Messages

431

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: First tests with Smooth Stepper and Mach4 2.500

« on: November 27, 2022, 02:12:45 PM »

Hi,

Can you explain to me what Plugin Frequency is for in the ESS?

The ESS reports data back to Mach and the PC. The plugin frequency refers to how often that reporting takes place. The ESS plugin
frequency is by default 40Hz, that is to say the data reporting occurs every 25ms. You can program the ESS to report more frequently,
and in your case you chose 100Hz or 10ms between data reports.

If there is some data that is time critical then increasing the plugin frequency is desirable, maybe as high as 200Hz or 5ms between reports.
The downside is that it places a distinct load on the PC. With a good PC not overburdened with extraneous software and/or services and a good
Ethernet card then increasing the frequency is reasonable. A more modest PC and particularly one with a cheap Ethernet card will struggle.

Unless there is s particular need to have the ESS report more frequently I wouldn't bother, and only really in in those circumstances where
you want live or nearly live reporting will you even notice the difference.

Craig

432

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: First tests with Smooth Stepper and Mach4 2.500

« on: November 27, 2022, 02:53:30 AM »

Hi,
Mach4 requires and accepts just one motion control device, and you'd leave the ESS as that device.

The PoKeys board will have a plugin but will not be a motion controller just a data input board. It might pay to check with
PoKeys that they have a Mach4 ready plugin for this kind of service, ie NOT a motion controller.

Note that in this service the PoKeys cannot be expected to run in realtime synchronicity with the ESS. Any data inputs that are required
in realtime, things like limits, homes and probes MUST be connected to the ESS.

Craig

433

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Units/Rev readout in Mach4?

« on: November 26, 2022, 04:44:11 PM »

Hi,

I want to edit my screen to show a readout like that and need some help on how to calculate it or call some function to return it.

That should be very possible. Have you had a chance to experiment with the 'Screen Edit' mode yet? Amongst the things that you can do is make your
own DRO and place it on any screen in any position you want. Then you can write code and put in the the PLC script which would calculate the feed/rev,
or even the chipload if you wanted use the number of flutes from the Tool Table, and continuously update the DRO.

Using Mach4 in this way is quite a learning curve......so be prepared with patience pills and/or lots of Bourbon, but is very satisfying.....eventually!. I suspect you'll be
very very pleasantly surprised at how flexible Mach4 is.

Craig

434

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: First tests with Smooth Stepper and Mach4 2.500

« on: November 26, 2022, 04:34:50 PM »

Hi,

Is it possible with the smooth stepper ethernet to use potentiometers or similar to control the feed?

No, it is one of the few shortcomings of an ESS, it does not have any analogue inputs.  If you are desperate to have analogue inputs then get yourself
a PoKeys 57E as an additional data input board.  A 57E has a number of analogue inputs. PoKeys has made its reputation as a data input boards, and only later exploited that
for CNC use.

Another alternative is to have two buttons, one causing the feed rate to increase and the other to cause the feed rate to decrease. This the ESS can
do without any additions.

is it possible to connect a MPG for axis movement?

Yes. The ESS has a total of 51 inputs and outputs. If you chose to assign ports two and three of the ESS as input centric, as I have done with my ESS, then you'll have
a total of 31 inputs. I constructed an MPG and it requires five inputs:
two inputs for A and B signals from the MPG
two inputs for the axis select, note I combined them digitally so the two inputs can uniquely identify four axes
one input for incremental/velocity jog modes.

Craig

435

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Can Mach4 Controll a LinuxCNC Controller

« on: November 26, 2022, 04:19:36 PM »

Hi,
firstly this post belongs on the Mach4 General Discussion Board, no doubt Tweakie will shift it in due course.

The short answer is that I do not believe Mach4 would adequately control a LinuxCNC motion controller.

To expand the answer: Mach4 is principally Gcode interpreter and trajectory planner. Its output is packets of numerical data consisting of multiple 32 bit integers with each integer
representing the machine position of an axis. The data packet therefore describes the controlled point of the machine. These data packets are issued in 1ms time slices.
The data packets are delivered to a motion buffer, commonly 100ms to 200ms length.

