Messages

41

Mach4 General Discussion / edit Cyclestop in screen

« on: April 18, 2019, 03:13:14 AM »

I would like to edit the cycle stop button  to have it lift the tool to machine zero and turn of the coolant
I go into screen edit and click on cycle stop and can get to a cyclestop macro but when I add what is needed there is does not seem to take effect 
what am I doing wrong
I have also tried editing the screenscript but this is marked as read only  so I am a but reluctant to edit it
Regards Ray

42

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Weird spindle problem

« on: April 13, 2019, 07:45:22 PM »

Hi
I use a SSD hard disk and it has not had any problems I also have a standard hard disk in the machine that I keep the backups on ( as well as a separate computer)

I personally suspect a file is opened in Mach4 and then not closed properly and left open I have seen this before and causes random problem but in the past it has always ascii characters    the corruption in this case seems  not to be random character's
Windows did down load a update while the machine was running but did not install it until I closed every thing off and then went to shut the computer down and I do not believe this to be a problem …...BUT
RegardS Ray

43

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Weird spindle problem

« on: April 13, 2019, 07:22:10 PM »

Hi  Thanks
I looked at the machine.ini and it appears to do a backup regularly I compared a few days back to the current one and there are dozens of entry's that have changed some to do with the spindle and some with the colors but also a bunch more
I  am not sure of what a lot of them do for instance  there are a heap of entry's called Angle and these are all different
Any idea what would cause that?  and more importantly what can I do to try and not have it happen again for sure I will backup more regularly from now on
regards Ray

44

Mach4 General Discussion / Weird spindle problem

« on: April 13, 2019, 05:47:33 AM »

I have had my machine running great I fitted a 8 position tool changer using Mach4  and been using the machine with no problem on a daily basis and is has run maybe 40 to 50 hours
Today after not using it yesterday  every thing appeared to work except the analog out put for the spindle after about 3 hours going through the electronics ( I use ESS smoothstepper)  I could not get a 0 to 10 volt output for the spindle
I also noticed the screen  where tool path ops is shown had gone to a different background color a pale orange from blue
I had a full program backup so did a copy of back up program over and every thing now works I have both programs and have gone through all the setups in configure and they both look the same some thing must be corrupted but I have 2 questions why would it be corrupted it was working and shut down properly and where would the corruption  likely to be I would like the find the file so as to get a better under standing  I will start comparing the  2 programs file by file  but there are lots of files and will take some time
Any ideas any one ?
is this relatively common or a rare one off  I sure am glad I had a backup even if it is not completly my current spec
Regards Ray

45

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: ATC help

« on: March 12, 2019, 06:59:08 PM »

Yup, mcSignalWait is it! 
If I remember, I'll post some of my ATC code tomorrow. 
Anytime I use this call, I always check the rc.
For example, the ATC I just finished working on is all pneumatic, if the cylinder takes to long to extend or retract, I E Stop the machine, leave an error message, and return to the end of the Macro. 
Again, I'll try and remember to post some code tomorrow.

that would be great mine is also air operated in part and will do as you suggest I had not thought of a E-Stop but this would be good if the air supply etc stopped for some reason or other problems as well
thanks

46

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: ATC help

« on: March 12, 2019, 06:54:58 PM »

Thanks for that I found the  Mach4CoreAPI.chm help file  that is what I need and the wait command will be perfect for what I want to do
Sorry for being such  a amateur I just need pointing in the right direction once in a while thanks again but now having the help files and knowing where they are located will help heaps
Regards Ray

47

Mach4 General Discussion / ATC help

« on: March 12, 2019, 05:50:54 AM »

I am working on a tool change script  my problems are
I need to delay or wait till a input comes on and I do not know how to do that I think I can read the input and can certainly turn on and of the outputs 
But cant figure out how to create a loop while waiting for a input to happen after I give a output command
Regards Ray

48

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: M6 script does not seem to take changes

« on: March 12, 2019, 05:36:00 AM »

Hi
I had several versions of m6,mcs even though they were renamed they started with m6 deleted them and now changes take place I thought I could rename then and keep backups but you need to have some where other then the macro directory
thanks for the help
Regards Ray

49

Mach4 General Discussion / M6 script does not seem to take changes

« on: March 12, 2019, 02:26:10 AM »

I edit the M6.mcs script it compiles ok  all I am doing for a start it to alter the x y z positions to see if the changes take place  it does not the machine still runs to x 12 y 5 etc not the new position I have put in I have restarted mach4 as I think it re includes and compiles as it starts but does not seem to use what I have edited in  I use a different tool number in the MDI each time but it still goes to the original position in the script that was there before the edit
any idea's

50

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: touch probeing

« on: March 11, 2019, 06:05:53 PM »

Hi
I am running win10 pro and ESS  now I have the XHC probe working as it should the thing is a absolute Gem it runs perfect and the probe works great
I am now working on a 8 tool tool changer
Regards Ray