Messages

6491

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Erratic Feedrate When Cutting Spline Lines

« on: October 01, 2017, 01:26:46 AM »

Hi,
yeah, but hurt in a good way LOL. That last paper that uses a cascade of FIR filters looks like 'just the dogs dangly bits'

Overlapping two motions with a constrained error term...just brill...there are some very sick little puppies out there!

Craig

6492

FAQs / Re: M6 End

« on: October 01, 2017, 01:01:31 AM »

Hi,
not sure I can help, I changed over to Mach 4 so I didn't have to bother with Visual Basic...
If you have a look at the default M6End script you will see the move to the last programmed position before M6Start.
Could you not just delete, or better still comment it out?

Code: [Select]

x = GetToolChangeStart( 0 )
y = GetToolChangeStart( 1 )
z = GetToolChangeStart( 2 )
a = GetToolChangeStart( 3 )
b = GetToolChangeStart( 4 )
c = GetToolChangeStart( 5 )
if(IsSafeZ() = 1) Then
   SafeZ = GetSafeZ()
   if  SafeZ  > z then StraightTraverse x, y,SafeZ, a, b, c
      StraightFeed  x, y,  z  , a, b, c
else
Code"G00 X" & x & "Y" & y
end if

I can think of a few situations where diving into the next lot of code is likely to cause a crash...imagine a line of code
G1 X5 Y5 Z-0.5 F50 immediately after a tool change  at  X0 Y0 Z4, ie work co-ords 0,0 with the tool 4 inches above the material.
The tool will now make a linear move to 5,5,-0.5, ie the cut is going to ramp down. Is that desired behaviour?

It sounds to me like you actually want to go to some location but without cutting, ie at SafeZ height and THEN resume your
Gcode. That's possible but will require some programming and you may find that a modification to your post becomes
attractive again.

Craig

6493

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: HOW TO do Threading with Gecko G540 or other boards using MACH4??

« on: October 01, 2017, 12:30:23 AM »

Hi,
as far as I know Mach 3 or 4 threading is done with a single pulse per rev. If the speed is constant which is assumed AND required
it makes no difference.

I have used Mach3 and Mach4 and they both work the same. The only real advantage with Mach4 is when it comes to customising your
machine.

I'm thinking that you should probably stick with Mach3 until and unless there is something about Mach4 that you need.

Craig

6494

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: HOW TO do Threading with Gecko G540 or other boards using MACH4??

« on: October 01, 2017, 12:16:48 AM »

Hi,
threading is a function that's largely enacted by the motion controller. In the case of Mach 3 the motion controller is the humble
parallel port. While Art has written a parallel port driver for Mach 4 he hasn't bothered to try to add threading, apparently its quite a mission
and he is of the opinion that most users will be better served with an external controller.

To get the best from Mach4 you really need an external controller, there are a half dozen manufacturers who have a good reputation
and make good gear. None of them are free. The cheapest is about $120 and a full blown HICON from Vital Systems could cost $2000.
A UC100 from CNCDrive, a PMDX-411 from PMDX or a PoKeys u57CNCd25 are all very similar, they plug in to your PC with USB and their
output is a db25 plug just like your parallel port, in fact would plug into you G540 no troubles. You will have to do some research to see if
any or all of them support threading. All of these devices are around $120. Note that they only have one 'ports worth' of IO that is 12 outputs
and 5 inputs. You don't need a very sophisticated machine and you run out of IO.

For a few more bucks you can get an Ethernet Smoothstepper from Warp9 which has three ports worth of IO, a PMDX-426 with two ports
or a PoKeys 57E or 57U with 55 IOs, equivalent to a bit more than three ports. There again you will have to do some research to find out
if any of them support threading. I believe the Smoothstepper has very recently added that function, but I can't tell you for sure yet.

As I've already mentioned the HICON unit from Vital Systems is a very good bit of kit with all sorts of functionality but it starts at $600 and
probably you'll want features which take it up to $1200. Those people who've stumped up for one all say they are very good. Can't afford
one myself.

