Re: Replace/upgrade parallel port driver with/to USB
I tried one before getting the ESS. It worked really badly got
all sorts of noise and false steps. That was probably because of
the DC servomotor on the spindle. It makes tons of noise and even
using a well shielded and grounded to the common ground cable it
still was terrible.
On 3/19/2022 3:55 AM, Matt Harrington
wrote:
You could consider using a UC100 adapter (parallel to USB) which
is what I did when I changed my PC.
I have had no issues with my old setup but don't be tempted with
knock off versions at a low price as they don't seem to work (so I
am told)
Matt
--
Best regards, Spencer Chase
67550 Bell Springs Rd.
Garberville, CA 95542 Postal service only.
Laytonville, CA 95454 UPS only.
Spencer@...
(425) 791-0309
|
Re: Replace/upgrade parallel port driver with/to USB
I like little solid state computers like the ones Lenovo makes.
You can get them for well under $300. They do not have big cooling
fans if any fans at all so do not drag in wood dust etc. Quiet as
if that matters when your spindle is screaming and boot really
fast. Some come with ethernet which is useful but I like to
disable it when running the machine.
And smoothstepper is appropriately named. I first got it when
running Mach3 and the machine got much smoother. Not sure it would
improve smoothness with Mach4 because it is probably very smooth
on its own.
On 3/19/2022 9:11 AM, Barry Albin
wrote:
Stephen,
I’m no expert but I purchased a Chinese CNC router
about 5 years ago and had several problems. ?I rebuilt the
thing with new motors, better proximity sensors on X,Y, and Z.
?I’m currently building a new CNC router from scratch and this
is what I’ve experienced and learned so far. ?I can’t tell
from your note if you are currently using Mach 3 to control
anything or not.
1) You can replace your PC with an older model
like the Dell T3500 with a decent Hard Drive, 8GB of RAM and a
good video card that is easily procured for less than $200 on
Ebay, Amazon or Discount Electronics. ?They come with Windows
7 or 10, both of which run Mach 3 very well. ?I like Windows 7
better than 10 but that is solely a personal preference. ?It
doesn’t have to be a Dell but you’ll want a decent amount of
RAM. ?Lots of folks use laptops.
2) You will want a motion controller like Warp 9’s
Ethernet Smoothstepper. ?There are other manufacturers out
there as well that I’m not familiar with but the Smoothstepper
eliminated the missed steps I was experiencing as well
providing a smooth stream of signals to the motors. ?As others
have noted the Ethernet connection is superior to USB and
available on a myriad of older PC’s and laptops.
3) For the retrofit of my old machine I purchased
the controller box from Avid CNC. ?Its a four axis control box
that had good motor drivers, big power supply, ample proximity
switch controls, an input for a spindle VFD and included the
Ethernet Smoothstepper as well as inputs/outputs for
controlling things like a vacuum system and coolant. ?Their
products aren’t cheap but its good stuff and the folks there
are very helpful. ?Its a plug and play system that works well
with Mach 3 and Mach 4 through which you can control
everything including a spindle.. ?You can check out their
stuff on their website.
Don’t know if that helps but there ya go.
B.
I would like to replace the current pc
(with a parallel printer port) to a faster. machine,
probably a workstation (USB’ no parallel printer
port).
My 3D router is a simple
configuration, X, Y, and Z axis drives, cutting motor
speed control, and associated end stop for the axis
movement, jogging handset and motor driver
(independent of Mach3) display.
Can you give me recommendations for
the motor driver controller replacement? They would be
very welcome and acknowledged.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Stephen Gould
--
Best regards, Spencer Chase
67550 Bell Springs Rd.
Garberville, CA 95542 Postal service only.
Laytonville, CA 95454 UPS only.
Spencer@...
(425) 791-0309
|
Re: ESS + Mach4 new profile
Some configuration is in Mach4 and some in the ESS plugin. ESS
has excellent documentation as well as a wizard for dummies like
me. I was anticipating a lot of work switching to ESS but it was
real easy.
I am not sure if the ESS configuration is in the Mach4 folder or
in non volatile memory but to be absolutely safe you can take
screen shots of the configuration pages. Or the way a young 'un
would do it take pictures with your phone :)
On 3/19/2022 8:28 AM, Andy Wander
wrote:
The procedure
you outlined in your last paragraph will work well.
?
