Messages

3851

General Mach Discussion / Re: No movement all 3 axix's

« on: August 11, 2018, 08:25:43 PM »

Hi,
it sounds like the DriverTest.exe numbers are good.

You say you took the parallel cable and plugged it into your CNC. I'm guessing you mean taking the parallel port cable from the PC
running the potentially faulty setup and plugged it into the BoB of your working machine. Is this correct?

If it is it rather proves the PC and Machs parallel port driver and the parallel port itself are OK. That rather points to the BoB and/or
your drivers, the same conclusion you have reached. I agree it seems strange that all three Geckos should fail, they are pretty reliable.
I would suspect then the BoB.

Does the BoB have a charge pump or other signal to enable the whole board?
Does the BoB have any LEDs on the motor outputs that would indicate that signal are progressing to the output of the BoB?
Do you have an Estop hooked up? If you do does activating the Estop disable Mach? I use this test as a means of establishing
whether an input to the BoB is progressing through the BoB to the parallel port and then to Mach.
Do you have a motor enable signal? If you do can you use either Machs output active high/active low setting to toggle the enable output
of the BoB that you could measure with a multimeter? Note you could do the same thing by setting Machs enable output to be active and then
enable/disable Mach which should toggle the BoB output.

Craig

3852

General Mach Discussion / Re: CNC is doing everything backward

« on: August 11, 2018, 05:08:09 PM »

Hi,
apologies, I just noticed a bad mistake with my previous post, I said:

check (or uncheck) <step active low> and hit <apply>

That should be <direction active low> and hit <apply>. I don't think changing the step direction will do any harm but it won't
reverse the direction of the axis.

Craig

3853

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 problems

« on: August 11, 2018, 03:20:54 PM »

Hi,
you'll have to get the pin assignments for your controller from the manufacturer.
The manufacturer is Chinese and sometimes they are exceptionally bad at providing manuals or support for their boards.
You'll just have to keep hammering at them until they do so. Those Novosun boards are common enough I think you'll find some info
on them.

Failing that buy a US or European made controller, they work as expected and advertised and the companies support their products.

Craig

3854

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 with Win7 Laptop USB Controller.

« on: August 11, 2018, 03:13:58 PM »

Hi,
or you could ask this guy....he has exactly the same board:

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,38089.0.html

Craig

3855

General Mach Discussion / Re: CNC is doing everything backward

« on: August 11, 2018, 03:10:13 PM »

Hi.
you need to reverse the direction of the axes concerned.

Sounds like the X axis is backwards. Go to Config/Ports and Pins/Motor Outputs and check (or uncheck) <step active low> and hit <apply>
and try again.

Note this will reverse the homing direction if you have set it. Beware if you hit <Ref All>, the X axis may take off backwards.

Craig

3856

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Wacky behavior on DRO 3804 and 3805 (at least)

« on: August 11, 2018, 02:53:23 PM »

Hi.
I use 3804 and have not had any issues. I use mm units for set up and in general use, whether that changes something, although I suspect not.

Do you use either 'keypad' or 'keypad extended' ?

I have keypad extended on all my axis DROs. To enable 'keypad' or 'keypad extended' or revert to 'in place' do so from Edit Screen per attached.

Craig

3857

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Tool Path Window Blank

« on: August 11, 2018, 02:32:51 PM »

Hi,
odd....in Screen Edit mode check that the main tooplath window is enabled.

You could also check the settings of the little toolpath window that is still operating and ensure that the main toolpath window
has the same settings.

Craig

3858

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: mach 4 plasma with thc

« on: August 11, 2018, 02:19:18 PM »

Hi,

so its not automatic saved in a file with the cut tools..

If you can read the numbers of the HiCon THC screen  you can write the code to have them stored in the .ini file and have the
.ini file repopulate the screen at start up. Or you could alternately save the numbers in registers and check <persistent> so that
the register is saved.

so there is no putting it in cam

Does your CAM allow you to pass variables like that? It would be simple enough to write a macro which reads a block of data within a Gcode
file placed there by the CAM program and use that data to populate the registers used above.

most plasma users say they will never use mach 4 because it just doesn't have the resoulition in the corners and circles. when cutting at higher ipm it slows down

Mach4 has the resolution, what is happening there is the CV settings causing a reduction in speed at corners. You can adjust CV or even turn it off. The
ability of a machine to maintain speed through a direction change is determined by the acceleration and rigidity of the machine. Mach can drive it as fast
as you like, its the machine that sets the limit. CV setting are Machs attempt to moderate or mitigate the consequences of lack of acceleration.

the rest of the plasma world is pushing Linux command cnc..

That because Linux CNC is free. If a company can afford to hire one or two software experts then they can turn out a great program using Linux CNC as a base to
start from. Unless you have that expertise you can't do the same. One of the strengths of Mach4 is that it can be customized without being a computer
expert, or at least as expert as you are required to be to delve into Linux CNC as customize it.

Craig

3859

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: mach 4 plasma with thc

« on: August 10, 2018, 07:57:28 PM »

Hi,

they made it work in mach 3

No, thats not quite correct. THC in Mach3 is enacted by the motion controller just as it is in Mach4, and Mach3's parallel port
qualifies as a realtime  motion controller and  can do THC.

Mach4 has a parallel port ( called Darwin) but it DOES NOT support THC and according to Art (the guy who wrote it)
will not ever do so.

There was some talk about NFS releasing a 'quasi' THC function which exploited a secondary Z axis motor piggy backed
onto a regular Z axis. It would be limited by there there-and-back-again communication loop but would work in most
circumstances. The advantage to the Mach community is that the controller hardware support required, and there
is still some support required, would be much easier to achieve and therefore more manufacturers would offer it.

Are there shortcomings with the THC functionality of your HiCon contrller? I had been led to believe that they are very
good.....if so why bother with lesser solutions?

Craig

3860

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: mach 4 plasma with thc

« on: August 10, 2018, 06:14:53 PM »

Hi,
torch height control is a process which requires realtime (read really fast) response, ie it is limited to a hardware
controller. Mach just cannot communicate fast enough for good torch height control.

If Mach could be tweaked so that its there-and-back-again communication loop is less than a few milliseconds
it might work...as it stands...no.

Craig