fauffing,
We at PMDX have not seen any communications from you since your PMDX-411 purchase. Hopefully we are not the source of your frustrations.
If you do decide not to use the PMDX-411, you can return it and we will refund your purchase price less a restocking fee that covers our cost for retesting the unit.
On the other hand, do you realize that you can install the demo of Mach4 and play with the real hardware for up to five minutes each time you start the program? Or if you use the supplied "simulator" hardware you can play as long as you like.
Regards,
Steve Stallings
PMDX
|
Yes sir... that probably is illegal, and is certainly against the vendors terms of transferring licenses. I do appreciate the offer, but bad karma from my perspective.
Ironically, I was going to buy Mach4, but wanted to get Mach3 back up and running as I hadn't used it in many years. Sadly, I also purchased a PMDX 411 in anticipation of this, but the absolutely atrocious customer service has me rethinking my intentions. I purchased a Mesa 7I76E last night, and intend to spin up a LinuxCNC controller. I experiment a lot with technology, so guess it's time for me to check out a new controller. It's really to bad, I did like the Mach3 product, but really hate funding a company with shitty service.
Anyhow I'll have some time to work on trying to recover the license file tomorrow, so maybe I'll get lucky.
|
This is probably blatantly?illegal, but I have a Mach3 license file that I don't use. I use Mach4 now and will NOT use?Mach3 again. I don't know if you can just use someone else's?license file, but I'd gladly email it to you!!! I'll keep an eye out for goon's pulling up in my driveway with black SUV's. That said, you learned a valuable lesson, back up the license file to ten different places.
I don't think I've ever posted to this group before, but I have to say I am so frustrated with trying to receive a copy of my license from Mach Support after a hard disk fail that I'm about ready not to do business with them again nor recommend them - which is a shame, because I like their product. Has anybody else had difficulty with retrieving a copy of their license before? Any recommendations on how I can proceed without buying a new license? I am scraping through old hard drives trying to find an email or license file, but this is taking a while, and I'm not sure how successful I'll be. It's my bad that I lost the license, but I feel the company has the ability to replace it, and they just don't want to (I was told the Sales Manager said they would send the license to the original email on file). I've been told that since my original email has changed (ISP went away through mergers and closures) they could not send me a new one. I registerd Mach 3 over 11 years ago and have a paper copy of the then" License Manager" sending me the license (apparently this is not acceptable). I'm open to suggestions on how to proceed without shelling out money for a license I already purchased.
Thanks in advance!
|
I don't think I've ever posted to this group before, but I have to say I am so frustrated with trying to receive a copy of my license from Mach Support after a hard disk fail that I'm about ready not to do business with them again nor recommend them - which is a shame, because I like their product. Has anybody else had difficulty with retrieving a copy of their license before? Any recommendations on how I can proceed without buying a new license? I am scraping through old hard drives trying to find an email or license file, but this is taking a while, and I'm not sure how successful I'll be. It's my bad that I lost the license, but I feel the company has the ability to replace it, and they just don't want to (I was told the Sales Manager said they would send the license to the original email on file). I've been told that since my original email has changed (ISP went away through mergers and closures) they could not send me a new one. I registerd Mach 3 over 11 years ago and have a paper copy of the then" License Manager" sending me the license (apparently this is not acceptable). I'm open to suggestions on how to proceed without shelling out money for a license I already purchased.
Thanks in advance!
|
Re: Mach4 Coil Winder Screen
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Brian Barker
Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2021 10:50 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [MachCNC] Mach4 Coil Winder Screen? Good news! They have been working on the webpage and they have showed me where it is at now. They are ironically working working in the screen page now. The plugins page looks really nice. This is going to make it easy to get this stuff. Hang in there! It's actively being worked on ______________________________ ? Brian Barker Engineering / Devlopment ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions Livermore Falls, Maine (USA) Phone: 207(618)1449 Webpage: On 4/28/2021 9:51 AM, Andy Wander wrote: Hi Brian: ? Any word on this? ? ? They have it and I asked them to send it to you months ago!? Blah, I will tell them again to get it sent off.. The Coil winder screen is one of the screens set to be released on the new screens page for Mach4. ______________________________ ? Brian Barker Engineering / Devlopment ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions Livermore Falls, Maine (USA) Phone: 207(618)1449 Webpage: On 4/4/2021 8:55 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Hey, Brian, anything? ? ? Hi Brian, it’s been a couple of months again-do you know if there has been any progress on this? ? ? They guys should have been testing it...
I will hit them again for a status.. Sorry they have been using it as fill in work.
Thanks
Brian ______________________________ ? Brian Barker Engineering / Devlopment ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions Livermore Falls, Maine (USA) Phone: 207(618)1449 Webpage: On 11/30/2020 11:44 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Brian, any movement on this? ? ? Hey, man, any word? ? ? Good question! Let me talk to the guys. This slipped my mind. I am getting old or something :) ______________________________ ? Brian Barker Engineering / Devlopment ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions Livermore Falls, Maine (USA) Phone: 207(618)1449 Webpage: On 9/1/2020 10:11 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Hey, Brian, has there been any progress on the Coil Winder screens? ? ? I don't know how long the coil winder is going to take but Brett seems to think the press brake tables should be ready for testing in a few days. Coil winder is after that. Rob got the screen done so it is just the Lua code to make the Gcode files to drive the winder.
On 7/6/2020 12:57 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Thanks, Brian-I’m good for now. ? I’ll nag you about the Coil Winder and the Spindle speed thing in a couple of weeks. ? ? Rob is on the floor now working on the laser we are putting new motors and drives in :( We are juggling a TON right now. If you seem to be all set lets roll with it. We are trying hard to get a new Rev out and I think it will fix most issues.
On 7/6/2020 11:03 AM, Andy Wander wrote: Thanks, Brian-no big rush on the coil winder, I just don’t want to forget about it. ? I tested the Turn Cycles yesterday evening and they are all working now as well. ? Do the only problem I now have is #4, the Spindle Speed being reset when I first press ENABL after starting Mach4. ? I got an email from Rob this morning, and I tried to call him, but I just got a message telling me your hours, and then some music. ? I don’t know if we really need to talk, though, since ESS 258 and Mach4 4517 seem to have solved almost all of my problems. ? ? Hi Andy,
1. I have Brett working on a screen for an OEM and it is taking a bit more time than I would like :( When that is done he will go over what Rob has and building a release.
2. Rob had a setup to test the ESS on the machine by his desk Friday. I didn't know he didn't get back to you, sorry about that. I have informed him of your progress.
3. Check the mill manual, I have someone going over the manual and checking them for the next release. Attached you will find a section of header file, look at that and tell me what you think (start at line number 2113)
4. I don't fully understand why you would want to have the Spindle Speed at start up but lets do that after the rest of this is done please :)
Thanks
Brian
On 7/5/2020 3:45 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Hi Brian: ? 1_ Has there been any progress on that Coil Winder Screen? ? 2_ I didn’t hear from Rob, but I wanted to report that most of my issues appear to have been solved by ESS v258 along with Mach4 4517. I still need to confirm that the issue with the Turn Cycles getting locked out is solved; haven’t had a chance to test that…. ? 3_ Is there an accurate list anywhere of the Pound Variables for Mach4? I have only been able to find one dated 2015 by Scott Shafer, and I know that at least one of the variables in there is wrong….. ? 4_ I’ve got the issues with Mach4 not remembering spindle speed and such between shutting down and restart solved. I took the code that wrote the saved values on startup, out of the Startup Script, and put it in the “first-Run only” section of the PLC code. This seems to work fine, EXCEPT that when I hit ENABLE for the first time after startup, it overwrites the correct value that has been put into the S DRO by the PLC script, and sets it to 0. This only happens the first time I ENABLE MACH4, after that, if I set a value for S, it stays there through DISSABLE/ENABLE cycles. Any idea on what to look for? I couldn’t find anything in any of the screen scripts that does anything to the S word on ENABLE, or any place that treats ENABLE differently on the first time it is pressed after startup ? ? ? Rob is done the first round of getting machines ready for release testing so I have told him today is your test of turn. He may be contacting you... As for the coil winder screen Rob got most of that done before his return back to work. I was going to have Brett continue on with this as soon as he is done the bending software I have him doing. We have lots of projects we are working on so thanks for asking about the progress!
