Yeah, it definitely could be better. The community could help but it seems 'Newfangled Solutions' hasn't really embraced the possibilities as much as they could.
Thanks for plugging a major gap in the documentation. It would be great if you added a couple more of these lessons to illuminate the other dark spots like what is happening at the execution level. How the different scripts interact is still a little confusing.
It may be impossible to dive any deeper without being able to read the source code for the 'Core' and/or the controller specific plugins that various vendors write to support their controller cards. This is a frustration I'm still dealing with the PMDX-424. There's a bug regarding probing in the plugin written by PMDX but since I cannot read the code I/we can't really help get it fixed. If I do aggregate any more wisdom I'll gladly share it.
Hi Build Bug Just watched your video and found it most informative and definitely worth another watch. I've been programming since the early 80's and found this quite confusing. It felt like a lot of bits stuck together and still does. I haven't quite understood yet if its event driven or a scanning (like a PLC) type piece of software. Got a feeling its a bit of both. My biggest dislike right now is the debugger. Daz the Gas explains a lot of the short comings of the debugger in his various videos. I would like to put a breakpoint in running code and the debug it, (in the running environment,maybe I can Again a most useful video I would encourage you to go further. Ken
Can you envision why the the shuttle extension plugin sometimes fails to load causing it to lose its settings? Seems that it has been a problem for a long time and has yet to be dealt with. ... and on a related note, why the MPG's that are readily available for Mach 3 don't work in Mach4 and how would one make it work. You would be doing a huge service to the Mach4 community to allow easily MPG integration.
I can't agree with this enough! I have been able to find a few.. semi-complete drivers for the most common 2 MPG's. A more complete driver with working data send to the mpg, (not just receiving from the mpg), would be awe inspiring!
Mach4 has been hell as a beginner. Half the time you can't figure out if you're doing something wrong, of it's just a bug in the software. It's just as likely to be either. The interface locks up randomly sometimes. The "MachMotion" conversational programming interface in the lathe config are completely undocumented, and mine stopped working because of some LUA error. Between the ESS config and the Mach config, there is multiple places where you modify the same functionality, with no description of their precedence. E.g. you add backlash compensation in the Mach config, but you have to go to the motor config in the ESS configuration and check "enable backlash compensation" for it to apply. There are numerous examples like this too. at this point I don't know whether to continue on or just try Mach 3 or something else. I've sunk so much time into Mach4. What a mistake.
Mach 3 is a lot easier. But there is so much information on it out there. There is also the features missing from Mach 4 hobby that Mach 4 Industrial has. I've spent the day writing out a macro for a touch off plate for mach 4 to only find out it would work in mach 4 industrial but not the hobby. It has to be done in Lua. There was a lot of theft with mach 3 so I think they have tried to lock mach 4 hobby up. I have 2 cnc's. A metal working one with mach 4 and a wood working one with Mach 3. But man is it going to be a bear to get all my probes and tool setters etc. to work with Mach 4. Even my controller manufacturer won't help. Basically just use these ports and good luck chuck.
Thanks for the tutorial. I am a retired old buy who built a Saturn 4x4 and controller for fun. I learned to program in the 80's in C and now play around with Arduino stuff. I came across this tutorial trying to find a plugin for Mach4 that would allow my probe to create a digital file of a physical object for the purpose of duplicating the object. I have not found one yet. Do you think I would have to write my own and dive deep into Mach 4 script writing. Any help would be appreciated
Great post, I coded for 17 years before quitting it to be a furniture maker 6 years ago. I'm really interested in tool change/ATC scripts for Mach4. Curious if you'll be delving into any of that?
Thank you for sharing your knowledge, anyone that has taken a dive into Mach4 customization, quickly come to realize, it hard to find documentation.
Yeah, it definitely could be better. The community could help but it seems 'Newfangled Solutions' hasn't really embraced the possibilities as much as they could.
Wow, thanks for taking the time to post this. I only know a little about coding, but this makes the functions very clear. Thanks again.
Wow, a lot of effort and very useful, thank you.
Very useful explanation. I know they are writing new documentation, and this is something that I would have like to had on the manuals
Glad it was helpful!
