Messages

2451

HiCON Motion Controller / Re: MPG Hand-Wheel-Controller Best Recommendation for Hicon Integra

« on: May 30, 2019, 04:39:31 AM »

Hi,
in my previous post I thought that the Hicon directly enacted the motion commanded by the MPG.

Re-reading and studying the screenshot of TPS reply#7 I am less than sure. It certainly seems that the Mach4 plugin requires
inputs to be defined. I assumed this provided the means of the Hicon communicating back to Mach so that Mach could
stay in step with commands from the MPG, but maybe that's not the case. Maybe, as you suggested the MPG signals
Mach THROUGH the Hicon, then Mach signals the Hicon to make the moves.

Either way it happens, just how is not as clear as I thought it was.

The shot attached (reply#7) suggested that the Mach plugin needed to be updated to accept the MPG inputs. The other inputs,
namely the axis selector switch are defined in the Hicon plugin but are relayed through the Mach plugin.

I use an ESS and it does similarly. If I define an input to the ESS it automatically updates the Mach plugin as well.
Not all, but most inputs are treated that way.

Craig

2452

HiCON Motion Controller / Re: MPG Hand-Wheel-Controller Best Recommendation for Hicon Integra

« on: May 30, 2019, 04:20:16 AM »

Hi,

But here's a question ….
If you plug the Vital Systems Hand-Wheel into the Hicon Integra Controller, don't you then have to configure all the pin inputs in Mach4?

No, that is not my understanding. The Vital Systems pendant interfaces with the Hicon directly. You may have to configure the Hicon
somewhat but the MPG sends signals to the Hicon which enacts the movements commanded. Those movements are signaled back
to Mach so that the DROs remain in synch but the movement occurred without Machs intervention.

The operating principle is somewhat different with the P1A (or Xbox or ShuttlePro). The P1A signals Mach using a Modbus protocol
and then Mach signals the motion controller to make the moves.

I am not aware of any compelling reason to favor one over the other.

One difference between the two solutions is that the manual MPG has at most 15 wires to communicate to the Hicon. That will
limit the number of features that a manual MPG can offer WITHOUT going to a bigger (more wires) cable.

A USB connected pendant can string together long streams of data and so offer more features. In addition the pendant can receive
data as well, hence the LCD screen.

The manual MPG is simple and robust. Further I think TPS is correct, the MPG you have is a clone of the Vital Systems unit and
if you are prepared to learn how to connect it to your Hicon you may not have to spend anything.

The VistaCNC solutions work but are very much more complicated and the probability of incompatibility goes up......having said
that I've been using mine for three years without major drama.

Unless you are under time pressure I would follow TPS's advice an try to get your existing pendant working. It will almost
certainly teach you about your controller and very probably work quite satisfactorily, it is after all pretty simple.

Craig

2453

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Two second output signal on M5 command.

« on: May 30, 2019, 03:56:48 AM »

Hi,

My last struggle is, can i call M code from the the script?

No, I don't think that is possible.

The reasoning goes like this. The machine is executing a Gcode program so the Gcode interpreter within Machs core is
producing P(osition)V(elocity) over T(ime) data to the motion controller. When the interpreter encounters an M code
it loads the macro code and starts to execute the instruction therein.

If when running the macro it encounters another call to a yet another macro Mach can't do that because its already in a macro
and cannot run another UNTIL the previous one finishes.

Craig

2454

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 + ESS Smoothstepper + THC3T-02 + KL-1313 CNC

« on: May 30, 2019, 03:41:32 AM »

Hi,

How would you suggest I connect this?
I have see youtube videos and read people using this THC but no one sharing how they got it to work with Mach 4...

The THC3T-02 unit you have bought is a HARDWARE torch height control unit, it does not 'work with Mach4' at all,
it works totally independently.

Basically you insert the unit between the step and direction outputs of the BoB and the unit adds pulses to those
coming from the BoB (normally) to make the torch go up or down as necessary to maintain a constant arc voltage.

The Hypertherm has two outputs and one input.