Also, as far as
I know, the config gets loaded to the ES when you open
Mach4, so no worries there either.
?
?
Looking to create a new profile on an
existing machine with Mach4 and ESS already
set up. My concern is whether doing so, following warp9
instructions, will affect the already
existing settings in the ESS.
Is there a way to back up the ESS settings?
Do the settings in an unconfigured profile overwrite any of
the settings in the ESS?
?(planning to clone an unconfigured 'Mill' or 'Router'
profile, then after connecting the
ESS to Mach in the profile, finish the Mach configuration.)
--
Best regards, Spencer Chase
67550 Bell Springs Rd.
Garberville, CA 95542 Postal service only.
Laytonville, CA 95454 UPS only.
Spencer@...
(425) 791-0309
|
Re: Replace/upgrade parallel port driver with/to USB
Same, here, had all sorts of problems with USB which went away
with ESS. Now I am trying a Masso which is al in one so other than
being careful to avoid ground loops and shielding the VFD to
spindle cable there is no one to be responsible for noise but
Masso.
Anyone else have experience with Masso? I will be moving my old
setup to a little mill I had abandoned so will still be a Mach4
user.
On 3/19/2022 4:17 AM, Bertho wrote:
Stephen,
If you have the option to use ethernet it
is a much better choice. It is galvanically isolated.?
USB is sensitive to groundloops and
electrical interference.
When I got a new controller for Mach-4, I
initially was using USB with it.? I had a lot of noise
problems.?
I am an electronic engineer, and usually
know what I am doing, but that controller was very sensitive
to noise.?
I changed from USB and instead used the
network port on the controller and all the problems went away.
Bertho
?
?
?
I would like to
replace the current pc (with a parallel printer port) to a
faster. machine, probably a workstation (USB’ no parallel
printer port).
My 3D router is a
simple configuration, X, Y, and Z axis drives, cutting
motor speed control, and associated end stop for the axis
movement, jogging handset and motor driver (independent of
Mach3) display.
Can you give me
recommendations for the motor driver controller
replacement? They would be very welcome and acknowledged.
Looking forward to
hearing from you.
--
Best regards, Spencer Chase
67550 Bell Springs Rd.
Garberville, CA 95542 Postal service only.
Laytonville, CA 95454 UPS only.
Spencer@...
(425) 791-0309
|
Re: Replace/upgrade parallel port driver with/to USB
Stephen,
I’m no expert but I purchased a Chinese CNC router about 5 years ago and had several problems. ?I rebuilt the thing with new motors, better proximity sensors on X,Y, and Z. ?I’m currently building a new CNC router from scratch and this is what I’ve experienced and learned so far. ?I can’t tell from your note if you are currently using Mach 3 to control anything or not.
1) You can replace your PC with an older model like the Dell T3500 with a decent Hard Drive, 8GB of RAM and a good video card that is easily procured for less than $200 on Ebay, Amazon or Discount Electronics. ?They come with Windows 7 or 10, both of which run Mach 3 very well. ?I like Windows 7 better than 10 but that is solely a personal preference. ?It doesn’t have to be a Dell but you’ll want a decent amount of RAM. ?Lots of folks use laptops.
2) You will want a motion controller like Warp 9’s Ethernet Smoothstepper. ?There are other manufacturers out there as well that I’m not familiar with but the Smoothstepper eliminated the missed steps I was experiencing as well providing a smooth stream of signals to the motors. ?As others have noted the Ethernet connection is superior to USB and available on a myriad of older PC’s and laptops.
3) For the retrofit of my old machine I purchased the controller box from Avid CNC. ?Its a four axis control box that had good motor drivers, big power supply, ample proximity switch controls, an input for a spindle VFD and included the Ethernet Smoothstepper as well as inputs/outputs for controlling things like a vacuum system and coolant. ?Their products aren’t cheap but its good stuff and the folks there are very helpful. ?Its a plug and play system that works well with Mach 3 and Mach 4 through which you can control everything including a spindle.. ?You can check out their stuff on their website.
Don’t know if that helps but there ya go.
B.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
I would like to replace the current pc (with a parallel printer port) to a faster. machine, probably a workstation (USB’ no parallel printer port).
My 3D router is a simple configuration, X, Y, and Z axis drives, cutting motor speed control, and associated end stop for the axis movement, jogging handset and motor driver (independent of Mach3) display.