Thanks
Brian
On 6/28/2020 4:35 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Hi Brian: ? Did they get anywhere with the coil winder screen? ? What about this weird problem with the Turn Cycles? (they sure are great, when they work!) ? ? ? Hi Brian-new update: ? I was able to finish the part I was working on, but I started getting FIFO Velocity Buffer underrun errors from the ESS. ? Then, the ESS started randomly going offline without telling me. ? I reverted to ESS v254, and Mach4 V4.2.0.4322, and these problems went away(the FIFO and the ESS going offline.) ? I made a couple more parts using Late today, and everything was working fine, using the Turn Cycles for Facing, Turning, and Threading. ? Then I tried a Rounding operation using Turn Cycles. ? The Gcode looked OK, so I ran it, and it did all the roughing cuts about ?” out from the end of the stock, without actually cutting anything-then it moved in to where it should have been and did the single finishing cut, taking off all of the stock that should have been done during roughing. ? I attached a screen shot of the Mach toolpath window, as well as the .tap file for the Rounding operation. ? I “may” have entered an incorrect setting in the Turn cycle entry screen, but when I went to check, I cannot get the saved cycle to open for editing, and I can’t get any of the Turn cycles to open when clicking on their buttons. I get a message that says, Unable to show wizard 4: wxLua: Expected a 'wxColour' for parameter 2, but got a 'nil'. Function called: 'SetBackgroundColour(wxButton, nil)' - wxWindow::SetBackgroundColour(wxWindow(self), wxColour)
? I’ve tried closing and reopening Mach4, and also reinstalling Mach4, and I still can’t get at any of the Turn Cycles. ? ? Hi Andy,
This is a step in the right direction! We have a few more machines we need to get working so we can get to the testing of the next release testing. We have the Matsuura 500 and the plasma table we need to get ready. The goal is to have them both finished this week so we can start testing Friday. This is when we will setup and test the ESS.
Thanks for the report
?Brian
On 6/13/2020 3:16 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Hi Brian: ? I have some more info and results on the threading cycle not working. ? Today, I backed up my current installation, and installed ESS v257, and Mach4 4.2.0.4517 ? I needed to make a part that had a couple of different diameters, and an external M14 thread at each end. ? The turning was uneventful, but when I used the Turn Cycles screen to generate code for the first M14 thread, and tried to run it, it hung up on the G76 line just as the Internal thread had been doing earlier! Then, I realized that I had accidentally generated code for an Internal thread, but, this time, it was different, as the actual Spindle Speed display on the screen was very intermittent, usually staying at “0”, but occasionally flashing the actual measured RPM. This didn’t happen with the installation that I originally reported this problem on. ? So, I thought maybe my lathe Spindle Speed sensor had gotten damaged or something. At this point, I set the machine back to in/min mode, and started the spindle up, and the on-screen Spindle Speed display worked perfectly. Going back into the threading cycle, and in/rev mode, the display was wonky again. ? Then, I remembered that the release notes for the ESS v257 plugin had mentioned something about a new check box to tell the ESS whether or not to report the spindle speed. I found that check box in the ESS setup, and unchecked it. Testing showed the same problem still remained. ? I then looked at the Spindle setting on the ESS setup page, and changed it from PWM to “OB”. ? That did it, the threading cycle now works, whether ID or OD threading. ? I still have the smaller problem of the spindle making the CLUNK when it gets turned on again while it is already on. I went into config and disabled the Spindle ON, Spindle FWD and Spindle REV pins in Mach4. This stuff was all in there because I never disabled it when I went to my Modbus controlled s[pindle. Alas, this made no difference, I still get the Clunk… ? ? ? ? They are working on a coil winder screen and have the first part of it done.
They did a bunch of testing and could not make your issue happen. We have just started working back at the office where we have all the hardware for testing. We are getting the machines ready for release testing now and one of the things that will be tested is your issue. We are doing the best we can in this screwy time.
Thanks
Brian On 6/11/2020 8:07 AM, Andy Wander wrote: Hi Brian: ? Have you had a chance to work on this? ? Also any? progress on the coil winder screenset? ? ? That may be from my PLC script. I am interrogating the Modbus MPG register on my pendant. ? ? Do you have any idea what is spamming for the MPG? I don't think this is causing you an issue, it is just bad practice and I would like to eliminate as many vars as I can. I was going to see if I could clean the profile and figure this out! I have a few things going on but I am trying to get this done as quickly as I can.
Thanks
Brian
On 6/3/2020 12:46 PM, Andy Wander wrote: I used to use relays and PWM to control my spindle, but now I use the Modbus plugin. ? I think that I left the relay/PWM config alone, and just added the modbus stuff. So Mack4 may be sending controls for both methods. ? Pretty sure I disconnected the relays and PWM/0-10V from the VFD though. I will check that in a bit. ? ? I need your profile please. I don't understand what is firing output #54 I think I am getting a better idea what is going on!
Thanks
Brian
n 6/3/2020 11:09 AM, Andy Wander wrote: Hi Brian: ? The logging window is confusing because the SAVE button is at the bottom, but there is also a “log to file” button up at the top. What does that top button do? ? I don’t think this can be a hardware issue, as external threading code from the Turn Cycle works fine every time. ? Also, yesterday, after I STOPped an unworking internal threading program, I came back a few hours later, rewound and ran the same code, and it worked! Just once though, after that it would hang on the 2nd G76 line uust like before. ? Attached is a log file; can you? see anything strange in there? Attachments: - G76 that stops on second G76 line.log
?
?
?
?
?
? Attachments: - MachAPI.h
?
?
?
?
|
Re: Mach4 Coil Winder Screen
Good news! They have been working on the webpage and they have
showed me where it is at now. They are ironically working working
in the screen page now. The plugins page looks really nice. This
is going to make it easy to get this stuff. Hang in there! It's
actively being worked on
______________________________
Brian Barker
Engineering / Devlopment
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Phone: 207(618)1449
Webpage:
On 4/28/2021 9:51 AM, Andy Wander
wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Hi Brian:
?
Any word on
this?
?
?
They have it and I asked them to send it to you months ago!?
Blah, I will tell them again to get it sent off.. The Coil
winder screen is one of the screens set to be released on the
new screens page for Mach4.
______________________________
?
Brian Barker
Engineering / Devlopment
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Phone: 207(618)1449
Webpage:
On 4/4/2021 8:55 PM, Andy Wander wrote:
Hey, Brian,
anything?
?
?
Hi Brian,
it’s been a couple of months again-do you know if there
has been any progress on this?
?
?
They guys
should have been testing it...
I will hit them again for a status.. Sorry they have been
using it as fill in work.
Thanks
Brian
______________________________
?
Brian Barker
Engineering / Devlopment
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Phone: 207(618)1449
Webpage:
On 11/30/2020 11:44 PM, Andy Wander
wrote:
Brian, any
movement on this?
?
?
Hey, man,
any word?
?
?
Good question! Let me talk to the
guys. This slipped my mind. I am getting old or
something :)
______________________________
?
Brian Barker
Engineering / Devlopment
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Phone: 207(618)1449
Webpage:
On 9/1/2020 10:11 PM, Andy Wander
wrote:
Hey,
Brian, has there been any progress on the Coil Winder
screens?
?
?
I don't know how long the coil
winder is going to take but Brett seems to think the
press brake tables should be ready for testing in a
few days. Coil winder is after that. Rob got the
screen done so it is just the Lua code to make the
Gcode files to drive the winder.
On 7/6/2020 12:57 PM, Andy Wander wrote:
Thanks,
Brian-I’m good for now.
?
I’ll
nag you about the Coil Winder and the Spindle speed
thing in a couple of weeks.
?
?
Rob is on the floor now working
on the laser we are putting new motors and drives in
:( We are juggling a TON right now. If you seem to
be all set lets roll with it. We are trying hard to
get a new Rev out and I think it will fix most
issues.
On 7/6/2020 11:03 AM, Andy Wander wrote:
Thanks,
Brian-no big rush on the coil winder, I just don’t
want to forget about it.
?
I
tested the Turn Cycles yesterday evening and they
are all working now as well.
?
Do
the only problem I now have is #4, the Spindle
Speed being reset when I first press ENABL after
starting Mach4.
?
I got
an email from Rob this morning, and I tried to
call him, but I just got a message telling me your
hours, and then some music.
?
I
don’t know if we really need to talk, though,
since ESS 258 and Mach4 4517 seem to have solved
almost all of my problems.
?
?
Hi Andy,
1. I have Brett working on a screen for an OEM and
it is taking a bit more time than I would like :(
When that is done he will go over what Rob has and
building a release.
2. Rob had a setup to test the ESS on the machine
by his desk Friday. I didn't know he didn't get
back to you, sorry about that. I have informed him
of your progress.
3. Check the mill manual, I have someone going
over the manual and checking them for the next
release. Attached you will find a section of
header file, look at that and tell me what you
think (start at line number 2113)
4. I don't fully understand why you would want to
have the Spindle Speed at start up but lets do
that after the rest of this is done please :)
Thanks
Brian
On 7/5/2020 3:45 PM, Andy Wander wrote:
Hi
Brian:
?
