Messages

4521

General Mach Discussion / Re: 2M542 & Mach3 settings

« on: May 19, 2018, 06:25:57 PM »

Hi,
it sounds like you have experimented enough with the steppers and drivers to be reasonably confident that the fault is not the steppers/drivers. You may have to
revisit that decision but maybe you should consider other possible faults.

You haven't specified that you are using a parallel port, I don't know anything about your 'common PRC BoB', but will presume it has parallel port input. If that is the case
then if the parallel port is stalling or stuttering in any way missed steps and outright stepper motor stalls result.

May I suggest run DriverTest.exe and post the results, 'Good or Excellent' is not an adequate report, we need to see either the graphic line and/or the numbers describing the jitter.
A screen shot is good. Use the 'Additional Options' to the lower left of the text input pane to attach and preference is that you use Paint or similar to scale the image to around 600kB.

Craig

4522

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Simple one line MDI required

« on: May 19, 2018, 06:12:17 PM »

Hi,

I only use the most basic of functions on Mach3, I don't trust it. So far I've had very few accidents, the worst being caused by the way that Mach3 restarts part way through a program. That's just plain dangerous in my opinion and I avoid it if at all possible since I'm never certain what's going to happen.

I used Mach3 for making circuit boards and prior to me using Autoleveller, a software utility which is just the best thing for PCB making, would need to replace broken cutters part way
through a job and found like you that I had problem with Run-From-Here. I did eventually cotton on to the logic behind it and thereafter had no problems with PROVIDED you are well and truly
awake and thinking about what you are doing!

You may have noted that Mach4 has a Run-From-Here button. I have refrained from using it. You may also have seen in the API:

rc = mc.mcCntlDryRunToLine(
      number mInst,
      number line)

I have used that to write my own very VERY simple script to do the same thing but I'm in control of the logic. As it turns out using  Autoleveller has resulted in very few if any broken
cutters so I can decide when to stop the job to replace a worn cutter, which when you choose when it happens is so much easier than responding to something that has already gone
wrong.

Craig

4523

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Simple one line MDI required

« on: May 19, 2018, 05:32:42 PM »

Hi,

Mach4 is a different animal, but it's frustrating to find that things I used to take for granted now can't be done that way

That very much sums up the way many feel about transitioning to Mach4 from Mach3. What I remind people is that Mach4 is NOT Mach3 and
wont ever be so. Over a period of time there were all sorts of tricks and workarounds in Mach3 that were employed and we all became familiar with them
without realizing that they were a total 'kludge'.

Mach4 has done away with all those hacks. In most cases you can replicate, or come close to replicating, the same behavior with Mach4 by programming
it so. The programming itself imposes a structure based set of restrictions and so you are extremely unlikely to break something else as would be the case
in Mach3.

To date there are few manufacturers who have invested the time and effort (read....money) into writing Mach4 plugins for their pendants. CNCVista is the only
one I know of where the business did it of their own volition. The XHC plugin was written by a couple of enthusiasts, no doubt with XHC support but not
the business itself.

Have a look at Daz's Xbox 360 plugin, it might fit the bill really well. In addition you have the ability to contribute to the ongoing development of it rather than
purchasing from a business.

Craig

4524

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Using a button script to set jog increments etc

« on: May 19, 2018, 05:16:25 PM »

Hi,
I've just gone and fiddled with the API and sure enough and unitsMode:number is just a plain Lua number, so 21 is acceptable, but is is the right number?

Going to take a help ticket to find out.

Craig

4525

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Using a button script to set jog increments etc

« on: May 19, 2018, 05:07:45 PM »

Hi,

mc.mcJogSetUnitsMode(inst, mc.X_AXIS, 21)      --I don't know why 21, but that's what the post said!

This API call is not in the API.chm list. There are a few circumstances where an API call has been created but the documentation has not....yet.
smurph did explain in another post recently that his development PC had a melt down and all his development software went with it... including
the ability to write Windows Help files like our API.chm. He has only recently started putting it all back together....he explains also that he needs
a week of bad weather before the inclination to generate documentation overcomes him!

I'm going to guess that the '21' in the API call is somehow related to G21...which is the Gcode that cause all subsequent Gcode to be interpreted as metric.

Does your build of Mach have the new Zero Brane editor? If it does try typing out the API in question and the auto complete window will come up and then
with the opening '(' a list of required arguments and their types will come up. I suspect that the bare 21 in your code is not correct, it might have to be quoted
for instance.

