Messages

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General Mach Discussion / machine has a ethernet smooth stepper and running mach3 avid cnc machine

« on: July 22, 2021, 03:40:41 PM »

have a avid cnc machine with ethernet smooth stepper running mach3 and uses the avid breakout boards.
A coworker who is no longer with us installed a ribbon cable in the port 3 of the ESS and the ribbon cable goes to a seperate board that then allows you to connect regular panel wiring to pins you choose.
He used the port3 to control a stepper/servo motor. could someone explain how he may have set up the machine to use port3 to send the pulse and directions to the motor that he mounted for a spindle?
Is then in Mach3, or something you have to setup in the ESS?   Thanks for any assistance, have not messed with this in a couple of years.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Remote Input to Start and output when complete

« on: April 29, 2019, 08:10:24 AM »

Thanks to everyone. This site is pretty awesome. Trying to work on this and design a Vision Camera system at the same time and its a little confusing when you can not dedicate all of your time. Actually, this is a lot more interesting and fun.
All of the info has been very helpful.  not very up on VB and doing custom macro programs.  is there any reading material or some type of Macro for dummy book related to Gcode type programming?   Thanks
Would it be too much to ask if you wrote an example of the above macro? Not asking to actually do it for me, but a sample similar would be very helpful. Sample programs, schematics etc. like what is on here and a couple of other great Forums I use such as Plc.net and Mr.Plc are worth a lot more and very helpful.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Remote Input to Start and output when complete

« on: April 26, 2019, 07:30:57 PM »

is there a way to get a output from the mach3 to let you know the cycle is complete.
what i had thought about was at the end of each program add the Gcode to go to a certain position and have the axis trigger a prox switch that could be used to signal the cycle is complete, automatically remove the product and move another in place, then trigger machine again and continue operation.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Remote Input to Start and output when complete

« on: April 26, 2019, 07:28:30 PM »

Thanks

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Remote Input to Start and output when complete

« on: April 26, 2019, 03:23:42 PM »

thanks
What we actually have is a Pro48 table from Cncrouterparts with the Nema34 Electronics kit.
It has Cncrouterparts custom breakout boards but is using EthernetSmoothStepper for the brains.
Really nice unit. We have been testing our theory of using the extruder etc.. to prove some concepts for new products we looking at producing and it has worked great for that.
You have to manually load the material and push the Cycle Start on the Mach3 interface which is okay, except for testing to produce a production machine. Looking at Automatically feeding the material, etc.. and then once in place, start the Cncrouter machine with a remote dry contact relay which is controlled by a PLC.
Basically, with the external extruder hose mounted on the Z axis instead of actual Spindle it will function very similar to 3D printer.  I can handle the Automation of feeding material in automatically at a exact position everytime and removing it and feeding more material in since my background is Allen Bradley and Omron PLC controls etc... but trying to figure out a way to start the Cncrounter mach3 program etc..
Thanks for your assistance and posting the attachment

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Remote Input to Start and output when complete

« on: April 26, 2019, 02:03:14 PM »

Thanks
I was reading some other post on the web and saw where it was mentioned that you could go into Config-Ports&Pins-Input Signals and assign for example Port#1 Pin 12 to OEM Trig#1 if you Enabled OEM Trig#1.

Then go into Config-System Hot Keys and place a value of 1000 which is the "Hotkey number" for a particular keyboard function, which I assume the 1000 value = The Cycle Start Pushbutton on the Mach3 screen.
 
Have not tried this yet. Is there a way to know what the Hotkey number value is for a particular keyboard function in mach3?
Thanks for any advice.  Still learning a little at a time, but at the moment having to try and work on this between projects so any assistance is appreciated.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Remote Input to Start and output when complete

« on: April 26, 2019, 12:24:41 PM »

Still trying to figure out a simple way and not being very familiar with Gcode etc..., but learning more by reading info on this site.

I was reading about a M30 command. That the best i can tell if you put this at the end of a Gcode program and once the program was completed it would automatically have the Gcode program restart at the first of the Gcode.
Is there a Gcode type command that could be added at the beginning of the program - Wait for input to go true and if that input went true then start running and executing the Gcode program again.
If so, can you assign the start to a input in mach3?
Thanks for any advice.

8

General Mach Discussion / Remote Input to Start and output when complete

« on: April 18, 2019, 09:50:41 AM »

Have a question i hope someone can assist with.
Have a machine we purchased from Cncrouter parts, its a Pro table with a x,y,z axis and is a very well built machine.
machine is operational and have been able to create g code files from 3d image files and run on the machine.
At the moment i have a ink pen mounted on the end of the z axis that is used to draw the pattern on a sheet of paper just to test and make sure everything is working.
Will be looking at mounting a floor mounted extruder machine and run a hose from it to the z axis and attach to the end of the z axis.
When machine is started, will start the extruder and extruder material to duplicate what was drawed on the paper.
At the moment,, starting the print from the Mach 3 screen.
is there a way to use the Mach3 to load the G code file and then a remote input such as from a push button etc. be wired into the machine to start the print cycle.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 with SmoothStepper Hardware Remote Start and Stop

« on: March 21, 2019, 07:53:03 PM »

Not sure if this should be new topic but asking it here since a little detail about what i trying to do is explained in previous post.
We have a image file we created in Solid Works that is created as one continous line. The file we saved as a DXF file and then converted it with Slic3r and also with Lazycam from Mach3.
When we run the file on the Machine we have with Ethernet Smooth stepper as the main controls it will create the image. What we are doing for testing is a permanent marker mounted on the end of Z axis.
We select to Optimize it in Lazycam before we loaded it into Mach3 to run on the machine and it will create the image exactly as it appears but a couple of times the Z axis lifts up and the gantry will move a different section of the image if you follow it on the screen in Mach3 and continue even though we created the image as one continous line.
I hope this is making sense.
The problem this will create with the finished machine is that just as it lifts the permanent marker and moves it to a different section of the image as it is being created with a extruder nozzle mounted on the end extruding out a melted gasket type material it will mess up the actual product we are working to produce.
Now here is the dumb question- how to convert it to the Gcode file without the lifting and jumping to a different section even though the original file was created as one continous line if a effort to prevent what we are seeing. 
Thanks

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach3 with SmoothStepper Hardware Remote Start and Stop

« on: March 20, 2019, 03:02:40 PM »

Thanks a lot.