HI,
Been working on getting tool changes to function in Mach4. I mostly have tool changes working from the MDI, but there’s oddities there. In my written programs though tool changes mostly get jumped over. Initially I found there was no m6 macro in my machine profile. Simple enough to solve, but I had gotten a few tool changes to work in the MDI without there being a macro. I shrugged that off and plowed ahead with the one I copy and pasted in.
Testing tool changes in the MDI became dependable except for the number in the tool # dro. It seems to drag up the last tool number I had when I shut the system down earlier. An example would be I had tool 19 mounted and had applied a g43 for that tool, then shut Mach down. Next time I start Mach, I might have tool 19 displayed and I might not. But now I want to mount tool 1, so I command a T1 M6 in the mdi. If tool 19 was displayed in the dro at that time, mostly it will change to tool 2. If I hit cycle start one more time, then the dro will finally display tool 1. That’s the MDI oddity.
In my programs though is where it starts to really break down. On initial launch of the program, it may stop at the T# M6 and allow me to change tools, or it may jump right over it. This occurs with no change to the program, it’s for testing tool changes with slight x, y, z moves in between. And of course if it jumps the M6, it has the wrong tool for the upcoming G43.
But if I succeed in getting the first tool changed at the first M6, I’ve never gotten the second M6 to halt the program and allow a tool change. It just gets jumped. Then I abort the test.
My system is running Mach4 build 3233 and an ESS with plugin 193. I’ve been reading all I could find on tool change problems for the past few days but not gotten to the point I think any of what I’ve read might be the cause for my problems. But that could be all on me not making a connection. I do have a question on one bit I read yesterday, what is the sim plugin in the plugins folder?
Here’s the m6 macro I’m using for testing.