Messages

4161

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: easy way i can make "Enable, Cycle start,ect" in mach 4 work with key stroke

« on: July 01, 2018, 12:12:50 AM »

Hi,
OK so you have a keyboard not just a series of push buttons?

Does the keyboard come with any documentation as to how the keys are coded?

Its possible that the keyboard issues serial pulses to represent ASCII characters in which case we a re barking up the wrong tree.

Do you mind me asking why bother with another keyboard? I mean it sounds like you are duplicating the keyboard on your PC. There is a thread by a guy
who has made his own panel which had individual pushbuttons for various functions and an MPG handwheel. I'll see if I can find it.

Craig

4162

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: easy way i can make "Enable, Cycle start,ect" in mach 4 work with key stroke

« on: July 01, 2018, 12:06:40 AM »

Hi,
the C25 is a good board and suits a machine that uses one port only. Thus the C25 has outputs for the motors and spindle etc.

The C10 on the other hand has just plain inputs and outputs. You could use it to run a machine but it doesn't have any relays for the spindle nor does it have
an analogue output for a VFD. It is ideal though as a second (or third) board for the ESS. In particular the pins 2-9 can be designated as input OR outputs.

As you have discovered it is common to run out of inputs and so the C10 is very useful because it allows you to take full advantage of the extra ports of the ESS.
cnc4pc also have the C13 breakout board, and for only $9.00. It has no buffer ICs on it however and so you don't get any protection just screw connectors.
For an extra $14.00 I would get the C10 which does have buffer ICs on board and offers a degree of protection for the ESS that the C13 doesn't have.

I'm not familiar with the PoKeys 57CNC other than that they have a good reputation. I've had a look at the manual and they have little or no protection for the
FPGA IC either.  If I had one I would be inclined to fit some sort of breakout board to protect the FPGA exactly as I have done for my ESS.

You can of course go direct onto the pins of the ESS second (or third) ports. The 26pin IDC headers are pretty compact and the probability of shorting two pins together is
quite high. I have attached  a pic of the representative output circuit of the ESS. Note the output IC has no current limiting resistors between the IC pins and the IDC26
pins. Therefore if you were to accidentally short an output to either + or - when the IC output was - or + respectively you will blow the one channel of the output IC.

Craig

4163

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: easy way i can make "Enable, Cycle start,ect" in mach 4 work with key stroke

« on: June 30, 2018, 11:26:26 PM »

Hi,
it is perfectly possible to hook direct to the pins of the ESS but preference is given to hooking up a breakout board. Firstly because they have screw terminal
you are less likely to accidently bridge two pins causing a fault. I use MB2s from Homan Designs in Austrailia, near enough to local for me.
I see the C10 board is reasonably priced and doesn't have to much in the way of specialised pin circuitry to interfere with flexibility.

Given the cost of the ESS and how central it is to my mill I would not contemplate using any port of the ESS WITHOUT a breakout board.
I work with electronics day in day out and I value any methods/procedures/designs that limit unintentional damage to boards, especially so if I have to
pay for a replacement!

Craig

4164

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: easy way i can make "Enable, Cycle start,ect" in mach 4 work with key stroke

« on: June 30, 2018, 11:16:49 PM »

Hi,
I've attached a representative circuit diagram of an ESS input.

Provided you don't put MORE than 5V on the OR less than 0V then you cant blow the ESS by hooking up either + or -.

Craig

4165

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: easy way i can make "Enable, Cycle start,ect" in mach 4 work with key stroke

« on: June 30, 2018, 11:10:29 PM »

Hi,
yes I understand your caution.

Are you using the ESS? If so what breakout board are you using, or even are you using a breakout board?

Craig

4166

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: easy way i can make "Enable, Cycle start,ect" in mach 4 work with key stroke

« on: June 30, 2018, 09:45:48 PM »

Hi,
on the ESS Pins Config page you have the choice of active high OR active low.

I don't know how you've wired your button and whether your BoB has a pull-up or a pull down resistor. Active high OR active low will depend
on those details.

Just another idea is that on Machs Machine Diagnostics tab, at least in the wx4.set screen set, there is a whole bunch of LEDs, in particular notice the Iinput0 through Input5
in the Inputs panel. If you chose to attach your ESS/BoB input pin to ISIG_INPUT0 say, rather than my earlier suggestion of ISISG_INPUT10 then every time you hit your button
you should see the LED light up. Very simple and convenient way to test to button and circuit.

Craig

4167

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: easy way i can make "Enable, Cycle start,ect" in mach 4 work with key stroke

« on: June 30, 2018, 09:17:07 PM »

Hi,
oops, sorry forgot to attach the screen shots....

Craig

4168

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: easy way i can make "Enable, Cycle start,ect" in mach 4 work with key stroke

« on: June 30, 2018, 09:14:44 PM »

Hi.
can't help with all of those questions but I can show you how to do a few of them.

Have you watched the 'Edit Screen' video....you need to watch it.

In edit screen mode have a look at the <Cycle Start> button events. I have posted a screen shot of it. Note that the event has a 'left up script' That means when the screen button
is released the nominated script executes. In this case its not a script per se but rather a Lua function CycleStart().

