Topics

21

Mach4 General Discussion / Has anyone made a Parker 6k8 Motion Controller work with Mach 3/4?

« on: July 30, 2019, 02:48:12 PM »

Just curious...

I happened across the Parker 6k8 8 axis ethernet motion controller. It looks like an awesome motion platform, 8 axis with feedback, open or closed loop, Step/Dir or +/- 10V analog, expandable digital and analog I/o, etc.

Has anyone ever used one of these with Mach 4? Do you know if a plugin is available?

Mike

22

Mach4 General Discussion / Cycle Timer not working - 4162

« on: July 10, 2019, 09:52:13 AM »

Hi All,

I don't think I have ever seen my cycle timer work in any version of Mach 4 (I'm at 4162). It is stuck at 0:22 at all times. Is this a common thing? Is it easy to correct?

Thanks,

Mike

23

Mach4 General Discussion / Spindle RPM DRO doesn't work after migration to Build 4162

« on: May 17, 2019, 09:32:46 AM »

Hi All,

A few weeks ago, I switched over to Mach 4 build 4162. I was successful in getting all my screens and setting imported correctly, however the spindle DRO (which showed true RPM from my spindle index sensor) now sits at 0. I don't think I've changed any scripts or settings since the migration and it worked well beforehand.

Does anyone know any tricks to get this running again?

Thanks!

24

Mach4 General Discussion / Mach 4 Mill CSS

« on: April 30, 2019, 10:31:22 AM »

Does Mach 4 Mill support constant surface speed? If so how do you set it up?

I am running my mill as a lathe for small diameter work using work offsets for tool positions. This works great but it would be nice if I could use CSS and feed per rev like a normal lathe.

25

Mach4 General Discussion / Can I create an Library of functions outside the Screen Load Script?

« on: April 24, 2019, 09:20:58 AM »

I have 30 or so custom functions that I wrote to interface over serial with some servo drives. Each one reads or writes a unique piece of data such as servoGetPositon(). These are taking up a lot of space in my screen load script and I would like to move them somewhere else to maintain readability without changing the functionality.

I am not a programmer so the phrasing I'm going to use is probably wrong, but is there a way to save all these functions in a "library file" and "include" this at the top of the screen load script? something like #include "servoScript.h" from C++? Does Mach/LUA support this?

Thanks!

26

Mach4 General Discussion / Mach 4 Bar Graph Display Element and Registers

« on: April 20, 2019, 07:25:04 PM »

Another question for everyone. I have written a serial script that is able to monitor the spindle load of my machine in real time. I'd like to add a bar graph in the spindle area which follows the value of the load, preferably colored green for 0-100%, yellow for 100-150%, and red for 150%-250%.

The bar chart display object looks perfect for what I am trying to do, but I cannot figure out a way to get to the value saved in my global register. It looks like it supports only Mach 4 internal values. Is this accurate? If so, would there be a possibility of expanding the functionality of this object in the future? Are there any workarounds to accomplish what I am trying to do? Thanks much!

27

Mach4 General Discussion / Is a short blocking delay in PLC script acceptable?

« on: April 11, 2019, 10:43:49 AM »

I have been developing a serial communications script for continuous data retrieval from a servo drive. I need to delay a very short time between transmitting and receiving to allow the drive to send a response. I initially attempted to use coroutines and a wxTimer (which works fine) but ended up deciding that the complexity of returning data from an asynchronous function was going to be more of a pain that it was worth.

I tested the function just simply using wxMilliSleep() and found it to work perfectly. I am only using a 1ms delay and never miss a transmission.

My question, how bad of a practice is it to have a blocking delay in the PLC script? How much delay is acceptable before the function of Mach 4 is negatively affected?

28

Mach4 General Discussion / What API Call to use for spindle running?

« on: April 04, 2019, 01:58:36 PM »

Hi All,

I want to interlock the pushbutton for my pneumatic drawbar to not operate when the spindle is rotating.

My first thought was to use the measured RPM of the spindle index pulse and check if it is equal to zero using mc.mcSpindleGetTrueRPM(), however this is not reliable under 200 rpm since the value drops to zero shortly after the index has passed. Also whenever the drawbar extends or releases, a huge garbage number is momentarily thrown into this value (not sure if something to do with relay contact noise or software).

I then wanted to get the commanded motor speed and check if equal to zero. mc.mcSpindleGetCommandRPM() doesn't work because the value is set by the last "S" code and is non-zero when an M05 is issued. I then wanted to use mc.mcMotorGetVel() but I got syntax errors using the code

Code: [Select]

velocity, rc = mc.mcMotorGetVel(inst, 6)
Note: My Spindle is OB1 (motor 6 I'm pretty sure)

Any thoughts on the best way to detect if the commanded or actual spindle velocity is non-zero? Or why the above syntax was wrong?

29

Mach4 General Discussion / Documentation on Step/Dir spindle rigid tapping?

« on: April 03, 2019, 09:01:21 AM »

Hi All,

I have a servo controlled spindle on my machine and have wandered across a check box to enable step/dir spindle rigid tapping. Is this documented anywhere? What cycles are supports and how does mach respond when that box is checked vs. not checked?

30

Mach4 General Discussion / Proper way to use work / tool offsets

« on: March 18, 2019, 10:56:55 AM »

Hi all, this is more of a "teach me CNC" than a Mach 4 specific issue, but I was hoping to get your thoughts.

For the first time since I started this hobby, I have a machine with home/limit sensors. I used to just open Mach 3, zero the machine coordinate system at the work zero and cut away (all work offsets being zero). If the power went out and I machined off the corner I used to zero the part, then the part was scrap.

Now I turn on the machine, home to inductive proximity sensors, then home to the servo encoder marker pulse. This seems to be very repeatable - as it should be. My question is about how to properly use work offsets. After this homing sequence, I believe the machine starts in G53 and is located at 0,0,0. From there, I believe you can write gcode relative to a work zero defined in G54-G59. What it seems like I need to do is go into the MDI, enter G54, then edge find my part zero. When I zero this, does mach automatically and permanently save the work offset? Is there something I need to do in order to get it to be saved?

Now for tool offsets. I preset my tool lengths off the machine relative to the nose of the spindle. My code typically has a call like:
M06 T5
G43 H5
This loads the tool and height offset info for tool 5. Sometimes it seems like the first line runs and throws some weird number into the Z axis DRO, then when the second line runs, the correct tool position is reloaded into the DRO. I ran into an issue where this weird number triggered an error of being outside of soft limits even though the tool was perfectly well inside the limits.

What is the proper procedure to turn on the machine, home, locate the work zero, save the work offset, and handle tool length offsets?

Thanks!