Messages

121

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Start Mach4 in Screen Editor

« on: August 13, 2021, 11:02:31 AM »

Still Lost.
I cannot use "/"  while renaming anything.

122

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Start Mach4 in Screen Editor

« on: August 13, 2021, 10:56:45 AM »

I'm in industrial, but I assume that should still be ok.
Also, I can't figure out how to get this to work.
Do I rename the Mach4GUI?  Or rename my profile? 

123

Mach4 General Discussion / Start Mach4 in Screen Editor

« on: August 13, 2021, 10:39:03 AM »

I have messed up my PLC script bad enough that Mach4 won't open.  I can't remember how to open Mach4 in the editor mode.  Anyone remember how?

Tried to enable some PMC code and it really didn't like it... so now I can't open Mach4 even if restore a previous backup.

124

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Working on Mach 4 Lathe Postprocessor for Mastercam

« on: August 06, 2021, 08:28:09 AM »

Thirdly, G28 - that moves back to the home switches, right? Is there a way to programmatically set a user-defined home position?

You can use G30 instead of G28.  Populate the System VARS#  5181-5183 (5181 = X 5182 = Y 5183 = Z).  You put in the Machine Position you want it to go to into these variables. 
It is best to have homing on your machine since this is where it will go every time. 
It won't go to the home position unless you leave the #VARS 0.00

125

Mach4 General Discussion / Modbus communication status

« on: July 30, 2021, 03:45:47 PM »

I'm wanting to monitor the status of my Modbus connection. 
Under the Register Diagnostics my Modbus rc shows 2 when there has been a loss of communication -1 when it is stopped and 0 when it is running fine.

How can I check the status of the Modbus?
local ClickState = mc.mcRegGetHandle(inst, 'Click/rc');
local ClickRC = mc.mcRegGetValue (inst,"Click/rc")
I've tried both of these as well as variations of this and other API calls with no change.  It all returns 0. 

Am I using the right API or do I need to do something else or add something to this?

126

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Calibration Issue

« on: July 15, 2021, 01:03:02 PM »

Getting the backlash out mechanically is absolutely the best way to do it.  Removing backlash in the software is just like a bandaid... it just masks the problem.
If you have a good quality ruler, use that for your calibration.  Get an extremely fine point tool in the spindle and move it from 0 to 20 and try that.  It should get you pretty close across 20" of travel.

127

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Calibration Issue

« on: July 15, 2021, 11:23:46 AM »

If you have the ability, calibrate it to a longer length.  The longer, the more accurate.  I use a dial indicator to calibrate axis on our machines, but I always check to be sure it moves further accurately.

128

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 Homing and Machine Coordinates

« on: July 14, 2021, 11:32:05 AM »

I think your issues lies with you hitting the zero buttons before homing the machine.
That will cause your work coordinates (offsets) to change if they don't match the machine position. 
Since you don't have home switches, you should move to your desired "Home" location like you have been doing; then hit ref all.  Then you can set your work coordinates (Hitting the Zero Buttons). 
The soft limits don't care where you home the machine since it is all relative + or relative -.   What it does care about is where the program "thinks" it is relative to the soft limit position.  So if you zero the axis before you home the axis, it will update the work offset (the position shown in the dro) to reflect the referenced machine position.

So try this:
Open Mach4
Move the table to your "Home Position"
Hit Reference All
Zero your Axis

See what you get once you do that.

129

HiCON Motion Controller / Re: HiCon Integra: Motion Buffer Packet Loss?

« on: July 13, 2021, 11:37:06 AM »

I know this is a very old thread.  However, I had this issue pop up on my machine that had been running great.
It turns out that 1 port on my ethernet switch decided to go bad.  Changed ports and everything is working just fine now.

130

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Ignore Tool Changes setting?

« on: July 12, 2021, 09:16:02 AM »

I may be wrong.... but I don't think Mach4 ever had that option; mach3 did.
If you wish to use the tool change at a later date, then you should do what I did on a machine; I added a button that toggled an input to either use the ATC or not. 
If the input was active the machine would just sit and wait for a manual tool change with a message box popped up, if it was not active, it ran through the automatic tool change sequence.
You could do the same thing, where if you have your own "Ignore tool change" button active then the machine would just run to the end of the m6 macro and ignore everything in the middle.