I use an ESS Smoothstepper, about $190 and its been great.

Beware that there are heaps of Chinese UC100 knock-offs on Ebay at the moment and they're rubbish. If you want a UC100 buy from CNCDrive
or their US distributor.

Craig

6495

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Spindle At Speed, Spindle Zero Problem

« on: September 30, 2017, 09:38:13 PM »

Hi Hakan,
I've found another mistake...
the wait command is

Code: [Select]

mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst,"g4 p1000");
so the machine waits for 1000ms or 1 second. The loop repeats in m3 and m5 macros 10 times before faulting out whereas the m4 macro
waits 5 times before faulting. Depending on your spindle, the vid you posted sounds like it takes some seconds to speed up, you may need to adjust
both the wait state length, say p1500, and you may want the timeout delay to be longer, 12 instead of 10 for example. I imagine you'll want to correct
my mistake in the m4 macro by only having the loop repeat 5 times before faulting, it should have been 10 but I missed it!

Craig

6496

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Spindle At Speed, Spindle Zero Problem

« on: September 30, 2017, 09:25:55 PM »

Hi Hakan,
I've been doing some testing and the code I've posted has lots of faults.

The first was my inclination to set up two global variables AtSpeed and IsStopped. They don't pass into the m3,m4 and m5 macros...don't quite understand why
at the moment. What I've done as a working alternative is in each macro get the signal handle and signal state and use that to control the wait loop.

Second issue is that if for whatever reason the spindle doesn't respond, in my case I'm using my laptop so clearly the signal will never go active, then the machine
hangs and will eventually crash.

What I did was set up a timeout variable in each macro which means that if the spindle doesn't respond after ten seconds or so the macro will end, report
an error rather than hang and crash out.

For m3

Code: [Select]

function m3();
local inst=mc.mcGetInstance();
local timeout=0;
mc.mcSpindleSetDirection(inst,mc.MC_SPINDLE_FWD);
mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst,"m3 waiting");
local hsig= mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst,mc.ISIG_SPINDLE_AT_SPEED);
local AtSpeed=mc.mcSignalGetState(hsig);
    while (AtSpeed~=1) do;
        mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst,"g4 p1000");
        timeout=timeout+1;
        if (timeout>=10) then;
            wx.wxMessageBox("Spindle does not respond");
            break;
        end;
    end;
    if (AtSpeed==1) then;
        mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst,"m3 at speed");
    else;
        mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst,"spindle does not respond");
        mc.mcSpindleSetDirection(inst,mc.MC_SPINDLE_OFF);
    end;
end
if (mc.mcInEditor() == 1) then
    m3()
end
For m4

Code: [Select]

function m4();
local inst=mc.mcGetInstance();
local timeout=0;
mc.mcSpindleSetDirection(inst, mc.MC_SPINDLE_REV);
mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst,"m4 waiting");
local hsig= mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst,mc.ISIG_SPINDLE_AT_SPEED);
local AtSpeed=mc.mcSignalGetState(hsig);
    while (AtSpeed~=1) do;
        mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst,"g4 p1000");
        timeout=timeout+1;
        if (timeout>=5) then;
            wx.wxMessageBox("Spindle does not respond");
            break;
        end;
    end;
    if (AtSpeed==1) then;
        mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst,"m4 at speed");
    else;
        mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst,"spindle does not respond");
        mc.mcSpindleSetDirection(inst,mc.MC_SPINDLE_OFF);
    end;
end
if (mc.mcInEditor() == 1) then
    m4()
end
For m5

Code: [Select]

function m5();
local inst=mc.mcGetInstance();
local timeout=0;
mc.mcSpindleSetDirection(inst,mc.MC_SPINDLE_OFF);
mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst,"m5 stopping");
local hsig=mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst,mc.ISIG_SPINDLE_AT_ZERO);
local IsStopped=mc.mcSignalGetState(hsig);
    while (IsStopped~=1) do;
        mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst,"g4 p1000");
        timeout=timeout+1;
        if (timeout>=10) then;
            wx.wxMessageBox("Spindle does not respond");
            break;
        end;
    end;
    if (IsStopped==1) then;
        mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst,"m5 Is Stopped");
    else;
        mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst,"spindle does not respond");
    end;
end
if (mc.mcInEditor() == 1) then
    m5()
end
You can ignore the code added to the SigLib in the signal load script, I don't think it will effect m3,m4 or m5 but I deleted the extra SigLib entries to
be sure.

