Messages

441

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Had a power outage and now the machine won't home properly

« on: November 21, 2022, 02:19:59 PM »

Hi,
I would guess the power outage has left the .ini file corrupted.
Go to Mach4Hobby/Profiles/,your profile>/Backups and select an .ini file that predates the corrupted version.

Craig

442

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: How to remember DRO and Fixtures in Mach4?

« on: November 21, 2022, 02:12:50 PM »

Hi,

is it not possible to create a Fixture Save button like in Mach3?

Yes it is possible but it will require some programming whether you like it or not.

There is a pair of API's especially for this purpose,  and a number of other API's which could be used to do the same thing, but all of the APIs require some code
to glue it all together.

Craig

443

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: How to remember DRO and Fixtures in Mach4?

« on: November 20, 2022, 04:54:54 PM »

Hi,
you have to use the complementary API to that which you saved the fixture table:

LUA Syntax:
rc = mc.mcFixtureLoadFile(
      number mInst,
      string FileToLoad);

Description:
Used to load a fixture table into the core.

Craig

444

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: How to remember DRO and Fixtures in Mach4?

« on: November 20, 2022, 02:20:29 PM »

Hi,

if i turn off the power to the pc i lose origin.

Did you restore the origin? You may have saved the origin but you need to read from the .ini file and restore the g54 coordinates.

Craig

445

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: How to remember DRO and Fixtures in Mach4?

« on: November 18, 2022, 03:23:37 PM »

Hi,
in most cases g54,g55...etc are saved when Mach closes down.

When Mach is closed down it executes the ScreenUnload script. That script will save all the usual stuff like g54,g55 etc. If you want to save other items that's where you put the code.
Any data you save will be stored in the .ini file.

When Mach is restarted at the first run of the PLC script (which occurs after Mach loads and runs) you can retrieve the data from the .ini file and restore whatever DROs or variables within Mach.

I asked this question, because sometimes the electricity goes out.

This is your problem, if the power goes out then Mach just crashes, the ScreenUnload script will never get to run....and so none of the current data will be saved. Thats just bad luck
and nothing you can do about it. You need an uninterruptable power supply for your PC. If the power goes out then the power supply will know about it and shut down Mach gracefully,
ie run the ScreenUnload script.

Craig

446

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Lua script: Pause for operator to jog?

« on: November 17, 2022, 02:21:18 PM »

Hi,

mcFileHoldAquire

I've been using Mach4 for years and yet I haven't seen that one before, but it looks like exactly the sort of function required by OP.

I can well imagine that you have to restore the machine position BEFORE releasing the file hold otherwise bad things happen, just like RunFromHere command.
Misusing RunFromHere has given me more crashes than all other Mach functions combined!

Craig

447

Mach3 under Vista / Re: New computer to run Mach3

« on: November 16, 2022, 06:10:40 PM »

Hi,

does anyone know what plugin to use for MK4-M4 when using mach3

the part number suggests that your controller is an  Chinese made XHC controller. They are notorious for not answering emails or providing support for their customers.

I suspect that your particular controller is a 4 axis type and the M4 I believe refers to it being a Mach4 ready type. Don't believe it, the XHC Mach4 plugin
is hopelessly buggy and does not even support the GUI, it relies instead on wxMach....it short TOTAL S*********T, avoid like the plague.

Whether it will run with a Mach3 plugin....I don't know. Quite frankly I'd ditch it....just have to put it down to experience. Buy an Ethernet SmoothStepper by Warp9TD.
They have a dedicated support tech and a support forum, a VAST improvement over XHC.

Craig

448

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Run From Here

« on: November 15, 2022, 02:50:02 PM »

Hi,
to my knowledge there is not one API which does it. Using the screen editor the procedure is an internally programmed Mach4 Action called 'RunFromHere'.
It does not appear there to be any means to view or edit that action.

The critical part of any run-from-here routine is being able to dry run the Gcode program to the 'Here' point, but without movement. This API is for that purpose:

LUA Syntax:
rc = mc.mcCntlDryRunToLine(
      number mInst,
      number line)

Description:
Process G code forward to a given line without motion.

There is nothing to stop you from programming your own run-from-here routine. Its always the details about the preparatory move that cause all the crashes.
What would you do differently to NFS to reduce the crash potential?

Craig

449

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: touch screens

« on: November 15, 2022, 02:15:57 PM »

Hi,
Mach4 works perfectly well with a touch screen. A touch screen is a Windows feature, not really Mach at all.

The real issue is that the Mach4 screen has a lot going on and touch screens have course resolution, the consequence is that it's too easy to hit
the 'button next door', a PITA.

I used a laptop with a touch screen for a while; soon learned to avoid using it, aside from putting greasy smears all over the screen.

If you are prepared to make your own screen set but with very much fewer buttons and elements then a touch screen would be fine.

Craig

450

Mach4 Plugins / Re: Mach4 Plugin-Development

« on: November 13, 2022, 03:28:04 PM »

Hi,

Is there any way to decompile a plugin?

No. You could probably decompose it to assembly language....but assembly language is a far cry from the C source code, even an extremely clever programmer will not be able to generate
the source code from the assembly decomposition.

The plugin for a UC100 is written and maintained by CNCdrive. They must have signed a Non Disclosure Agreement with NFS so that NFS would provide the inside details of how
Mach4 works so CNCDrive can in turn write a working plugin.

NFS and CNCDrive are competitiors is the sense that Mach4 and UCCNC are being sold to the same market. NFS is however keen that CNCDrive write a Mach4 compatible plugin for their
UCnnn devices, including the UC100. I can't imagine any reason that NFS would have to construct Mach4 NOT to operate with any UCnnn device. It is after all to NFS's advantage that
as many different motion controllers operate with Mach4 and thereby secure as many sale oppurtunities as possible.

I suspect that as NFS has released the latest builds that some detail about the build prevents the UC100 plugin from running. I don't imagine its deliberate for the reason I mentioned above,
indeed I would imagine that NFS would try to keep successive builds such that all manufacturers plugins would continue to operate. Having said that from time to time an alteration
of Mach4 causes an issue with a plugin.


I use an Ethernet SmoothStepper and there have been occasions where a new build of Mach4 has caused the ESS plugin to misbehave. It is Warp9's responsibility to alter their Mach4 plugin
to suit not the other way around. Having said that NFS have, according to Warp9's tech guy, Andy, always tried to assist Warp9's evolution of their plugin.

I can well imagine that CNCDrive are focused on their customers, namely UCCNC users. Their secondary customers whom have bought hardware only, like a UC100, and using
Mach software are a lesser priority.

May I suggest asking CNCDrive which build of Mach4 their plugin was designed to work with. Its more likely that if you are trying to use the latest development build of Mach4 then you
may have problems when the plugin was developed to work with thw current stable release version.

Craig