Messages

2311

FAQs / Re: parallel port to serial

« on: July 08, 2019, 02:30:18 PM »

Hi,

I was thinking of using the parallel port  on the PC and connecting to the serial port on machine.

No, that will not work.

Machs parallel port is a lot more than just a db25 connector.  The parallel port driver takes numerical data, the
'trajectory', from Mach and converts that numerical data into simultaneous pulse streams, and can communicate those
pulse streams simultaneously over the db25 connector.

If you try to 'squeeze' the pulse streams through a serial connection all sense of simultaneity is lost.

Despite Machs parallel port being on the same PC as Mach (the Windows APP) it is separate and is a genuine motion
controller.

You can use Mach over a serial link, Mach transmits numeric data over the link to the controller and the controller
must generate the required pulse streams.

The distinction is.......motion controller in the PC (parallel port) verses external motion controller (within your machine control
box).

I can't find any info on your machine. Can you post some pics of the controller, take the top off so we can see inside?

Craig

2312

Tangent Corner / Re: It's a Dog thing.

« on: July 08, 2019, 01:46:18 PM »

Hi,
tragic news, your karma ran over my dogma.

Craig

2313

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: touch probe function question

« on: July 07, 2019, 11:51:26 AM »

Hi,

Is this code actually what is running when I click the "touch" button?  So, if I modify this code, it should effect what happens when I click the "touch"?

Yes and yes,

Holy mackral! 140+pages?  I bit more than I expected for my first toe in the LUA water. 

I know...I know....its character building.....but I have got by without any character for years...I don't want to start now!

Craig

2314

General Mach Discussion / Re: Plasma ignition and stop lag problem

« on: July 07, 2019, 09:15:52 AM »

Hi,
all three have both Mach3 plugins AND mach4 plugins. Thus if you wished to upgrade you can do so.

All three in Mach3 have complete plugins including support for M10/M11 but also THC, which no doubt will interest you
if doing Plasma.

The UC300 has the potential for two analogue inputs, the 57CNC has up to six (from memory) analogue inputs whereas
the Ethernet SmoothStepper (ESS) has no analogue inputs. On the other hand the UC300 and 57CNC have max pulse rates
of 100k and 125k respectively  whereas the ESS is way faster at 4MHz.

Really when operating with Mach3 despite some  differences all three are good and similar in performance in practice.

The situation is different when operating with Mach4. The different controllers have differing and in some cases incomplete
Mach4 plugins.

The ESS has recently released a realtime THC function that both the UC300 and 57CNC lack. The ESS is only one of two
Mach4 motion controllers that has a realtime THC function, the other being the Hicon Integra. The Hicon with THC activated
is quite a bit more expensive at around $800. In fact the ESS has additional realtime supports including lathe threading,
laser rastering, spindle PID and backlash compensation. That makes the ESS the most complete (at the current time.....how long
that is true remains to be seen) of all the Mach4 capable controllers.

The most recent build of Mach4 has a script based THC function. Because it is a software solution it is nowhere near as
fast as either the Hicon or ESS THC functions; both being hardware enacted realtime; none the less NFS are of the opinion
that the closed loop bandwidth of the script solution is fast enough to be useful in all but the most demanding THC situations.
Depending on your speed-of-response THC demands then you may not deem it necessary for a motion controller to have realtime
THC. Should that be your determination the slightly cheaper UC300 and 57CNC come back into contention.

Craig

2315

General Mach Discussion / Re: Plasma ignition and stop lag problem

« on: July 07, 2019, 08:29:03 AM »

Hi,
the three I listed are all Ethernet connected so you should get at least the same noise immunity that the Novosun
board gives you.

Craig

2316

General Mach Discussion / Re: Plasma ignition and stop lag problem

« on: July 07, 2019, 08:15:15 AM »

Hi,
so not only does the controller not work but they are quite content to peddle pirate copies of Mach?

The Chinese must love us......'look the stupid white man buys our s*********ty stuff and we get away with it'.

Craig

2317

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mill Profile Initialisation String

« on: July 07, 2019, 08:09:35 AM »

Hi,
I may have made some progress.

When messing around in Screen Edit Mode I found in the Rapid Group container a label called lblModals.
It would appears that the label displays a string that is internal to Mach4 and beyond editing. There is now the
question that if I write my own text string into that label would it be used as the modal string or would Mach4 use
its internal string even though the screen label was different?

Craig

2318

General Mach Discussion / Re: Plasma ignition and stop lag problem

« on: July 07, 2019, 08:02:35 AM »

Hi,

I have a NVEM V2 ethernet controller
Maybe I have to configure Mach3 differently with these commands ?

No, unfortunately that controller does not support those commands, there is no workaround or manipulation you can
do in Mach3 that will make that controller support those commands. It is a known and recurring issue that Chinese controllers
that, at best, support a subset of Mach commands, in this case not including M10, M11.

You either revert to a parallel port, assuming you have a Windows 7 or earlier 32bit PC or get a decent US or European
motion controller like an Ethernet SmoothStepper, a UC300 or a 57CNC.

Craig

2319

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 and Mach4 on same computer with Pokeys57cnc

« on: July 07, 2019, 04:51:49 AM »

Hi,
no, provide you set the Mach3 plugin to use exactly same pins for the same purposes as Mach4.

My contention is that once you start using Mach4 you'll soon tire of Mach3 and drop it altogether.

Craig

2320

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Having trouble with Probing

« on: July 06, 2019, 09:26:55 PM »

Hi,
OK, then the problem must be the module itself.

You can scrutinize the code but its big.

Maybe a help ticket with NFS.

Craig