Hello Guest it is March 28, 2024, 10:06:08 AM

Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - joeaverage

Pages: « 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 »
4091
Mach4 Videos / Re: Mach4 Quicky #2 Keyboard Plugin
« on: July 07, 2018, 07:26:37 PM »
Hi,
might add that this thread is about Daz's video and he might appreciate that a discussion of Lua syntax be conducted in another
thread, probably in the main Mach4 Discussion board.

Craig

4092
Mach4 Videos / Re: Mach4 Quicky #2 Keyboard Plugin
« on: July 07, 2018, 07:23:16 PM »
Hi,

From API.chm:
Quote
LUA Syntax:
rc = mc.mcCntlEnable(
   number mInst,
   number state)
And the number <state> is described:
Quote
state A BOOL specifying the desired control state. TRUE for enabled

Thus your API call needs to be:

mc.mcCntlEnable(inst,1)

Craig

4093
Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Move Mach 4 to a new computer
« on: July 07, 2018, 04:19:55 PM »
Hi,
as an example, I have two licenced copies of Mach4Hobby.

One is on my machine PC and the other is on my laptop. Clearly my machine copy needs to be licenced so I can use the machine
for longer than six minutes. My laptop copy is for development and so I could use the Sim plugin without limit. I like to have
my ESS (Ethernet Smooth Stepper) plugin on my PC so I can work with it and I have on the odd occasion plugged my laptop
into my machine and used it as the primary controller. For this reason I licenced it as well.

Craig

4094
Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Move Mach 4 to a new computer
« on: July 07, 2018, 04:13:03 PM »
Hi,
no, just download and run. If you use the Sim(ulator) motion plugin Mach4 runs continuously without limit. If you select
another motion control plugin as active then Mach4 runs for about six minutes before it needs resetting. Enough to wet your toes.

If you decide you want to licence  then you can buy online. You then have an account with NFS that you can mange your licence
online. As a hobbyist you may have up to five licenced PC's active. If you replace a PC you deactivate the old one and licence the new
one. You are permitted seven such transactions in two years.

If you are a business then you are expected to have a distinct licence for each machine. If you wish top level backup from NFS then buy
Mach4Industrial....you go to the top of the list supportwise.

Craig

4095
Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Move Mach 4 to a new computer
« on: July 07, 2018, 03:10:20 PM »
Hi,
it has always been recommended that Mach run on its own PC. Someone described it that 'once a PC is hooked to and controlling a machine....it is
no longer a PC.....but a machine controller that happens to use Windows OS'

Mach's origins start with the parallel port driver. It is a very clever piece of code that lives at the kernel level of the PC. I works remarkably well
but is subject to interference by other software running on the PC, including anti-virus and a firewall. If you eliminate those programs then it
makes sense to keep it off the Net.

In more recent years external motion controllers have become popular, maybe half of all users. They relieve  the PC of the need for realtime
communication with the machine that is required by the parallel port driver and therefore Mach is very much less prone to interference from
other software. It is still recommended that the PC be for machine control only but many users ignore that and use the PC for all sorts of other
things as well, not usually when the machine is in operation!

I have a dual core Atom single board PC with on chip graphics, its a very low powered PC, less than most recommendations. I installed Windows 7
32 bit. I  ran Mach3 and two parallel ports for three years very successfully. I have since stepped up to Mach4 with a SmoothStepper motion control
board on the same little teeny-tiny PC, again very successfully.

The upshot is that you don't need a powerful PC to run Mach, you need a PC that sticks to running Mach and not much else, if Mach gets interrupted
when machining bad things happen!

If you want to get into CNC cheaply then an old XP clunker and Mach3 with a parallel port is the way to go. All development on Mach3 ceased five years ago
and its possible that changes in PC's and OS's will render Mach3 obsolete eventually. Mach4 is actively being developed and is ready for router/mill/lathe
applications. While there is a parallel port plugin (a $25.00 fee applies) for Mach4 called Darwin, it works well but it doesn't have features like
lathe threading or THC, nor will it ever. As a consequence Mach4 all but requires you use an external motion controller like a SmoothStepper.
There are six manufacturers of such boards from about $120 to $600 depending on features and requirements. My Ethernet Smooth Stepper cost $180
for instance.

There are a number of good videos on YouTube about Mach.

You can download and run (in demo) both Mach3 and Mach4 free of charge and for as long as you like.

Craig

4096
General Mach Discussion / Re: Calibrating for A axis
« on: July 07, 2018, 02:02:24 AM »
Hi,
just had an even better idea.....Mach should use radians as unit of angular measure thus 90 degrees would be 1.570796,
180 degrees would be 3.14159265 and 360 degrees would be 6.2831853.

Yeah! That would be great......and so simple!!!! Everyone would luv it!!!  LOL

Craig

4097
General Mach Discussion / Re: Calibrating for A axis
« on: July 07, 2018, 01:57:14 AM »
Hi,
kool, glad you got it sorted.

I sometimes wonder if we would be better off if Mach used 'revolution' as a rotational unit, so 90 degrees would 0.25 and 360 degrees
would b 1.0 etc.

Craig

4098
Hi,
I think OP is inclined to either not read the manual of a prospective hardware solution or skim over important aspects of its design.

Craig

4099
Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Best Mach 4 I/O Borad ?????
« on: July 06, 2018, 11:15:50 PM »
Hi,
I use a little dual core Atom single board PC with on chip graphics, way less than recommended for Mach4 but it runs fine.

Just about any PC will run Mach4, it will require an Ethernet port or a decent USB port depending on how your controller is hooked up.
I have heard of Mach4 running on XP, I use Win7 32bit on my machine but have used Win8 on my laptop as well. Not a lot to pick
and choose, they all work well, probably Win10 is the pick of the bunch.

The screen editing features of Mach4 truly set it apart, both from Mach3 but other Widows OS CNC software solutions as well.
To be honest I wouldn't get too hung up on modifying the screen sets which ship with Mach4, they are perfectly adequate as they are,
at least until you get some serious use and machining time under your belt.

It is not strictly required to learn to use Lua and the internal workings of Mach4 to set up a machine but many new users end up doing so
anyway. It is a real battle to start with but it gets better and in fact becomes quite a fun challenge. Its then you realize that the flexibility
and power of Mach4 far FAR exceed Mach3 even though you might be tempted to tear your hair out trying to get there!

Craig

4100
Hi Rich,
I think you underestimate my 'pissoffing' talents, why you are only 8000 nautical miles away....a mere snap!LOL

Craig

Pages: « 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 »