Can you give me recommendations for the motor driver controller replacement? They would be very welcome and acknowledged.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Stephen Gould
|
Re: Replace/upgrade parallel port driver with/to USB
On Sat, Mar 19, 2022 at 5:49 AM Stephen Gould <stephen_gould@...> wrote:
I would like to replace the current pc (with a parallel printer port) to a faster. machine, probably a workstation (USB’ no parallel printer port).
My 3D router is a simple configuration, X, Y, and Z axis drives, cutting motor speed control, and associated end stop for the axis movement, jogging handset and motor driver (independent of Mach3) display.
Can you give me recommendations for the motor driver controller replacement? They would be very welcome and acknowledged.
Following on from Bertho's advice you may want to look at ethercat. This is something that works on an ethernet connection and speeds up things. Very useful for high speed interfaces and actions. I'm not an expert on bloody well anything in this area (networking) so its not like I KNOW what I'm doing just know that its the newest out of the possible connection systems/protocols. HTH
|
Re: ESS + Mach4 new profile
The procedure you outlined in your last paragraph will work well. ? Also, as far as I know, the config gets loaded to the ES when you open Mach4, so no worries there either. ?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of cimdave@... Sent: Saturday, March 19, 2022 8:46 AM To: [email protected]Subject: [MachCNC] ESS + Mach4 new profile ? Looking to create a new profile on an existing machine with Mach4 and ESS already
set up. My concern is whether doing so, following warp9 instructions, will affect the already
existing settings in the ESS.
Is there a way to back up the ESS settings?
Do the settings in an unconfigured profile overwrite any of the settings in the ESS?
?(planning to clone an unconfigured 'Mill' or 'Router' profile, then after connecting the
ESS to Mach in the profile, finish the Mach configuration.)
|
Re: Replace/upgrade parallel port driver with/to USB
You could consider using a UC100 adapter (parallel to USB) which is what I did when I changed my PC.
I have had no issues with my old setup but don't be tempted with knock off versions at a low price as they don't seem to work (so I am told)
Matt
|
Looking to create a new profile on an existing machine with Mach4 and ESS already
set up. My concern is whether doing so, following warp9 instructions, will affect the already
existing settings in the ESS.
Is there a way to back up the ESS settings?
Do the settings in an unconfigured profile overwrite any of the settings in the ESS?
?(planning to clone an unconfigured 'Mill' or 'Router' profile, then after connecting the
ESS to Mach in the profile, finish the Mach configuration.)
|
Re: Replace/upgrade parallel port driver with/to USB
Stephen, If you have the option to use ethernet it is a much better choice. It is galvanically isolated.? USB is sensitive to groundloops and electrical interference. When I got a new controller for Mach-4, I initially was using USB with it.? I had a lot of noise problems.? I am an electronic engineer, and usually know what I am doing, but that controller was very sensitive to noise.? I changed from USB and instead used the network port on the controller and all the problems went away. Bertho ? ?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of Stephen Gould Sent: Saturday, March 19, 2022 6:49 AM To: [email protected]Subject: [MachCNC] Replace/upgrade parallel port driver with/to USB ? I would like to replace the current pc (with a parallel printer port) to a faster. machine, probably a workstation (USB’ no parallel printer port). My 3D router is a simple configuration, X, Y, and Z axis drives, cutting motor speed control, and associated end stop for the axis movement, jogging handset and motor driver (independent of Mach3) display. Can you give me recommendations for the motor driver controller replacement? They would be very welcome and acknowledged. Looking forward to hearing from you.
|
Replace/upgrade parallel port driver with/to USB
I would like to replace the current pc (with a parallel printer port) to a faster. machine, probably a workstation (USB’ no parallel printer port).
My 3D router is a simple configuration, X, Y, and Z axis drives, cutting motor speed control, and associated end stop for the axis movement, jogging handset and motor driver (independent of Mach3) display.
