Hi all,
Mach4 the way it is downloaded from the website is Set for 3 Axis Toolpath display.
To make Mach4 a 4 Axis Toolpath display there are two ways:
1) Via Lua code added to the PLC Script.
local inst = mc.mcGetInstance()
mc.mcToolPathSetARotationAxis(inst, 0)
mc.mcToolPathSetAAxisPosition(inst, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000);
OR
2) By modifying the machine.ini file.
[ARotoryAxisPosition]
RotationAbout = 0   <-- In the 3 Axis Toolpath display it is setup as = -1
XAxis = 0.0
YAxis = 0.0
ZAxis = 0.0
This will then display all your 4 axis correctly.
So it has been there for the last 3 years but no one was aware about it.
Regards,
Mauri.

Hi all,
For those that want to perform other 4/5 Axis movements here are some notes from Steve.

RotationAbout: It is designed so that A can rotate around Y or Z too.  it would normally be B and C that does this.  However, the tool path only has a notion an A axis rotary at the moment.  But if the RotationAbout is set to 1 (Y axis), you would still use A (instead of B) in the G code.  This is so people with CAM programs that can only output rotary on the A axis can actually rotate around the Y or Z axes if they need to do that.  The default is -1 which means no 4th axis.  It is turned off by default because running the U axis (linear A) would distort. 

XAxis, YAxis, ZAxis: The offset of the rotation.  They are normally 0 and default to 0.  But they can be changed to add the offset of a when the center of rotation is not part 0.

So we can finally put this one to bed.

Regards,
Mauri.

That was to easy

So it has been there for the last 3 years but no one was aware about it

I was . I found what i needed in the 'Mach4CoreAPI.chm' in the Docs dir at least 2 years ago.

Anyway things are getting there, this has been added in the latest developer version 4.2.0.3741

 Dazed+Confused,
Finally 4 Axis Toolpath Display has been added to Mach4.
Great news for all.
Regards,
Mauri.

I don’t get this one to work correctly. Using Mach4 3804. I’m only able to get the 4th axis tool path to show correctly if all axis are homed and I zero them in the home position. Tried this with soft limits on and off. If I move to my work piece zero, zero the axis there and then press Regen Toolpath, the tool path window shows only rubbish.

I milled the same file yesterday, so I know it’s working in the machine, will not pass any limits so the problem is not there. Been scratching my head the whole morning. Anybody else that has the same problem. Well you can always select not to generate the toolpath, but then you don’t see where you have milled anyhow.

Noticed that when you press stop, suddenly, the tool path shows correctly.

Pictures attached:
The first one shows how it looks like during milling, when you have succeeded to generate the tool path in the machine zero.

The second one shows when you have pressed stop.

The third one shows when you press Regen tool path in the new work zero.

Well, I’m confused  , anybody that has this one working and can advice about a solution?

Kjell 

Kjell,
Yes, you are correct that is what you get if you regen and not have all Zeros in the DRO displays the outcome can bear little resembalance to the correct profile when these are changed.
Even if say Mach4 as started say had Z=25 and then you loaded the G-Code it would then display an incorrect toolpath.
As I have no idea as to how the program is written to perform this task in the toolpath display of the 4 Axis, it is hard to see if a solution exists.
Brain and Steve are the only two at ArtSoft that may eventual be able to solve this for us all.
The minimum that should at least be fixed is if you change the Z height on the DRO in line with the cutter on the Job (top dead center).
In most other cases X/Y/A start at Zero.
I was at least happy that it could display and run in Mach4.
These things normally get addressed when there enough users asking for a fix or that it fails to perform the correct cut.
Regards,
Mauri.

Mauri,

Good then I’m not the one screwing up at least

I had posted some time ago about this problem and I was using the example of a chess pawn. I continue to have the problem and very sporadically I can get the object I am working with to come up in the tool path window as desire but is very seldom and I have not been able to repeat it. What I get is a tool path with everything stacked up in a line with not evidence of any y movement, so it basically looks like a disk. The other view I can create is kind of like a single half outline of the object in the y axis. The very few times I have been able to get the a axis to show up correctly I record all current configuration settings and steps on what I did but am not able to recreate after I restart mach4. I came across the making sure all axis are zeroed before starting but there must be other things that are also causing issues, so at this point I can't say for 100% that the zeroing axis is even an issue even tho I always start that way.

I have attached a picture of what I get when I select "Rotate around Y axis" and "A Rollover" is checked. I am running mach4 version: 4.2.0.4300. The object should be a chess rook and as you can see it appears to be two of them side by side with the area between them filled in with the tool path. I also get the same type of picture with the chess pawn I tested out. I believe I have only twice been able to get it to generate correctly or as one would hope to see the toolpath generate, once with the pawn and once with the rook but only once each and only after a lot of just making changes and regenerating the tool path. However, when I started over and went through the exact same steps, to the best of my knowledge, the closest I can get back to what one would want to see for a tool path is what you see in the picture. When I first purchased mach 4, I inserted the code and added the dro suggested earlier in this post thread as can be seen below the axis dros', in the attached picture, which worked at one point but it does not work now on this newer version of mach 4. Anyway if anyone has any solutions from what you see here I would appreciate your suggestions. Also, I home and zero all of the axis first on startup, go to the tooth path tab under the configure menu and set the A rotation around Y as it seems to always default to "no rotation"