One output is a voltage sample of the arc voltage, ie an analogue varying voltage. The THC unit uses this voltage to
decide whether the torch needs to go up or down, so this output would be hooked to the  THC3T unit.
The second output is a set of normally open relay contacts inside the Hypertherm. The contacts close when the plasma arc
is established, and is called the ARC OK signal. It really needs to be hooked to both the BoB AND the THC unit.

The BoB/ESS/Mach need the ARC OK signal to know when to start executing X and Y moves, and alternately if the ARC OK signal
goes low, ie the arc has stopped for some reason then Mach knows to stop executing X and Y moves.

The THC unit also needs to know if the ARC OK signal is high, it uses this as a signal to start controlling the Z axis (up or down)
to maintain the arc voltage. In absence of the ARC OK signal the THC unit does not try to drive the torch up or down......why
would you if there is no arc?

The one input into the  Hypertherm is to tell the plasma to start an arc. It requires a closure of a set of relay contacts, the
relay will be controlled by Mach/ESS/BoB. Thus when you want to start cutting something Mach signals the ESS which
signals the BoB which energizes the relay which closes it output contacts and starts the plasma.

When the plasma arc has started the Hyperthern signals ARC OK (closes a set of contacts), which signals the BOB/ESS
which in turn signal Mach to start moving X and Y axes. The same ARC OK signal could also be hooked to the THC unit
OR Mach could copy the ARC OK signal from the Hypertherm TO the THC unit. I think the later approach is best but
either would work.

Another issue I noticed is without the THC connected I can jog the Z up and down BUT with the THC connected (wired) Mach will only let me Jog the Z axis up, not down...if i press up it goes up, if i press down it still goes up...any clue as to why?

As I said before the THC3T-02 is a hardware THC controller, it becomes the master of the Z axis. I'm surprised that you can jog the
Z axis at all with Mach, remember the THC3T unit is between the BoB (the bits that Mach can control) and the Z axis driver.
If the THC3T unit decides the Z axis is not to go down then don't blame Mach/ESS/BoB, that's the THC3T making that decision.

I think you are confusing a hardware controller like the one you have and the TMC3 that the ESS is optimized for.
The TMC3 signals the ESS to make the torch go up or down but that information is relayed back to Mach so it knows
that its a little higher (or lower) and has the DRO reflect that. Note that the TMC3 signals the ESS direct so that the up/down
change can happen immediately. You could have the unit signal Mach to go up a bit or down a bit but the communication
delays from Mach through the ESS make the control sluggish. That is the difference between realtime control, ie immediate,
or near immediate control and script (also called software) control which is slower.

Craig

2455

HiCON Motion Controller / Re: MPG Hand-Wheel-Controller Best Recommendation for Hicon Integra

« on: May 29, 2019, 07:57:15 AM »

Hi,

... so there's no real advantage to using the DB15 pendant connection on the Hicon Integra?

I am not aware of any advantage but guess that there maybe.

First a USB connected pendant requires its own plugin. For a long while the VistaCNC Mach4 plugin was considered buggy.
I myself had no problems but others did.

I imagine there would be no conflict with a Vital Systems pendant, it does not require its own plugin, it is instead integrated
directly to the Hicon.

I bought the P1A when I was still using Mach3, and it worked perfectly. I chose it in part on the basis of cost, the P1A
has very nearly all the functionality of more expensive models but a few less frills, including the LCD screen which I considered
to be unnecessary. At that time, about three years ago, VistaCNC had a Mach4 plugin so when I migrated to Mach4 I
installed the plugin and started using the P1A in Mach4. As I recall it took a few attempts to get it to work but its been fine
ever since. It can be a bit picky about the USB being plugged in once a Mach4 session is in progress. I find that it needs
to be plugged in when you fire up Mach in order for the USB connection to be established.

There have been a number of users who have struggled to get some models of VistaCNC pendants to work, and in my estimation
all the  models for which problems were encountered had LCD screens whereas mine did not. It seemed to make sense to me
to arrange Modbus comms from Mach TO the pendant were problematic, but my pendant did not require comms in that direction.
I was never able to establish this as a fact, I encouraged some users to disregard the screen, but they refused....'if I cant
get all working......I'll not put up with 90% working......instead I'll huff and puff and %%$&*&^%!!!'