1_
Has there been any progress on that Coil Winder
Screen?
?
2_
I didn’t hear from Rob, but I wanted to report
that most of my issues appear to have been
solved by ESS v258 along with Mach4 4517. I
still need to confirm that the issue with the
Turn Cycles getting locked out is solved;
haven’t had a chance to test that….
?
3_
Is there an accurate list anywhere of the Pound
Variables for Mach4? I have only been able to
find one dated 2015 by Scott Shafer, and I know
that at least one of the variables in there is
wrong…..
?
4_
I’ve got the issues with Mach4 not remembering
spindle speed and such between shutting down and
restart solved. I took the code that wrote the
saved values on startup, out of the Startup
Script, and put it in the “first-Run only”
section of the PLC code. This seems to work
fine, EXCEPT that when I hit ENABLE for the
first time after startup, it overwrites the
correct value that has been put into the S DRO
by the PLC script, and sets it to 0. This only
happens the first time I ENABLE MACH4, after
that, if I set a value for S, it stays there
through DISSABLE/ENABLE cycles. Any idea on what
to look for? I couldn’t find anything in any of
the screen scripts that does anything to the S
word on ENABLE, or any place that treats ENABLE
differently on the first time it is pressed
after startup
?
?
?
Rob is done the first round
of getting machines ready for release testing so
I have told him today is your test of turn. He
may be contacting you... As for the coil winder
screen Rob got most of that done before his
return back to work. I was going to have Brett
continue on with this as soon as he is done the
bending software I have him doing. We have lots
of projects we are working on so thanks for
asking about the progress!
Thanks
Brian
On 6/28/2020 4:35 PM, Andy Wander wrote:
Hi
Brian:
?
Did
they get anywhere with the coil winder screen?
?
What
about this weird problem with the Turn Cycles?
(they sure are great, when they work!)
?
?
?
Hi
Brian-new update:
?
I
was able to finish the part I was working on,
but I started getting FIFO Velocity Buffer
underrun errors from the ESS.
?
Then,
the ESS started randomly going offline without
telling me.
?
I
reverted to ESS v254, and Mach4 V4.2.0.4322,
and these problems went away(the FIFO and the
ESS going offline.)
?
I
made a couple more parts using Late today, and
everything was working fine, using the Turn
Cycles for Facing, Turning, and Threading.
?
Then
I tried a Rounding operation using Turn
Cycles.
?
The
Gcode looked OK, so I ran it, and it did all
the roughing cuts about ?” out from the end of
the stock, without actually cutting
anything-then it moved in to where it should
have been and did the single finishing cut,
taking off all of the stock that should have
been done during roughing.
?
I
attached a screen shot of the Mach toolpath
window, as well as the .tap file for the
Rounding operation.
?
I
“may” have entered an incorrect setting in the
Turn cycle entry screen, but when I went to
check, I cannot get the saved cycle to open
for editing, and I can’t get any of the Turn
cycles to open when clicking on their buttons.
I get a message that says,
Unable to show wizard
4: wxLua: Expected a 'wxColour' for
parameter 2, but got a 'nil'.
Function called:
'SetBackgroundColour(wxButton, nil)'
- wxWindow::SetBackgroundColour(wxWindow(self),
wxColour)
?
I’ve
tried closing and reopening Mach4, and also
reinstalling Mach4, and I still can’t get at
any of the Turn Cycles.
?
?
Hi Andy,
This is a step in the right direction! We have
a few more machines we need to get working so
we can get to the testing of the next release
testing. We have the Matsuura 500 and the
plasma table we need to get ready. The goal is
to have them both finished this week so we can
start testing Friday. This is when we will
setup and test the ESS.
Thanks for the report
?Brian
On 6/13/2020 3:16 PM, Andy Wander wrote:
Hi
Brian:
?
I
have some more info and results on the
threading cycle not working.
?
Today,
I backed up my current installation, and
installed ESS v257, and Mach4 4.2.0.4517
?
I
needed to make a part that had a couple of
different diameters, and an external M14
thread at each end.
?
The
turning was uneventful, but when I used the
Turn Cycles screen to generate code for the
first M14 thread, and tried to run it, it
hung up on the G76 line just as the Internal
thread had been doing earlier! Then, I
realized that I had accidentally generated
code for an Internal thread, but, this time,
it was different, as the actual Spindle
Speed display on the screen was very
intermittent, usually staying at “0”, but
occasionally flashing the actual measured
RPM. This didn’t happen with the
installation that I originally reported this
problem on.
?
So,
I thought maybe my lathe Spindle Speed
sensor had gotten damaged or something. At
this point, I set the machine back to in/min
mode, and started the spindle up, and the
on-screen Spindle Speed display worked
perfectly. Going back into the threading
cycle, and in/rev mode, the display was
wonky again.
?
Then,
I remembered that the release notes for the
ESS v257 plugin had mentioned something
about a new check box to tell the ESS
whether or not to report the spindle speed.
I found that check box in the ESS setup, and
unchecked it. Testing showed the same
problem still remained.
?
I
then looked at the Spindle setting on the
ESS setup page, and changed it from PWM to
“OB”.
?
That
did it, the threading cycle now works,
whether ID or OD threading.
?
I
still have the smaller problem of the
spindle making the CLUNK when it gets turned
on again while it is already on. I went into
config and disabled the Spindle ON, Spindle
FWD and Spindle REV pins in Mach4. This
stuff was all in there because I never
disabled it when I went to my Modbus
controlled s[pindle. Alas, this made no
difference, I still get the Clunk…
?
?
?
?
They are
working on a coil winder screen and have the
first part of it done.
They did a bunch of testing and could not
make your issue happen. We have just started
working back at the office where we have all
the hardware for testing. We are getting the
machines ready for release testing now and
one of the things that will be tested is
your issue. We are doing the best we can in
this screwy time.
Thanks
Brian
On 6/11/2020 8:07 AM,
Andy Wander wrote:
Hi Brian:
?
Have you had a
chance to work on this?
?
Also any? progress
on the coil winder screenset?
?
?
That may be from my
PLC script. I am interrogating the Modbus
MPG register on my pendant.
?
?
Do you have any idea
what is spamming for the MPG? I don't
think this is causing you an issue, it is
just bad practice and I would like to
eliminate as many vars as I can. I was
going to see if I could clean the profile
and figure this out! I have a few things
going on but I am trying to get this done
as quickly as I can.
Thanks
Brian
On 6/3/2020 12:46 PM, Andy Wander wrote:
I used to use
relays and PWM to control my spindle,
but now I use the Modbus plugin.
?
I think that I
left the relay/PWM config alone, and
just added the modbus stuff. So Mack4
may be sending controls for both
methods.
?
Pretty sure I
disconnected the relays and PWM/0-10V
from the VFD though. I will check that
in a bit.
?
?
I need your profile
please. I don't understand what is
firing output #54 I think I am getting a
better idea what is going on!
Thanks
Brian
n 6/3/2020 11:09 AM, Andy Wander wrote:
Hi Brian:
?
The logging
window is confusing because the SAVE
button is at the bottom, but there is
also a “log to file” button up at the
top. What does that top button do?
?
I don’t think
this can be a hardware issue, as
external threading code from the Turn
Cycle works fine every time.
?
Also, yesterday,
after I STOPped an unworking internal
threading program, I came back a few
hours later, rewound and ran the same
code, and it worked! Just once though,
after that it would hang on the 2nd
G76 line uust like before.
?
Attached is a
log file; can you? see anything
strange in there?
Attachments:
- G76 that
stops on second G76 line.log
?
?
?
?
?
?
Attachments:
- MachAPI.h
?
?
?
?
|
Re: Mach4 Coil Winder Screen
Good question.... BRB
______________________________
Brian Barker
Engineering / Devlopment
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Phone: 207(618)1449
Webpage:
On 4/28/2021 9:51 AM, Andy Wander
wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Hi Brian:
?
Any word on
this?
?
?
They have it and I asked them to send it to you months ago!?
Blah, I will tell them again to get it sent off.. The Coil
winder screen is one of the screens set to be released on the
new screens page for Mach4.
______________________________
?
Brian Barker
Engineering / Devlopment
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Phone: 207(618)1449
Webpage:
On 4/4/2021 8:55 PM, Andy Wander wrote:
Hey, Brian,
anything?
?
?
Hi Brian,
it’s been a couple of months again-do you know if there
has been any progress on this?
?
?
They guys
should have been testing it...
I will hit them again for a status.. Sorry they have been
using it as fill in work.