This was really helpful. Thanks.
Nicely detailed video
Hi, i need your assistance with my cnc loader profile. I am trying to debug probe functionality issue
thank you. I learnt a lot. That's going to save some debugging time :-)
Thanks for plugging a major gap in the documentation. It would be great if you added a couple more of these lessons to illuminate the other dark spots like what is happening at the execution level. How the different scripts interact is still a little confusing.
It may be impossible to dive any deeper without being able to read the source code for the 'Core' and/or the controller specific plugins that various vendors write to support their controller cards. This is a frustration I'm still dealing with the PMDX-424. There's a bug regarding probing in the plugin written by PMDX but since I cannot read the code I/we can't really help get it fixed. If I do aggregate any more wisdom I'll gladly share it.
Hi there! I'd like to get in touch with you about some of the work you have done on Mach, how would I do that?
Hi Build Bug
Just watched your video and found it most informative and definitely worth another watch. I've been programming since the early 80's and found this quite confusing. It felt like a lot of bits stuck together and still does.
I haven't quite understood yet if its event driven or a scanning (like a PLC) type piece of software. Got a feeling its a bit of both. My biggest dislike right now is the debugger. Daz the Gas explains a lot of the short comings of the debugger in his various videos. I would like to put a breakpoint in running code and the debug it, (in the running environment,maybe I can
Again a most useful video I would encourage you to go further.
Ken
When I refer to "found this quite confusing" I mean Mach4/Lua etc not your video. Ken
This was good. The macros not being a shared instance is interesting. Same name potentially doing two different things... not ideal.
Can you envision why the the shuttle extension plugin sometimes fails to load causing it to lose its settings? Seems that it has been a problem for a long time and has yet to be dealt with. ... and on a related note, why the MPG's that are readily available for Mach 3 don't work in Mach4 and how would one make it work.
You would be doing a huge service to the Mach4 community to allow easily MPG integration.
I can't agree with this enough! I have been able to find a few.. semi-complete drivers for the most common 2 MPG's. A more complete driver with working data send to the mpg, (not just receiving from the mpg), would be awe inspiring!
Mach4 has been hell as a beginner. Half the time you can't figure out if you're doing something wrong, of it's just a bug in the software. It's just as likely to be either.
The interface locks up randomly sometimes. The "MachMotion" conversational programming interface in the lathe config are completely undocumented, and mine stopped working because of some LUA error. Between the ESS config and the Mach config, there is multiple places where you modify the same functionality, with no description of their precedence. E.g. you add backlash compensation in the Mach config, but you have to go to the motor config in the ESS configuration and check "enable backlash compensation" for it to apply. There are numerous examples like this too.
at this point I don't know whether to continue on or just try Mach 3 or something else. I've sunk so much time into Mach4. What a mistake.
Mach 3 is a lot easier. But there is so much information on it out there. There is also the features missing from Mach 4 hobby that Mach 4 Industrial has. I've spent the day writing out a macro for a touch off plate for mach 4 to only find out it would work in mach 4 industrial but not the hobby. It has to be done in Lua. There was a lot of theft with mach 3 so I think they have tried to lock mach 4 hobby up. I have 2 cnc's. A metal working one with mach 4 and a wood working one with Mach 3. But man is it going to be a bear to get all my probes and tool setters etc. to work with Mach 4. Even my controller manufacturer won't help. Basically just use these ports and good luck chuck.
THANKS, i may you please do a video on ladder programming f mach4
Thanks for the tutorial. I am a retired old buy who built a Saturn 4x4 and controller for fun. I learned to program in the 80's in C and now play around with Arduino stuff. I came across this tutorial trying to find a plugin for Mach4 that would allow my probe to create a digital file of a physical object for the purpose of duplicating the object. I have not found one yet. Do you think I would have to write my own and dive deep into Mach 4 script writing. Any help would be appreciated
Great post, I coded for 17 years before quitting it to be a furniture maker 6 years ago. I'm really interested in tool change/ATC scripts for Mach4. Curious if you'll be delving into any of that?
Sadly no, I don't see any automatic tool changing features for me in the immediate future. Sounds fun though.