Messages

71

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: How to link external controller and tool number?

« on: August 14, 2022, 01:27:31 PM »

How would you check to see if the user presses stop during the macro?
 If something isn’t right, I just hit the e stop. Hard reset for everything and it inhibits z axis movement just in case.

72

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: How to link external controller and tool number?

« on: August 14, 2022, 01:26:31 PM »

I have had zero issues stopping in the middle of my macro. I have buttons to reset my magazine, drawbar, etc if something goes wrong.
Mach seems to handle macro stopping much better than in the past.
I have a gear motor that controls the carousel, so I keep track of the carousel position inside the Click PLC I use on the machine.  If Mach closes, I have to re reference the machine and part of that reference sequence is to home the carousel. If the actual tool doesn’t match what is in the spindle, I just change the DRO to match.
Lastly, I have this macro set to use 20 tools because that is what my carousel holds and the jobs I plan to run on this machine uses less than that.
If I needed more tools, I would make it empty the spindle and force a manual tool change prompt to complete the tool change sequence.

73

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: How to link external controller and tool number?

« on: August 11, 2022, 02:05:16 PM »

Sorry, it has been a while.  But here is the m6 from the mill I have been working on.

74

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: lua in Mach 4

« on: August 11, 2022, 02:01:47 PM »

Just a matter of opinion, but I personally don't make a "GCode" string variable, I just have lines of mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait with the code inside of it.  You are doing just that in some cases.  Just keep it going. 
Also, I don't think it is necessary to have %.4f every time you call a position.  Also, I'm assuming you are declaring your XPos1, YPos1 etc as local variables at the top of your macro?
Just declare each position as a variable and call it later in your mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait. 

I'm also attaching the m6 I've been working on for my current mill in progress.

Here is how I would do what you've done.

local inst = mc.mcGetInstance()
local selectedTool = mc.mcToolGetSelected(inst)
local TSig1 = mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst, mc.OSIG_OUTPUT2)
local TSig2 = mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst, mc.OSIG_OUTPUT3)
local TSig3 = mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst, mc.OSIG_OUTPUT4)
local TSig4 = mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst, mc.OSIG_OUTPUT5)
local DrawBarOut = mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst, mc.OSIG_OUTPUT7)
local ZPos = 1.2345
local XPos1 = 1.2345
local YPos1 = 1.2345
local XPos2 = 2.3456
local YPos2 = 2.3456

--Tool 1 Position
mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst, "G00 G90 G53 Z0.0")
mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst, "G00 G90 G53 X" .. (XPos1 + 1.3) .. "Y" .. YPos1)
mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst, "G00 G90 G53 Z" .. (ZPos1 + 1.0))
mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst, "G00 G90 G53 Z" .. Zpos1)
--Raise tool change holder #1
mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig1, 1)
--Move x axis to place too in change holder
mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst, "G00 G90 G53 X" .. XPos1)
--Release the drawbar
mc.mcSignalSetState(DrawBarOut, 1)
--drop tool change holder #1
mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig1, 0)

--Tool 2 Position
mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst, "G00 G90 G53 Z0.0")
mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst, "G00 G90 G53 X" .. (XPos2 + 1.3) "Y" .. YPos2)
mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst, "G00 G90 G53 Z" .. (ZPos2 + 1.0))
mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst, "G00 G90 G53 Z" .. ZPos)

--Raise tool change holder #1
mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig2, 1)
--Release the drawbar
mc.mcSignalSetState(DrawBarOut, 0)
wx.wxMilliSleep(1000)--1 Second
--Move X Axis to grab tool.
mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst, "G00 G90 G53 X" .. (XPos2 + 1.3))

--Drop tool change holder #2
mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig2, 0)

--Move to Z Clearance
mc.mcCntlGcodeExecuteWait(inst, "G00 G90 G53 Z0.0")

75

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: lua in Mach 4

« on: August 09, 2022, 06:42:18 PM »

I have no idea. I have long since forgotten VB script. LUA is so much better.  Function based. I like it quite a lot.
There are some pretty smart people on here though, they may chime in. 
Move made some very very powerful tool change routines with LUA

76

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: lua in Mach 4

« on: August 09, 2022, 04:48:29 PM »

I'm confused on what you are trying to do.
You want to turn on a specific output based on what tool it is on?

If that is the case, just put an if statement.
--Example
function m200()
local inst = mc.mcGetInstance()
local selectedTool = mc.mcToolGetSelected(inst)
local TSig1 = mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst, mc.OSIG_OUTPUT2)
local TSig2 = mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst, mc.OSIG_OUTPUT3)
local TSig3 = mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst, mc.OSIG_OUTPUT4)
local TSig4 = mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst, mc.OSIG_OUTPUT5)
   
if selectedTool == 1 then
     mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig1, 1)
    mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig2, 0)
    mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig3, 0)
    mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig4, 0)
elseif selectedTool == 2 then
     mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig1, 0)
    mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig2, 1)
    mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig3, 0)
    mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig4, 0)
elseif selectedTool == 3 then
     mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig1, 0)
    mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig2, 0)
    mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig3, 1)
    mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig4, 0)    
elseif selectedTool == 4 then
     mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig1, 0)
    mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig2, 0)
    mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig3, 1)
    mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig4, 0)
else
    mc.mcCntlSetLastError(inst, "OUT OF RANGE")
end--Selected Tools

end--m200

if (mc.mcInEditor() == 1) then
   m200()
end

77

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: lua in Mach 4

« on: August 09, 2022, 12:45:26 PM »

Here is how you turn on and turn off outputs in Mach4 Lua.

local TSig1 = mc.mcSignalGetHandle(inst, mc.OSIG_OUTPUT5) --This get the handle for the output.
mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig1, 1) -- This turns on Output 5
mc.mcSignalSetState(TSig1, 0) -- This turns off Output 5

Once you make the TSig1, Tsig2, etc... variable you can call the mc.mcSignalSetState (Variable Name, 0 or 1) anywhere in your m6 without having to declare the variable again.

78

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 rotary axis w/rollover shortest path

« on: August 04, 2022, 08:01:20 PM »

I’m just saying. I’m not sure what issues you guys are having specifically.
We’re using this on two grinders in our shop that has a tilt in the grinding wheel.  It works fine either way we program it.
We’re using the A axis as the tilt. Either the A axis rotary roll over, it works fine.

79

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 rotary axis w/rollover shortest path

« on: August 04, 2022, 04:06:13 PM »

Using build 4612.
It is behaving as you would expect.
Command A 10 it moves to 10... then command A 355 it moves to a 355 in the negative direction moving 15 units, not positve 345.
Command A 10 it moves to 10... then command A -5 it moves to a 355 in the negative direction moving 15 units. 

80

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: ESS MB3 3d printed Din Rail Mounts

« on: August 04, 2022, 10:02:37 AM »

Very Cool!