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Spindle at Speed
« on: May 06, 2018, 08:26:49 AM »
Hello,

I have a Hitachi VFD connected via modbus to Mach4, and almost everything works as it should.
The VFD has two coils Mach4 spindel_at_speed and spindle_at_zero.
I can see them in the modbus monitor. But when I connect the modbus coils to mach4 "Spindle At Speed" and
"Spindle At Zero" mach4 does not wait for the signals. Instead is starts immediately with the gcode moves.

Why can I connect the modbus coils to the input signal, if they doing nothing ?
Is this a bug or a feature ?

Helmut
Re: Spindle at Speed
« Reply #1 on: May 06, 2018, 09:17:47 AM »
Hi,
I was heavily involved in a conversation about exactly this matter some time ago:

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,35694.0.html

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'
Re: Spindle at Speed
« Reply #2 on: May 06, 2018, 10:06:18 AM »
Hi Craig,

I have read that thread. But still, it make no sense to me to define the signal,"Spindle At Speed" and "Spindle At Zero" when you can't use it.
Like hakan said, it's a bug/or unfinished software.

BTW: I changed my m3,m4 and m5 like you suggested, and it works for now.

Helmut
Re: Spindle at Speed
« Reply #3 on: May 06, 2018, 10:24:44 AM »
Hi,

Quote
Like hakan said, it's a bug/or unfinished software.

Rubbish. The Signal is defined its Action is not....you the machine integrator have to decide what action is correct and code it accordingly. Mach4 IS NOT LIKE Mach3, its not
plug and play.

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'
Re: Spindle at Speed
« Reply #4 on: May 06, 2018, 10:45:04 AM »
Hi,
Machs developers made available a sophisticated spindle index sensing suite including a very accurate speed measurement and live DRO reporting with delays until up to a percentage of
commanded speed. Is there a reason that you didn't use the facility that was provided?

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'
Re: Spindle at Speed
« Reply #5 on: May 07, 2018, 08:10:21 AM »
Hi,

as I said earlier, my VFD is connected via modbus and I found now documentation how to do that with modbus.


Quote
Rubbish. The Signal is defined its Action is not....you the machine integrator have to decide what action is correct and code it accordingly. Mach4 IS NOT LIKE Mach3, its not
plug and play.


No Rubbish, At least mcSignalWait(..) is not working with the signals "Spindle At Speed" and "Spindle At Zero".
Remember I have a Mach4Hobby license and for a Hobby User I can expect some out of the box functionality.
I could live with the restrictions but there is also no documentation. Can you tell me where can I find this "The Signal is defined its Action is not...."
in the documentation.

Everything I have done so far was by trail and error or by looking in the forum. The documentation is for sure rubbish !!!

Helmut
Re: Spindle at Speed
« Reply #6 on: May 07, 2018, 02:49:55 PM »
Hi,
as previously explained the numeric range of signals for which mcSignalWait() will work is limited to 5bits ie 0-63. That is what it is.

I stumbled over it and you are right there is no notes or documentation covering it, I have asked NFS to add  one line to the API.chm but to no avail.
For this reason I have commented before that NFS does not appear to act on specific documentation suggestions.

Quote
Remember I have a Mach4Hobby license and for a Hobby User I can expect some out of the box functionality.
Good luck with that! In this instance NFS is not to blame however, the modern programming paradigm is that an object and its action are separate and
Mach4 follow that paradigm. What Mach4 is very very good at is being programmatically flexible but that in turn requires that you program it to suit
your particular needs.

Quote
Everything I have done so far was by trail and error or by looking in the forum
I agree, I've had exactly the same experience.

Quote
The documentation is for sure rubbish
I would not put it that strongly but certainly the documentation is out of date. smurph has explained that generating technical documentation is a very
resource/time intensive excerise. NFS has not taken up that challenge yet, but have persued further development....things like PMC, the probing module, the Zero Brane
editor....all of these things are new. They would not exist if NFS poured its resources into documentation say.

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'
Re: Spindle at Speed
« Reply #7 on: May 07, 2018, 02:59:30 PM »
Mach4 can run straight out of the box.  Once you setup motion you can run it just fine.  However, the beauty of Mach4, is being able to add your own little flare to the system. 

Mach4 is improving day by day, I remember coming into work and for almost a week straight there was a new developmental version ready everyday.  The time it would take to keep up to date documentation would be crazy. 

I will say however, things that are nailed down like the PMC and Probing could have some nice updated documents to help end users. 

Side note speaking of Zero Brane.  Have you noticed an issue with Zero Brane "Find".  It doesn't work at all on my end. 
Chad Byrd
Re: Spindle at Speed
« Reply #8 on: May 08, 2018, 03:06:42 AM »
Hi,
Find works on my installation. Haven't tried all the combinations yet but finding variables no sweat.

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'
Re: Spindle at Speed
« Reply #9 on: May 08, 2018, 03:26:09 AM »
Hi,
yeah, decided I like this Zero Brane editor. Still got quite a way to go to match the flexibility of debugger in a mainstream IDE, but its a good step in the right direction.

Helmut, you may not realize that Zero Brane is new, very new, maybe a month old or so. I understand your frustration that NFS has not done a lot of documentation or
given Mach4 a lot of pre-programmed solutions to things but they haven't been idle. This Zero Brane editor is a good step. Note that it makes programming and debugging easier,
it doesn't make Mach4 Plug'n'Play. It is a clear indication of where NFS is heading.

I hope you stick with Mach4 because once you become accustomed to the 'ethos' you will come to realize just how damn good it is! If you get in now it will develop around you whereas
if you try to pick it up in a couple of years time it will be OVERWHELMING, its quite enough of a shock as is!

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'