I have been thinking about going to mach4. Anything I need to look out for vs mach3?
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I have been thinking about going to mach4. Anything I need to look out for vs mach3?
Customization is more limited with Mach4, unless you know Lua programming language. I am not good at programming, so I accepted the limitation. Fortunately, It hasn't been an issue. I am satisfied with the screensets and functionality. Also, Vista CNC finally came up with a good plugin for their pendant's. I have one with an LCD display. It works fine. Unfortunately, Vista's pendants are all wired. You won't be able to use the relatively inexpensive Chinese pendants commonly used for Mach3. A fellow with the handle, DazTheGas wrote a script for using an XBox 360 with Mach4, but I haven't tried it. Here is a link to the thread: mcX360 Mach4 Controller Plugin Here's a link to his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOy...Uq3-u_LgNFzNNw
Note that my setup uses an ESS Smoothstepper, so I cannot comment on setting up Mach4 using some other motion controller. If you are using a Smoothstepper, Warp9 has very good instructions for setting up the Smoothstepper Plugin for Mach4. Most of the Mach4 settings are done in the ESS plugin.
I have been very happy with Mach4. I haven't found any of the odd behaviors that crop up from time-to-time in Mach3. I have found it to be a very stable platform and more intuitive than Mach3.
Gary
I disagree that customization is more limited with Mach 4. Both Mach 3 and Mach 4 come with scripting languages. Mach 3 used VB scripting and Mach 4 uses LUA scripting. Having used both extensively and having never used either language before seeing it within Mach 3/4, I can say that LUA is more featured and powerful at the expense of having a somewhat steeper learning curve. If you are familiar with programming, especially object oriented programming, you should have a good headstart. It is very possible to learn it without that background and you shouldn't find it intimidating. Just start simple. There are tons of resources to help you along the way.
I am using a $50 hardwired 4 axis pendant from ebay wired into general I/O. The setup was not very complicated and there is a great write-up on the procedure on the Warp 9 ESS website. This is applicable even if you are using another method to bring the I/O in, although slight modification may be needed.
The logic editor and screen editor are miles ahead of the ones provided in Mach 3.
hello david i like mach 4 but my countery in macch for too much higher coast software if you dont mind can you guide me to find this software