Craig

6497

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Spindle At Speed, Spindle Zero Problem

« on: September 30, 2017, 06:00:22 PM »

Hi,
just realised that while I set the direction in m3 and m4 I didn't actually turn the spindle on, not sure what output signals you are using
to control the VFD but they may have to be added to m3, m4.

Craig

6498

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Spindle At Speed, Spindle Zero Problem

« on: September 30, 2017, 04:38:09 PM »

Hi,
try these macros, they must be in your current profile:
for m3

Code: [Select]

function m3();
local inst=mc.mcGetInstance();
mc.mcSpindleSetDirection(inst,mc.MC_SPINDLE_FWD);
mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst,"m3 waiting");
while (AtSpeed~=1) do;
    mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst,"P1");
end;
mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst,"m3 at speed");
end
if (mc.mcInEditor() == 1) then
    m3()
end
for m4

Code: [Select]

function m4();
local inst=mc.mcGetInstance();
mc.mcSpindleSetDirection(inst, mc.MC_SPINDLE_REV);
mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst,"m4 waiting");
while (AtSpeed~=1) do;
    mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst,"P1");
end;
mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst,"m4 at speed");
end
if (mc.mcInEditor() == 1) then
    m4()
end
for m5

Code: [Select]

function m5();
local inst=mc.mcGetInstance();
mc.mcSpindleSetDirection(inst,mc.MC_SPINDLE_OFF);
mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst,"m5 stopping");
while (IsStopped~=1) do;
    mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst,"P1");
end;
mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst,"m5 Is Stopped");
end
if (mc.mcInEditor() == 1) then
    m5()
end
Craig

6499

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Spindle At Speed, Spindle Zero Problem

« on: September 30, 2017, 03:22:50 PM »

Hi,
sick of me yet...

On the screen edit page the spindle control button at the lower right of the screen Spindle CW/Stop and SpindleCCW/Stop have two associated
event functions SpinCW() and SpinCCW(). The functions are in the screen load script and are interesting enuf even if simple.

What I suggest is that you replace the event scripts for these two buttons with:
for the left-up script for btnSpindleCW

Code: [Select]

local inst = mc.mcGetInstance();
local sigh = mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst, mc.OSIG_SPINDLEON);
local sigState = mc.mcSignalGetState(sigh);
if (sigState == 1) then;
    mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst,"m5");
else;
    mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst,"m3");
end;

and for the left-up script for btnSpindleCCW

Code: [Select]

local inst = mc.mcGetInstance();
local sigh = mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst, mc.OSIG_SPINDLEON);
local sigState = mc.mcSignalGetState(sigh);
if (sigState == 1) then;
    mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst,"m5");
else;
    mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst,"m4");
end;
Now when your Gcode program encounters a spindle start instruction, m3, the macro runs as normal. If you however manually turn your spindle
on it too will execute the m3 macro rather than the built in SpinCW() function which won't have the delay behaviour you want.

Will comeback with some suggestions for the all important m3,m4 and m5 macros shortly.

Craig

6500

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Spindle At Speed, Spindle Zero Problem

« on: September 30, 2017, 03:04:08 PM »

Hi,
in modern programming there is a distinction between an object and its action.

In this case we have two signals which have conveniently been predefined by the developers of Mach. We can easily connect them to an input pin
for instance but we could also connect it to some other software event.

So we have a signal defined and logically connected to a trigger of some description. We now have to define what that will mean.

You have a signal Spindle at Speed, what do you want Mach to do with it? Machs not magic nor are the developers clairvoyant....you have to decide what
behaviour the machine should exhibit and fortunately there are some clever and flexible tools for you to do that, it will require some learning.

Craig