Mach3 mystery error

My CNC Mill has a fault and I am looking for any suggestions or ideas.
Symptoms:
Mach 3 on Windows 7, HP Laptop
USB to UCX100 and MyCNC HG08 motor controller
Mostly clicking and typing into Mach3, and also fine jogging with a
wireless MPG.
"ref all home", then G28 to place near the centre.
G54 then G0 X0Y0 puts the cutter above the centre of my job, and then X30 to put cutter above the actual cut surface
Move Z down and jog till its about 3 mm above the cutting surface, then jog up until a
4mm ground spacer fits under the cutter, and thentype 4 into Z.
Now XYZ are set to zero in the centre and top surface of the job, all sweet so far.
Z50 to get the cutter clear (there is a central bolt holding everything in place, clear that)
now pay attention please:
In the MDI line, I type G0 X30. Table starts the X move AND the head shoots up (Z), faster than normal 'fast',
then the motor fault switch on one of the driver units trips and stops mach3.
I have to switch off and reboot to recover.
I can jog with the MPG and type into MDI line to move all over the place without problem, but
repeat the setup and it mostly goes wong - i.e. its only when the cutter is down to about 40mm above the table
that the problem occurs. And only when entering G0 X0.

So any ideas gratefully received!
The mill is a Champion 20V, the whole head moves up/down, fixed knee.
I bought it (used) a few weeks ago and have made several jobs without problems
(well many newbie errors, but all explainable), this fault is new.
Damp?
crosstalk?

Thanks!
Simon

I read the other day that Mach3 won't work correctly on win7 and that laptops are not ideal. I'm sure one on the more CNC familiar members will confirm

My understanding is that W7 32 bit might run it, but not 64 bit.

This is what turned out to be the root of Peter King's problems if you followed his series in ME.

Neil

I did not follow his series at the time, but I will read them now, they are all n a pile on the bedroom floor. Not sure if its 32 or 64 bit, I will check. Thanks for that!

Interesting .... do you know whether Mach3 requires the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable? FWIW - maybe not much - this came up in a completely different context and it appears that, if required, it needs to be not only the right year (e.g. 2015) but also the 32/64-bit version has to be that specified by the software - not necessarily the same as the computer.

So a 64 bit version of Windows might need to run the 32-bit version of Visual C++. This magically fixed a difficult problem in the other context.

May I suggest you look at https://cncdrive.com/UCCNC.html they have software that works on win10 back I have it with the uc100 adapter and it was working great til I removed my cnc because of room.

george.

UCCNC looks good, and I have all CNC4U hardware, motion control and driver. Any other experience of UCCNC?

I've looked at it but not used it. But I know someone who does and he's very happy with it on a large Shizuoka knee mill like mine. I've used some of their servo drives and am pretty happy with both the hardware and the associated config software. I'd certainly be very tempted myself.

Murray

I would be nice to know which version of Mach3 you are using, some versions have more bugs than others, I know of a few versions that on G0 command Mach3 moves all drives faster than the set acceleration in motor tuning, this can cause drivers to error, how it should work on G0 is to use the acceleration of the slowest drive for all axis, however some of the later versions of Mach3 had this bug, Art Fernety recommended version is No 3.043.062, this is my prefered version, another good version recommended by John Stevenson is Version 3041, I have both of these if you pm me, but I think all these are still available on the download / support site for Artisoft.

HTH

Shaun

Not familiar with using Mach3 myself but reading Artisoft's website reveals a classic problem - the software itself, and the operating system and hardware it's designed to run on are all well beyond effective end of life. Also, compared with other older applications, Mach3 may be particulary platform sensitive because of low-level features introduced to reduce latency. (It fails, for example, if the operating system goes into a power saving mode or gives priority to network activity.) It's a delicate flower deep into the autumn of its existance.

It's already difficult to get Mach3 to run on a new platform and it will only get harder as time passes. Nothing lasts for ever. At some point, rather than messing with old computers, emulators, and tweaked versions it will make more sense to bite the bullet and pay for Mach4. Anyone done that yet, or is there a good free alternative to Mach3?

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 16/10/2018 18:00:26

I have a Mach 4 license but have never used it as yet, (I got bored waiting for a stable version so gave up) I have Mach3 running on windows 7 and 8 no problem, however with these later versions of windows I use UC300ETH Controller, this is on the interact 2, I still use mach 3 on the Hurco via printer ports with windows xp but its new hardware, I can also run LinuxCNC on both, there are others out there, UCCNC being another thats cheaper than MachXX

**LINK**

I run Mach3 on a W7 32bit PC

I am using Win 7 32 bit with a UC300 and has been working fine for over a year. I think the issue with Mach and win 7 is you need an external motion controller - you cannot use a parallel port .

What you're describing sounds more like a coding issue. When the machine shoots off where does it go? Does it stop? I cannot remember which screen it is at the moment but on one of them you can click on each coordinate system and see the coords. You mentioned you typed G54 before your previous G0 move. What happens if you do the same for this move? Does the axis come to a hard stop and stall - have you got soft limits set?

Cheers

Dave

I had a similar problem(mach 3/XP). with a Taig(?) mill,which isn't very big. Set the job up and press start and the machine sets off and then tries to go into orbit, but not every time.

Turns out that the mach3 is set up in imperial but I tend to do most of my work now in metric.

Start Mach3, go to Settings tab and change units to metric. Go to 'Config' - Safe Z Setup and enter the safe Z height (say 10mm). Proceed to load etc.

It turns out that when I then restart Mach for another session the system reverts to Imperial, I then change the units to metric and when I do that mach changes the safe Z to metric. Unfortunately it still has the previous number (10) in the store so it converts it to metric (254 about 10" which is some way above the top of the mill, hence the hurried scramble for the E-Stop button.

Hope this helps

Mick

I have had a problem with Mach 3 apparently only driving Z downwards whether asked to go up or down. Turned out it wasn't Mach at all but the direction wire had fallen out of the Z driver, which internally pulled to the polarity corresponding to down. So don't rule out a hardware problem.

Mick

You shouldn't be using the settings tab to change between Metric and imperial. The option in the settings tab is for what units the machine is built in and should never be changed once setup. If your motors are setup in step/mm by changing this option you are moving the setting to steps/inch so you will be a big factor out.

To change the units use G20/G21 in MDI, or if you want it permanently to start in a particular units, in the Setting general tab, there is an initiation string with some G-code in it. Add G20 into the line and every time Mach starts up it will switch to inches.

Thanks for all the helpful comments. I am using a motion controller, the UC100, and use of W7 laptops is widespread with an external motion controller. I have taken it to bits, and think it MAY be because I overtightened the Z gibbs, causing the motor to stall and the motor driver to trip – but this does not really explain the chaos. Anyway, I have decided to replace the lead screws with ball screws, and upgrade to a UC400ETH, in the hope that Ethernet is less noise prone than USB. It’s an interesting project anyway, I will report back in a few weeks.