Messages

3351

General Mach Discussion / Re: bitsensor usb controller

« on: December 21, 2018, 01:26:15 PM »

Hi,
kool. post how you did it.....there are dozens of people out there who have this board and can't get them to work,
they would appreciate your help.


Craig

3352

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 xml for gecko g540

« on: December 21, 2018, 01:46:21 AM »

Hi,
there are a few differences between Mach3 and Mach4, one is that Mach4 does not have an .xml file, it does have however an initialization file
with the suffix .ini which serves the same purpose.

The Gecko540 is a parallel input Bob/stepper driver.

Do you have your Mach4 installation/PC setup with a Darwin parallel port?

Th same restrictions apply to the Mach4 Darwin parallel port as the Mach3 parallel port, namely the PC must be a desktop machine running a
32 bit Windows7 or earlier. Note also that Art Fennerty wrote the Darwin parallel port driver, he was also the inventor of the original Mach parallel port.
As such a $25 is payable for use of the Darwin parallel port. Art also makes plain the the Darwin parallel port will NEVER be fully featured as the Mach3
parallel port became.

Thus if you expect to be able to use Mach4 with a parallel port you will not get backlash compensation, lathe threading, THC support etc. Art wrote it so
people could experiment with mach4 without having to buy an external motion controller like a SmoothStepper or a Hicon Integra.

You might say that Mach4 is native with an external motion controller. There are people using Darwin but most have an external motion controller.

The simplest you can get that would work with a G540 is a UC100, a PMDX-411 or a 57CNCdb5b, all about $120. These are all USB connected motion controllers
with a single parallel output port (DB25). Don't get ripped by buying off Ebay or Amazon, the Chinese have flooded the market with UC100 look-alikes,
buy direct from CNCDrive or their nominated distributor. You don't want a Chinese knock-off, they just don't work as well, if at all!

If you want more inputs/outputs than a single parallel port consider the Ethernet SmootStepper  by Warp9, the UC300 by CNCDrive, the 57CNC by PoKeys,
the PMDX-424 by PMDX or the Hicon Integra by Vital Systems. Note that there is one Chinese company (XHC) which claim that their controller works with
Mach4....rubbish....it doesn't work.....avoid like the plague!

When you decide on either Darwin OR an external controller and what that controller is, report back and we can help you get your .ini file in shape.
It can be confusing to start with but once you become familiar with Mach4's modular structure and how the different files all gel together I think you'll
find it a lot easier to understand than Mach3.

Craig

3353

General Mach Discussion / Re: bitsensor usb controller

« on: December 20, 2018, 12:41:45 PM »

Hi,
I see you've had no replies....it doesn't surprise me I don't know that anyone has been able to get these junk boards to work.

Do yourself a favour and get another SmoothStepper or UC300, as you know....they work as intended unlike Chinese rubbish.

Craig

3354

General Mach Discussion / Re: ERRRO 3336 AND 9991

« on: December 20, 2018, 11:57:29 AM »

Hi,
many others have had success with the registry patch....my guess is you have not applied the patch quite perfectly.

Note the athe fault you have described applies to the parallel port. The parallel port works pretty well but has always been sensitive
to software and/or services running on the PC, the quality or otherwise of the video card and more recently the status of the Microsoft
Windows 7 updates.

You could avoid a lot of those niggles by getting an external motion controller like a SmoothStepper or a UC300. A lot of cost conscious
buyers have bought cheap Chinese controllers and been disappointed....they often don't work properly and the manufacturers wont help
once you have bought it. Buy US or European made and buy direct from the manufacturer or their nominated distributor or you'll get
ripped off by a Chinese fake on Ebay or Amazon.

Craig

3355

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Z probing direction reversed

« on: December 20, 2018, 02:21:48 AM »

Hi,
most likely your Z axis direction is contrary to the expected norm.

Most CNC setups the very top of the Z axis is Z Home, ie zero (machine coordinates). Thus any downward motion causes the Z DRO to be increasingly
negative. Does your machine respond that way?

The other possibility is that when the G31 is issued it is already BELOW its expected endpoint. In the API.chm there is  a section about how probing
works:

Probing
Motion plugin probing procedure.
The probe moves are really just G01 moves in exeact stop mode with the addition of being marked as EX_PROBE in the execution_t struct from mcMotionCyclePlannerEx().

When executing a G31, the core considers the move as an exact stop move and therefore will request a motor stop report. It waits on one of two conditions:

A probe strike condition where the motion plugin calls mcMotionSetProbeComplete().
An end of move condition where the motion plugin reports the motors as being still.
Until either of these conditions are satisfied, the core will generate no more moves after the EX_PROBE marked moves. In other words, all you will get out of mcMotionCyclePlannerEx() will be EX_NONE type data. In the event of a probe strike, this makes it safe to clear the planner and be sure that future moves are not removed by accident.

