Messages

451

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Kingstar Ethercat cost

« on: November 13, 2022, 12:37:30 AM »

Hi,
when I evaluated the costs about 18 months ago to decide whether I would implement Kingstar Ethercat or a regular PC/Mach4/ESS/BoB
I came to the conclusion that Ethercat was going to cost $1600 (PC plus licenses) verses $1000 (PC/License/ESS/BoB), using the advertised
prices.

Craig

452

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Run From Here

« on: November 12, 2022, 12:09:54 AM »

Hi,
yes there is, see attached.

The RunFromHere function in Mach3 caused more crashes and heartache than all the other features combined. The same thing will happen with Mach4.
You'll have to experiment until you get the procedure correct, and woe betide you if you deviate from that procedure in practice....you'll have crashes
otherwise.

Craig

453

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Kingstar Ethercat cost

« on: November 12, 2022, 12:02:38 AM »

Hi,

so I'm looking at just the software cost, or even if it's available on it's own.

Even if the software is available on its own, I think you will save pennies but cost yourself pounds. Firstly, the PC is somewhat specialized,
it does not have a regular Ethernet port, but a card that allows for realtime Ethernet. The software is the Interval Zero realtime core and the Kingstar
Ethercat plugin and Mach4. If you were trying to buy a cut down version I would ask if they will sell the PC including all the software preinstalled
but excluding monitor/keyboard etc.

The next issue is whether you go with the Ethercat steppers/drivers or the Ethercat servos supplied by automationtechnologies. Supposedly any Ethercat
capable device from any manufacturer will work with any Ethercat system....the reality is a little different. If you came unstruck trying to get your own supplied
servos to work you are a long way from automationtechnologies support and they can claim that you supplied the servos so its your fault.

I suspect the reason they offer the complete package, aside from maximizing profit, is so that they can minimize the aftersales support issues. If you short circuit
that, then that is where I expect it could cost you pounds rather than the pennies you saved.

Craig

454

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

« on: November 09, 2022, 05:34:16 PM »

Hi,
I'm far from certain about this, maybe when smurph (or Daz or Tweakie or Brian or....) reads this he (they) can chime in.....

. Is there a way for a lua script to "wait" for a user to jog around and proceed when the user presses a button?

My understanding is no. The reasoning goes that if a script is running the Gcode interpreter which is reading and digesting the code has control of Machs central
trajectory planner. Even if the script is paused the trajectory planner is still 'busy' and therefore the GUI which is responsible for the jog input commands cannot
secure the services of the trajectory planner and thereby jog the machine.

To my way of thinking you'd have to split your script into two pieces. The first section would progress until the moment when operator jog inputs are required.
The first section of the script would terminate, not just pause. That would release the trajectory planner which would then be free to execute GUI sourced jog
input commands. Once the jogging is complete the second section of the script would be launched.

Craig

455

Mach4 Plugins / Re: Mach4 WHB04B-6 axis or WHB04B-4 axis enable plugin setup

« on: November 08, 2022, 03:23:49 AM »

Hi,

So, I think Mach4 developers can to fix these issues.

WRONG! an XHC pendant is not made, sold or supported by NFS, the developers of Mach4 and it is NOT therefore the job of Mach4 developers to do anything.
That Smurph chose to do so was/is his personal choice. I told him at the time that he was on a 'hiding to hell' because every man and his dog
will expect him to fix any problems real or perceived. Here we are several months later and you seem to be insisting that he be responsible for getting your Chinese
made pendant to work. Why don't you ask the Chinaman who made it, you paid the money to him .....but its someone else's responsibility to make it work?.

If you look at any other piece of hardware made to work with Mach4 then it's the hardware manufacturers responsibility to write and maintain the plugin, not NFS
or any of the Mach4 developers. VistaCNC is a case in point. They make and sell pedants for use with Mach4 and VistaCNC write and maintain the plugin for that
to happen. If it does not work then you ask VistaCNC about it....not Mach4.

Craig

456

Mach4 Plugins / Re: Mach4 WHB04B-6 axis or WHB04B-4 axis enable plugin setup

« on: November 07, 2022, 10:51:47 PM »

Hi,

I hope developers will fix it.

I think you might be disappointed....there are no developers. The only plugins written for XHC pendants have been written by private users. They have been kind
enough to publish what they have done.....but they have done all this work for free and are unlikely to be motivated by your request, unless you roll up your sleeves
and start doing some work yourself.

The latest, and probably the best plugin was written by Smurph, one of the lead developers of Mach4 itself, so he is very qualified to do so. For all of that he did it for free.

It seems a shame that XHC does not write their own plugin, they have certainly been encouraged to so by NFS with offers of support, but they can't be bothered.
It seems that if they've got you money then who cares? Not a nice way to treat your customers but that's what they do.

If you get sick of XHC then try VistaCNC, they did write their own Mach4 plugin. I used a P1A for eight years before it wore out, should have bought another one really.

Craig

457

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Help writing to a register?

« on: November 07, 2022, 06:16:42 PM »

Hi,
you used mc.mcRegGetValueString() and therefore Lua was looking to read a string. If you want to convert that string into a numeric value
use the tonumber() function.

If you had used mc.mcRegGetValue(), note the absence of the String qualifier, then Lua would look to read a numeric value.

Lua is a type free language which is very convenient to use as opposed to C which is very strictly typed.

Strict typing is, from a purist point of view, a good thing but it is demanding. If for instance you write 4 bytes to a two byte memory location C will overwrite
the two bytes adjacent to the two defined bytes. This will almost certainly cause a crash. You absolutely must keep track of such details in C
but the result is very tight perfectly performing code.

Lua on the other hand you can code with little thought to the underlying typing. Its not that the data is not tightly typed, it simply has to be or crashes
are a certainty, but that Lua handles that for you. This is great if you want to write quick and dirty scripts, which is Lua's forte.....but you can come unstuck
if you do not realise that Lua has stored a value as a string and then you read it as a numeric.

You might say that Lua takes you two steps forward (not having to type every variable) but one step backwards (potential confusion as to what is written/read).
All in all Lua is fine for scripting purposes, and even reasonable size programs, say a few hundred lines but the formalism of C comes into its own in the large programs.

Craig

458

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Help writing to a register?

« on: November 07, 2022, 05:33:45 PM »

Hi,
you need to single step through the code with the editor and at the line immediately after 'hreg = mc.mcRegGetHandle(inst, "iRegs0/Spoilboard")'
and hover over 'hreg' and confirm that you have a valid handle.

This is the correct syntax: 'mc.mcRegSetValueString(hreg,2)', but you are confusing a string and a numeric value.
The numeric value is 2 but 2 is not a string, "2" is a string as is tostring(2). Try 'mc.mcRegSetValueString(hreg,"2")'

Craig

459

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Help writing to a register?

« on: November 07, 2022, 04:38:28 PM »

Hi,
the  "WriteRegister" is a function composed to make it easy to write to a register, but is in fact composed of several steps.

Like when you read a register you need to get the registers handle. That you can read a register suggests you are using the right syntax for that.
Instead of using mc.mcRegGetValueString() to read a value use mc.mcRegSetValueString() to write it.

Craig

460

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mac4 VFD Spindle Speed Control Issue

« on: November 07, 2022, 12:38:02 AM »

Hi,
I understand what you want to do but before you can have Mach4 and Gcode control the speed you need to program
the VFD to accept a voltage input to control its speed. Don't worry about Mach and all the rest of it ....have you programmed the VFD properly?
Have you tested it with a 0-10V signal? Once you can control the VFD with an analog voltage THEN start worrying about Mach/UC100/G540.

Craig