Can you give me recommendations for the motor driver controller replacement? They would be very welcome and acknowledged.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Stephen Gould
|
Re: Mach4 Coil Winder Screen
Clicking any other button with the touch screen does work every time, though. ?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Brian Barker
Sent: Monday, March 14, 2022 8:28 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [MachCNC] Mach4 Coil Winder Screen? As for your touch screen thing.. that sounds more like a touch screen setting to register what a "click" event is. You may need to set how fast a click is registered. I know we have a few here that are slow to pick up a double click. I have to do it like 3 times to make it work (Mostly learn how to slow the heck down). ______________________________ ? Brian Barker Engineering / Development ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions Livermore Falls, Maine (USA) Webpage: On 3/13/2022 9:12 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Hi Brian: ? I got another one for ya’. ? I copied and modified one of the Axis Zero buttons on the Coilwinder Screen. ? I changed it from having a Left Down Action of “Zero Y” to having a Left Down Script. The script grabs a number from a register and sets the Y machine position to that number. ? The script itself works fine, and the button works fine if I single-left-click it with the mouse. But if I press the button on my touch screen, it only works maybe one in 10 times. Pressing it always highlights the button, but the script doesn’t seem to run most of the time-if I press it on the touchscreen. It works every time with the mouse. ? I’ve tried re-making the button, and also tried having using a Left Up Script or a Clicked Script, with the same results. ? Any idea what I might be doing wrong? ? Andy ? ? I think I like turns better but we can make it a selection.. The other 2 points seem easy enough ______________________________ ? Brian Barker Engineering / Development ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions Livermore Falls, Maine (USA) Webpage: On 3/6/2022 2:37 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Hi Brian: ? I finally downloaded and started to use the Coilwinder Mach4 screen a couple of weeks ago. ? I had to modify it to fit my setup but I also found a couple of issues with the screenset as downloaded. ? -The screenset is set up to use the A axis in units of revolutions instead of degrees. I would bet most people use degrees as the units for their rotary axes. ? -The “Write G Code” button does not do what it says; instead it saves the Gcode to a string and then executes it immediately as an MDI command. ? -The generated Gcode does not return to G90 Absolute coordinates after running the code. ? ? That is not Epic at all! LOL ? I will see if I can get it to download ______________________________ ? Brian Barker Engineering / Devlopment ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions Livermore Falls, Maine (USA) Phone: 207(618)1449 Webpage: On 6/11/2021 12:37 AM, Andy Wander wrote: I see that the Coil Winder screen is on the website, but when I try to download it I get: ? Epic 404 - Article Not Found ? ? ? 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: 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
As for your touch screen thing.. that sounds more like a touch
screen setting to register what a "click" event is. You may need
to set how fast a click is registered. I know we have a few here
that are slow to pick up a double click. I have to do it like 3
times to make it work (Mostly learn how to slow the heck down).
______________________________
Brian Barker
Engineering / Development
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Webpage:
On 3/13/2022 9:12 PM, Andy Wander
wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Hi Brian:
?
I got another
one for ya’.
?
I copied and
modified one of the Axis Zero buttons on the Coilwinder
Screen.
?
I changed it
from having a Left Down Action of “Zero Y” to having a Left
Down Script. The script grabs a number from a register and
sets the Y machine position to that number.
?
The script
itself works fine, and the button works fine if I
single-left-click it with the mouse. But if I press the
button on my touch screen, it only works maybe one in 10
times. Pressing it always highlights the button, but the
script doesn’t seem to run most of the time-if I press it on
the touchscreen. It works every time with the mouse.
?
I’ve tried
re-making the button, and also tried having using a Left Up
Script or a Clicked Script, with the same results.
?
Any idea what I
might be doing wrong?
?
Andy
?
?
I think I like turns better but we can make it a selection..
The other 2 points seem easy enough
______________________________
?
Brian Barker
Engineering / Development
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Webpage:
On 3/6/2022 2:37 PM, Andy Wander wrote:
Hi Brian:
?
I finally
downloaded and started to use the Coilwinder Mach4 screen
a couple of weeks ago.
?
I had to
modify it to fit my setup but I also found a couple of
issues with the screenset as downloaded.
?
-The
screenset is set up to use the A axis in units of
revolutions instead of degrees. I would bet most people
use degrees as the units for their rotary axes.
?
-The “Write G
Code” button does not do what it says; instead it saves
the Gcode to a string and then executes it immediately as
an MDI command.
?
-The
generated Gcode does not return to G90 Absolute
coordinates after running the code.
?
?
That is not Epic at all! LOL
?
I will see if I can get it to download
______________________________
?
Brian Barker
Engineering / Devlopment
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Phone: 207(618)1449
Webpage:
On 6/11/2021 12:37 AM, Andy Wander
wrote:
I see that
the Coil Winder screen is on the website, but when I try
to download it I get:
?
Epic 404 - Article Not Found
?
?
?
