Messages

3261

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: SmoothStepper Motor Steps Per Unit

« on: January 12, 2019, 07:49:46 PM »

Hi,
tell us about your machine...what ballscrews for instance?
What gear/belt reduction between the stepper and the ballscrew?
What are your native units?

Craig

3262

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Where should I paste this script?

« on: January 12, 2019, 05:33:02 PM »

Hi,
yes that sounds like the problem.....there should be only one SigLib table per instance.

Craig

3263

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Where should I paste this script?

« on: January 12, 2019, 05:06:01 PM »

Hi,
well as far as I can tell I would expect your SigLib entry [mc.ISIG_INPUT1] to be executed at each change of signal.

Can you scan through the rest of the SigLib entries just to make sure that you don't have two function definitions
for the same signal?

Craig

3264

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Where should I paste this script?

« on: January 12, 2019, 04:48:42 PM »

Hi,
where did you put those code fragments? You do recognize that they are elements of a table....and must be in
the definition section of a table.....in this case the table is called SigLib?

These code fragments DO NOT BELONG in the Signal Script.

I assume that you have assigned the input (ISIG_INPUT1) to an input pin of  your controller?
Note also that the first few general inputs (inputs 0 thru 5) have attached LEDs on the machine diagnostics tab. Does the
appropriate LED light when the signal goes active?

Craig

3265

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Variable offset in Mach4

« on: January 12, 2019, 12:46:49 PM »

Hi,
ye I noticed that you had posted a question on the Autoleveller site. The Autoleveller software utility is meant for a mill,
I doubt you will get much assistance trying to apply it to a lathe.

The software is open source so you can download it and see how it works. It might give you some idea on how to implement
something similar on your machine.

Craig

3266

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Where should I paste this script?

« on: January 11, 2019, 01:12:50 PM »

Hi,
it looks OK to me, I'm no expert however.

I think its time to put the code in the SigLib table (top of the screen load script) and try it out.

Craig

3267

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Where should I paste this script?

« on: January 11, 2019, 10:37:32 AM »

Hi,
yes that structure is looking like the business.

Must I put "RC =" before the mc.mcJog********* string or will it execute anyway?

No, you don't have to include the return code, rc. The function will execute whether the return code is used or not.
It is good programming practice to use return codes at every juncture to catch errors but tends to be overlooked.

Craig

3268

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Where should I paste this script?

« on: January 11, 2019, 09:07:00 AM »

Hi,
I understand the intent of your code but it is not suitable as is. It has the wrong format for a signal table entry.
This is an example of a signal table entry:

Code: [Select]

[mc.ISIG_INPUT3]=function(state)
local hreg=mc.mcRegGetHandle(inst,'iRegs0/ToolIndex')
if state==1 then
mc.mcRegSetValue(hreg,1)
else
mc.mcRegSetValue(hreg,0)
end
end,
Note the square brackets [ mc.ISIG........ ] which denote an index into the table
and also the trailing comma:  ......end , which denotes the end of table entry definition.

Have you read and digested the section to which I referred in my previous post? The signal table idea is a very powerful
concept in Mach4 but it is far from obvious how it works.

Craig

3269

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Where should I paste this script?

« on: January 11, 2019, 02:58:15 AM »

Hi,

Perhaps it's better to assign the step-motor to OB1 or something? how would the Gcode drive look like then? "G91 OB1 36" ?

You cannot control out-of-band axes with Gcode as you can the regular coordinated axes. Out-of-band axes can and must be
jogged into position.

You will have to use Lua macros which use API's like:

LUA Syntax:
rc = mc.mcJogIncStart(
      number mInst,
      number axisId,
      number dist)
and:
LUA Syntax:
rc = mc.mcJogIncStop(
      number mInst,
      number axisId,
      number incr)
for incremental jogs........and for velocity jogs the APIs:
LUA Syntax:
rc = mc.mcJogVelocityStart(
      number mInst,
      number axisId,
      number dir);
and:
LUA Syntax:
mcJogVelocityStop(
      number mInst,
      number axisId)

The code that you posted sort of looks like it should be going in the PLC script. As it turns out Mach4 has introduced a much
more efficient way to handle inputs like this called the signal  table. Section 3.2.4 page 12 of
'Mach4 CNC Controller Lua Scripting Guide' in the docs folder will give you some ideas how it works.


Craig

3270

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Smoothstepper USS worth it?

« on: January 10, 2019, 02:55:43 PM »

Hi,
you can edit posts only for a few minutes immediately after posting only. Thereafter you can not edit them.
If there is something which is badly wrong flick tweakie a PM, can edit/delete a appropriate.

The ESS plugin really requires the ESS device to be plugged in and communuicating. My  Mach4 development laptop has the
ESS plugin installed and enabled but not selected as motion device. Thus I can open and inspect the plugin but mach4
complains and whinges that the device is not plugged in.

Craig