Thanks
Brian
______________________________
?
Brian Barker
Engineering / Devlopment
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Phone: 207(618)1449
Webpage:
On 11/30/2020 11:44 PM, Andy Wander
wrote:
Brian, any
movement on this?
?
?
Hey, man,
any word?
?
?
Good question! Let me talk to the
guys. This slipped my mind. I am getting old or
something :)
______________________________
?
Brian Barker
Engineering / Devlopment
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Phone: 207(618)1449
Webpage:
On 9/1/2020 10:11 PM, Andy Wander
wrote:
Hey,
Brian, has there been any progress on the Coil Winder
screens?
?
?
I don't know how long the coil
winder is going to take but Brett seems to think the
press brake tables should be ready for testing in a
few days. Coil winder is after that. Rob got the
screen done so it is just the Lua code to make the
Gcode files to drive the winder.
On 7/6/2020 12:57 PM, Andy Wander wrote:
Thanks,
Brian-I’m good for now.
?
I’ll
nag you about the Coil Winder and the Spindle speed
thing in a couple of weeks.
?
?
Rob is on the floor now working
on the laser we are putting new motors and drives in
:( We are juggling a TON right now. If you seem to
be all set lets roll with it. We are trying hard to
get a new Rev out and I think it will fix most
issues.
On 7/6/2020 11:03 AM, Andy Wander wrote:
Thanks,
Brian-no big rush on the coil winder, I just don’t
want to forget about it.
?
I
tested the Turn Cycles yesterday evening and they
are all working now as well.
?
Do
the only problem I now have is #4, the Spindle
Speed being reset when I first press ENABL after
starting Mach4.
?
I got
an email from Rob this morning, and I tried to
call him, but I just got a message telling me your
hours, and then some music.
?
I
don’t know if we really need to talk, though,
since ESS 258 and Mach4 4517 seem to have solved
almost all of my problems.
?
?
Hi Andy,
1. I have Brett working on a screen for an OEM and
it is taking a bit more time than I would like :(
When that is done he will go over what Rob has and
building a release.
2. Rob had a setup to test the ESS on the machine
by his desk Friday. I didn't know he didn't get
back to you, sorry about that. I have informed him
of your progress.
3. Check the mill manual, I have someone going
over the manual and checking them for the next
release. Attached you will find a section of
header file, look at that and tell me what you
think (start at line number 2113)
4. I don't fully understand why you would want to
have the Spindle Speed at start up but lets do
that after the rest of this is done please :)
Thanks
Brian
On 7/5/2020 3:45 PM, Andy Wander wrote:
Hi
Brian:
?
1_
Has there been any progress on that Coil Winder
Screen?
?
2_
I didn’t hear from Rob, but I wanted to report
that most of my issues appear to have been
solved by ESS v258 along with Mach4 4517. I
still need to confirm that the issue with the
Turn Cycles getting locked out is solved;
haven’t had a chance to test that….
?
3_
Is there an accurate list anywhere of the Pound
Variables for Mach4? I have only been able to
find one dated 2015 by Scott Shafer, and I know
that at least one of the variables in there is
wrong…..
?
4_
I’ve got the issues with Mach4 not remembering
spindle speed and such between shutting down and
restart solved. I took the code that wrote the
saved values on startup, out of the Startup
Script, and put it in the “first-Run only”
section of the PLC code. This seems to work
fine, EXCEPT that when I hit ENABLE for the
first time after startup, it overwrites the
correct value that has been put into the S DRO
by the PLC script, and sets it to 0. This only
happens the first time I ENABLE MACH4, after
that, if I set a value for S, it stays there
through DISSABLE/ENABLE cycles. Any idea on what
to look for? I couldn’t find anything in any of
the screen scripts that does anything to the S
word on ENABLE, or any place that treats ENABLE
differently on the first time it is pressed
after startup
?
?
?
Rob is done the first round
of getting machines ready for release testing so
I have told him today is your test of turn. He
may be contacting you... As for the coil winder
screen Rob got most of that done before his
return back to work. I was going to have Brett
continue on with this as soon as he is done the
bending software I have him doing. We have lots
of projects we are working on so thanks for
asking about the progress!
Thanks
Brian
On 6/28/2020 4:35 PM, Andy Wander wrote:
Hi
Brian:
?
Did
they get anywhere with the coil winder screen?
?
What
about this weird problem with the Turn Cycles?
(they sure are great, when they work!)
?
?
?
Hi
Brian-new update:
?
I
was able to finish the part I was working on,
but I started getting FIFO Velocity Buffer
underrun errors from the ESS.
?
Then,
the ESS started randomly going offline without
telling me.
?
I
reverted to ESS v254, and Mach4 V4.2.0.4322,
and these problems went away(the FIFO and the
ESS going offline.)
?
I
made a couple more parts using Late today, and
everything was working fine, using the Turn
Cycles for Facing, Turning, and Threading.
?
Then
I tried a Rounding operation using Turn
Cycles.
?
The
Gcode looked OK, so I ran it, and it did all
the roughing cuts about ?” out from the end of
the stock, without actually cutting
anything-then it moved in to where it should
have been and did the single finishing cut,
taking off all of the stock that should have
been done during roughing.
?
I
attached a screen shot of the Mach toolpath
window, as well as the .tap file for the
Rounding operation.
?
I
“may” have entered an incorrect setting in the
Turn cycle entry screen, but when I went to
check, I cannot get the saved cycle to open
for editing, and I can’t get any of the Turn
cycles to open when clicking on their buttons.
I get a message that says,
Unable to show wizard
4: wxLua: Expected a 'wxColour' for
parameter 2, but got a 'nil'.
Function called:
'SetBackgroundColour(wxButton, nil)'
- wxWindow::SetBackgroundColour(wxWindow(self),
wxColour)
?
I’ve
tried closing and reopening Mach4, and also
reinstalling Mach4, and I still can’t get at
any of the Turn Cycles.
?
?
Hi Andy,
This is a step in the right direction! We have
a few more machines we need to get working so
we can get to the testing of the next release
testing. We have the Matsuura 500 and the
plasma table we need to get ready. The goal is
to have them both finished this week so we can
start testing Friday. This is when we will
setup and test the ESS.
Thanks for the report
?Brian
On 6/13/2020 3:16 PM, Andy Wander wrote:
Hi
Brian:
?
I
have some more info and results on the
threading cycle not working.
?
Today,
I backed up my current installation, and
installed ESS v257, and Mach4 4.2.0.4517
?
I
needed to make a part that had a couple of
different diameters, and an external M14
thread at each end.
?
The
turning was uneventful, but when I used the
Turn Cycles screen to generate code for the
first M14 thread, and tried to run it, it
hung up on the G76 line just as the Internal
thread had been doing earlier! Then, I
realized that I had accidentally generated
code for an Internal thread, but, this time,
it was different, as the actual Spindle
Speed display on the screen was very
intermittent, usually staying at “0”, but
occasionally flashing the actual measured
RPM. This didn’t happen with the
installation that I originally reported this
problem on.
?
So,
I thought maybe my lathe Spindle Speed
sensor had gotten damaged or something. At
this point, I set the machine back to in/min
mode, and started the spindle up, and the
on-screen Spindle Speed display worked
perfectly. Going back into the threading
cycle, and in/rev mode, the display was
wonky again.
?
Then,
I remembered that the release notes for the
ESS v257 plugin had mentioned something
about a new check box to tell the ESS
whether or not to report the spindle speed.
I found that check box in the ESS setup, and
unchecked it. Testing showed the same
problem still remained.
?
I
then looked at the Spindle setting on the
ESS setup page, and changed it from PWM to
“OB”.
?
That
did it, the threading cycle now works,
whether ID or OD threading.
?
I
still have the smaller problem of the
spindle making the CLUNK when it gets turned
on again while it is already on. I went into
config and disabled the Spindle ON, Spindle
FWD and Spindle REV pins in Mach4. This
stuff was all in there because I never
disabled it when I went to my Modbus
controlled s[pindle. Alas, this made no
difference, I still get the Clunk…
?
?
?
?
They are
working on a coil winder screen and have the
first part of it done.
They did a bunch of testing and could not
make your issue happen. We have just started
working back at the office where we have all
the hardware for testing. We are getting the
machines ready for release testing now and
one of the things that will be tested is
your issue. We are doing the best we can in
this screwy time.
Thanks
Brian
On 6/11/2020 8:07 AM,
Andy Wander wrote:
Hi Brian:
?
Have you had a
chance to work on this?
?
Also any? progress
on the coil winder screenset?
?
?
That may be from my
PLC script. I am interrogating the Modbus
MPG register on my pendant.
?
?
