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Author Topic: Help Setting Up a Laser Cross-hair in Mach3 Using 2010 Screenset  (Read 4736 times)

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I apologize if this has been asked and answered but searching did't turn up what I was looking for.

I just physically hooked up a laser cross hair to my machine and it is connected to the output port 32 on my controller.

Using ger21's 2010 screenset there is a button for using the cross-hair but I'm still new enough at this I have no clue which output  this button is trying to use.

When i looked in the ports and pins setup I obviously have many choices to map the pin to under outputs but want to make sure I choose the one I need the button to power.

Actually now that I'm thinking it through as I type I'm guessing the cross-hair button only tells Mach3 to reset the DRO's to the coordinates of where the laser cross-hair is pointed so I need to figure out how to map turning it on and off to a key but I've no clue.

It is currently mapped to Output5 .

Thanks in advance and thank you so much for all the help you guys give on this forum.

Chris

Offline ger21

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Re: Help Setting Up a Laser Cross-hair in Mach3 Using 2010 Screenset
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2013, 11:43:12 AM »
Correct, the button only sets the offset. You'll need to turn the laser on and off separately. A manual switch should be fine, as I don't know of any way to automate the process.
Gerry

2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html

JointCAM Dovetail and Box Joint software
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html
Re: Help Setting Up a Laser Cross-hair in Mach3 Using 2010 Screenset
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2013, 06:07:28 PM »
Since my centipede controller board has the power and relays built in the physically turning on and off of the laser can definitely be handled by Mach3 and tying the on/off to something like a key but I just need to know how to do that. My machine is about 20 feet away from the computer (I'm planning on adding a camera as well to help with the walking around all my machines and save some time) but I'd rather not have to do a physical switch when the board can handle it.

If someone could tell me how to set a hot key, say for L, and tie it to Output 5 I'd be golden.

Offline ger21

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Re: Help Setting Up a Laser Cross-hair in Mach3 Using 2010 Screenset
« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2013, 06:47:08 PM »
Use a screen designer to add a VB script button to the screen, and assign the Hotkey to the button.

Then write a script to toggle the output on and off.
The script would be something like this:

If not IsActive(OUTPUT5) then
ActivateSignal(OUTPUT5)
Else
DeActivateSignal(OUTPUT5)
End If

I'm not sure if this is 100% correct. You'll need to do some research.
Gerry

2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html

JointCAM Dovetail and Box Joint software
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html
Re: Help Setting Up a Laser Cross-hair in Mach3 Using 2010 Screenset
« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2013, 07:33:11 PM »
Thanks ger21. Will adding a button to the top row of buttons be an issue for your screenset?

Offline ger21

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Re: Help Setting Up a Laser Cross-hair in Mach3 Using 2010 Screenset
« Reply #5 on: October 14, 2013, 09:39:40 PM »
As long as it's not overlapping another button, it should be fine.
Gerry

2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html

JointCAM Dovetail and Box Joint software
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html