Just as a matter of interest this is the source code of the function.....its in the screen load script:

Code: [Select]

---------------------------------------------------------------
-- Cycle Start() function.
---------------------------------------------------------------
function CycleStart()
    local rc;
    local tab, rc = scr.GetProperty("MainTabs", "Current Tab")
    local tabG_Mdione, rc = scr.GetProperty("nbGCodeMDI1", "Current Tab")
    local tabG_Mditwo, rc = scr.GetProperty("nbGCodeMDI2", "Current Tab")
   
    --See if we have to do an MDI command and if so, which one
    if ((tonumber(tab) == 0 and tonumber(tabG_Mdione) == 1) or (tonumber(tab) == 2 and tonumber(tabG_Mditwo) == 1 )) then
        local state = mc.mcCntlGetState(inst);
        if (state == mc.MC_STATE_MRUN_MACROH) then
            mc.mcCntlCycleStart(inst);
            mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst, "Do Cycle Start");
        else
            if (tonumber(tab) == 0) then 
                scr.ExecMdi('mdi1');
                mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst, "Do MDI 1");
            else
                scr.ExecMdi('mdi2');
                mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst, "Do MDI 2");
            end
        end
    elseif tonumber(tab) > 2 then --No G Code or MDI panel is displayed so Do Nothing
        mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst, "Nothing to Start");
    else --Do CycleStart
        mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst, "Do Cycle Start");
        mc.mcCntlCycleStart(inst);       
    end
end

Don't concern yourself with the code....I only mentioned it so that you could see in fact there is a bunch of code that runs when you call what looks like such a simple function call CycleStart().

In order that you can hit a remote button and have the cycle start what you want to do is have an input to Mach from the physical button call CycleStart() as if you'd hit the screen button.

In the ESS or PoKeys plugin assign an input pin to the physical button. Then in the Input Signals page in the ESS plugin (presumably the PoKeys plugin is similar but I'm not familiar with it)
connect that pin to a general purpose input signal ISIG_INPUT10 say.

Now you will need to put in the SigLib table an entry to tell Mach we are interested if the signal ISIG_INPUT10 triggers.

Code: [Select]

[mc.ISIG_INPUT10]=function(state)
if state==1 then
CycleStart()
end
end
And THAT'S IT!  If you put that little piece of code into the SigLib table which is at the top of the screenload script you have coded all that is required to have Mach4 monitor an input
and execute a function when the input triggers. How easy is that?

You might have noticed that I attached a second screenshot of the <FeedHold> button. Note that it has a left up action. An action is internal to Mach and the  above method wont work
for that action. I'm sure it can be done but need to think about it a bit more yet.

If in edit screen mode you click on various buttons that about half have either a script or a fuction as an event for which the recipie above will work and the rest have actions as events.
I will do some more thinking and research and get back to you.

Craig

4169

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: WHATS THIS ERROR..??? Clearing a spurious limit hit latch event,

« on: June 30, 2018, 05:55:51 PM »

Hi Allan,
yes its quite dramatic.....when I was cropping the screenshot to post I inadvertanly cut off the frequency scale off the bottom of the FFT pic.
The full picture showed significant harmonic energy to 100kHz and certainly measureable out to 1MHz.

I suspect that OP will find that the speed control is still at the root of his problems, whether he knows it or not. What else can produce the sort of hash this speed control
produces?

One feature of this speed control is that the DC produced is not isolated from electrical earth, at least in New Zealand where we have a MEN electrical system. That means
that the insulation resistance of the motor OP is using is the only thing which prevents line level voltages from getting into the frame of the machine. Additionally there
is a good possibility of the so called, and dreaded 'homopolar' current.

The 5 phase steppers I use on my mill are subject to this phenomenon. They have good insulation to the frame as measured by a Megger.  The drivers are direct feed from the AC
mains to a DC link voltage of 150VDC. The magnetic coupling between the stepper coils and the frame mean there is leakage to the frame, several mA at least. Without earth bonding I have
measured 130V on the frame of the machine......a great surpise to me I can tell you. I have investigated quite thoroughly and it turns out the voltage induced into the frame
is in the kHz range, ie phase switching frequency so the current is induced in the frame rather than resistive leakage.

Homopolar current is not common, there is little mention of it in the literature and that is seems to fly in the face of Kirchoffs Law its little wonder that it gets missed. That's what happened to me
anyway!

Craig

4170

HiCON Motion Controller / Re: Following Error

« on: June 30, 2018, 04:15:57 PM »

Hi,
as OP explained in an earlier post the feedback steppers and drives were cheaper than two shaft steppers and encoders, so in a sense price was a factor and
closed loop steppers and drives resulted.

Like you jcoldon my open loop steppers haven't missed a step in four years. Correctly sized/driven/specified steppers used within their limits DON"T lose steps, they are
remarkably simple, reliable, powerful and very economically priced. They certainly are a boon to hobby CNCers.

I do recall though when I was fist building and operating my mill very concerned about losing steps. At that time I had some cheap drivers and missing steps was a distinct
possibility. As I have 5 phase Vexta steppers good drives are not cheap. I did in the end get proper Vexta 5 phase drivers, they are powered offline 230VAC and have a DC link voltage
of about 150VDC. My steppers now sing along and never even look like missing a step.

None the less the manufacturers trolling their 'closed loop steppers...never miss a step' wares were very seductive. Many a hobbyist have stumped up the dollars to buy. The
manufacturers must be congratulated for their marketing effort, they have made millions by playing on a hobbyists fear of losing steps.

In very similar fashion Tecknics have done a great job marketing their 'stepper killer' servos. Their servos are good but there are better for less. Congratulations to Tecknics.

Craig