Do you have any idea
what is spamming for the MPG? I don't
think this is causing you an issue, it is
just bad practice and I would like to
eliminate as many vars as I can. I was
going to see if I could clean the profile
and figure this out! I have a few things
going on but I am trying to get this done
as quickly as I can.
Thanks
Brian
On 6/3/2020 12:46 PM, Andy Wander wrote:
I used to use
relays and PWM to control my spindle,
but now I use the Modbus plugin.
?
I think that I
left the relay/PWM config alone, and
just added the modbus stuff. So Mack4
may be sending controls for both
methods.
?
Pretty sure I
disconnected the relays and PWM/0-10V
from the VFD though. I will check that
in a bit.
?
?
I need your profile
please. I don't understand what is
firing output #54 I think I am getting a
better idea what is going on!
Thanks
Brian
n 6/3/2020 11:09 AM, Andy Wander wrote:
Hi Brian:
?
The logging
window is confusing because the SAVE
button is at the bottom, but there is
also a “log to file” button up at the
top. What does that top button do?
?
I don’t think
this can be a hardware issue, as
external threading code from the Turn
Cycle works fine every time.
?
Also, yesterday,
after I STOPped an unworking internal
threading program, I came back a few
hours later, rewound and ran the same
code, and it worked! Just once though,
after that it would hang on the 2nd
G76 line uust like before.
?
Attached is a
log file; can you? see anything
strange in there?
Attachments:
- G76 that
stops on second G76 line.log
?
?
?
?
?
?
Attachments:
- MachAPI.h
?
?
?
?
|
Re: Mach4 Coil Winder Screen
Hi Brian: ? Any word on this? ?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Brian Barker
Sent: Monday, April 5, 2021 8:01 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [MachCNC] Mach4 Coil Winder Screen? They have it and I asked them to send it to you months ago!? Blah, I will tell them again to get it sent off.. The Coil winder screen is one of the screens set to be released on the new screens page for Mach4. ______________________________ ? Brian Barker Engineering / Devlopment ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions Livermore Falls, Maine (USA) Phone: 207(618)1449 Webpage: On 4/4/2021 8:55 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Hey, Brian, anything? ? ? Hi Brian, it’s been a couple of months again-do you know if there has been any progress on this? ? ? They guys should have been testing it...
I will hit them again for a status.. Sorry they have been using it as fill in work.
Thanks
Brian ______________________________ ? Brian Barker Engineering / Devlopment ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions Livermore Falls, Maine (USA) Phone: 207(618)1449 Webpage: On 11/30/2020 11:44 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Brian, any movement on this? ? ? Hey, man, any word? ? ? Good question! Let me talk to the guys. This slipped my mind. I am getting old or something :) ______________________________ ? Brian Barker Engineering / Devlopment ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions Livermore Falls, Maine (USA) Phone: 207(618)1449 Webpage: On 9/1/2020 10:11 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Hey, Brian, has there been any progress on the Coil Winder screens? ? ? I don't know how long the coil winder is going to take but Brett seems to think the press brake tables should be ready for testing in a few days. Coil winder is after that. Rob got the screen done so it is just the Lua code to make the Gcode files to drive the winder.
On 7/6/2020 12:57 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Thanks, Brian-I’m good for now. ? I’ll nag you about the Coil Winder and the Spindle speed thing in a couple of weeks. ? ? Rob is on the floor now working on the laser we are putting new motors and drives in :( We are juggling a TON right now. If you seem to be all set lets roll with it. We are trying hard to get a new Rev out and I think it will fix most issues.
On 7/6/2020 11:03 AM, Andy Wander wrote: Thanks, Brian-no big rush on the coil winder, I just don’t want to forget about it. ? I tested the Turn Cycles yesterday evening and they are all working now as well. ? Do the only problem I now have is #4, the Spindle Speed being reset when I first press ENABL after starting Mach4. ? I got an email from Rob this morning, and I tried to call him, but I just got a message telling me your hours, and then some music. ? I don’t know if we really need to talk, though, since ESS 258 and Mach4 4517 seem to have solved almost all of my problems. ? ? Hi Andy,
1. I have Brett working on a screen for an OEM and it is taking a bit more time than I would like :( When that is done he will go over what Rob has and building a release.
2. Rob had a setup to test the ESS on the machine by his desk Friday. I didn't know he didn't get back to you, sorry about that. I have informed him of your progress.
3. Check the mill manual, I have someone going over the manual and checking them for the next release. Attached you will find a section of header file, look at that and tell me what you think (start at line number 2113)
4. I don't fully understand why you would want to have the Spindle Speed at start up but lets do that after the rest of this is done please :)
Thanks
Brian
On 7/5/2020 3:45 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Hi Brian: ? 1_ Has there been any progress on that Coil Winder Screen? ? 2_ I didn’t hear from Rob, but I wanted to report that most of my issues appear to have been solved by ESS v258 along with Mach4 4517. I still need to confirm that the issue with the Turn Cycles getting locked out is solved; haven’t had a chance to test that…. ? 3_ Is there an accurate list anywhere of the Pound Variables for Mach4? I have only been able to find one dated 2015 by Scott Shafer, and I know that at least one of the variables in there is wrong….. ? 4_ I’ve got the issues with Mach4 not remembering spindle speed and such between shutting down and restart solved. I took the code that wrote the saved values on startup, out of the Startup Script, and put it in the “first-Run only” section of the PLC code. This seems to work fine, EXCEPT that when I hit ENABLE for the first time after startup, it overwrites the correct value that has been put into the S DRO by the PLC script, and sets it to 0. This only happens the first time I ENABLE MACH4, after that, if I set a value for S, it stays there through DISSABLE/ENABLE cycles. Any idea on what to look for? I couldn’t find anything in any of the screen scripts that does anything to the S word on ENABLE, or any place that treats ENABLE differently on the first time it is pressed after startup ? ? ? Rob is done the first round of getting machines ready for release testing so I have told him today is your test of turn. He may be contacting you... As for the coil winder screen Rob got most of that done before his return back to work. I was going to have Brett continue on with this as soon as he is done the bending software I have him doing. We have lots of projects we are working on so thanks for asking about the progress!
Thanks
Brian
On 6/28/2020 4:35 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Hi Brian: ? Did they get anywhere with the coil winder screen? ? What about this weird problem with the Turn Cycles? (they sure are great, when they work!) ? ? ? Hi Brian-new update: ? I was able to finish the part I was working on, but I started getting FIFO Velocity Buffer underrun errors from the ESS. ? Then, the ESS started randomly going offline without telling me. ? I reverted to ESS v254, and Mach4 V4.2.0.4322, and these problems went away(the FIFO and the ESS going offline.) ? I made a couple more parts using Late today, and everything was working fine, using the Turn Cycles for Facing, Turning, and Threading. ? Then I tried a Rounding operation using Turn Cycles. ? The Gcode looked OK, so I ran it, and it did all the roughing cuts about ?” out from the end of the stock, without actually cutting anything-then it moved in to where it should have been and did the single finishing cut, taking off all of the stock that should have been done during roughing. ? I attached a screen shot of the Mach toolpath window, as well as the .tap file for the Rounding operation. ? I “may” have entered an incorrect setting in the Turn cycle entry screen, but when I went to check, I cannot get the saved cycle to open for editing, and I can’t get any of the Turn cycles to open when clicking on their buttons. I get a message that says, Unable to show wizard 4: wxLua: Expected a 'wxColour' for parameter 2, but got a 'nil'. Function called: 'SetBackgroundColour(wxButton, nil)' - wxWindow::SetBackgroundColour(wxWindow(self), wxColour)
? I’ve tried closing and reopening Mach4, and also reinstalling Mach4, and I still can’t get at any of the Turn Cycles. ? ? Hi Andy,
This is a step in the right direction! We have a few more machines we need to get working so we can get to the testing of the next release testing. We have the Matsuura 500 and the plasma table we need to get ready. The goal is to have them both finished this week so we can start testing Friday. This is when we will setup and test the ESS.
