Messages

51

Feature Requests / Variable soft limits ???

« on: January 08, 2007, 09:08:51 AM »

Hi guys

Quite often I will turn up a one-off on the lathe, then part off and turn it round for facing. I will want to turn to a particular length, but I want to use jog as it is quicker than writing a program.

Would it be possible to have a variable limit that you could drive the machine against and it will stop without tripping any limits or anything like that.

e.g. I want to remove 34 thou
set 'soft limit' to Z-0.034
Jog to first cut e.g. Z-0.06
Jog to second cut Z-0.016
Jog to Third cut Z-0.029
Jog to fourth Cut Z-0.034 - machine won't go past this point.

Cheers

Dave

52

Works in progress / Re: New 4 Axis Milling Screen Set (RaspScreen)

« on: January 08, 2007, 08:57:07 AM »

I think this screenset is going to be great for touch screens. When I have a minute I will try and load it up on the 15" touchscreen I have on my lathe and see how it 'feels' and the how the sizing is.

53

Works in progress / Re: New 4 Axis Milling Screen Set (RaspScreen)

« on: January 05, 2007, 04:41:00 AM »

Hi Graham

Looking good - very industrial and functional. One thing I have noticed is that some of the LED buttons flicker of their own accord, I'm not sure whether they are meant to?. Also one thing I do like in normal Mach is the ability to simply Zero the DRO's are you planning to add this. I have a touch screen setup for my mill so when it's back together I would be very interested in trying this screenset. Keep up the good work.

Cheers

Dave

54

VB and the development of wizards / Re: VB and RS232

« on: December 15, 2006, 12:53:19 PM »

Have a look here -

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=1658.0

Cheers

Dave

55

Feature Requests / Turn Graphics Stock Control

« on: December 15, 2006, 06:59:29 AM »

Hi Guys

Quick thought. Any chance that two controls could be added to control the stock definition in turn graphics? If possible it would be useful to control the two values of stock diameter and stock length independently and also to turn them to manual /auto automatically.

For example -
Currently the stock adapts itself to the toolpath.
For a turn wizard it would be useful to be able to control the stock diameter so it is the same as the parameters set by the user.
For some jobs it would be useful to be able to set the stock length to represent how much is sticking out of the chuck.
Some times you would want to do both above.
Other times you want it on auto, i.e. as it is now.

Cheers

Dave

56

Mach Screens / Re: Screen Design - where is it going?

« on: December 15, 2006, 04:26:10 AM »

Hi Guys

Thanks for your replies. It's good to know that the 'traditional' screen development will remain. Having spent some time last night watching the videos on flash I can see that it is going to be a very impressive tool. However I still feel that the traditional screen designer is great for quick development, while still looking good.

Obviously, Screen 4 is now getting to the point where it needs major work to keep up with the features in Mach, and the appearance of the Jetcam designer is particulalry timely, especially as it is a 'clean sheet'implementation. Personally, I am really keen to see the jetcam designer develop further, possibly even replace Screen4.

At the end of the day this all depends on the user base, hence if your interested in screen design then have a play with teh Jetcam designer and let us know what you think. How many people are using it? What have you done with it?

Cheers

Dave

57

Mach Screens / Screen Design - where is it going?

« on: December 14, 2006, 03:56:08 PM »

Hi Guys

I am currently in the process of developing some new wizards. Up until now I have been using screen 4, and it is driving me mad. Everytime I make the slightest change I loose button transparency, background images dissapear, background images hide toolpath displays etc.

I decided to give the Jetcam screen designer a go. It is fantastic, picked it up in minutes and I have done what took me 4 evenings in Screen4 I have just done in a couple of hours.

But my question is where is scrren design going. There is a lot of talk about flash screens, but I've yet to see a flash screenset. How easy is it to develop flash screens, can you get free flash editors and when is it going to happen?

I know Stan is reluctant to do too much work on the Jetcam designer as he doesn't want to spend time on something that is soon to be replaced.

If you haven't tried the Jetcam Screen designer I would strongly reccomend that you try it. If you like it then let Stan know.

Cheers

Dave

58

Mach Screens / Re: Can't see background jpg

« on: December 11, 2006, 10:30:30 AM »

Hi Scott

I came across the same 'bug'- I have reported it to Art -

"A bit long winded but I just found a strange quirk in Screen4. I am
writing a wizard - so first I've created the JPG backdrops. These are
saved in a folder that holds the wizard, in a further folder called
bitmaps - i.e. same format as the others.

Now when I add the images to the screen in screen4, hothing appears,
they are blank. However if you copy them to the main bitmaps folder in
the Mach 3 parent directory they work. Even more confusing is that if
you then open the files originally in the wizards folder, they now
work!!!!

Very confusing and means I have to open every file twice to get it to
work."

Cheers

Dave

59

VB and the development of wizards / Re: OEM DROs in Wizards

« on: December 07, 2006, 10:01:28 AM »

Hi Wolfram

That's what I was planning to do but I just wondered whether anyone could give me a definitive answer before I start the task of programming all the buttons.

Cheers

Dave

60

VB and the development of wizards / Re: OEM DROs in Wizards

« on: December 07, 2006, 08:31:22 AM »

Hi

Thought I'd save starting a new post and ask a question here. I have a wizard which uses userDRO's on the first screen. It then steps through the screens - on the final screen when you hit the create G-code button it refers to the userdro's on the earlier screens. Will these DROs remain global or will I need to write them to global variables before leaving each screen?

Cheers

Dave