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Messages - joeaverage

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671
Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 API/SDK
« on: June 19, 2022, 05:14:48 PM »
Hi,
the majority of things that you might want to do to your machine can be handled by coding in Lua, and for this the Mach4CoreAPI.chm is perfect.

You may notice that the API gives both Lua and C/C++ syntax. Further you may notice that there are specific and critical motion commands that do not have
Lua syntax,  these are intended for C/C++  use only, ie within a plugin, and as Steve pointed out then you need to enter into an NDA with NFS.

May I suggest you experiment with Lua to start with, I think you'll be very pleasantly surprised about the functionality it provides WITHOUT the need to write a plugin.

Craig

672
Hi,
if this is your first CNC experience then I would recommend Mach4 rather than Mach3. Mach4 is still be actively developed whereas all development of Mach3 ceased seven years ago.

It rather sounds like you have a Mach3 ready USB connected external motion controller? The vast majority, especially the Chinese made USB controllers, work (mostly!) with Mach3 only.

You can run Mach4 as a parallel port. The parallel port plugin is called Darwin and a $25.00 license fee applies. It would allow you to use a Windows 7 or earlier 32 bit PC but it will lack
many of the reatltime supports that you may want in the future. So a parallel port works but not recommended.

There are seven manufacturers of Mach4 ready external motion controllers:
1) Ethernet SmoothStepper ($190) by Warp 9
2) 57CNc by PoKeys ( $150)
3) UC100, UC300, UC400 by CNCDrive ( $120 through $160)
4) Hicon ( starts at $600) by Vital Systems
5) CSMIO (600 Euro, has buggy Mach4 plugin, good quality but marginal support)
6) PMDX412, PMDX426 ($120 through $260)
7) XHC, don't know the price, severely limited plugin, avoid like the plague.

All have their strengths and weaknesses. The two standout, in terms of realtime supports, are the Ethernet SmoothStepper and the Hicon. Having said that the PoKeys, UCnnn
and PMDXnnn will all work well for three axis CNC machines, but may miss on THC, or backlash comp, or single point lathe threading for instance.

Some of these devices require a breakout board as well, the ESS and UCnnn series for example. A breakout board does not really add any functionality so much as it buffers the motion board
output signals  and provides good (screw) terminations for wires to your drives and limits switches etc. They can be a simple as a C10, a one port (17IO's) bidirectional board for $23.00
up to an MB3, a three port (51 IOs) for $190.

So you can see there is a reasonable range of hardware on offer all designed to extract the best from Mach4.

I have been using Mach4 for seven years with an ESS (Ethernet SmoothStepper). I used to use C10 (equivalents) but now use my own design and built breakout board. My new machine
is all servo driven and I wanted some servo specific features, ergo I made my own.

Post a few pictures of you machine, we may be able to identify various bits that may inform your decisions.

Craig

673
Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: UC 100
« on: June 14, 2022, 04:01:24 AM »
Hi,
there dozens of Mach build later than 4162, why not try one?

Craig

674
Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: UC 100
« on: June 14, 2022, 03:49:16 AM »
Hi,
do you have one that has not had the latest CNCDrive plugin update?
If so why don't you try that, that is 4612 but with the previous version plugin.

Craig

675
Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: UC 100
« on: June 14, 2022, 03:35:57 AM »
Hi,

Quote
This really needs to be fixed instead of what's going on.

Just do it.

I have nothing to do with New Fangled Solutions, I live 14000 miles away, so I'd rather not take heat for something over which I have no control.
What I am trying to find out is what do you mean Mach4 is blocking the UC100, what do you mean?. Does the UC100 not communicate
or what?

Until a week or so ago I was running 4612,  and had been running that for several months without problem. If Mach were faulty then why would
my installation work but not yours?

When I update the ESS plugin Warp9 specify which version of Mach4 the plugin was complied against, and usually that is the latest stable build of
Mach4 as published on their site. The plugin  build I have now (278) was compiled for 4612. It works as expected, and has done for months.
Does CNCDrive publish for which version their plugin is intended?

I updated to 4866 about a week ago, but still using the same plugin, seems to work OK.

Craig

676
Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: UC 100
« on: June 14, 2022, 02:51:19 AM »
Hi,
I said noting insulting, but rather asked the question 'how is Mach4 blocking the UC100?'......thats just question.

Craig

677
Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: UC 100
« on: June 14, 2022, 02:08:08 AM »
Hi,
and how do you suppose Mach4 is 'blocking'  the UC100? And why would Mach do that?
I am assuming the 'latest driver' is the plugin update by CNCDrive? If thats the case then the 'latest driver' is faulty.

Craig

678
Third party software and hardware support forums. / Re: UC 100
« on: June 14, 2022, 01:23:22 AM »
Hi,
it sounds like the plugin that allows the UC100 to talk to Mach4 has slipped out of date.

New Fangled Solutions release new and improving builds of Mach4 regularly, probably weekly. Over a period of time it may happen that some new feature
of Mach will cause the plugin to fail. The plugin is made and maintained by CNCDrive, the manufacturer of the UC100. New Fangled Solutions does not have the source code
for the plugin.

Other external motion controller manufacturers have the same issue. I use an Ethernet SmoothStepper and every once and a while Mach changes to the extent that the ESS plugin
fails and Andy at Warp9 has to update the plugin to keep pace. I assume New Fangled Solutions keep the manufacturers like CNCDrive and Warp9 informed about whats happening
so that they can keep their respective plugins working, but there are gaps.

CNCDrive is more concerned with UCCNC, their own software, rather than Mach4....after all Mach4 is the competition, and it might reasonably be guessed that CNCDrive putb updating
their Mach4 plugin at a lower priority.

If the UC100 works with build 4300, then just keep using it. Is there some feature in the later build 4612 that you need? If not then why bother updating it?

Craig

679
Hi,
if I'm not mistaken Program Extents is in Machine Coordinates.

In the Machine Diagnostics Tab look in the DRO block to see if there is any G92 offset, or in fact any offsets being applied.

Craig

680
Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Unexpected tool path
« on: June 13, 2022, 04:15:57 PM »
Hi,
try using Radius Arc option in the post processor.

Craig

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