The motion controller now has a stream of data describing the controlled point and its job to is generate accurately timed Step and Direction pulses to the motor drivers.
Note that the motion controller must have the hardware resources to generate simultaneous pulse streams at up to many hundreds of kiloHertz. Typically the hardware is
an FPGA or a microcontroller, and often both.

The motion controller manufacturer writes a software plugin that translates the raw Mach4 numeric output to a format to match the motion control hardware. In addition the plugin
will provide set-up firmware for the FPGA/uP.

I am not familiar enough with LinuxCNC motion controllers to be definitive, but guess that they operate in broadly a similar manner. The critical point is that such motion control boards
do not have a Mach4 plugin.

I can only guess that it would be possible to write a plugin for Mach4 to be able to communicate with LinuxCNC hardware, I'm guessing Mesa boards. If you sign a Non Disclosure Agreement with
NFS (the manufacturer of Mach4) then you would get the 'inside gen' on how Mach4 works and the tools to write a compliant plugin. Usually that is done by the manufacturer of the hardware
because they are intimately familiar with the hardware. In your case you would have to reverse engineer the Mesa hardware so you could write a plugin.

All of that is possible.....but the investment in time and effort would be huge.

If you wish to have Mach4 run your plasma table there are some choices which would be very much easier than writing your own plugin. The Ethernet SmoothStepper (Warp9TD) and the
Warprunner THC control board are a cost effective solution for example.

Craig

436

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: M6 Tool Change Code Question

« on: November 22, 2022, 08:48:33 PM »

Hi,
don't give up, you can still do what you want but because you cannot home regularly then you'll have to program your way around it.
Thats exactly what mach3 did under the hood, and you can replicate it if you wish.

The alternative is to fit Home switches......$50 and your done.

Craig.

437

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: M6 Tool Change Code Question

« on: November 22, 2022, 08:17:46 PM »

Hi,
without Homing switches you are sunk.

The best single addition I ever made to my mini-mill six years ago was to add good Home switches. I used to have battles such as you are facing and plenty of
other crashes.....until I fitted Home switches, thereafter three crashes in six years, and all of those were operator induced!

Craig

438

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: M6 Tool Change Code Question

« on: November 22, 2022, 07:51:03 PM »

Hi,
I wonder if you are making this a little more complicated than it need be.

Is there a reason for instance that you want to manually jog to a tool change location?. Does that location change from one job to the next?
If it does not change location then just have the m6 macro drive to that location, then pause while the tool change is happening....no need to FileHold
or anything fancy, then <cycle start> now have the macro drive to the probing location, again assuming this location remains fixed from one job to another, and perform
a g31 to set the tool. If the tool length is widely variable you may want to be able to manually jog the tool tip close to the toolsetter, is use FileHold, buit otherwise just probe
the tool then drive back to the machine re-start position and carry on.

Its only the need to manually jog during your macro that adds the complexity. Do you strictly need to jog?

Craig

439

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: M6 Tool Change Code Question

« on: November 22, 2022, 04:54:05 PM »

Hi,
I've just recognised that I have directed you to the wrong thread. The thread I did direct you to is related and requires the same solution but this is better:

https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=46728.0

You will see also that my first post in that thread is if not wrong, certainly uninformed. I made the argument that to jog the machine would require you to terminate
the current program, not just pause it. It needs be terminated so that the trajectory planner can then attend the jog commands.

Fortunately Smurph chimed in with yet another one of his gems, namely the API I posted. The complementary API is:

LUA Syntax:
rc = mc.mcFileHoldRelease(
      number mInst)

Description:
Used to exit a file hold state.

But take heed of Smurphs warning you MUST do a preparatory move back to the machine position at the moment the m6 was called....or you will crash,
just like a poorly performed RunFromHere.

Craig

440

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: M6 Tool Change Code Question

« on: November 22, 2022, 03:14:52 PM »

Hi,
you can do as you want. There is a thread that covers some of the important points:

https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=45873.0

You need to be able to pause the m6 macro so that the trajectory planner is released so that you can manually jog the machine.

That is what the API is for:

LUA Syntax:
rc = mc.mcFileHoldAquire(
      number mInst,
      string reason,
      number JogAxisBits)

Description:
Used to hold G code processing.


Craig