Thanks for the report
?Brian
On 6/13/2020 3:16 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Hi Brian: ? I have some more info and results on the threading cycle not working. ? Today, I backed up my current installation, and installed ESS v257, and Mach4 4.2.0.4517 ? I needed to make a part that had a couple of different diameters, and an external M14 thread at each end. ? The turning was uneventful, but when I used the Turn Cycles screen to generate code for the first M14 thread, and tried to run it, it hung up on the G76 line just as the Internal thread had been doing earlier! Then, I realized that I had accidentally generated code for an Internal thread, but, this time, it was different, as the actual Spindle Speed display on the screen was very intermittent, usually staying at “0”, but occasionally flashing the actual measured RPM. This didn’t happen with the installation that I originally reported this problem on. ? So, I thought maybe my lathe Spindle Speed sensor had gotten damaged or something. At this point, I set the machine back to in/min mode, and started the spindle up, and the on-screen Spindle Speed display worked perfectly. Going back into the threading cycle, and in/rev mode, the display was wonky again. ? Then, I remembered that the release notes for the ESS v257 plugin had mentioned something about a new check box to tell the ESS whether or not to report the spindle speed. I found that check box in the ESS setup, and unchecked it. Testing showed the same problem still remained. ? I then looked at the Spindle setting on the ESS setup page, and changed it from PWM to “OB”. ? That did it, the threading cycle now works, whether ID or OD threading. ? I still have the smaller problem of the spindle making the CLUNK when it gets turned on again while it is already on. I went into config and disabled the Spindle ON, Spindle FWD and Spindle REV pins in Mach4. This stuff was all in there because I never disabled it when I went to my Modbus controlled s[pindle. Alas, this made no difference, I still get the Clunk… ? ? ? ? They are working on a coil winder screen and have the first part of it done.
They did a bunch of testing and could not make your issue happen. We have just started working back at the office where we have all the hardware for testing. We are getting the machines ready for release testing now and one of the things that will be tested is your issue. We are doing the best we can in this screwy time.
Thanks
Brian On 6/11/2020 8:07 AM, Andy Wander wrote: Hi Brian: ? Have you had a chance to work on this? ? Also any? progress on the coil winder screenset? ? ? That may be from my PLC script. I am interrogating the Modbus MPG register on my pendant. ? ? Do you have any idea what is spamming for the MPG? I don't think this is causing you an issue, it is just bad practice and I would like to eliminate as many vars as I can. I was going to see if I could clean the profile and figure this out! I have a few things going on but I am trying to get this done as quickly as I can.
Thanks
Brian
On 6/3/2020 12:46 PM, Andy Wander wrote: I used to use relays and PWM to control my spindle, but now I use the Modbus plugin. ? I think that I left the relay/PWM config alone, and just added the modbus stuff. So Mack4 may be sending controls for both methods. ? Pretty sure I disconnected the relays and PWM/0-10V from the VFD though. I will check that in a bit. ? ? I need your profile please. I don't understand what is firing output #54 I think I am getting a better idea what is going on!
Thanks
Brian
n 6/3/2020 11:09 AM, Andy Wander wrote: Hi Brian: ? The logging window is confusing because the SAVE button is at the bottom, but there is also a “log to file” button up at the top. What does that top button do? ? I don’t think this can be a hardware issue, as external threading code from the Turn Cycle works fine every time. ? Also, yesterday, after I STOPped an unworking internal threading program, I came back a few hours later, rewound and ran the same code, and it worked! Just once though, after that it would hang on the 2nd G76 line uust like before. ? Attached is a log file; can you? see anything strange in there? Attachments: - G76 that stops on second G76 line.log
?
?
?
?
?
? Attachments: - MachAPI.h
?
?
?
?
|
Re: Mach4 Lathe Tool Offset confusion
Hi Dale,
And big thank you for your research.
The video is great, but it’s showing an older version of mach4, which doesn’t even have the troubled diagnostic screen.?
Happy chips!
Konrad
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Am 26.04.2021 um 20:34 schrieb Dale Grice <dfgrice@...>:
? Check this out. I found it helpful.
Dale Grice
On 4/26/2021 12:35 PM, Konrad Krüger wrote:
Hi all,
?
I’m just trying to set up a small modelmaker lathe with Mach4 and a Pokeys 57CNC board
X and Z axis are running, homing works, Spindle is turning CW and CCW and so, I’m already quite happy.?
?
(Mach4 version is 4.2.0.4612, just for reference)
Now, I’m a little confused about tool offsets:
(using the ?Tool offsets in Mach4 Lathe“ document)
The X offset DRO in Diagnostic screen is always showing ?0.000“, although there‘s tool and offset selected.
Question: is this a bug or a feature?
Have a nice Sunday,
Konrad
?
Attachments:
|
Re: Mach4 Lathe Tool Offset confusion
Check this out. I found it helpful.
Dale Grice
On 4/26/2021 12:35 PM, Konrad Krüger
wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Hi
all,
?
I’m
just trying to set up a small modelmaker lathe with Mach4
and a Pokeys 57CNC board
X and Z axis are running, homing works, Spindle is turning
CW and CCW and so, I’m already quite happy.?
?
(Mach4 version is 4.2.0.4612, just for reference)
Now, I’m a little confused about tool offsets:
(using the ?Tool offsets in Mach4 Lathe“ document)
The X offset DRO in Diagnostic screen is always showing
?0.000“, although there‘s tool and offset selected.
Question: is this a bug or a feature?
Have
a nice Sunday,
Konrad
?
Attachments:
|
Mach4 Lathe Tool Offset confusion
Hi all,
?
I’m just trying to set up a small modelmaker lathe with Mach4 and a Pokeys 57CNC board
X and Z axis are running, homing works, Spindle is turning CW and CCW and so, I’m already quite happy.?
?
(Mach4 version is 4.2.0.4612, just for reference)
Now, I’m a little confused about tool offsets:
(using the ?Tool offsets in Mach4 Lathe“ document)
The X offset DRO in Diagnostic screen is always showing ?0.000“, although there‘s tool and offset selected.
Question: is this a bug or a feature?
Have a nice Sunday,
Konrad
?
|
|
|
Re: Mach4 Coil Winder Screen
Hi Brian: ? Any word on this? ?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Brian Barker
Sent: Monday, April 5, 2021 8:01 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [MachCNC] Mach4 Coil Winder Screen? They have it and I asked them to send it to you months ago!? Blah, I will tell them again to get it sent off.. The Coil winder screen is one of the screens set to be released on the new screens page for Mach4. ______________________________ ? Brian Barker Engineering / Devlopment ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions Livermore Falls, Maine (USA) Phone: 207(618)1449 Webpage: On 4/4/2021 8:55 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Hey, Brian, anything? ? ? Hi Brian, it’s been a couple of months again-do you know if there has been any progress on this? ? ? They guys should have been testing it...
I will hit them again for a status.. Sorry they have been using it as fill in work.
Thanks
Brian ______________________________ ? Brian Barker Engineering / Devlopment ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions Livermore Falls, Maine (USA) Phone: 207(618)1449 Webpage: On 11/30/2020 11:44 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Brian, any movement on this? ? ? Hey, man, any word? ? ? Good question! Let me talk to the guys. This slipped my mind. I am getting old or something :) ______________________________ ? Brian Barker Engineering / Devlopment ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions Livermore Falls, Maine (USA) Phone: 207(618)1449 Webpage: On 9/1/2020 10:11 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Hey, Brian, has there been any progress on the Coil Winder screens? ? ? I don't know how long the coil winder is going to take but Brett seems to think the press brake tables should be ready for testing in a few days. Coil winder is after that. Rob got the screen done so it is just the Lua code to make the Gcode files to drive the winder.
On 7/6/2020 12:57 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Thanks, Brian-I’m good for now. ? I’ll nag you about the Coil Winder and the Spindle speed thing in a couple of weeks. ? ? Rob is on the floor now working on the laser we are putting new motors and drives in :( We are juggling a TON right now. If you seem to be all set lets roll with it. We are trying hard to get a new Rev out and I think it will fix most issues.
On 7/6/2020 11:03 AM, Andy Wander wrote: Thanks, Brian-no big rush on the coil winder, I just don’t want to forget about it. ? I tested the Turn Cycles yesterday evening and they are all working now as well. ? Do the only problem I now have is #4, the Spindle Speed being reset when I first press ENABL after starting Mach4. ? I got an email from Rob this morning, and I tried to call him, but I just got a message telling me your hours, and then some music. ? I don’t know if we really need to talk, though, since ESS 258 and Mach4 4517 seem to have solved almost all of my problems. ? ? Hi Andy,
1. I have Brett working on a screen for an OEM and it is taking a bit more time than I would like :( When that is done he will go over what Rob has and building a release.
2. Rob had a setup to test the ESS on the machine by his desk Friday. I didn't know he didn't get back to you, sorry about that. I have informed him of your progress.
