[JohnToner]

While waiting for my PP, one question has been on my mind. Just what do I gain and loose in PP as against Mach3/4? i already know I'll loose my Vista pendant and will gain soft stops, but what else?

[popspipes]

The soft limits are the bees knees!
The screen is simpler than Mach
what it is told to do it does without taking a side trip now and again ha! That was my biggest gripe about Mach 3, I couldnt trust it to do only what it was supposed to do.....
Vista is working on software that will work with path pilot.

One of the detriments is that in the MDI line a G01 and feedrate has to be specified. It doesnt default to G01.
The tool table I like better than Mach.

Overall I like it much better than Mach3.

[JohnToner]

Thanks Mike,

No G01 Fx in MDI doesn't trouble me as I always specify them. I'm convinces that unless and until Tormach becomes a distributor for Vista, there will not be any support in PP for the Vista Pendants. Another thing, I've searched high an d low and can't find the parameters for configuring the Tormach. I ordered a new Mobo and CPU, (AMD cheapos that didn't even make the trailing edge of technology), that I'll install in an extra case I have collecting dust and cat hairs, (mostly cat hairs). I'll likely use it as my in house desktop for running my b usiness and web surfing. I'll load PP on the old machine rather than on my existing Tormach controller. A few individuals seem to be experiencing difficulties with PP and post files generated by BobCad, which, BTW, I have. That shouldn't be a huge problem as I always edit the g-code created by the post. I also have Fusion 360 but haven't for the life of me figured out how to use it. For me, the tutorials don't tutor. I'm used to the "gazinta" method of tutoring. All I've seen from F360 have been cool demonstrations of how knowledgeable the presenter is.

[popspipes]

According to KStrauss Vista is working on making their software compatible with Pathpilot.
One of the fellows that posts on here has it working in his Linux version, so I think its a matter of time, in my case I hope its not too much time......

In sprutcam I get a coupl;e of errors neither of which keeps it from running the code, P value is one of them, and in the transform function the tapping cycle has a zero feedrate specified. I quit using the transform function and it works fine, those are the only two errors I know of that I have had.

In the 1.9 update I notice a bit of delay after the rapid down to safe height, it hesitates about 2 seconds there which gives the coolant time to start flowing before the cutter enters the work.
I have an old Dell that I put extra memory in and the processor is faster, I am going to buy another card and put pathpilot on that machine to see if its any faster than this one. I get a sizeable delay when zeroing the axes and it seems to be related to the size of the program or something to do with the operating system possibly.

[JohnToner]

My PP arrived yesterday and I installed it on my old "boat anchor". Installation was a breeze and the the mill ran w/o any issues. I already miss the Vista, that Tormach pseudo-pendant just doesn't do it for me, but the soft stops are a joy. My passive probe only works for x and y. Attempts to use the z result in an error with a message that my probe is already tripped and that I should go to the "settings" screen to check and set the polarity. Well, the probe section of the settings screen didn't help me, I couldn't find a way to check or reverse the polarity. The gizzards are few and far between. Since the only one I ever used was for thread milling, that's not a problem for me. It's not quite ready for "prime time", but over all I do like it and have no plans to return to M3. I still have my original Tormach controller, but it has become the new resident dust collector.

[MFchief]

John,

On that settings page you can select either the digitizing probe or the passive probe, they have opposite logic, the digitizing probe is a normally open probe and the passive is normally closed. Don't know which brand or type of probe you have but you might try selecting the "other" type for what it has defaulted to and see if that fixes your problem.

Good Luck
Terry

[JohnToner]

Terry, thanks, sounds like that's the ticket. The probe is a passive from Tormach. Actually, I've never bothered to use it for setting the "z". Since I prefer to have z=0 on the top surface of my stock, it's faster, for me, to just lower the spindle till a 1" block won't slide under it then slowly raise it till the block just slides under and punch that in as z= +1.0000. I guess it's a Mickey Mouse method and the probe might be more accurate, still it's close enough for gov't. work.

[MFchief]

Nothing wrong with that method, in fact I believe it's essentially what Tormach does in their video on offsets.

Terry

[daniellyall]

just found this Tormach Mach4 Conversion Kit — Element

[JohnToner]

Not a bad deal since M4+M3 is $300.