Also be careful who you blame for what you didn't know.

Not sure if this was aimed at me, but I didn't blame anybody. I'd never heard this thing about Mach4 version 2 breaking stuff, it was new to me. I never used v1 I guess.

That said, and not that it matters now, but what build, or version number, did Mach4 v2 start with and Mach4 v1 end with, and when? Just curious, not blaming anyone for not knowing:)

Tom

Having Mach4 so you can run any machine type all in one, would there be conflicts with the G and M codes macros and scripts if you were saying useing it to run a lathe would the built in G and M codes macros whatever for a Mill or a plasma cutter interfere with it's operation of the lathe.

Graig,
Thanks for the time estimates since they give a "rough idea" on what a convert to Mach 4
may need to invest. My only comment, and only a guess, would be that a "newbie" may add another 100 hours.

RICH

Not sure if this was aimed at me, but I didn't blame anybody

Nope, not aimed at you or anyone else in particular. The same thing I have told my sons when they do something and in hind sight realize they could have done things differently and saved some time, money, effort, etc. They are usually mad at their self. But no reason to be mad at their self or anyone else. They didn't know what they didn't know and no one who knew it had any idea they didn't know or needed to know. Bottom line is everyone is responsible for knowing what it is they need to know to do what they want. If they want it bad enough, they will learn everything they have to to get to where they want to be. It's just life.

Is Mach4 really Hobby Material?

The question is rather thought provoking. A hobby is something one does for personal  pleasure for whatever reasons and the reason need not make any sense to anybody except the one enjoying the hobby. The level pursued, time spent enjoying it, choice of activities associated with the hobby provides an arena to satsify the individual. So the answer is yes..... Mach 4 is hobby material and is just one part of CNC.

Personally can't get emotional about Mach 4 because of how I view it.

RICH

The question is rather thought provoking. A hobby is something one does for personal  pleasure for whatever reasons and the reason need not make any sense to anybody except the one enjoying the hobby. The level pursued, time spent enjoying it, choice of activities associated with the hobby provides an arena to satsify the individual. So the answer is yes..... Mach 4 is hobby material and is just one part of CNC.

Exactly Rich. That's it in a nut shell. I would like to emphasise ONE PART.

I just read this thread and I must say I'm certainly confused in a lot of ways.  During the days of Mach 3, we compiled a list of things that people were asking for that Mach 3 simply could never do.  That list became Mach 4.  So Mach 4 was the direct result of us listening to what our users wanted!  But now they don't want it?  Thus my confused state of mind.

Ii used to be, or I used to think, that hobbyist had simple machines to do simple things.  3 axis mill without a tool changer, for example.  But no.  Just take a look at the feature request thread!!!!  90% of that thread is people wanting Mach 4 to do something special.  But also, 90% of that can be accomplished with using the tools that are already provided with Mach 4!

So there is a strange dichotomy going on here.  People want shrink wrapped software simplicity but also want it to do something very special that THEY want it to do.  So I don't buy the "Mach 4 won't work without a lot of programming" complaint.  Mach 4 will run my Matsuura MC500 "out of the box" with absolutely no LUA programming!  Just by mapping signals to I/O and setting up the motors.  All of this is done in the Mach configuration dialog.  The only thing that requires LUA is the tool changer.  It required VB in Mach 3.  And since no two tool changers are the same (assuming some are built, some are converted, etc..), this becomes one of the "special things".   But I could run that machine with manual tool changes with Mach 4 "out of the box" all day long.  In fact, I don't use the tool changer all that often with the things I do.

"But I have brand 'X' joystick that I want to use..."  Guess what?  You are wanting something special. 
"But I want to touch off a tool at a certain location on my custom built machine, set the height, and restart with one button.  And I might have to learn LUA?"  The answer is yes!!!  The good news is that you can make that work.  The bad news is that we will never be able to provide that "out of the box". 

I could go on and on, but I digress. 

As to the hobbyist definition...  If you end up buying a Centroid controller, are you still a hobbyist?  A point to debate.  I'm a ham radio guy.  That is another one of my "hobbies".  But you know what?  Now I find myself collecting expensive test gear like signal generators and spectrum analyzers.  I like fixing radios.  I no longer consider it a hobby and I now consider it as a semi-profession venture.  I make money fixing radios.  It is no longer something I do just for myself.  The tools I use are something far greater than what a normal ham radio hobbyist uses.  BTW, I wish ANY ONE PIECE of that test gear was as affordable as Mach 4.  So ask yourself the question "Am I truly still a hobbyist?", and be honest. 

Also, I have a 3 axis X2 machine running Mach 4 and ESS.  It runs Mach 4 out of the box without any LUA code at all.  Now THAT is THE quintessential hobby machine.  So yeah, I think Mach 4 is hobby material.  But isn't it nice that Mach 4 will also run my Matsuura production type machine?  Make no mistake, I have no illusions about the differences between those two machines.  One is a hobby machine and the other could be put to work in any professional machine shop.  One didn't required a bit of LUA and the other did. 

Steve

Dude1

This thread was probably not the best one to post your question 

If I understand you correctly you're talking about using Mach4 to run different operations (mill, turn) on one machine.  You can using different profiles.

Mach4 has different subdirectories for each 'Profile' you create and each profile has a 'macros' subdirectory that only its profile accesses.  Your m4Lathe profile will only use the macros within the m4Lathe\macros directory, etc.

If your trying to do combine mill and lathe operations using the same profile then there can only be on m2000 macro.

HTH

RT

rhtuttle 

More than likely It's just a question I have always wondered if there is a potential problem.

To add Mach4 to a basic 3 axis mill is easy if you have good clear instructions that come with the external devices.

Hi All,
the purpose of this thread was to 'take the pulse' as it were of where Mach4 is at.

I think Chatoicone has summed it up extremely well, there are largely two groups of Mach4 users, the first
group being CNC enthusiasts whom find Mach4 a good fit. The other group are those who consider CNC as a means
to an ends, be it business or another hobby...motorcycles or models or....For this group of users they wish Mach4
to work their machine with the least hassles.

Given the wide variety of hardware out there and the apparent wish for users to have individualised tweaks then
Mach4 can certainly do it but perhaps rather unfairly cops a bit of flack.

New users should really consider what sort of software solution they want...if they want least hassles then Mach can do
the business but as soon as you want to customise your machine the effort required goes up dramatically.

Craig