Messages

5411

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Glad |I asked first

« on: February 02, 2018, 08:37:43 PM »

Hi,
just had a look at the Vital Systems site and found:

Note: We now offer 7541 version only. 7544 version is now obselete bacause of lack of demand

So the slightly cheaper version is no longer available.

Craig

5412

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Stalling Out

« on: February 02, 2018, 08:23:27 PM »

Hi,
there is one instruction from Warp9 about the ESS and is repeated often is make sure that any wireless connection is disabled.

It would appear that it competes/interferes with the primary Ethernet connection.

Craig

5413

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Stalling Out

« on: February 02, 2018, 04:40:31 PM »

Hi,
you don't say what motion controller you are using.

I use an ESS and you can if you run other software when Mach is running cause the ESS data buffer to run out. Usually though it posts an error code if that
happens. If memory serves though, there is a setting in the ESS plugin that enables/disables the buffer monitor. It may be your buffer is not being monitored and
could be stopping WITHOUT notification.

I run a dual core Atom based single board PC for my machine controller, a very VERY modest computing platform and worse uses on-chip graphics so falls well
below the NFS recommended minimum specs. I run 32 bit Windows7 so in effect have about 2.5 gig of RAM despite 4 gig being fitted and I run PCB routing
programs of up to 100,000 lines. I doubt therefore that your PC is running out of puff.

I rather suspect that noise is affecting your estop line. It might be difficult to prove given that it happens so infrequently. May I recommend fitting a small capacitor,
maybe 470-1000pF to your Estop input at your controller to earth. Certainly can't hurt.

By the way Fusion 360 is a 64bit only program, so if you are running Fusion on the same PC as your machine then your PC MUST be 64bit.

Craig

5414

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Button OFFLINE

« on: February 02, 2018, 04:22:35 PM »

Hi Allan,

I think you are incorrect in asserting that output pins cannot be arbitrarily assigned by the CSMIO. I have never seen evidence of this.

I hope you are right but I cant think of any other reason which would prevent OP from attaching an output pin to a legit Mach signal.
I don't have a CSMIO device and they're not cheap so I won't be getting one any time soon so I can't test it myself.

Craig

5415

General Mach Discussion / Re: Switches for Home position

« on: February 02, 2018, 04:12:20 PM »

Hi MadDog,
luv the name...

Possibly a little OT, I set my limit switch close to the end of travel, and make the LS's target keep the switch plunger pushed in all the way until the over-travel is hit.  That way I know when i start to "home" which direction i need to move the axis.

That's a good idea. I have my home switches about 3mm inboard from the end of travel. Under almost any conceivable circumstances I only ever need to start homing
in one direction. Has worked for three years without me crashing it and I can crash just about anything!

Your right about the repeatability of the switches, I was going to go for index homing as well, and now that I'm using Mach4 its built in and trivially simple but I
realize I don't really need it. I get 0.02mm or better...that's enough. There are other ways I can spend time and money without trying to track down 0.01mm that I don't
need.

Craig

5416

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Should I start out with Mach4?

« on: February 02, 2018, 03:53:18 PM »

Hi,
I would go for Mach4. There is a parallel port plugin for Mach4, you have to pay an extra $25 and its not fully featured. If going for Mach4 you should get
yourself an external motion controller. About $120 for the cheapest and up to $1200 for a flash one, I use an ESS for about $180.

Mach4 is ready to go for a mill or router and the lathe mode works but with a few wobbles.

The real advantage of Mach4 is that you can program it to do just about anything, of course it means that you have to be prepared to learn to do it...only
you can know whether you've got the stomach for that.

There is no upgrade path, if you have Mach3 but later want  to go to Mach4 you will have to buy from new, ie $200

I'm a Mach4 supporter.....I am also extremely good looking, eye-wateringly intelligent .....you can believe as much or as little of that as you please!

Craig

5417

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Glad |I asked first

« on: February 02, 2018, 03:25:49 PM »

Hi Will,

Afaik: Mach3 did its own backlash compensation (I have seen videos) because it just sent signals out through a DB-25 connector. Mo motion controllers then

Incorrect, the motion controller was the parallel port driver. That motion controller is not a separate physical device like an ESS or PMDX SmartBoB but it is none the
less a motion controller, it has code and processing power to take the trajectory planned by Mach and produce pulse streams necessary to drive the motors.

There was a time when Mach3s PP couldn't do backlash compensation. Even when external motion controllers came along not all manufacturers had support for
backlash compensation. The situation is similar today with Mach4 manufacturers adding backlash compensation 'when they get around to it' rather than as a fundamental
function. As Steve points out adding backlash compensation is by no means trivial and there will always be shortcomings with it that no software can solve. He is not
unique in saying 'fix the backlash in your machine, software can't fix your sloppiness'.

Ess looks much more affordable, However: Backlash not fully working. Only controls 4 stepper drivers and it is recommended to buy a BOB as well! So $30 on a C25 BoB. Also no mention of spindle control? Would need another Bob for spindle. Also documentation I have read is VERY unclear as to how you assign and configure the various I/O ports!

