Hello Guest it is March 28, 2024, 07:24:19 AM

Author Topic: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions  (Read 1245354 times)

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Offline ART

*
  • *
  •  1,702 1,702
  • Tough as soggy paper.
    • View Profile
Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #540 on: October 09, 2014, 08:43:04 PM »
Eric:

 Yes, it should work fine in 2038 as well, Ive been using it all day with 2038..

Peter:

   Hmm, Ill make sure I turn off those messages, they should only turn on if DEBUG is selected in the Darwin dialog ...
The M4 guys are supposed to put out a version shortly that shows the loaded licenses, if you cant jog it may be license related
, though if you can jog in Darwin , you should be able to jog in M4 even without the license..

Art

Offline ART

*
  • *
  •  1,702 1,702
  • Tough as soggy paper.
    • View Profile
Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #541 on: October 09, 2014, 08:45:09 PM »
Peter:

  Just checked.. and if debug isnt turned on on, you should get no messages
from Darwin. Can you confirm its off or on so I can debug this further?

Thx
Art
Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #542 on: October 09, 2014, 09:02:29 PM »
Art,

Sorry, where do I turn on/off debug?

I do get the message "MPG3 sent motion of 2 counts to move" at the bottom of the M4 screen.  The message is actually flickering between MPG3 and MPG1.  The value shown as 2 is different each time I run M4.  Opening history shows a blank page in the latest M4 version.

When I try to jog in M4, the DROs in M4 show motion but the motors don't move.

Peter

Offline ART

*
  • *
  •  1,702 1,702
  • Tough as soggy paper.
    • View Profile
Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #543 on: October 09, 2014, 09:05:24 PM »
Peter:

  If the DRO's show motion, the step pulses are going out. The breakout baord may be stopping the motors due to a
charge pump or something.. but the DRO's, as in Mach3, indicate all is well and steps are being sent. Check your
charge pump or enables for the trouble.

For Debug,. select the menu item Diagnostics/Darwin and see if the Debug is checked..

Art

Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #544 on: October 09, 2014, 10:27:52 PM »
Art,

I got motion back.  I reinstalled M4 and set up Darwin again but this time I did not set up my encoders.  When I set up the encoders, the motion stopped.  Disabling the inputs did not restore motion until I restarted M4.  Also, the messages about the MPGs were not there until I set up the encoder inputs.  They went away after I disabled the inputs and restarted M4.

Am I the first to set up encoder inputs?

Peter
Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #545 on: October 10, 2014, 01:22:36 AM »
Hello Art

Well its not working for me. It will only allow 1 axis to work. If I have more than 1 axis enabled in Darwin I can't get Mach 4 to enable and I get a Darwin Buffer Error - motion out of bounds. Its like Darwin isn't licensed. Darwin.dat and Mach4.dat are in the license folder. I have uninstalled and installed Mach 4 and Darwin several times and reconfigured and still have the same results. Restarting Mach 4 has no effect nor does rebooting computer. Mach 4 is showing it's licensed. It would be nice if there was some way to know if Darwin was licensed or not. Starting to get frustrated.

Eric
« Last Edit: October 10, 2014, 01:24:32 AM by handsmfg »

Offline dude1

*
  •  1,253 1,253
    • View Profile
Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #546 on: October 10, 2014, 01:46:46 AM »
remove Darwin drives from C/drivers then do a reninstal

Offline ART

*
  • *
  •  1,702 1,702
  • Tough as soggy paper.
    • View Profile
Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #547 on: October 10, 2014, 07:38:55 AM »
Hi:

  If limited to one axis, the plugin is old. The recent plugins limit only the IO and turn off motioon after abotu 1/2 hour. It
seems your license isnt working. I agree with you that there should be a way to see if the license works, and Ive expressed this
to Steve, who tells me there will soon be a way to tell.
   Your plugin should show version 1.200 in Mach4's selection tab....

Art

Offline ART

*
  • *
  •  1,702 1,702
  • Tough as soggy paper.
    • View Profile
Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #548 on: October 10, 2014, 07:45:26 AM »
A note on encoders and MPG's.

  To the plugin, MPGs are the only use of an encoder. Darwin , if it sees an enabled encoder is set to an MPG number,
will send messages to M4 to tell it the MPG has rotated. Thats all it does. MPG's in M4 are the responsability of the
screen set involved. Not the plugin. SO no motion will result from an MPG being rotated. IF the Debug box is checked in the
plugins control dialog ( under Diagnostiscs/Darwin) then messages will be put out showing the MPG was rotated.
  This does not mean motion will occur. Youd need a screenset that uses MPG's and I havent as yet seen one released.
The encoders are not reported to Mach4 in any other way so I assume there is no use for them in Mach4 for anything other
than MPGs. A plugin could of course use them for closed loop or anything else it wishes, but Darwin doesnt use them for
anything other than MPG reporting.   So until you have a screenset that uses MPG's, you may as well leave the encoders
turned off in Darwin..

Art

Offline Tweakie.CNC

*
  • *
  •  9,196 9,196
  • Super Kitty
    • View Profile
Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #549 on: October 10, 2014, 07:51:25 AM »
Hi Art,

It appears there is a Darwin license issue. I am running Mach4 build 2038 and have tried Darwin build 2030, 2035 & 2038 (deleting and re-installing the driver each time and copying the .dll, .m4pw, .sig) but in all cases Mach4 stops after a random time – as though it was unlicensed.

I had initially thought it was a Mach4 problem but can now confirm that Mach4 build 2038 when running in simulation mode runs forever it is just when running Darwin that it stops.

Tweakie.
PEACE