3. Check the mill manual, I have someone going over the manual and checking them for the next release. Attached you will find a section of header file, look at that and tell me what you think (start at line number 2113)
4. I don't fully understand why you would want to have the Spindle Speed at start up but lets do that after the rest of this is done please :)
Thanks
Brian
On 7/5/2020 3:45 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Hi Brian: ? 1_ Has there been any progress on that Coil Winder Screen? ? 2_ I didn’t hear from Rob, but I wanted to report that most of my issues appear to have been solved by ESS v258 along with Mach4 4517. I still need to confirm that the issue with the Turn Cycles getting locked out is solved; haven’t had a chance to test that…. ? 3_ Is there an accurate list anywhere of the Pound Variables for Mach4? I have only been able to find one dated 2015 by Scott Shafer, and I know that at least one of the variables in there is wrong….. ? 4_ I’ve got the issues with Mach4 not remembering spindle speed and such between shutting down and restart solved. I took the code that wrote the saved values on startup, out of the Startup Script, and put it in the “first-Run only” section of the PLC code. This seems to work fine, EXCEPT that when I hit ENABLE for the first time after startup, it overwrites the correct value that has been put into the S DRO by the PLC script, and sets it to 0. This only happens the first time I ENABLE MACH4, after that, if I set a value for S, it stays there through DISSABLE/ENABLE cycles. Any idea on what to look for? I couldn’t find anything in any of the screen scripts that does anything to the S word on ENABLE, or any place that treats ENABLE differently on the first time it is pressed after startup ? ? ? Rob is done the first round of getting machines ready for release testing so I have told him today is your test of turn. He may be contacting you... As for the coil winder screen Rob got most of that done before his return back to work. I was going to have Brett continue on with this as soon as he is done the bending software I have him doing. We have lots of projects we are working on so thanks for asking about the progress!
Thanks
Brian
On 6/28/2020 4:35 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Hi Brian: ? Did they get anywhere with the coil winder screen? ? What about this weird problem with the Turn Cycles? (they sure are great, when they work!) ? ? ? Hi Brian-new update: ? I was able to finish the part I was working on, but I started getting FIFO Velocity Buffer underrun errors from the ESS. ? Then, the ESS started randomly going offline without telling me. ? I reverted to ESS v254, and Mach4 V4.2.0.4322, and these problems went away(the FIFO and the ESS going offline.) ? I made a couple more parts using Late today, and everything was working fine, using the Turn Cycles for Facing, Turning, and Threading. ? Then I tried a Rounding operation using Turn Cycles. ? The Gcode looked OK, so I ran it, and it did all the roughing cuts about ?” out from the end of the stock, without actually cutting anything-then it moved in to where it should have been and did the single finishing cut, taking off all of the stock that should have been done during roughing. ? I attached a screen shot of the Mach toolpath window, as well as the .tap file for the Rounding operation. ? I “may” have entered an incorrect setting in the Turn cycle entry screen, but when I went to check, I cannot get the saved cycle to open for editing, and I can’t get any of the Turn cycles to open when clicking on their buttons. I get a message that says, Unable to show wizard 4: wxLua: Expected a 'wxColour' for parameter 2, but got a 'nil'. Function called: 'SetBackgroundColour(wxButton, nil)' - wxWindow::SetBackgroundColour(wxWindow(self), wxColour)
? I’ve tried closing and reopening Mach4, and also reinstalling Mach4, and I still can’t get at any of the Turn Cycles. ? ? Hi Andy,
This is a step in the right direction! We have a few more machines we need to get working so we can get to the testing of the next release testing. We have the Matsuura 500 and the plasma table we need to get ready. The goal is to have them both finished this week so we can start testing Friday. This is when we will setup and test the ESS.
Thanks for the report
?Brian
On 6/13/2020 3:16 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Hi Brian: ? I have some more info and results on the threading cycle not working. ? Today, I backed up my current installation, and installed ESS v257, and Mach4 4.2.0.4517 ? I needed to make a part that had a couple of different diameters, and an external M14 thread at each end. ? The turning was uneventful, but when I used the Turn Cycles screen to generate code for the first M14 thread, and tried to run it, it hung up on the G76 line just as the Internal thread had been doing earlier! Then, I realized that I had accidentally generated code for an Internal thread, but, this time, it was different, as the actual Spindle Speed display on the screen was very intermittent, usually staying at “0”, but occasionally flashing the actual measured RPM. This didn’t happen with the installation that I originally reported this problem on. ? So, I thought maybe my lathe Spindle Speed sensor had gotten damaged or something. At this point, I set the machine back to in/min mode, and started the spindle up, and the on-screen Spindle Speed display worked perfectly. Going back into the threading cycle, and in/rev mode, the display was wonky again. ? Then, I remembered that the release notes for the ESS v257 plugin had mentioned something about a new check box to tell the ESS whether or not to report the spindle speed. I found that check box in the ESS setup, and unchecked it. Testing showed the same problem still remained. ? I then looked at the Spindle setting on the ESS setup page, and changed it from PWM to “OB”. ? That did it, the threading cycle now works, whether ID or OD threading. ? I still have the smaller problem of the spindle making the CLUNK when it gets turned on again while it is already on. I went into config and disabled the Spindle ON, Spindle FWD and Spindle REV pins in Mach4. This stuff was all in there because I never disabled it when I went to my Modbus controlled s[pindle. Alas, this made no difference, I still get the Clunk… ? ? ? ? They are working on a coil winder screen and have the first part of it done.
They did a bunch of testing and could not make your issue happen. We have just started working back at the office where we have all the hardware for testing. We are getting the machines ready for release testing now and one of the things that will be tested is your issue. We are doing the best we can in this screwy time.
Thanks
Brian On 6/11/2020 8:07 AM, Andy Wander wrote: Hi Brian: ? Have you had a chance to work on this? ? Also any? progress on the coil winder screenset? ? ? That may be from my PLC script. I am interrogating the Modbus MPG register on my pendant. ? ? Do you have any idea what is spamming for the MPG? I don't think this is causing you an issue, it is just bad practice and I would like to eliminate as many vars as I can. I was going to see if I could clean the profile and figure this out! I have a few things going on but I am trying to get this done as quickly as I can.
Thanks
Brian
On 6/3/2020 12:46 PM, Andy Wander wrote: I used to use relays and PWM to control my spindle, but now I use the Modbus plugin. ? I think that I left the relay/PWM config alone, and just added the modbus stuff. So Mack4 may be sending controls for both methods. ? Pretty sure I disconnected the relays and PWM/0-10V from the VFD though. I will check that in a bit. ? ? I need your profile please. I don't understand what is firing output #54 I think I am getting a better idea what is going on!
Thanks
Brian
n 6/3/2020 11:09 AM, Andy Wander wrote: Hi Brian: ? The logging window is confusing because the SAVE button is at the bottom, but there is also a “log to file” button up at the top. What does that top button do? ? I don’t think this can be a hardware issue, as external threading code from the Turn Cycle works fine every time. ? Also, yesterday, after I STOPped an unworking internal threading program, I came back a few hours later, rewound and ran the same code, and it worked! Just once though, after that it would hang on the 2nd G76 line uust like before. ? Attached is a log file; can you? see anything strange in there? Attachments: - G76 that stops on second G76 line.log
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? Attachments: - MachAPI.h
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Nice to hear from you again Dale.
I bought a small router from one of the Chinese vendors on Ebay. There are dozens of them, and if you look closely you can tell the ones that are made with heavier frames and look more rugged. I cant give you a pointer because I got mine a couple years ago, but I was able to hook Mach to it without trouble. In fact it came with a copy of Mach3 on CD, as do many of them.
I found it to be a decent little machine, not quite as stiff as a Bridgeport, but reasonable.
ron ginger
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Show quoted text
On 4/13/2021 7:13 PM, Dale Grice wrote: I am curious if anyone knows of a good XY table that I can connect my Mach 4 and CNC box to.
The situation is, I've always wanted to get in to CNC. I got into the retrofit of a little machine shop mini lathe with CNC and Mach 4 in order to learn. I used the tech shops design by Ron Ginger and another gentleman's who's name I not recall.
I also have a 13x40 geared head lathe and a Bridgeport Mill. And no more room in my small little hobby shop.
I have some projects that require large numbers of like pieces and in a lot of cases the cnc'd mini late doesn't have the power or I do not have the tooling for it.
There are many times I thought having a small XY table mounted on my 13x40 lathe powered by my CNC box and Mach 4 would be quite beneficial. It is also something I could transfer over to the bridgeport.
At this point I just can't see doing a full CNC install on either the 13x40 lathe or the Bridgeport Mill.
I have considered an electronic lead screw on the lathe but I suspect that needs ball screws and it would not transfer over to the Bridgeport. And at this point I'd like to keep the lathe capable of doing one of projects. That is what I do most of it appears.
Sorry for the long-winded message.
Dale Grice
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That sound like a fun tool. You should have no trouble finding linear reals and ball screws. I am internet compromised right now or i could give links. Automation technologies maybe? The z axis is a bitch x and y are easy
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On April 13, 2021 4:13:12 PM PDT, Dale Grice <dfgrice@...> wrote:
I am curious if anyone knows of a good XY table that I can connect my Mach 4 and CNC box to.