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:
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
Printed it off and I will drop it off to one of the guys to work
on.. Shouldn't be much of an issue to get this. I would like to
see this ready for the new release we are finishing now.
______________________________
Brian Barker
Engineering / Development
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Webpage:
On 3/13/2022 9:12 PM, Andy Wander
wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Hi Brian:
?
I got another
one for ya’.
?
I copied and
modified one of the Axis Zero buttons on the Coilwinder
Screen.
?
I changed it
from having a Left Down Action of “Zero Y” to having a Left
Down Script. The script grabs a number from a register and
sets the Y machine position to that number.
?
The script
itself works fine, and the button works fine if I
single-left-click it with the mouse. But if I press the
button on my touch screen, it only works maybe one in 10
times. Pressing it always highlights the button, but the
script doesn’t seem to run most of the time-if I press it on
the touchscreen. It works every time with the mouse.
?
I’ve tried
re-making the button, and also tried having using a Left Up
Script or a Clicked Script, with the same results.
?
Any idea what I
might be doing wrong?
?
Andy
?
?
I think I like turns better but we can make it a selection..
The other 2 points seem easy enough
______________________________
?
Brian Barker
Engineering / Development
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Webpage:
On 3/6/2022 2:37 PM, Andy Wander wrote:
Hi Brian:
?
I finally
downloaded and started to use the Coilwinder Mach4 screen
a couple of weeks ago.
?
I had to
modify it to fit my setup but I also found a couple of
issues with the screenset as downloaded.
?
-The
screenset is set up to use the A axis in units of
revolutions instead of degrees. I would bet most people
use degrees as the units for their rotary axes.
?
-The “Write G
Code” button does not do what it says; instead it saves
the Gcode to a string and then executes it immediately as
an MDI command.
?
-The
generated Gcode does not return to G90 Absolute
coordinates after running the code.
?
?
That is not Epic at all! LOL
?
I will see if I can get it to download
______________________________
?
Brian Barker
Engineering / Devlopment
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Phone: 207(618)1449
Webpage:
On 6/11/2021 12:37 AM, Andy Wander
wrote:
I see that
the Coil Winder screen is on the website, but when I try
to download it I get:
?
Epic 404 - Article Not Found
?
?
?
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:
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: ? I got another one for ya’. ? I copied and modified one of the Axis Zero buttons on the Coilwinder Screen. ? I changed it from having a Left Down Action of “Zero Y” to having a Left Down Script. The script grabs a number from a register and sets the Y machine position to that number. ? The script itself works fine, and the button works fine if I single-left-click it with the mouse. But if I press the button on my touch screen, it only works maybe one in 10 times. Pressing it always highlights the button, but the script doesn’t seem to run most of the time-if I press it on the touchscreen. It works every time with the mouse. ? I’ve tried re-making the button, and also tried having using a Left Up Script or a Clicked Script, with the same results. ? Any idea what I might be doing wrong? ? Andy ?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Brian Barker
Sent: Monday, March 7, 2022 9:42 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [MachCNC] Mach4 Coil Winder Screen? I think I like turns better but we can make it a selection.. The other 2 points seem easy enough ______________________________ ? Brian Barker Engineering / Development ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions Livermore Falls, Maine (USA) Webpage: On 3/6/2022 2:37 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Hi Brian: ? I finally downloaded and started to use the Coilwinder Mach4 screen a couple of weeks ago. ? I had to modify it to fit my setup but I also found a couple of issues with the screenset as downloaded. ? -The screenset is set up to use the A axis in units of revolutions instead of degrees. I would bet most people use degrees as the units for their rotary axes. ? -The “Write G Code” button does not do what it says; instead it saves the Gcode to a string and then executes it immediately as an MDI command. ? -The generated Gcode does not return to G90 Absolute coordinates after running the code. ? ? That is not Epic at all! LOL ? I will see if I can get it to download ______________________________ ? Brian Barker Engineering / Devlopment ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions Livermore Falls, Maine (USA) Phone: 207(618)1449 Webpage: On 6/11/2021 12:37 AM, Andy Wander wrote: I see that the Coil Winder screen is on the website, but when I try to download it I get: ? Epic 404 - Article Not Found ? ? ? 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: 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
?
?
?
