>>If I understand correctly Mach4 sends a axis homing command and Darwin which completes the task on it's own. I read and see the driver applies the homing offset that is setup in Mach4 homing configuration page. Then which is responsible for completing the homing move by moving to the zero point? Unless I'm missing something at this point I don't think either side (Mach4 or Darwin) is excepting the final move as it's responsibility but, someone needs to work out the final move and incorporate. I have a script and button at this point to use.

   Neither side accepts responsibility for the final move, you need to press GotoZero after the home offset is applied.  This was the spec when Darwin was designed.

>>Next is along the same thing is with the spindle speed being reported to Mach4 and keeping track of the actual rotation speed. I use the Super-PID with PWM input and Indexed spindle output. I have the input PWM speed control working fine. I have the index pulse returning to Mach4 as seen on the diagnostic tab. The Mach4 manual hints to the fact the index input is used for monitoring the speed but I have not found where it actually uses it as feed back to compare the the requested speed. So once again unless I missing something which side is responsible of the task to complete the feedback loop for a closed loop system?

  Darwin isn't capable of any operations in terms of closed loop. It would of course respond if told to change the speed by a script or other module that
does do closed loop calculations, but its out of Darwin's scope to do anything other than supply the PWM signal to run the spindle as a linear
function of the min/max setup in Mach. Its the only calibration possible for Darwin.

Thx
Art

These simple tasks were part of Mach3. Send the pulse to INDEX and it just worked. I have been turned down for a SDK so I've spent a lot of time gathering info from this forum and others who are working out scripts and screens. I've done a lot of programming through the years and much of the screen editing and scripting follows the same method and look just a different language. It's the details that are missing, like a listing of the pound numbers and what there reference to, the internal variable names, etc. I've read the API and understand the functions for the most part but the details just aren't there. I understand the Screen Load and PLC scripts function but there's no info on what needs to happen when. I made a script to auto move the axis to zero after completion of the homing but its like ignoring the code because something not finished or ready at the time it's to be executed. I've worked with checking that all axis are still from movement and a flag is set when the homing process is done and the home switch is active. Some times it works other time it just gets lost and the interface stops working. I guess we will all be testing and looking for answers for some time until Mach4 is actually up to what Mach3 had to offer after years of fixing.

Hi:

  Sorry, but I dont have much expertise in using Mach4, but others int eh forum under general Mach4 use may be able to help..
I am not part of Mach4's development, so dont have any knowledge of the various variables and such.

Art

After spending hours & hours trying to resolve my spindle issue, I have decided to leave Mach4 for now and stick with Mach3. If it aint broke don't try fix it as they say.
Thank you Art for your help and patience I wish you well sir.

Eddie:

  Sorry to hear its turned out to be a hassle. It should scale pretty linear between the two ( min and max) and as the last letter showed, his machine did that
fine, but it cannot do any closed loop operations. (though I understand the edict of "If it aint broke.."..

Art

I purchased Mach4 and the Darwin driver a couple of days ago, with the intention of running on my 4 axis bed mill that currently runs with Mach3.  After running the installers for both and starting Mach4, I get the following popup:



If I click the OK button then the Darwin plugin does not appear in the configure plugins screen.  In the control panel I can see it in the Device Manager screen:



Nevertheless I can execute the Darwin test driver program.  I have watched the youtube video several times on configuring Darwin, but am unsure of how to find the port address of the parallel port driver card.  I find this when drilling down into the driver info:



If this is correct and I enter that as the Darwin port address, should I expect that pressing the Estop switch on my mill to toggle one of the pin indicators in Darwin.  If it's not the correct port address, how do I find it?

Hi:
 Select the resources tab on that final photo, youll see something like  0x0c000 as the start of a resource address. Thats the one to use.

 As to why Mach4 wont load the plugin, Im not sure, if the drivertest runs, then the driver and plugin are capable of running. It may be you need
the VC++ Runtime libraries installed for vs2013. Google that and youll find an installer.

Thx
Art
 

Thanks.  Some progress made today with rather little time to work on it.  I discovered that the address (0xdc00 in my case) is also stored in decimal in the mach3 XML config.  After enabling the port and the eStop input signal I can see the pin status change when I toggle the eStop button on the mill.  So I am getting some communication.

However when I configure motor 0 (x-axis) with the step and dir pins as configured in mach3, the jog box doesn't produce any motion, although the jogging indicator goes from red to green.  That's as far as I got today.

Observations:

1) Any config changes I make go away after I exit the driver test program.  I assume that I'd need to run the configuration via Mach4 to save the info, but if that's not the case then I'll need some info.

2) The frequency slider disappears randomly after switching among other tabs on the driver dialog.

3) I have no idea on configuring the charge pump.  Is that configured somewhere in Mach3?

Further to the previous:

I discovered a VS redistribution exe file in the Darwin directory and ran it.  Then a Mach4 restart got rid of the popup and allows Darwin configuration within Mach4 including saving the data entered.  Next time I get into the shop I'll try the other motors.

Hi:

 Glad to hear..

  You must have your Estop reset before being able to jog in Darwin, there a box to do that on one of the config pages for the port.

Art
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