Messages

2551

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: edit Cyclestop in screen

« on: April 28, 2019, 06:34:00 AM »

Hi,

It could  only put off more hobbyist from buying MACH4.

don't you get it.....Mach4 is primarily an industrial CNC software solution ideal for OEMs. To be an effective solution
in such a market it MUST be very configurable.


The fact that it is released cheaply under favorable license conditions by NFS for hobby use is a happy circumstance
for hobbyists.

Craig

2552

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Switching tabs

« on: April 28, 2019, 01:43:20 AM »

Hi,
have you read the SignalScrpit.pdf file that I linked you to?

Craig

2553

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: edit Cyclestop in screen

« on: April 24, 2019, 05:22:35 PM »

Hi,
when using mc.mcCntlGcodeExecute***() type statements you have seen that the machine needs to be in idle state
before it can accept such a command.

As you know the GUI and Machs Gcode interpreter are in different chunks. Thus a command such as mcCntlGcodeExecute()
would fail if the GUI chunk is currently running. If however the GUI chunk never runs then the screen is frozen, live
updates to DRO's the tool path display or anything else is possible. In the normal operation of Mach it is necessary for both
chunks to run and yet they cannot run simultaneously.

At other times Machs motion planner is under control of another instruction set, an MDI command string for example.
Thus any instruction like mcCntlGcodeExecute() would have to wait until that string were concluded before the motion planner
can be engaged.

It might in some circumstances be possible to add a wait period within your code so that a particular command could
be progressed where it had been unable to be progressed a few milliseconds before.

When I suggested testing the return codes it was more about alerting you to the clash rather than solving it.
If you are aware that a clash is occurring then you have the opportunity to study the circumstances where it occurs
and a subtle change of approach might avoid the clash altogether.

There is a list of all machine states in:

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

Craig

2554

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Can I create an Library of functions outside the Screen Load Script?

« on: April 24, 2019, 12:06:15 PM »

Hi,
I think a module is what is required.

https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=35007.0

Craig

2555

HiCON Motion Controller / Re: Hicon 7766 Reference All Axes (Home) Issue

« on: April 24, 2019, 03:13:16 AM »

Hi,

When I click it, it gives me the message "" Axis 3 commanded while disabled""

What that is telling you that the script that does the <Ref All Home> function is calling an axis that you don't have enabled,
probably an A axis. If your machine doesn't have an A axis and yet it gets called.....what happens?.

You need to edit the RefAllHome() function in the screen load script to reflect what your machine actually is.

Craig

2556

dspMC/IP Motion Controller / Re: PC requirements for Mach4 with DSPMC

« on: April 24, 2019, 03:08:26 AM »

Hi,
I don't have the same controller but Mach4 runs on any Windows OS that would run Mach3. The controller is irrelevant to
that.

Craig

2557

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: edit Cyclestop in screen

« on: April 24, 2019, 03:03:14 AM »

Hi,
you are not testing return codes and will therefore struggle to make sense of it.

Take for example:

LUA Syntax:
rc = mc.mcCntlGcodeExecute(
      number mInst,
      string commands)

Description:
Execute G code as a unit of work and wait until it is complete.

Parameters: Parameter Description
mInst The controller instance.
commands A string buffer containing G code.


Returns: Return Code Description
MERROR_NOERROR No Error.
MERROR_INVALID_INSTANCE The mInst parameter was out of range.
MERROR_NOT_NOW The operation could not be completed at this time.
MERROR_NOT_COMPILED The macro scripts could not be compiled.

Note in particular MERROR_NOT_NOW which is a common error when attempting to use this API. You need to test for
it otherwise the code could fail and you would have no idea when or how or why it failed.

Try this for example:

local rc=mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst, "G90 G53 Z0")
if rc==mc.MERROR_NOT_NOW then
      wx.wxMessageBox( "Houston....we have a problem")
end

At least now if the API did not proceed you will know when and probably why.

Smurph recommends EVERY API return code be testedI'm lazy and don't do it as much as I should but after many
frustrating hours trying to debug code I'm getting better at it.

Craig

2558

General Mach Discussion / Re: UC400ETH soft limit problem

« on: April 23, 2019, 06:30:37 AM »

Hi,
that is called index homing and yes it is very accurate. Once the servos have homed do Mach's machine coordinates
get reset to zero? If they do then the soft limits you have programmed should be effective.

I tried an ESS on my tormach for a while and hated it. It never handled backlash properly among other things.

To my knowledge there is no 'proper' way to handle backlash, there is no software solution that's bullet proof.

Craig

2559

General Mach Discussion / Re: UC400ETH soft limit problem

« on: April 23, 2019, 06:08:10 AM »

Hi reuelt,
all that nonsense just to avoid having home switches......I know that's what I did for a while.....and had a few crashes
when I got things wrong.

Then I fitted Home switches (not limits, JUST Home switches) and life suddenly became much easier and soft limits were now
useful and accurate and have had one crash (operator induced) in the four years since.

Not quite sure how OP was doing it prior to the UC400. To my knowledge the ESS (my own controller) handles Referencing
in exactly the same manner as the parallel port used to and I can't imagine any reason for the UC400 to be any different.

Craig

2560

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Modbus communications problew

« on: April 23, 2019, 05:54:12 AM »

Hi,

In my PLC data table I can see signals from Mach4 eg. Axis enable bits, but when I set a bit in the PLC that would jog an axis, the bit is not seen in Mach.

The fact that you can read data from the PLC that was written there by Mach certainly proves communication at least from
Mach to the PLC. I would guess then that the reverse is true, that is there must be communication between the PLC back
to Mach, Ethernet comms REQUIRES a bidirectional link.

Where abouts 'in Mach' are you looking for the data supposedly transmitted by the PLC?
My understanding is that ALL data, whether it be out-going or in-coming all have registers to hold it.
Are there any registers owned by the Modbus Plugin that correspond to the incoming data packets?

Craig