?
|
Whats the max speed you would like to get to? and How much
acceleration are you thinking you would like to have.? I am
thinking you need at a minimum 10 in/sec^2 I would like to see
more like 15-20
______________________________
Brian Barker
Engineering / Development
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Webpage:
On 3/9/2022 5:21 PM, Brian Martin
wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Here is my mass numbers for the robot;
X=146#, Y=126#, Z =65#. I added some extra weight in there for
motors and the welding gun. I plan to use a rack and pinion
drive so the drive pinion gear can be adjusted according to
shaft size and allowable space.
?
Thank-you!
Brian Martin
?
?
The CypCut software is what mine had on it. Mine is only a 1
KW but it works for testing. It is a 5' X 10' so it is using a
bunch of my shop :) . My goal is not to make something
"better" than the CypCut software. I want to make software
that can do anything with the lasers. The software they have
is fine for cutting plate but if you need to do some fancy
stuff it falls apart quickly. The capacitance height control
is working now, it is just talking to the power supply that is
the issue and I seem to have a contact that can get me some
data! I hope to be making parts again next month.
?
?
______________________________
?
Brian Barker
Engineering / Development
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Webpage:
On 2/22/2022 4:49 PM, Brian Martin wrote:
Ok, it is running CypCut which has some
nice features but I’d rather run Mach4!
?
Thank-you!
Brian
Martin
?
?
That is using step and direction if it is running the
Chinese control software. I took that all out of my laser
and have been putting in Mach4 with Ethercat :) . We are
working on trying to talk to the Raycus fiber generator now
... That is NO fun to try and get support from them
______________________________
?
Brian Barker
Engineering / Development
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
?
Webpage:
On 2/22/2022 2:21 PM, Brian Martin
wrote:
That mostly makes sense, I have a
Senfeng 4KW laser that has a mixture Yaskawa and Delt
drives on it. I will do some more reading on Ethercat.
?
Thank-you!
Brian
Martin
?
?
Hi Guys,
EtherCat is basically a distributed motion controller. So
picture an ESS that? is in the drives as well as in the IO
blocks . Its sort of like a Modbus setup but is all in
realtime. You can mix and match hardware in an Ethercat
system. So you can have drives from Yaskawa , Elmo, Omron
, Delta , Leadshine and so on all on the same network. The
drives could power Steppers or servos (the system has no
idea what one it is..) You can also use IO from in the
drives OR add IO modules as well. The Ethernet cable just
goes from drive to drive and IO to IO. With the Kingstar /
Mahc4 setup you can also to ABS encoders so you do not
need to home the machine when you start it. This is REALLY
cools because you don't need to have home switches or any
of that other hardware. You can also read as much data
about the drive as you would like. So you can see what
current the motor is using for example .
?
Now you can do this without the Kingstar software and add
a hardware master like the board Vital systems has. This
is a little more limiting but is much more flexible as to
what PC it will work with. This is not the be all end all
but it is the best way to make a high end system. It is
the future... Well it really is here and the prices have
been dropping like crazy.
?
Okay I think that made more confusion than it helped ;)
?
Thanks
Brian
?
?
______________________________
?
Brian Barker
Engineering / Development
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Webpage:
On 2/22/2022 10:11 AM, o1bigtenor
wrote:
?
On Tue, Feb 22, 2022 at
7:02 AM Brian Martin <bmm@...>
wrote:
No
problem, o1bigtenor. I want to know more
about Ethercat also. Go ahead with the
discussion!
Does
an Ethercat drive network directly to the
PC, or is there still a motion control
interface/card?
?
My phrase is 'what I know I
can write on paper with big block letters and
there is still plenty of room?
inside the thimble, after
inserting the paper, for my finger' - - - -
which is to say - - precious little.?
AIUI its a ethernet
modification - - - to speed communications
between devices, specifically?
- - again, AIUI, for drives
to controls. There is a master info source
at:?
my search engine
(duckduckgo) included this with that address:?
The?EtherCAT?technology overcomes
the system limitations of other Ethernet
solutions: The Ethernet packet is no longer
received, then interpreted and copied as
process data at every connection. Instead,
the Ethernet frame is processed on the fly.
So
- - - it would seem that the value is in
high speed connections.?
I'm
not sure at what level ethercat comes into
its own - - - haven't been able to?
find
anything like 'a noobs guide to ethercat' .
As usual one is expected to be?
at
least sorta of a master form the get go - -
- - docs are so tedious to write?
is
what needs to be remembered (NOT - - -imo!).