The situation is, I've always wanted to get in to CNC. I got into the retrofit of a little machine shop mini lathe with CNC and Mach 4 in order to learn. I used the tech shops design by Ron Ginger and another gentleman's who's name I not recall.
I also have a 13x40 geared head lathe and a Bridgeport Mill. And no more room in my small little hobby shop.
I have some projects that require large numbers of like pieces and in a lot of cases the cnc'd mini late doesn't have the power or I do not have the tooling for it.
There are many times I thought having a small XY table mounted on my 13x40 lathe powered by my CNC box and Mach 4 would be quite beneficial. It is also something I could transfer over to the bridgeport.
At this point I just can't see doing a full CNC install on either the 13x40 lathe or the Bridgeport Mill.
I have considered an electronic lead screw on the lathe but I suspect that needs ball screws and it would not transfer over to the Bridgeport. And at this point I'd like to keep the lathe capable of doing one of projects. That is what I do most of it appears.
Sorry for the long-winded message.
Dale Grice
--
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
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I am curious if anyone knows of a good XY table that I can connect my Mach 4 and CNC box to.
The situation is, I've always wanted to get in to CNC. I got into the retrofit of a little machine shop mini lathe with CNC and Mach 4 in order to learn. I used the tech shops design by Ron Ginger and another gentleman's who's name I not recall.
I also have a 13x40 geared head lathe and a Bridgeport Mill. And no more room in my small little hobby shop.
I have some projects that require large numbers of like pieces and in a lot of cases the cnc'd mini late doesn't have the power or I do not have the tooling for it.
There are many times I thought having a small XY table mounted on my 13x40 lathe powered by my CNC box and Mach 4 would be quite beneficial. It is also something I could transfer over to the bridgeport.
At this point I just can't see doing a full CNC install on either the 13x40 lathe or the Bridgeport Mill.
I have considered an electronic lead screw on the lathe but I suspect that needs ball screws and it would not transfer over to the Bridgeport. And at this point I'd like to keep the lathe capable of doing one of projects. That is what I do most of it appears.
Sorry for the long-winded message.
Dale Grice
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Thanks for your opinions.?
On Thursday, 1 April, 2021, 11:02:05 pm IST, Joe Andolina <joe.andolina@...> wrote:
This might be the nudge I need to move over to Mach4. As a hobbyist?I only get so much time in the shop. Making my time there more efficient would be amazing!
Thank you!
I am being tempted also is there a special price discount to upgrade?
Jim
> On 1 Apr 2021, at 08:56, Thayer Syme <thayer@...> wrote:
>
> ?Spencer,
>
> It is great to hear you got it all sorted out. I'm still running M3 on an old XP machine and am happy with it, but you are tempting me to look into the upgrade.
>
> Thayer
>
>> On 4/1/21 12:14 AM, spencer@... wrote:
>> There were suggestions in the past about upgrading to mach4. I thought mach3 was OK and why learn all new stuff?
>>
>> Well the reason is that mach4 is so much better, it is well worth the learning even for an old fart like me.
>>
>> It took me a day to get all the settings migrated to mach4 using ESS.
>>
>> I have been using mach4 for two partial days now and have not had a single hiccup or misfeed which were becoming more common in mach3.
>>
>> There are so many really cool features most of which I will never use but for accuracy stability and reliability I think mach3 can't come close to mach4.
>>
>> I wish someone had forced me to change years ago, i would have a lot more hair not pulled out in frustration with mach3.
>>
>
>
>
>
>
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Thank you all, it switched as soon as I? loaded up my xml profile.? Evidently this is something I must have struggled with about 10 years ago when I made up the original profile and had completely forgotten about.
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also G90.1 or G91.1 switches it if you have it in your code.
On 4/6/2021 6:31 PM, Stephen Muscato
via groups.io wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Could it be here?
????Ports & Pins
????Turn Options
??? "Reversed Arcs in Front
Post"? is it checked?? I had a problem a long time ago
and I may have unchecked this box to fix it.
Steve
On Tuesday, April 6, 2021, 3:59:29 PM CDT, chuck via
groups.io <chuckels@...> wrote:
Steve,
been a while since I ran mach3 but there is a setting
that has to do with I J K moves if I remember its a
check box in one of the settings page.
Chuck
On
4/4/2021 10:06 AM, Steven DAntonio wrote:
I just upgraded to R3.043.066 (from R2), I'm getting
an error that says "radius at end of arc differs from
radius to start, block =G02..."
I downloaded the more recent R3 from Artsoft and the?
fix log shows nothing after R3.043.62.? I can go back to
R2 if need be, but I'm hoping I don't have to. This code
runs under R2.? Code generator was RhinoCAM 2017.? I'm
running under win XP SP 3 since my computers with an
LPT1 port with not support anything higher.
I'm seeing this error with every piece of code I have
tested so far, all of which ran under R2 without issues.
Here is a snippet of the code (bold line is the one that
crashes)
G00 G49 G40.1 G17 G80 G50 G90
G20
(Setup 1)
(Work Zero)
(2 1/2 Axis Profiling)
M6 T2
M03 S20000
G00 Z1.0466
X1.3373 Y-0.0609
G01 Z-0.1515? F120.0
X1.1529 Y-0.0778
X0.9299 Y-0.0944
X0.7066 Y-0.1074
X0.4832 Y-0.1169
X0.2596 Y-0.1227
X0.1105 Y-0.1246
X-0.1106
X-0.3484 Y-0.1208
X-0.5861 Y-0.1130
X-0.8236 Y-0.1011
X-1.0609 Y-0.0851
X-1.2979 Y-0.0651
X-1.5346 Y-0.0410
X-1.7707 Y-0.0129
X-2.0064 Y0.0192
X-2.2415 Y0.0553
G17
G02X-7.7519Y4.4694I0.9620J6.8475
X-7.4781Y9.3650I5.8485J2.1283
X-6.1583Y11.1056I6.2570J-3.3735
G01 X-5.9731 Y11.2914
G03X-5.4021Y11.9392I-5.5788J5.4928
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Steve,
its under config/general config? second column over like 3 boxes
down. I J mode absolute or incremental.
whichever is checked switch it.
Chuck
On 4/6/2021 6:31 PM, Stephen Muscato
via groups.io wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Could it be here?
????Ports & Pins
????Turn Options
??? "Reversed Arcs in Front
Post"? is it checked?? I had a problem a long time ago
and I may have unchecked this box to fix it.
Steve
On Tuesday, April 6, 2021, 3:59:29 PM CDT, chuck via
groups.io <chuckels@...> wrote:
Steve,
been a while since I ran mach3 but there is a setting
that has to do with I J K moves if I remember its a
check box in one of the settings page.
Chuck
On
4/4/2021 10:06 AM, Steven DAntonio wrote:
I just upgraded to R3.043.066 (from R2), I'm getting
an error that says "radius at end of arc differs from
radius to start, block =G02..."
I downloaded the more recent R3 from Artsoft and the?
fix log shows nothing after R3.043.62.? I can go back to
R2 if need be, but I'm hoping I don't have to. This code
runs under R2.? Code generator was RhinoCAM 2017.? I'm
running under win XP SP 3 since my computers with an
LPT1 port with not support anything higher.
I'm seeing this error with every piece of code I have
tested so far, all of which ran under R2 without issues.
Here is a snippet of the code (bold line is the one that
crashes)
G00 G49 G40.1 G17 G80 G50 G90
G20
(Setup 1)
(Work Zero)
(2 1/2 Axis Profiling)
M6 T2
M03 S20000
G00 Z1.0466
X1.3373 Y-0.0609
G01 Z-0.1515? F120.0
X1.1529 Y-0.0778
X0.9299 Y-0.0944
X0.7066 Y-0.1074
X0.4832 Y-0.1169
X0.2596 Y-0.1227
X0.1105 Y-0.1246
X-0.1106
X-0.3484 Y-0.1208
X-0.5861 Y-0.1130
X-0.8236 Y-0.1011
X-1.0609 Y-0.0851
X-1.2979 Y-0.0651
X-1.5346 Y-0.0410
X-1.7707 Y-0.0129
X-2.0064 Y0.0192
X-2.2415 Y0.0553
G17
G02X-7.7519Y4.4694I0.9620J6.8475
X-7.4781Y9.3650I5.8485J2.1283
X-6.1583Y11.1056I6.2570J-3.3735
G01 X-5.9731 Y11.2914
G03X-5.4021Y11.9392I-5.5788J5.4928
|
Ron Ginger