Craig

4526

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Simple one line MDI required

« on: May 19, 2018, 04:52:00 PM »

Hi,

As it happens, you can do that in the Mach3 single line MDI too

Yes, I seem to remember stumbling over that when using Mach3 but it was quite a while ago now. I personally find the structured approach adopted by
Mach4s developers to be very much more comprehensible than the amorphous chunk of code that Mach3 became.

Indeed its my understanding that Mach3 having become on amorphous block of code made further development extremely difficult, you fix one fault only to find
that you have broken some other seemingly unrelated item, thence the decision to write a completely new program...Mach4.

Craig

4527

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Lua Stats

« on: May 19, 2018, 04:42:52 PM »

Hi Steve,
I apologize, this thread is getting further and further away from Mach4, its getting to be just a general computing problem.

I have in recent times used CodeBlocks IDE and written C code for TexasInstruments micros and so broadly familiar with compiling and linking,
although it took a lot of learning and experimenting.

I now perceive that Cmake is a method of bringing all those elements and settings together to build executable code. I like the idea...but like any program you have
to learn to use it properly.

At this stage I believe that I have presented Cmake with an outline of what and how I want it built....this is its default as I downloaded it, but I in fact want something
different and have yet to work out how to apply my choices to it. Such documentation there is, is very terse and I've not had much success yet.

When the cache is reloaded all items are red. Then hit <configure> and all items are no longer highlighted. I presume therefore that they all configured successfully.
When I look in the build directory I find in the Lua binding folder for instance three files of the type Cmake..., CTest.... and Makefile in addition to a CmakeFiles
folder. I presume therefore that the necessary make instructions have been configured and generated but they are ignored when 'making'.

I had a look in the source files and in the Lua bindings folder there is a 46KB file plplotluac.i and it apprears to contain C code which I guess must be the bindings itself.
I believe therefore that the source code is available to the compiler, as to whether it knows where to find it is another question.

Anyway, Rome wasn't built in a day....

In this particular case there is no need for my to include a graph plotting module to Mach other than interest. I do perceive however that users will have application for such modules,
if not this one, then something like it and I would like to be familiar with the procedure when it arises.

Craig

4528

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Simple one line MDI required

« on: May 19, 2018, 04:01:43 PM »

Hi,

Heaven knows why they changed it, if I need something in several lines of g-code I use a temporary program.

Funnily I find exactly the opposite, I often stack several lines and let it rip....As a matter of reflex I often end up hitting <enter> only to remember
that it doesn't work in the manner that it used to, but so what, there are a lot of things which don't work like they used to but they work so much
better now!

Craig

4529

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Lua Stats

« on: May 19, 2018, 12:01:34 AM »

Hi smurph,
I'm in trouble here.

I got the Cmake GUI working. I displays a long list of modules/components that can be included in the build and the destination of the code that is built.
The list includes BINDINGS_Lua and a check box. The checkbox is not checked and therefore no Lua bindings are included in the build.
If I check the box, hit <configure> the box gets unchecked again.

I have thrashed around trying to get that component to stay in the Cmake list to no avail.

I found one file CMakeCache.txt where you can manually edit the text file, I turned the BOOL associated with the Lua binding module from OFF to ON. I then
caused a 'make' instruction, but still no code resembling Lua bindings or .dll.

Is there something I'm missing, maybe a dependency issue that I'm overlooking?

Craig

4530

FAQs / Re: E-stop, combining switchs and opto islolators in series configuration?

« on: May 18, 2018, 11:46:01 PM »

Hi,

I don't like the idea of some dozen or more inputs,  when one will do.

Why? I have a three axis machine and so I have three roller plunger microswitches for home switches. I have attached each switch to its own pin, no problems. Homing is absolutelty effortless.
Now go and compare that strory on the forum to all those people that try to combine limit and home switches, often all in series and end up crashing instead. Once upon a time when everyone had one
parallel port and only five inputs it made sense. Now it not only does not make sense it increases the risk of confusion and crashes.

All industrial machines have separate home switches....and separate limit switches as well, that's nine switches and nine inputs. Why would Haas, Fanuc and the likes do that if it were not a good idea.
That's like saying that the Model-T-Ford had trembler ignition so I going to use trembler ignition on my V6 sports car of 100 years later!

Craig