So the whole seems like it?
could
be useful - - - but exactly how - - - well -
- - that's why I was asking for?
(One
more technology to master)
From
the still quite befogged mind of?
|
Here is my mass numbers for the robot; X=146#, Y=126#, Z =65#. I added some extra weight in there for motors and the welding gun. I plan to use a rack and pinion drive so the drive pinion gear can be adjusted according to shaft size and allowable space. ? Thank-you! Brian Martin 
?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of Brian Barker Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2022 5:29 AM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [MachCNC] Mach4 teach/record ? The CypCut software is what mine had on it. Mine is only a 1 KW but it works for testing. It is a 5' X 10' so it is using a bunch of my shop :) . My goal is not to make something "better" than the CypCut software. I want to make software that can do anything with the lasers. The software they have is fine for cutting plate but if you need to do some fancy stuff it falls apart quickly. The capacitance height control is working now, it is just talking to the power supply that is the issue and I seem to have a contact that can get me some data! I hope to be making parts again next month. ? ? ______________________________ ? Brian Barker Engineering / Development ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions Livermore Falls, Maine (USA) Webpage: On 2/22/2022 4:49 PM, Brian Martin wrote: Ok, it is running CypCut which has some nice features but I’d rather run Mach4! ? Thank-you! Brian Martin 
? ? That is using step and direction if it is running the Chinese control software. I took that all out of my laser and have been putting in Mach4 with Ethercat :) . We are working on trying to talk to the Raycus fiber generator now ... That is NO fun to try and get support from them ______________________________ ? Brian Barker Engineering / Development ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions Livermore Falls, Maine (USA) ? Webpage: On 2/22/2022 2:21 PM, Brian Martin wrote: That mostly makes sense, I have a Senfeng 4KW laser that has a mixture Yaskawa and Delt drives on it. I will do some more reading on Ethercat. ? Thank-you! Brian Martin 
? ? Hi Guys, EtherCat is basically a distributed motion controller. So picture an ESS that? is in the drives as well as in the IO blocks . Its sort of like a Modbus setup but is all in realtime. You can mix and match hardware in an Ethercat system. So you can have drives from Yaskawa , Elmo, Omron , Delta , Leadshine and so on all on the same network. The drives could power Steppers or servos (the system has no idea what one it is..) You can also use IO from in the drives OR add IO modules as well. The Ethernet cable just goes from drive to drive and IO to IO. With the Kingstar / Mahc4 setup you can also to ABS encoders so you do not need to home the machine when you start it. This is REALLY cools because you don't need to have home switches or any of that other hardware. You can also read as much data about the drive as you would like. So you can see what current the motor is using for example . ? Now you can do this without the Kingstar software and add a hardware master like the board Vital systems has. This is a little more limiting but is much more flexible as to what PC it will work with. This is not the be all end all but it is the best way to make a high end system. It is the future... Well it really is here and the prices have been dropping like crazy. ? Okay I think that made more confusion than it helped ;) ? Thanks Brian ? ? ______________________________ ? Brian Barker Engineering / Development ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions Livermore Falls, Maine (USA) Webpage: On 2/22/2022 10:11 AM, o1bigtenor wrote: ? On Tue, Feb 22, 2022 at 7:02 AM Brian Martin <bmm@...> wrote: No problem, o1bigtenor. I want to know more about Ethercat also. Go ahead with the discussion! Does an Ethercat drive network directly to the PC, or is there still a motion control interface/card? ?
My phrase is 'what I know I can write on paper with big block letters and there is still plenty of room? inside the thimble, after inserting the paper, for my finger' - - - - which is to say - - precious little.? AIUI its a ethernet modification - - - to speed communications between devices, specifically? - - again, AIUI, for drives to controls. There is a master info source at:? my search engine (duckduckgo) included this with that address:? The?EtherCAT?technology overcomes the system limitations of other Ethernet solutions: The Ethernet packet is no longer received, then interpreted and copied as process data at every connection. Instead, the Ethernet frame is processed on the fly. So - - - it would seem that the value is in high speed connections.? I'm not sure at what level ethercat comes into its own - - - haven't been able to? find anything like 'a noobs guide to ethercat' . As usual one is expected to be? at least sorta of a master form the get go - - - - docs are so tedious to write? is what needs to be remembered (NOT - - -imo!). So the whole seems like it? could be useful - - - but exactly how - - - well - - - that's why I was asking for? (One more technology to master) From the still quite befogged mind of?
