Messages

161

General Mach Discussion / Re: Assorted Questions

« on: April 30, 2019, 06:19:55 PM »

https://www.china-cncrouter.com/news/What-Are-the-Differences-between-Mach3-and-Mach4-Software.html
DATED 2016-11-30

"And Mach4 is our newest version of CNC motion control software. It has three version such as Mach4 Lite, Mach4 Hobby,and Mach4 Industrial . Now the mini CNC compatible with mach4 such as CNC 6040 and CNC 6090 models are in testing. "

"Windows XP lite" is still legally authorised by Microsoft for sales in China

162

General Mach Discussion / Re: Assorted Questions

« on: April 30, 2019, 04:57:36 PM »

This statement is from ChinaCNCZone:
"Mach4 Lite – A basic solution with limited support for OEM's who manufacture small CNC machinery for the consumer market."

I know some antivirus would delete LEGAL PlasmaCAM/Design Edge software that customers paid thousands of dollars too. I told them to get rid of those antivirus.



EDIT; Inappropriate comments removed.

163

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Safety FIRST: Stop Windows from initializing the Parallel Port(s)

« on: April 30, 2019, 12:42:24 AM »

J.R. Hatcher
Just call me: J.R. #4       Wilmington, North Carolina
United States of America
 
Al the basic purpose of the charge pump is to keep the machine from moving if it is not reporting to mach3. Safety, safety, safety.

Gerald D
Cape Town
South Africa

The parallel port on PC's give false signals during a PC's startup - the charge pump prevents false moves and spindle starts while booting the PC and before Mach3 has taken control of the parallel port.

ellbringer  Hellbringer is offline
USA

Default HELP - Wiring C10, Charge Pump, and Spindle Control
Hello Everyone

Little background, I have a CNC router and I am using 5V from the computer power supply to power all the board (c10, Charge Pump, PWM Control board etc)

The problem i am having is when the computer is turned on the spindle starts and will run till mach 3 is open and the reset is pressed (Mach 3 takes control) and the spindle will turn off. As you can imagine this is a safety problem.

I do have a charge pump. (C4) that to my understanding detects a signal from Mach 3 and turns everything on once mach 3 takes control. The way i have it wired right now it works for all the servos, but it does not work for the spindle.

I can find wire guides for the charge pump to C10 and spindle control board to C10 but i cannot find a wire guide that includes all 3 of them. Can someone help me with the wiring of the 3 boards?

Thanks
Mike

So This Thread provides registry patches is to stop Windows from giving the parallel "false signals" during a PC's startup.

Safety issue or Not , YOU can decide.
But I think, if motor or spindle moves when MACH is NOT is control, it is UNSAFE.

164

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Safety FIRST: Stop Windows from initializing the Parallel Port(s)

« on: April 29, 2019, 11:41:35 AM »

When Windows 7 boots up, it usually INITIALIZE the parallel port.

This was your first sentence, so external motion controllers are out of scope of your writing (I guess )
As far as I know, CP works even at 25kHz kernel speed. Maybe that charge pump is disabled in demo mode together with other demo limitations.

People have proven using an Oscilloscope that the charge pump freq at 25,000 kernel speed was only about around 2.2k and not around 12.9K. If the "CHARGE PUMP" circuit still works, it must be a low quality circuit without any band pass filter.

I presented this solution because most BOB with charge pump circuit only disables the Steppers or Servo motors NOT VFD drives and Coolant pumps and some MOTION CONTROLLERS vendors who cannot get charge pumps to work falsely claim "charge  pumps are optional because windows initializes  parallel port on boot-up whereas the motion controllers do not.

I have my MACH3 kernel Parallel Port Kernel running at 100,000Hz/60,000Hz so I know it is safer than using any External Motion Controller that won't stop pulsing immediately if the PC suddenly crashes.

165

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: edit Cyclestop in screen

« on: April 29, 2019, 02:03:09 AM »

It is NOT fine for general public understanding. And it gives a false impression of MACH4 to potential customers as being inadequate

"A [STOP] button that makes moves" is NOT even ENGLISH.

Sorry.

166

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: edit Cyclestop in screen

« on: April 28, 2019, 08:50:12 PM »

FEEDHOLD is supposed to be the equivalent of the MOO on the screen.

The problem with MACH4 is that it's M0 (M00) command does not include the M9 internally to turn off all the coolants (unless the manual is WRONG) - unlike the M00 of Fanuc and Haas.
From Mach4 manual
"M00 – Mandatory Program Stop: To pause a program at any point specify an M00. All motion will be halted and the spindle stopped. To resume operation press the cycle start button."
Doesn't stop coolants.

And I also pointed out that M00 is among the M codes that USERS are NOT ALLOWED to make changes.

I also pointed out that Hobby users can simply use the VFD drive output relay to turn off and on the coolants making use of the FEEDHOLD options available to do that. So IMO there is no need to change the meaning/function of the [STOP] button.

167

Mach3 under Vista / Re: Safety FIRST: Stop Windows from initializing the Parallel Port(s)

« on: April 28, 2019, 04:47:09 PM »

Agree with using BOB that has Charge Pump circuit.

But
1. Charge Pump needs to be turned on using a jumper at the BOB. Many just left it OFF.
2. MACH3 Pulsing frequency must be at least 35,000Hz (not 25,000) for the Charge Pump to work since 25,000Hz could not generate 12.5K frequency.  So Demo users cannot use Charge pump.
3. Charge pump BOB doesn't work with some external motion controller like the WARP9 ESS motion controller.

Most machines may have BOB with only has "enable" pin and NOT charge pump. These will work better with ESS when BOB with Charge Pump does not even work.

For XP users
another change in Registry may be necessary
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Parport\Parameters] "DisableWarmPoll"=dword:00000001

168

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: How do I set Work Coords to equal machine coords when homing?

« on: April 28, 2019, 04:07:19 PM »

 If you use a G10, you will need to close it out with a G11 in Mach4 (although it was not required in Mach3). 

169

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: How do I set Work Coords to equal machine coords when homing?

« on: April 28, 2019, 03:32:09 PM »

Like the title states I would like my work coordinates to be equal to my machine coordinates when I home the machine.

Put the following in the beginning of your G Code file assuming [REF. ALL ZERO] homing sets Machine cordinates to X0 Y0 Z0.

G28
G90 G10 L2 P1 X0 Y0 Z0

explaination
G28 sends tool to machine zero already DONE [ref all zero] before
G90 make sure G10 is in absolute units
G10 L2 P1 sets values in WORK COORDINATE #1 (nominally G54)
you already know what X0 Y0 and Z0 means

170

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: edit Cyclestop in screen

« on: April 28, 2019, 10:13:47 AM »

Haas M00 Stop Program
The M00 code is used to stop a program.
Haas M00 stops the
o   axes
o   spindle
o   turns off the coolant (including Through Spindle Coolant)

Fanuc M00 stops following cnc functions.
o   Motion of all axes
o   Rotation of the spindle
o   Coolant function
o   Further program execution

Weeks of customization in this thread just to make the CYCLESTOP button also do the
M00 command ?