A short while ago VistaCNC have released a new Mach4 plugin. Reports by some of those same users who had difficulties previously
report good results. As my installation is not broken I'm not going to try to fix it with the updated plugin.

To my knowledge VistaCNC is the only manufacturer of stand-alone Modbus pendants that have a Mach4 plugin.

All others are either parallel wired hardware pendants like the Vital Systems or are based on the Xbox controller or the
ShuttlePro, which have plugins written by users and NFS respectively. XHC have two models which are reputed to work with
Mach4, one a USB connected version and the other a wireless version. XHC has taken no part in the development of the required
plugins and the hobbyist users who wrote the plugins have been kind enough to share but are not in a position to support a plugin.

There is sufficient evidence on the forum for me to actively dissuade you from buying an XHC pendant.
I have personal experience operating  the VistaCNC P1A with good results.
I have only anecdotal reports regarding the Xbox controller and the ShuttlePro, but there are sufficient users to suggest
that they do work and certainly enough users for you to get a first hand opinion if you seek it.
I do not recall any reports about the Vital Systems unit. I would be EXTREMELY surprised if it did not work perfectly.
Vital Systems may not be cheap but can be relied to work as advertised.

Craig

2456

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: some strange point on last mach4 version

« on: May 29, 2019, 07:10:30 AM »

Hi,
yes it is important......and the correct understanding of the extent of each 'scope' is something I still struggle with.

Lua is a stack optimized programming language.

When a new function is called Lua enters a  new scope. All the data and variables used within that scope are stored on a stack.
A stack is a small chunk of contiguous memory locations in the same page of memory as the function code and it is
dynamic, that is the function code and stack is created anew on each occasion its called.When the function completes
and returns the stack goes out of scope and is garbage collected.

Any data or variable which is not within the scope of a function must be global. Any global variable is stored in a
static location in memory and when accessed Lua must stop and resolve the memory access which will often be
in another page of memory. The general rule with Lua is that you should NOT use global variables unless you
have to, you should in preference use local variables.

If you use a variable 'inst' within a function Lua will in the first case try to find that variable on the stack. If it does not
find the variable there it will search in the scope of the calling function and so on up the tree until it finds a valid
variable. Exactly how that search is conducted and where it stops is still somewhat of a mystery to me.
What I have found however is to define ALL, or as many as possible variables as local....it sidesteps all the problems.

Craig

2457

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: some strange point on last mach4 version

« on: May 29, 2019, 06:41:53 AM »

Hi,
Mach4 was always intended to be capable of multiple instances. It is necessary therefore to specify
which instance an API call is to apply.

To date Mach4 has only had/been allowed one instance, usually instance '0'. Thus it was often possible to
use inst=0 and reuse that throughout Mach4 without specifying in each scope.

That's changed, it is now closer to the original intention, that is the instance variable MUST be declared WITHIN EACH
AND EVERY SCOPE.

The reason that your existing macros fail is because you took a shortcut when you wrote them and now that shortcut
has failed.

Craig

2458

HiCON Motion Controller / Re: MPG Hand-Wheel-Controller Best Recommendation for Hicon Integra

« on: May 28, 2019, 02:22:56 PM »

Hi,
I use a VistaCNC P1A and have done for three years. It is USB connected to my Mach4 machine.
It has its own plugin and is independent of the motion controller.

The only wireless pendant I know of is by XHC. The plugin is written by a user not XHC, the company have little
interest in making a working plugin. Their (supposedly) Mach4 ready motion controller doesn't work and they have
shown no interest in fixing that either. All in all I would avoid XHC altogether.
https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=37581.0

Craig

2459

VB and the development of wizards / Re: vba and vb-differences

« on: May 28, 2019, 03:52:51 AM »

Hi,
do yourself a favor, learn Lua instead.

Craig

2460

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Huanyang GT series Modbus setup

« on: May 27, 2019, 10:12:07 AM »

Hi,
yes, in default mode the DRO is called 'droTrueSpindle'. the code attached to the DRO can be selected by the drop down
list, and by default displays SpindleTrueRPM, but note the entry immediately above that entry in the drop down list is called
'SpindleRPM' and that will display the rpm you have commanded in Mach with the S word in Gcode or MDI, ie it does not require
an index signal.

Craig