|
Re: Mach4 Coil Winder Screen
Keep in mind that that often there are fractional turns, usually in practice ? or ? turns to match the pinouts on the bobbin used. Also partial turns are used for inserting insulation between layers. ? This also applies to coil spring winding. ? So in summary, in the turns count field one ought be able to enter a decimal value, for example, 19.75 turns. ? Take Care, Stay Well & Safe, ?????? Bertho ? ? ?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Brian Barker
Sent: Monday, March 7, 2022 9:42 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [MachCNC] Mach4 Coil Winder Screen? I think I like turns better but we can make it a selection.. The other 2 points seem easy enough ______________________________ ? Brian Barker Engineering / Development ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions Livermore Falls, Maine (USA) Webpage: On 3/6/2022 2:37 PM, Andy Wander wrote: Hi Brian: ? I finally downloaded and started to use the Coilwinder Mach4 screen a couple of weeks ago. ? I had to modify it to fit my setup but I also found a couple of issues with the screenset as downloaded. ? -The screenset is set up to use the A axis in units of revolutions instead of degrees. I would bet most people use degrees as the units for their rotary axes. ? -The “Write G Code” button does not do what it says; instead it saves the Gcode to a string and then executes it immediately as an MDI command. ? -The generated Gcode does not return to G90 Absolute coordinates after running the code. ? ? That is not Epic at all! LOL ? I will see if I can get it to download ______________________________ ? Brian Barker Engineering / Devlopment ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions Livermore Falls, Maine (USA) Phone: 207(618)1449 Webpage: On 6/11/2021 12:37 AM, Andy Wander wrote: I see that the Coil Winder screen is on the website, but when I try to download it I get: ? Epic 404 - Article Not Found ? ? ? 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: 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
I think I like turns better but we can make it a selection.. The
other 2 points seem easy enough
______________________________
Brian Barker
Engineering / Development
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Webpage:
On 3/6/2022 2:37 PM, Andy Wander wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Hi Brian:
?
I finally
downloaded and started to use the Coilwinder Mach4 screen a
couple of weeks ago.
?
I had to modify
it to fit my setup but I also found a couple of issues with
the screenset as downloaded.
?
-The screenset
is set up to use the A axis in units of revolutions instead
of degrees. I would bet most people use degrees as the units
for their rotary axes.
?
-The “Write G
Code” button does not do what it says; instead it saves the
Gcode to a string and then executes it immediately as an MDI
command.
?
-The generated
Gcode does not return to G90 Absolute coordinates after
running the code.
?
?
That is not Epic at all! LOL
?
I will see if I can get it to download
______________________________
?
Brian Barker
Engineering / Devlopment
ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions
Livermore Falls, Maine (USA)
Phone: 207(618)1449
Webpage:
On 6/11/2021 12:37 AM, Andy Wander wrote:
I see that
the Coil Winder screen is on the website, but when I try
to download it I get:
?
Epic 404 - Article Not Found
?
?
?
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:
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
For my use, I modified the screenset ?so that I can enter the desired number of turns, but this is converted to degrees for the G-code. ?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
From: ohawiseguyeh@... <ohawiseguyeh@...>
Sent: Sunday, March 6, 2022 2:37 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [MachCNC] Mach4 Coil Winder Screen? Hi Brian: ? I finally downloaded and started to use the Coilwinder Mach4 screen a couple of weeks ago. ? I had to modify it to fit my setup but I also found a couple of issues with the screenset as downloaded. ? -The screenset is set up to use the A axis in units of revolutions instead of degrees. I would bet most people use degrees as the units for their rotary axes. ? -The “Write G Code” button does not do what it says; instead it saves the Gcode to a string and then executes it immediately as an MDI command. ? -The generated Gcode does not return to G90 Absolute coordinates after running the code. ? ? That is not Epic at all! LOL ? I will see if I can get it to download ______________________________ ? Brian Barker Engineering / Devlopment ArtSoft | Newfangled Solutions Livermore Falls, Maine (USA) Phone: 207(618)1449 Webpage: On 6/11/2021 12:37 AM, Andy Wander wrote: I see that the Coil Winder screen is on the website, but when I try to download it I get: ? Epic 404 - Article Not Found ? ? ? 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: 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
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? Attachments: - MachAPI.h
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Bertho