Messages

1

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Unknown word where unary operation could be

« on: May 20, 2017, 02:00:26 PM »

Vandabrackin, did you ever solve this problem?

I am getting the same message when running a file that I know is good: "Unknown word where unary operation could be".

Your post is the only one that comes up using a "unary" search in Mach4 forums.

Thanks

2

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Home, Limits, Soft Limits

« on: May 19, 2017, 08:55:46 PM »

Craig, Chaoticone,  Thank you for your answers, very helpful.

I think I have the home switches working correctly. I jogged the X, Y, Z axes until they tripped the switches. Then moved off those locations and selected the Reference All Axes (Home) button. The table moved to the tripped switch positions, then moved back off those positions, stopped and set all three Machine Coordinates to zero. After I again moved the table off the zero positions, selecting the Reference All Axes (Home) button always brought the table back to the same position even after the controller and computer were shut off and restarted. Does that sound correct for the home position?

I want to use the same set of switches as limit switches. In the Homing / Soft Limits tab, are the soft max and soft min actually the settings for the positive and negative limits? If so, the Digital Readout reading from the home position to the limit switch trip position is the number to put in the Soft max or Soft min? One number will be fairly small and the other large, almost the maximum travel for the table in that axis??

Thanks

3

Mach4 General Discussion / Home, Limits, Soft Limits

« on: May 16, 2017, 01:52:04 PM »

I am new to Mach4 software and am setting up a new controller with a PMDX-424 card on a Series 1 Bridgeport. I do not understand the definition of, and the relationship between the home position, the limit switch positions and soft limits. I also do not know the procedures for setting up these items or how the software reacts to these positions. The Mach4 CNC Controller Configuration Guide pdf does not explain this. Our machine has normally open limit switches for each axis which are activated (closed) at the limit of the positive direction and negative direction.

Thanks

4

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Motor tuning for Series 1

« on: May 15, 2017, 03:31:17 PM »

Those settings did the trick. Great PMDX support, per the usual. You answered my questions before, during and after my PMDX purchase. Thanks Steve!

5

Mach4 General Discussion / Motor tuning for Series 1

« on: May 13, 2017, 03:52:50 PM »

I am setting up Mach4 for a Bridgeport Series 1 Boss4 with its original Sigma stepper motors with the cooling fins. In the motor tuning section of Mach4 there is a simple math equation for calculating "counts per inch" which requires specs for the stepper motors and I don’t have a clue.

1. Does anyone know the following specs for the Sigma motors?
- steps per revolution
- screw pitch ratio

2. Are the specs the same for all three motors X, Y, Z?

3. I am using a PMDX-424 controller board which has “step pulse signals up to 100 KHz”. How does this relate to the motor tuning, or does it?

Thanks.