1) Backlash compensation is not working perfectly at the moment, backlash compensation will never be perfect, a beta test version is being trialled at the moment
2) The ESS can control six coordinated axes and another six out-of-band axes WITHOUT counting slave axes
3) Yes you need a BoB, you can hook direct to the ESS but if your hamfisted you'll blow the FPGA and then have to buy another ESS. DON'T DO IT!! A BoB protects your ESS
4) The ESS plugin allows you to ascribe an alias to any pin and then assign that pin by name to a Mach signal. The ESS plugin will update Machs plugin to keep them
    consistent.
5) Any output pin can be made to produce PWM. All that is required is an amplifier and filter circuit....if you make your own...one opamp, a couple of resistors and capacitors,
    OR you can buy a BoB to do it for you.

Once you start adding a couple of BoBs and  a power supply for the ESS it is the same or even more than a PMDX-424 which has its own supply and no BoB required
except for the spindle. PMDX have taken considerable effort to make their devices as easy as possible to use.

If backlash compensation is absolutely vital to you either wait a bit for the ESS or stump up the extra for a Hicon.

Craig

5418

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Button OFFLINE

« on: February 02, 2018, 02:42:34 PM »

Hi Allan,
thanks for taking the time to test this out.

I have two macros, m210 and m211, one to turn OSIG_ENABLE0 on and the other to turn it off. On my laptop I have an LED on
the screen to reflect the state of the output and it responds as I expect.

On my machine I attached an output pin of my ESS to OSIG_ENABLE0 and the output pin turns on and off as expected.

You are quite correct Mach influences control over the Enable#.... signals. When Mach is enabled the Enable#... signals go active and when Mach is disabled
they are reset. For the purpose of an 'Offline' button for the OP I wished to add to that functionality, namely be able to programmatically turn the Enable#....
signals on and off. Your investigations suggest that you cant control OSIG_ENABLE0 it that manner. I disagree, I can and do control the output as I've described
and I can and have attached the output signal to a pin on my controller.

There are two issues:
1) Why can't you cause an Enable#... to change state when I can?
2) Why can't the CSMIO device attach an output pin to Enable#0?

To OP:
no, you don't have to attach the code to a button yet. It is a stand-alone function that can be single stepped through with the debugger to test it out.
It was running as expected last night. Try running the function in the debugger. Note at the end rather than step the debugger right through the last
'end' statement and crash the debugger go <shift f5> which causes the debug session to end without crashing it.

Craig

5419

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Button OFFLINE

« on: February 02, 2018, 06:29:07 AM »

Hi,
just noticed I used OSIG_OUTPUT2 because my screenset already has an LED for Output#2. Substitute whatever output seem good to you.

Craig

5420

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Button OFFLINE

« on: February 02, 2018, 06:24:02 AM »

Hi,
Mach4 IS NOT Mach3 and never will be. Mach3 had hundreds of little cheats and work-arounds that it became a nightmare to maintain or develop.
The 'Offline' button is an example. I know you have become used to it in Mach3 and believe it is therefore universal in the world of CNC....its not.
Every controller manufacturer has their own interpretation of it, all claim that theirs is the 'only correct way' to do it. There is no such thing as the
'only correct way'.

Mach4s strength is that it is very flexible, you can program it to behave much like Mach3 or maybe even identically, or any other way that seems right to you.
The real market for Mach4 is OEM manufacturers, they have a piece of software that they can adapt to their machine, it might be simple like a lathe
but it might also be a multiaxis grinder or 5 axis wire EDM or a 12 axis Swiss lathe or....the list goes on.

The challenge for you is to learn how to program Mach4 to behave the way you want. You can whinge and moan that it should all be done for you but its not
and NFS has no interest in doing it for you, if you can't be bothered to learn why should they be bothered to help?

This is a preliminary sketch of the code. Note that I have written it as a function so that I can use the debugger. When in service this code will
be in the screenload script and attached as an event script for your button.

Code: [Select]

function OfflineButton()
local inst=mc.mcGetInstance()
local hsigenable=mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst,mc.OSIG_ENABLE0)
local hsigbuttonstate=mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst,mc.OSIG_OUTPUT2)
if (mc.mcSignalGetState(hsigenable)==1) then
    if (mc.mcSignalGetState(hsigbuttonstate)==1) then
        -- Mach is enabled and the servos are 'online'
        -- Need to save current position and set servos 'offline'
        local Xpos=mc.mcAxisGetMachinePos(inst,mc.X_AXIS)
        local Zpos=mc.mcAxisGetMachinePos(inst,mc.Z_AXIS)
        mc.mcCntlSetPoundVar(inst,500,Xpos)
        mc.mcCntlSetPoundVar(inst,501,Zpos)
        mc.mcSignalSetState(hsigbuttonstate,0)
    else
        --Mach enabled but servos 'offline'
        --Need to restore current position and reset servos 'online'
        local Xpos=mc.mcCntlGetPoundVar(inst,500)
        local Zpos=mc.mcCntlGetPoundVar(inst,501)
        mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst,'g53 g0 x'..Xpos..' z'..Zpos)
        mc.mcSignalSetState(hsigbuttonstate,1)
    end
else
    --Mach disabled....do nothing
end
end
if ( mc.mcInEditor()==1) then
    OfflineButton()
endYou may recall right at the beginning of this thread I said this would be easy. If you have a look at the code it is. Twenty lines of code.
The only real difficulty we've encountered is that the CSMIO device has a quirk I don't understand. Without that quirk it would be simpler still.

Craig