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Offline N4NV

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Re: Power Feed Wizard
« Reply #20 on: March 18, 2007, 08:13:02 PM »
Do the Spindle, Mist and Flood buttons work?  When I click on them the leds don't light.  I am trying the wizard from my desktop, I have not tried it on my machine's Mach computer.  I am using the file dated March 7, 2007.

Vince
Re: Power Feed Wizard
« Reply #21 on: March 18, 2007, 08:17:50 PM »
Yes, but only if you have them setup on the ports and pins pages. That one fooled me while testing it- I was doing my programming at my desk where I had not bothered to setup thing like spindle. I couldn't get the LEDs to go on, and finally realized Mach is smart enough not to act on the spindle or flood calls unless you have them configured.

vmax549

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Re: Power Feed Wizard
« Reply #22 on: May 09, 2007, 01:39:15 PM »
Ron ,I used the Power Feed Wizard today. Slick it works very well ,Thanks

Now if you need some more ideas for things we need just Hollar,(;-) TP

vmax549

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Re: Power Feed Wizard
« Reply #23 on: May 13, 2007, 07:09:22 PM »
Ron I was using the new wizard today and noticed a quirk. If I get too many moves ahead  of where it is at it seems to loose track of itself. Sometimes it stops before it get to the total number of moves or stops short of the correct distance of the move. Almost as though there is a buffering problem?????

Other than that it works very good and is a great addition to MACH.

(;-) TP
Re: Power Feed Wizard
« Reply #24 on: May 14, 2007, 06:54:49 PM »
I guess the answer to that is 'dont do that'!  why would you get ahead of the actual position?

Is there a need for a 'repeat' function, enter a number and have the feed move back and forth that number of times? Id think this would only make sense if it also did something with a second axis, like step over is Y between each X pass. But that would be better handled by the Surface wizard.

vmax549

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Re: Power Feed Wizard
« Reply #25 on: May 14, 2007, 09:22:00 PM »
Well to answer, when I am just using the power feed to do small segmant it doesn't make sense to set up the surfacing wizard for such a small amount in different parts of the total project. The PF works great but if I get several moves ahead say 1 feed 1 step over 1 feed and 1 step over add a jog, it may get lost and only does part of the total input of moves.

I do have high resolution servos and it may take a very large amount of steps to make moves. It gets worse if I use a lot of jogs with feeds

I can do the same things using the MDI and never have a problem, I can get 20 moves ahead with no loss of moves.

The PF is a lot more conveniant to use than the mdi but gets very clumsy if it looses track of moves.

If I just make a move and wait and then make another move every thing works ok, just clumsy to have to wait on the machine

A repeat is not needed just a way  to hold all the moves.

(;-) TP
Re: Power Feed Wizard
« Reply #26 on: May 14, 2007, 11:00:08 PM »
FWIW, I'd like to see an option added to the surfacing wizard to limit feeding in a single direction for mutiple passes on a wide workpiece so that the tool would be fed along +X for the first pass, raised to Z rapid, returned to the starting X position and then fed along +X for the next pass, etc.  It seems like surface finish on my mill is better if all surfacing passes are made in the same X-direction.

I'm using Mach2 on a Tormach mill but am about to upgrade to Mach3 and have just purchased the NFS Wizards, in case that feature is already implemented in Mach3 or NFS. I don't suppose it's a feature of the Power Feed wizard, is it?

Mike
Re: Power Feed Wizard
« Reply #27 on: May 15, 2007, 08:12:00 PM »
I think the loosing moves is a VB problem. Each time you press the button for a move a new VB instance is called. It generates the Gcode, then exits. If you press the button again, another Vb session is called. Mach and VB dont get along all that well- they barely tolerate each other. Look at some of the issues of a macropump that tries to run 10 times a second.

I probably should have added a While IsMoving loop to each command so that Vb does not return until the move is finished. Then you could not get ahead of VB.

I suggest you do NOT try to get several moves ahead of the machine.

Mike, you can do that kind of surfacing with the power feed wizard, but you do have to keep pressing the buttons for each feed and step over. It is for surfacing that I added the step over buttons in the lower right corner of the screen. To do a surface you would set up the limit values then press <feed> <Rapid return> <step over Y> then repeat the loop as many times as it takes to finish.

I realize thats not as nice as a wizard that simply generates one block of code then runs unattended.

This is kind of a fundamental distinction of my view of conversational. As its implemented here it means generating a block of gcode, then running a program. In my view of the world, one I was calling 'Interactive milling' instead of conversational you would actually run the code under the screen where it was generated. as you do in the PowerFeed wizard.

A long time ago I did a program like this, but I was never able to get a motor driver module I could call from VB. When Art started Master5 there was supposed to be a callable ocx to do moves, but it never really worked. I eventually quit working on my code. If you are interested in what I was doing its at http://plsntcov.8m.com/CNH.htm Someday I may revive that idea.

vmax549

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Re: Power Feed Wizard
« Reply #28 on: May 15, 2007, 09:43:10 PM »
AH, the old VB, I understand now(;-) The wizard still works great I can live with the input buffering.

Could you possible add an input to set the spindle speed.

Could you add a button to go to safe Z then return to origin( X0Y0)

Ron We appreciate your hard work on this (;-) TP

Would it be possible to convert this wizard to a page in mach?

Thanks TP
Re: Power Feed Wizard
« Reply #29 on: May 17, 2007, 06:15:39 PM »
A spindle speed button is easy, I will add it. Only concern is the screen is already to crowded.

The return to origin is easy, but a bit strange in logic- the wizard makes no assumption about an origin, and either limit could be Zero, with the power moves either plus or minus. you could even have limits both is negative region, then a GotoZero would be outside the range. I think it might cause some confusion.

Making it a mach screen is possible, but there may be a conflict. I use a number of DROs and Leds, with numbers I selected- they might overlap with DROs already in use on another Mach screen. It would not be technically hard, just tedious to get all the numbers right and no conflicts. That would also cause some logistical problems, since Art controls the rest of the screens, Id have to make sure mine got linked in on new releases.

Nice idea, Ill think about it.