A motion plugin should implement probing in the following way:

Upon seeing the first move marked as EX_PROBE, the plugin should arm position latches on the hardware.
Then consume the EX_PROBE marked moves as normal.
If the probe stikes, the plugin should:
Cancel any MSG_REPORT_MOTOR_STOP requests. (see g. VERY important!)
Report the latched positions via mcMotionSetProbePos() for each motor.
Clear the hardware of any additional moves.
Call mcMotionClearPlanner() to clear the Mach planner of any unretrieved EX_PROBE moves.
Update Mach with the hardware's current position via mcMotionSetPos().
Call mcMotionSetProbeComplete().
If a MSG_REPORT_MOTOR_STOP has been received, do not acknowledge it. mcMotionSetProbeComplete() does this for you and a position sync as well.
If no probe strike, then the move continues to it's end point as if it is a regular move.
The plugin should ack the MSG_REPORT_MOTOR_STOP messages with mcMotionSetStill().
The positions latches should be disarmed (if needed) when a MSG_PROBE_DONE is seen.
In the event that the probe move is aborted, the plugin should:
Call mcMotionClearPlanner() to clear the Mach planner of any unretrieved EX_PROBE moves.
Call mcMotorSetPos() for each controlled motor.

Note that its really for people trying to write plugins but the ideas are applicable to you and me. When a G31 is issued Mach executes a regular G1 move
with the end-point the same as the parameters of the G31. If a probe contact is detected while that move is in progress the machine stops, the remainder of
the move is aborted and the actual current (probe) position is reported back to Mach.

So what happens if your G31 move specifies a end Z coordinate higher than where you started......it just moves to the endpoint nominated....ie upwards.
Sound familiar?

Craig

3356

Modbus / Re: Who can I call to help me setup this automation direct vfd

« on: December 20, 2018, 02:05:56 AM »

Hi,
Mach3's Modbus interface drives me up the wall.......Mach4's Modbus interface is like a breath of fresh air!

Craig

3357

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: UC100 and mach4 question

« on: December 20, 2018, 02:01:59 AM »

Hi,

For a hobby CNC router is there any advantage to 4 over 3 for my use

Not really, both Mach3 and Mach4 run Gcode it almost identical fashion. The real advantage of Mach4 is its ability to be customized due
in part to the new scripting language, Lua, and in part due to Mach4s modular structure. Given that for most simple hobby mills and/or
routers you don't need any custom code then Mach4 has no real advantage.

All development ceased on Mach3 five years ago, and so what problems/bugs it has it will always have because no-one is trying to fix them.
In recent times some updates to Windows by Microsoft caused Mach3 to go cranky. There has been a patch for that but one day something may come
along which makes Mach3 unusable. Note there is no upgrade path....if you have a Mach3 licence that does not entitle you to a cheap Mach4 licence.

Mach4 is still developing.....in the last year or so there has been a PMC (ladder logic) module, a Touch off module, a Zero-Brane Editor and chaoticone
has let the cat out of the bag....a new THC module on the way.

I personally think the on-going development of Mach4, both the software by NFS and the increasingly fully featured hardware by the likes of Vital Systems,
Warp9, PMDX and CNCDrive make Mach4 the only choice.

Craig

3358

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Mach3 and TB6600 under Win7 cant run motors

« on: December 18, 2018, 11:29:22 AM »

Hi,

And just to add...a have noticed that steppers are getting very warm after a couple of minutes power supply is being turned ON

No, this is normal, steppers draw current even at idle and do get warm.

As I sad, I'm trying to use 12V from ATX power supply.

This is a joke, at 12V your steppers will stall even at very low speeds. You need a power supply to produce the maximum voltage your stepper drivers can
handle, the TB6600 driver ICs probably only 24V. A gecko 540 will handle 50V. A srandalone Gecko like a G203 or a Leadhshine AM822 can handle 72V and
80V respectively.

Craig

3359

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Mach3 and TB6600 under Win7 cant run motors

« on: December 18, 2018, 02:03:38 AM »

Hi,
just to be absolutely clear.....you are using Windows 7 32bit? Double check Control Panel/System.

The parallel port WILL NOT OPERATE wit a 64 bit OS.

Try running DriverTest.exe and post a screen shot of the result. Until you get a decent DriverTest.exe result nothing else will happen....you can fiddle
to your hearts content but without a good DriverTest.exe its all a waste of time.

Craig

3360

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Arc OK THCON signal programming

« on: December 18, 2018, 01:39:14 AM »

Hi,
yes this can be done. First you'll need to read up on substituting the m3 macro.

Mach4 CNC Controller
Lua Scripting Guide

in the Docs folder page 9 sections 3.1 and 3.1.1

You can write your own m3 macro and Mach will use that one instead of the built-in macro.

Couple of warnings.....Machs Gcode interpreter reduces ALL letters to lowercase and strips out leading zeros...thus:
M03
m03
m3

all mean the same thing. Sometimes Mach will misinterpret your chosen name for a macro because you didn't use lowercase or did use leading zeros.
Don't do it....it will really screw with your head when it happens.

What you do now is write your own m3 macro and put it in your profile macros folder.
You can cause the macro to wait on an Arc OK signal before returning using this API:

LUA Syntax:
rc = mc.mcSignalWait(
      number mInst,
      number sigId,
      number waitMode,
      number timeoutSecs);

Description:
Wait on a signal to change state.

Parameters: Parameter Description
mInst       The controller instance.
sigId         A valid signal ID. (NOT a signal handle)
waitMode   An integer specifying whether to wait on the signal to go high (WAIT_MODE_HIGH) or low (WAIT_MODE_LOW).
timeoutSecs A double specifying a timeout period.

Note it is highly recommended to test the return code on this API to detect any quirky behavior.

Craig