Messages

21

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: spindle dwell before run

« on: August 03, 2020, 02:52:49 PM »

In a situation where you don't have feedback to mach4 of the actual RPM coming from the VFD, how do you make sure the spindle waits to spool up before moving? Do you check that "override" option only? I tried this last night and my code still just started ripping before the spindle was even ready.

22

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Won't generate tool paths

« on: August 03, 2020, 11:37:14 AM »

Well, I don't know what I did, but it seems to work for now. I even ran some code. Fingers crossed.

23

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Intermittent chokes with PMDX-411 and new Mach4/Win10 installation

« on: August 03, 2020, 11:29:58 AM »

Hi,
I have a dual core Atom (with on chip graphics) running my machine in conjunction with an Ethernet SmoothStepper
and its run flawlessly for five years.

I don't know why Mach seems to consume that much CPU power, on my installation it seldom gets to 5% and I've never seen it go beyond 10%.

Craig

Wow, that's nuts. What OS you on? I wonder why I would have such wildly different results? It was a brand new computer out of the box too, with virtually every extraneous thing I could turn off shut down in Win 10.

24

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Sometimes an axis doesn't zero after a home

« on: August 03, 2020, 11:27:35 AM »

Cool, yeah, thanks. After a full reboot and and power cycle, it seems OK for now. I was setting up limit switches and motors and all that so stopping and starting the machine a lot. Hopefully it will remain ok.

25

Mach4 General Discussion / Won't generate tool paths

« on: August 01, 2020, 07:20:21 PM »

I am trying to open an g code in Mach4 hobby and it always just sits at "tool path progress" at 0% and never loads. If you cancel and hit Regen tool path , same thing.

I've tried the sample codes that come with Mach4 and always the same result. Somebody please help me!!

26

Mach4 General Discussion / Sometimes an axis doesn't zero after a home

« on: July 31, 2020, 02:10:45 AM »

Anyone else seen this? I click to home all axis and it always works, but sometimes one or more of the axis doesn't zero, it'll just have some random negative number for position. You can click and zero it and it's fine, or re home and it's usually fine. No communications errors or anything. Just seems pretty sporadic.

This is using a PMDX-411 smart Bob for controller

27

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Intermittent chokes with PMDX-411 and new Mach4/Win10 installation

« on: July 30, 2020, 01:43:06 AM »

Picked up a used HP Z Workstation today for cheap...yep works fine. So, my experience is that Atom based PCs are not such a good bet for Mach4 with Smart BOB!

28

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Intermittent chokes with PMDX-411 and new Mach4/Win10 installation

« on: July 29, 2020, 02:14:24 PM »

Looks like this might just be a CPU issue. I tried to turn off EVERYTHING extraneous in Windows 10 and ran Mach4 with the system monitor going. Idling, the Mach4 process uses about 35% of the poor little 2.4GHz Atom in simulation device, but when you turn on the PMDX Plugin, it goes up to 55-60% ! All of the other required processes for windows occasionally spike the processor to 100% and it stutters.

So, I guess I need a better PC for this job.

29

Mach4 General Discussion / Intermittent chokes with PMDX-411 and new Mach4/Win10 installation

« on: July 29, 2020, 12:33:39 AM »

Hi all! I'm fairly new to the CNC world, so please bear with me! I just installed Mach4Hobby on a brand new little mini PC with Windows 10 and using a SmartBOB PMDX-411 with a Gecko G540. After some head-against-a-wall moments (the biggest being that the "Enable" button in Mach4 turns RED when it's enabled.... Forgive my french, but what the flying ********* kind of logic is that??) I finally can job all 3 axis of my machine, but there is one big problem: The whole computer briefly hangs in 2 to 5 seconds bursts fairly randomly but consistently every 20-30 seconds or so. If you happen to be holding or clicking a jog button while this happens, the machine keeps moving until the hiccup is over AND you click the opposite jog button to stop it. Super dangerous!!

I think it has to do with the PMDX because if I start Mach4 with simulation mode, the program and PC never hiccups. As soon as I select the PMDX as the control, the spasms begin.

Here are the things I've tried:
1) Manually installing the 1.4 USB driver from PMDX by their instructions. When I open device manager I see the SmartBob Virtual Com Port (Com 3) under device manager/ Ports(Com&LPT).
2) Rebooting the computer several times
3) Trying a hardware USB keyboard and mouse just in case the wireless mouse/kb was causing an issue.

And still the problem persists.

ANY help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone!!