number axisId,
number motor)

Description:
Unmap the motor from the axis.

This I suspect will be very helpful to you to individually home two spindles that are linked mechanically only when a workpiece
is loaded into the machine despite nominally being the same axis.

I am no Lua expert and hesitate to suggest that I have any skill that 'could be paid for', notwithstanding my desire to be paid!
Additionally I am the sort of person whom if I can see (or visualize) the hardware I can often come up with logical control
solutions, in absence of knowledge of the physical plant my solutions are poorer.

None-the-less I would be prepared to help. My experience is that when I try to help someone else I learn SO much about
Lua and Mach its dubious that I should not be paying them!

Craig

2238

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Upgrade Mach3 to Mach4 using smoothstepper and Machmotion I06?

« on: July 27, 2019, 07:10:58 PM »

Hi,

I do think I am going to try out Mach4. It sounds like it has some benefits and should work with most of if not all of my hardware.

While Mach3 may not be broken there are many areas where Mach4 exceeds it. One particular example is the Modbus
plugin. I have used it in Mach3 but swore I would never use it again. The corresponding Mach4 Modbus plugin is a dream
to use by comparison. All the data ends up in non-volatile registers. That allows access by any means of programmatic technique,
be it a macro, a module, a PLC script or a PMC script. It's only when you use a feature and glimpse the power and flexibility
that Lua and the structure of Mach4 confer show how far advanced it is over Mach3.

I don't believe you will regret investing in Mach4. There is however an investment to be made. Firstly there is the purchase
of Mach4 itself, an ESS if you don't already have one, and a BoB or BoBs to suit if you don't already have them.

As I stated earlier I use a VistaCNC P1A pendant and have been very happy with it. I see the current price is still $160.00.

I think you could get your existing pendant to work but may involve some Lua coding on your part. Given that you are just
starting with Mach4 I suspect that adding that to the initial learning curve will hurt and possibly even sour your experience.

May I suggest it is wise to add the cost of a new Mach4 ready pendant as the 'potential bill' for making the change.
It may well be that later down the track once you have gained familiarity with Mach4 and Lua that getting your existing
Machmotion pendant working would be an interesting, learning and even fun or 'character building' experience. I know 'I've
got no character now.....and its too late to start now!'

So the investment required is the price of the software and I would recommend that you add the cost of a pendant, just as a
worst case scenario. You should also consider the 'learning curve', because there certainly is a learning curve associated with Mach4.
The forum is a great resource, but as is the human condition, we tend to learn by our mistakes. Mistakes with Mach4 are
time consuming and frustrating......and depending on how you value such things could be considered expensive.

Craig

2239

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: TOOL changer problems after update

« on: July 27, 2019, 07:53:07 AM »

Hi,
so you extended the time out period to 4 milliseconds??? Can you be sure that a signal operates in that time frame?
Why not extend it to 1000 milliseconds and see what happens.

Craig

2240

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: TOOL changer problems after update

« on: July 27, 2019, 05:12:50 AM »

Hi,

-28 MERROR_IPC_NOT_READY        The Interprocess Communication subsystem is not ready.

What API resulted in this code?

I noted that in your previous post you had a command:
mc.mcSignalWait(inst,mc.ISIG_INPUT7 ,1,0)

This allows for a time out period of 0??? Is that what you meant. If you are going to wait for a signal you should have
some time frame in mind.....a few milliseconds even??

Craig