Messages

4821

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 and Setting up a plasma system, help.

« on: April 12, 2018, 12:12:58 AM »

Hi,
if I understand correctly the THC signal UP/DOWN comes from the Proma controller but the pulse stream neccessary
for the motor to drive up or down comes from the PoKeys board.

Craig

4822

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle servo on lathe is 10% fast

« on: April 12, 2018, 12:09:41 AM »

Hi,
no Mach is not closed loop. The ESS is being developed to enact closed loop control, my understanding
is that its not ready yet and that is with Mach4, I don't know whether it will be extended to Mach3.

If I understand your situation you are using a servo drive? What type of drive/servo?
I would have thought that a step/dir drive would be as accurate as Mach, within fractions of 1%, not 10%

Craig

4823

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3 and Setting up a plasma system, help.

« on: April 11, 2018, 08:42:50 PM »

Hi,
I think THC is a motion controller function, Mach does not do it the controller does.

Craig

4824

General Mach Discussion / Re: M30 not working in g-code

« on: April 11, 2018, 08:41:04 PM »

Hi,
try putting a '%' or a linefeed or carrage return character after the M30. Mach needs some sort of trailing character in
order to recognise the last line.

Craig

4825

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle servo on lathe is 10% fast

« on: April 11, 2018, 07:02:10 PM »

Hi,
Mach does not have feedback control of spindle speed. If you program a speed its does its best to go the right
speed but if it misses it has no way to correct itself.

There are ways around it, almost all of them quite involved. Does it really matter, I mean really really matter?

Craig

4826

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: output on/off from same button

« on: April 11, 2018, 06:50:44 PM »

Hi,
yes there is some confusion between the Enable outputs and user Outputs. Try the same script but with OSIG_OUTPUT20 say.

May I suggest also that you not use M17 as a function name, use M100 or greater as user macros and M99 and under
are Mach Macros prehaps with modification. My concern is that your M17 macro may have unintended consequences
as regular Mach may already have an M17 which you have overwritten.

Allan has considerable experience with CSLabs boards and Mach4. Note CSLabs by their own admission their Mach4 plugin is a work
in progress. Allan has, in another thread, claimed CSLabs treatment of Mach outputs is mature however there are some
questions in my mind about them.

Craig

4827

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: My File is running real slow

« on: April 11, 2018, 06:26:29 PM »

Hi,
what you are talking about is changing Machs Gcode interpreter which I don't think is possible, certainly
without major support/cooperation from NFS.

Even if you changed the DROs so it appeared that rotational axes appeared in units of per revolution,
all CAM programs still generate rotational axes in degrees.

I am have a hard time switching my brain to degrees per minute.

The short answer is reprogram your head!

Craig

4828

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: output on/off from same button

« on: April 11, 2018, 01:41:05 PM »

Hi,
that looks to be a problem with the controller, I'm not familiar with CSMIO boards.

On the screen pic of the CSMIO plugin it has modules...to what do they refer? Is it possible the pic is displaying one module whereas the signals you wish to view are in another?

Craig

4829

General Mach Discussion / Re: Homing switches - optical?

« on: April 11, 2018, 09:34:44 AM »

Hi,
I use roller plunger microswitches for homing and get repeat accuracy of 0.02mm.

http://nz.element14.com/honeywell/bzc-2rq18-a2/switch-basic-top-roller-plunger/dp/1525198

What kind of mechanical switches are you using?

Craig

4830

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: My File is running real slow

« on: April 10, 2018, 09:06:00 PM »

Hi,
try a file with just rotary moves:

g0 a0
a270
a0
a270
a0
should move the a axis back and forth 3/4 turn at the max rate, about 360 degrees per second.

Now
g1 a0 f5000
a270
a0
a270
a0
What happens?

Craig